TJ from private - impossible?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Almost impossible.

Because private is worthless

Says the public school teacher and broke parents.

No I am a parent of TJ kid who has seen the facts. Private just try to do more math and claim they are doing lot more than public without giving kids the subject depth needed. Private schools cannot even come close to public schools In competitions. They just try to rip parents

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, to get back on topic, what is an SPS? Why don’t private school kids have one? And how are their scores then calculated? Are they just topping out at 600?

7th grade parent whose kid would probably love TJ.

SPS is student portrait sheet. They have 4 questions to answer in 1 hour related to FCPS character. Every student is graded on 900 points. 1/3 is for GPA, 1/3 for SPS response, 1/3 for stem problem

So why the comment that public schools don’t have them? Why can’t my kid fill one out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, to get back on topic, what is an SPS? Why don’t private school kids have one? And how are their scores then calculated? Are they just topping out at 600?

7th grade parent whose kid would probably love TJ.

SPS is student portrait sheet. They have 4 questions to answer in 1 hour related to FCPS character. Every student is graded on 900 points. 1/3 is for GPA, 1/3 for SPS response, 1/3 for stem problem

So why the comment that public schools don’t have them? Why can’t my kid fill one out?

If you actually looked at the website that discusses the TJ admissions process you would have your answer to this.

The OPs question is basic. The answer is that Private school kids can be accepted into TJ but it is harder then being accepted from a Public school. If you think your child is interested in TJ, you should check out the admissions and read what the process entails. They discuss the SPS, what it is and how it works.

If you are going to rely on this site for information on the TJ process, you are making the process that much more difficult.

[Anonymous]

There are usually around 10 kids from private schools admitted to TJ every year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are usually around 10 kids from private schools admitted to TJ every year.

One of our friends moved their child out of private to local AAP school so he has better chance of getting into TJ. Heard few others doing similar stuff. This this is going to impact private schools admission for middle school

[Anonymous]

The way new admission policy is structured, private school child will have lesser chance of being accepted. I can't understanf why parents who chooses to send thier kids to private wants to jump to public school in 9th grade!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our DD is in a Va private. Has straight As/A+s. No idea how she did on the TJ exam. Given the few unallocated spots, are her chances next to nil?

If you are serious about TJ, your best bet is to enroll at one of the feeders like Carson or Longfellow.

[Anonymous]

There were many private schools students who have had to withdraw their TJ applications in the past couple of years because decisions were so late that they had to pay their private school deposits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The way new admission policy is structured, private school child will have lesser chance of being accepted. I can't understanf why parents who chooses to send thier kids to private wants to jump to public school in 9th grade!!

We left Nova private (k-12) for TJ. Best decision for our DD. She absolutely thrived there. I think the main reason our child wanted to apply was social; a fresh start to get away from the small clique of mean girls. She was one of the top students at her private school but felt invisible partly because we were not a big donor family. I would say go for it! It's changed her life in so many positive ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The way new admission policy is structured, private school child will have lesser chance of being accepted. I can't understanf why parents who chooses to send thier kids to private wants to jump to public school in 9th grade!!

We left Nova private (k-12) for TJ. Best decision for our DD. She absolutely thrived there. I think the main reason our child wanted to apply was social; a fresh start to get away from the small clique of mean girls. She was one of the top students at her private school but felt invisible partly because we were not a big donor family. I would say go for it! It's changed her life in so many positive ways.

Glad it worked out for you r child. What was the reason you felt your kid needed to be in private? Usually I hear ppl move kids to private due to lack of visibility, mean students!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our DD is in a Va private. Has straight As/A+s. No idea how she did on the TJ exam. Given the few unallocated spots, are her chances next to nil?

FCPS does not even have A+ grade. How does private school grade translates to fcps grade?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Private schools cannot even come close to public schools In competitions. They just try to rip parents

That's because almost all of the top students are attending public schools. Many of the private schools have similar classes available, and would do well at competitions if some of these top students attended their school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The way new admission policy is structured, private school child will have lesser chance of being accepted. I can't understanf why parents who chooses to send thier kids to private wants to jump to public school in 9th grade!!

I did private for K-8 and switch my kids to public high school. Oldest went to base school, middle to TJ, and youngest to base. I didn’t even have youngest apply to TJ.

Why do we switch? I felt like private K-8 had the small class sizes needed at younger grades, able to better handle discipline/disruptive behaviors, and differentiate the curriculum more than public. By high school, public high school curriculum can be as challenging as the child can handle and classmates are generally equally as focused as my kids. My kids seem well prepared and have done outstanding. Of the local private high schools near me, I just don’t see enough of a difference between public base school and private high school to warrant $160K ($40K/year) per kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Private schools cannot even come close to public schools In competitions. They just try to rip parents

That's because almost all of the top students are attending public schools. Many of the private schools have similar classes available, and would do well at competitions if some of these top students attended their school.

Give me a break. There are plenty of top students in private schools too. My kid is doing sports on weekends instead of participating in a math competition. 1580 on SAT to boot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The way new admission policy is structured, private school child will have lesser chance of being accepted. I can't understanf why parents who chooses to send thier kids to private wants to jump to public school in 9th grade!!

We left Nova private (k-12) for TJ. Best decision for our DD. She absolutely thrived there. I think the main reason our child wanted to apply was social; a fresh start to get away from the small clique of mean girls. She was one of the top students at her private school but felt invisible partly because we were not a big donor family. I would say go for it! It's changed her life in so many positive ways.

Was she at Potomac, SSSAS, or Flint Hill?