Is TJ worth it for student aiming aiming for top schools like HPSM, Duke, Caltech?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am going out on a limb here and suggesting that a great education is more important then the prestige of the high school or college.

In the long run, very few jobs actually care if they end up with people from a top 10 school or a top 20 school. Only 1/4 of the adult population in the US have a college degree at all. Let your kid decide where they want to go at the next level of school and apply. If that is TJ then great. Maybe they end up at a top 25 school instead of an Ivy, the world is not going to end and they will be just fine.

This. I cringe thinking that OP’s kid is in elementary school. Even thinking about this in middle school is painful. Your kid needs to go where they will do their best and be happiest. Let it happen.

Curie classes start @grade 1. Preparing for this takes a lifetime and a lot of $$$.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am going out on a limb here and suggesting that a great education is more important then the prestige of the high school or college.

In the long run, very few jobs actually care if they end up with people from a top 10 school or a top 20 school. Only 1/4 of the adult population in the US have a college degree at all. Let your kid decide where they want to go at the next level of school and apply. If that is TJ then great. Maybe they end up at a top 25 school instead of an Ivy, the world is not going to end and they will be just fine.

Alma Mater doesn't matter unless it does, and having HYPSM will always open doors. Of course, at the end of the day, performance matter most, but I've heard countless times where an potential list of interviewees is being considered and a candidate being "a Harvard grad" wins the tiebreaker.

I mean, even in the NFL, where an Ivy League pedigree means you didn't go to teh best football school, Ryan Fitzpatrick is known as "The QB who went to Harvard."

Yes HPSM, Duke, Caltech will open doors but at this age focus should be on what high school is best fit. Can’t predict if a kid will get into the 6 most competitive schools

[Anonymous]

My kid is currently a TJ junior. My answer is a firm no. No way. Like others have said, if you can make to the top 30 percent and do extra curriculars, great. If not, base school is much better, not saying it is easy. For the bottom 30 percent, where my kid is (based on the PSAT score), it is much worse off. Btw, TJ teachers are not great, quite a few do not teach and you are expected to learn on your own. Math homework and practice review are a lot easier than their actual tests, which are often six or seven pages long that you have to finish in 80 minutes. I don't find their counselors to be effective either. Sink or swim attitude is quite prevalent and if you sink then it is your problem and the school is not a right fit for you.

[Anonymous]

Another TJ parent. I agree that if college admissions is your only concern and you’re not sure if your kid would be in the top 1/4 of their TJ class, then better off at base school for Ivy League and the like. But disagree that getting into Ivy/cal tech/mit should be the entire basis for your strategy. Peer group, tech and science resources and fabulous faculty (outside of the math department) are the real reasons to go to TJ and I think counseling is top notch compared to base schools. They get high achieving kids. Your kid will likely go to a fabulous college. End gaming ivies is short sighted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is currently a TJ junior. My answer is a firm no. No way. Like others have said, if you can make to the top 30 percent and do extra curriculars, great. If not, base school is much better, not saying it is easy. For the bottom 30 percent, where my kid is (based on the PSAT score), it is much worse off. Btw, TJ teachers are not great, quite a few do not teach and you are expected to learn on your own. Math homework and practice review are a lot easier than their actual tests, which are often six or seven pages long that you have to finish in 80 minutes. I don't find their counselors to be effective either. Sink or swim attitude is quite prevalent and if you sink then it is your problem and the school is not a right fit for you.

I would posit that an average (or below average) TJ student will be more successful at e.g. UVA than a top 30 student at e.g. Marshall, if TJ teaches that student how to learn independently. Some students have their hands held for 12 years and are crushed by the independent learning required at a top-50 school like UVA.

[Anonymous]

TJ is a good choice for highly motivated kids knowing what they want and make efforts to prep themselves. It helps to build good learning habit and encourage strong work ethics that can benefit them in long run.

If college admission is the only measurement, it may not be the best choice for majority of kids there. In my view, the top 50 kids will get more or less the same result whether or not go to TJ. The next 100 may get a little benefit from the peer pressure. The rest of the kids can get better or almost the same result if they stay at base schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TJ is a good choice for highly motivated kids knowing what they want and make efforts to prep themselves. It helps to build good learning habit and encourage strong work ethics that can benefit them in long run.

If college admission is the only measurement, it may not be the best choice for majority of kids there. In my view, the top 50 kids will get more or less the same result whether or not go to TJ. The next 100 may get a little benefit from the peer pressure. The rest of the kids can get better or almost the same result if they stay at base schools.

Being a good, but not top, kid at TJ has a lot of spillover effects, in terms of accolades for college admission packets. For example, TJ has won the state scholastic bowl championship for the last however-many years. The third best kid on that team is still state champion - if that kid went to their home school, they would not have even made it to the state championship. Being the best on a mediocre team does not fill out the resume as well as being mediocre on the best team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

In the long run, very few jobs actually care if they end up with people from a top 10 school or a top 20 school. Only 1/4 of the adult population in the US have a college degree at all.

Just curious, does that figure include community college degrees, or just 4 year degrees? If the former, it sounds low.

Bachelors. Community College is an excellent option for lots of peoples and lots of careers but I don’t equate CC with a college degree, perhaps my definition is off but I equate college with bachelors.

https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2022/educational-attainment.html

The Census has 10.5% with an Associates and 23.5% with a Bachelors as their highest degree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ is a good choice for highly motivated kids knowing what they want and make efforts to prep themselves. It helps to build good learning habit and encourage strong work ethics that can benefit them in long run.

If college admission is the only measurement, it may not be the best choice for majority of kids there. In my view, the top 50 kids will get more or less the same result whether or not go to TJ. The next 100 may get a little benefit from the peer pressure. The rest of the kids can get better or almost the same result if they stay at base schools.

Being a good, but not top, kid at TJ has a lot of spillover effects, in terms of accolades for college admission packets. For example, TJ has won the state scholastic bowl championship for the last however-many years. The third best kid on that team is still state champion - if that kid went to their home school, they would not have even made it to the state championship. Being the best on a mediocre team does not fill out the resume as well as being mediocre on the best team.

I have heard TJ alumni have been the highest performing students at UVA among high schools with more than a minimum number of students. So college may be easier for TJ students because of the academic rigor.

[Anonymous]

Getting into an Ivy from TJ or Langley is almost impossible. Your very best bet is to pick a school another school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Getting into an Ivy from TJ or Langley is almost impossible. Your very best bet is to pick a school another school.

Not true.

28 kids from TJ went to T5 colleges last year. More went to the rest of the Ivy League plus UChicago, Duke, JHU, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Getting into an Ivy from TJ or Langley is almost impossible. Your very best bet is to pick a school another school.

Untrue nonsense

[Anonymous]

Just curious, does that figure include community college degrees, or just 4 year degrees? If the former, it sounds low.


Bachelors. Community College is an excellent option for lots of peoples and lots of careers but I don’t equate CC with a college degree, perhaps my definition is off but I equate college with bachelors.

An associates degree is a degree from a college. It's a college degree, just not a bachelors.

[Anonymous]

OP it might not be worth it. Firstly, unless your kid is a superstar right now (well above public school peers) there are no guarantees your DS will finish strong at TJ given how exceptional the kids are. I had a TJ kid who was a great student in his public school but struggled a lot to stay above middle of the pack at TJ. He got completely shut out from HPSM and Duke. Did get into Cornell and some other good privates but chose UVA. All that stress and extra work to not get a boost at HPSMD was a bit frustrating, especially because he could have gotten into UVA from his public school. But like PPs have mentioned, the work ethic and exposure to real competition that you get from TJ sets kids up well beyond simply where they go to college.

[Anonymous]

Do yourself a favor and look at the Private School forums. You will see the topics addressing admissions and bemoaning that the money spent on private school has not improved many kids chances of getting into the Ivies or the top 20 schools.

The selective schools have limited spots and tons of applications. They are in a position to hand pick what their classes look like every year. They don't want their classes to be compromised of all kids from Sidwell or GDS or TJ type schools so they choose a number of kids from each of those schools. The selective colleges also choose a limited number of kids from the Public Schools. That means that it is near impossible to choose a school that is going to get you into those selective colleges. If a student is not a legacy or an athletic stand out, then they will be competing against 100's of student who have similar transcripts and similar backgrounds.

Focusing on gaming the system to get into TJ or a select college is only adding stress to your life and your kids life. Look for the schools that you think will challenge your child and help them grow as a person and a student. A student who is doing well academically and has activities that they enjoy will end up doing well in college even if it means not getting into a highly selective college.