Number of Longfellow kids admitted to TJ in 2022

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look at it the other way. Longfellow got somewhere around 30 students admitted from the general pool. Some of these schools admitted zero students. It seems there is a decent chance that the lowest ranked kid at these schools who were admitted would be ranked lower than students in the general pool. The question is whether they would be ranked lower than the students who don't get in from Longfellow, Carson, Cooper, Frost, Rocky Run, etc.

Longfellow would have had 10 seats set aside under the 1.5% formula, which means that 27 were admitted from the general pool. It's possible that the 38th most qualified kid from Longfellow, who didn't get into TJ, was better qualified omthan kids who got into TJ from other middle schools based on the 1.5% - although FCPS would now likely take the position that any kids who were admitted were more qualified than any kids who weren't, because geographical diversity within the county is itself part of what makes a kid qualified to attend TJ.

Having said all that, for AAP kids, Longfellow remains a good value proposition, as it educates kids well, places a significant # of kids at TJ (with more kids admitted on a % basis than at other similar schools with a high-performing AAP cohort, and is a feeder to one of the county's best high schools for the kids who don't end up at TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look at it the other way. Longfellow got somewhere around 30 students admitted from the general pool. Some of these schools admitted zero students. It seems there is a decent chance that the lowest ranked kid at these schools who were admitted would be ranked lower than students in the general pool. The question is whether they would be ranked lower than the students who don't get in from Longfellow, Carson, Cooper, Frost, Rocky Run, etc.

Longfellow would have had 10 seats set aside under the 1.5% formula, which means that 27 were admitted from the general pool. It's possible that the 38th most qualified kid from Longfellow, who didn't get into TJ, was better qualified omthan kids who got into TJ from other middle schools based on the 1.5% - although FCPS would now likely take the position that any kids who were admitted were more qualified than any kids who weren't, because geographical diversity within the county is itself part of what makes a kid qualified to attend TJ.

Having said all that, for AAP kids, Longfellow remains a good value proposition, as it educates kids well, places a significant # of kids at TJ (with more kids admitted on a % basis than at other similar schools with a high-performing AAP cohort, and is a feeder to one of the county's best high schools for the kids who don't end up at TJ.

Sounds like a great school provided the kids are happy and not all stressed out by crazy type-a parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look at it the other way. Longfellow got somewhere around 30 students admitted from the general pool. Some of these schools admitted zero students. It seems there is a decent chance that the lowest ranked kid at these schools who were admitted would be ranked lower than students in the general pool. The question is whether they would be ranked lower than the students who don't get in from Longfellow, Carson, Cooper, Frost, Rocky Run, etc.

Longfellow would have had 10 seats set aside under the 1.5% formula, which means that 27 were admitted from the general pool. It's possible that the 38th most qualified kid from Longfellow, who didn't get into TJ, was better qualified omthan kids who got into TJ from other middle schools based on the 1.5% - although FCPS would now likely take the position that any kids who were admitted were more qualified than any kids who weren't, because geographical diversity within the county is itself part of what makes a kid qualified to attend TJ.

Having said all that, for AAP kids, Longfellow remains a good value proposition, as it educates kids well, places a significant # of kids at TJ (with more kids admitted on a % basis than at other similar schools with a high-performing AAP cohort, and is a feeder to one of the county's best high schools for the kids who don't end up at TJ.

Sounds like a great school provided the kids are happy and not all stressed out by crazy type-a parents.

That's somewhat beyond the school's control. It's more relaxed than it was when it also had AAP kids coming into the school from another pyramid. Also, the current principal is more relaxed than his predecessor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is a rising 7th grader, will be in Algebra 1 and is generally a strong student. He will apply for TJ but if not accepted then he will be equally happy at McLean HS as well.

I am just trying to gauge realistic chances, I googled and it said 62 kids but then on this board someone mentioned 42, I would appreciate if someone can share the correct number. TIA!

Seems like Longfellow kids have some of the best odds of any school!

No... quite literally the exact opposite. If one takes a randomly chosen applicant from the FCPS pool, applying from Longfellow is one of the worst odds as there is a very, very small chance the applicant would fall in the top 1.5%. Take a randomly chosen applicant and send them from Poe MS, then there is a higher probability that they would fall into the top 1.5% of reserved seats.

You do realize that way more than 1.5% are accepted from Longfellow, don't you? Look at the above numbers.. at least 42 (or 62) were accepted from Longfellow, vastly more than 1.5%! The percentage acceptance rates are definitely one of the strongest indicators; there's a reason housing prices near the school (and its elementary school neighbor) are annoyingly expensive.

Longfellow has some of the smartest kids. They used to send 60+ kids to TJ out of 450 in the old process. Under new process it is like 40 out of 550 due to quota system. So currently that is about 5-6% of 8th graders which they get from unallocated quota. It is very competitive to get in from Longfellow

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is a rising 7th grader, will be in Algebra 1 and is generally a strong student. He will apply for TJ but if not accepted then he will be equally happy at McLean HS as well.

I am just trying to gauge realistic chances, I googled and it said 62 kids but then on this board someone mentioned 42, I would appreciate if someone can share the correct number. TIA!

Seems like Longfellow kids have some of the best odds of any school!

No... quite literally the exact opposite. If one takes a randomly chosen applicant from the FCPS pool, applying from Longfellow is one of the worst odds as there is a very, very small chance the applicant would fall in the top 1.5%. Take a randomly chosen applicant and send them from Poe MS, then there is a higher probability that they would fall into the top 1.5% of reserved seats.

The odds of getting into TJ from Longfellow were higher than from any other AAP center with a substantial number of TJ applicants, at least last year, as the prior post indicates.

There are some middle schools that only had a limited number of applicants to TJ in the Class of 2026. Schools with less than 20 applicants included Stone (11), Whitman (13), Herndon (15), Liberty (16), and Poe (17). So, depending on the number of kids at those schools who ended up admitted to TJ, either based on the 1.5% set aside or from the residual pool, the admissions rate from some of those schools likely was higher than the rate at Longfellow (26.2%). But then, if you don't get into TJ, you don't have McLean as your back-up option.

I have no idea how they determine top students at Longfellow or anywhere else. My kid is a freshman at mclean. He probably would have gotten into TJ on the old system (he just kills math tests - no idea why). He had all A’s in honors classes at Longfellow. I look at his friend group who also didn’t get into TJ and there are some strong science/math kids there. But the kids that did go to TJ also appear to be strong students - so no complaints on quality of the class. He’s having a great experience at McLean. Your kid will be fine either way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is a rising 7th grader, will be in Algebra 1 and is generally a strong student. He will apply for TJ but if not accepted then he will be equally happy at McLean HS as well.

I am just trying to gauge realistic chances, I googled and it said 62 kids but then on this board someone mentioned 42, I would appreciate if someone can share the correct number. TIA!

Seems like Longfellow kids have some of the best odds of any school!

No... quite literally the exact opposite. If one takes a randomly chosen applicant from the FCPS pool, applying from Longfellow is one of the worst odds as there is a very, very small chance the applicant would fall in the top 1.5%. Take a randomly chosen applicant and send them from Poe MS, then there is a higher probability that they would fall into the top 1.5% of reserved seats.

The odds of getting into TJ from Longfellow were higher than from any other AAP center with a substantial number of TJ applicants, at least last year, as the prior post indicates.

There are some middle schools that only had a limited number of applicants to TJ in the Class of 2026. Schools with less than 20 applicants included Stone (11), Whitman (13), Herndon (15), Liberty (16), and Poe (17). So, depending on the number of kids at those schools who ended up admitted to TJ, either based on the 1.5% set aside or from the residual pool, the admissions rate from some of those schools likely was higher than the rate at Longfellow (26.2%). But then, if you don't get into TJ, you don't have McLean as your back-up option.

I have no idea how they determine top students at Longfellow or anywhere else. My kid is a freshman at mclean. He probably would have gotten into TJ on the old system (he just kills math tests - no idea why). He had all A’s in honors classes at Longfellow. I look at his friend group who also didn’t get into TJ and there are some strong science/math kids there. But the kids that did go to TJ also appear to be strong students - so no complaints on quality of the class. He’s having a great experience at McLean. Your kid will be fine either way.

Between all the grade inflation and application gaming, it's difficult for them to differentiate students beyond a point. Regardless, I'm sure there are many equally strong opportunities available at McLean. One of my kid's is applying next year. They're a total rockstar. Won all kinds of math awards at the state level even. Straight A's in the highest track etc, but I realize it's kind of a crap shoot. Still I'm not really clear whether they'd really be better off at TJ. Their homeschool Langlely is also great so either way I'm fine with however way it goes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is a rising 7th grader, will be in Algebra 1 and is generally a strong student. He will apply for TJ but if not accepted then he will be equally happy at McLean HS as well.

I am just trying to gauge realistic chances, I googled and it said 62 kids but then on this board someone mentioned 42, I would appreciate if someone can share the correct number. TIA!

Seems like Longfellow kids have some of the best odds of any school!

No... quite literally the exact opposite. If one takes a randomly chosen applicant from the FCPS pool, applying from Longfellow is one of the worst odds as there is a very, very small chance the applicant would fall in the top 1.5%. Take a randomly chosen applicant and send them from Poe MS, then there is a higher probability that they would fall into the top 1.5% of reserved seats.

The odds of getting into TJ from Longfellow were higher than from any other AAP center with a substantial number of TJ applicants, at least last year, as the prior post indicates.

There are some middle schools that only had a limited number of applicants to TJ in the Class of 2026. Schools with less than 20 applicants included Stone (11), Whitman (13), Herndon (15), Liberty (16), and Poe (17). So, depending on the number of kids at those schools who ended up admitted to TJ, either based on the 1.5% set aside or from the residual pool, the admissions rate from some of those schools likely was higher than the rate at Longfellow (26.2%). But then, if you don't get into TJ, you don't have McLean as your back-up option.

I have no idea how they determine top students at Longfellow or anywhere else. My kid is a freshman at mclean. He probably would have gotten into TJ on the old system (he just kills math tests - no idea why). He had all A’s in honors classes at Longfellow. I look at his friend group who also didn’t get into TJ and there are some strong science/math kids there. But the kids that did go to TJ also appear to be strong students - so no complaints on quality of the class. He’s having a great experience at McLean. Your kid will be fine either way.

Between all the grade inflation and application gaming, it's difficult for them to differentiate students beyond a point. Regardless, I'm sure there are many equally strong opportunities available at McLean. One of my kid's is applying next year. They're a total rockstar. Won all kinds of math awards at the state level even. Straight A's in the highest track etc, but I realize it's kind of a crap shoot. Still I'm not really clear whether they'd really be better off at TJ. Their homeschool Langlely is also great so either way I'm fine with however way it goes.

What does "all kinds of math awards at the state level" mean? There's really only Mathcounts at the state level. There's also AMC8, which has no state level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is a rising 7th grader, will be in Algebra 1 and is generally a strong student. He will apply for TJ but if not accepted then he will be equally happy at McLean HS as well.

I am just trying to gauge realistic chances, I googled and it said 62 kids but then on this board someone mentioned 42, I would appreciate if someone can share the correct number. TIA!

Seems like Longfellow kids have some of the best odds of any school!

No... quite literally the exact opposite. If one takes a randomly chosen applicant from the FCPS pool, applying from Longfellow is one of the worst odds as there is a very, very small chance the applicant would fall in the top 1.5%. Take a randomly chosen applicant and send them from Poe MS, then there is a higher probability that they would fall into the top 1.5% of reserved seats.

The odds of getting into TJ from Longfellow were higher than from any other AAP center with a substantial number of TJ applicants, at least last year, as the prior post indicates.

There are some middle schools that only had a limited number of applicants to TJ in the Class of 2026. Schools with less than 20 applicants included Stone (11), Whitman (13), Herndon (15), Liberty (16), and Poe (17). So, depending on the number of kids at those schools who ended up admitted to TJ, either based on the 1.5% set aside or from the residual pool, the admissions rate from some of those schools likely was higher than the rate at Longfellow (26.2%). But then, if you don't get into TJ, you don't have McLean as your back-up option.

I have no idea how they determine top students at Longfellow or anywhere else. My kid is a freshman at mclean. He probably would have gotten into TJ on the old system (he just kills math tests - no idea why). He had all A’s in honors classes at Longfellow. I look at his friend group who also didn’t get into TJ and there are some strong science/math kids there. But the kids that did go to TJ also appear to be strong students - so no complaints on quality of the class. He’s having a great experience at McLean. Your kid will be fine either way.

Between all the grade inflation and application gaming, it's difficult for them to differentiate students beyond a point. Regardless, I'm sure there are many equally strong opportunities available at McLean. One of my kid's is applying next year. They're a total rockstar. Won all kinds of math awards at the state level even. Straight A's in the highest track etc, but I realize it's kind of a crap shoot. Still I'm not really clear whether they'd really be better off at TJ. Their homeschool Langlely is also great so either way I'm fine with however way it goes.

Just math awards does not get the kid to get into TJ. If you look at scoring rubric, 1/3 score is gpa, 1/3 is SPS answers, 1/3 is stem problem and writing the answer. If the kid can solve problem but is a poor writer, they won’t make it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is a rising 7th grader, will be in Algebra 1 and is generally a strong student. He will apply for TJ but if not accepted then he will be equally happy at McLean HS as well.

I am just trying to gauge realistic chances, I googled and it said 62 kids but then on this board someone mentioned 42, I would appreciate if someone can share the correct number. TIA!

Seems like Longfellow kids have some of the best odds of any school!

No... quite literally the exact opposite. If one takes a randomly chosen applicant from the FCPS pool, applying from Longfellow is one of the worst odds as there is a very, very small chance the applicant would fall in the top 1.5%. Take a randomly chosen applicant and send them from Poe MS, then there is a higher probability that they would fall into the top 1.5% of reserved seats.

The odds of getting into TJ from Longfellow were higher than from any other AAP center with a substantial number of TJ applicants, at least last year, as the prior post indicates.

There are some middle schools that only had a limited number of applicants to TJ in the Class of 2026. Schools with less than 20 applicants included Stone (11), Whitman (13), Herndon (15), Liberty (16), and Poe (17). So, depending on the number of kids at those schools who ended up admitted to TJ, either based on the 1.5% set aside or from the residual pool, the admissions rate from some of those schools likely was higher than the rate at Longfellow (26.2%). But then, if you don't get into TJ, you don't have McLean as your back-up option.

Just to illustrate, based on the number of 8th graders at various middle schools last year, and under the 1.5% set-aside formula alone:

Stone would get at least 6 seats, which means the admit rate last year was at least 54.5%.

Whitman would get at least 6 seats, which means the admit rate last year was at least 46.2%.

Herndon would get at least 8 seats, which means the admit rate last year was at least 53.3%.

Liberty would get at least 8 seats, which means the admit rate last year was at least 50%.

Poe would get at least 5 seats, which means the admit rate last year was at least 29.4%.

So the new process, combined with the low number of applicants from some middle schools, could lead some TJ chasers to avoid the big AAP middle centers and send their kids to schools that aren't AAP centers to improve their TJ odds. At some point, there should be a new equilibrium, given that people are still looking at the recent admissions data and also figuring out what types of trade-offs they are prepared to make.

+100. Thanks for digging out the numbers. There's a large misconception that "admission rate" comes from the composition of TJ's accepted class. That's wholly incorrect. Admission rate comes at the individual MS level. # of accepted applicants per total number of applicants at each individual MS is the number we should be looking at.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is a rising 7th grader, will be in Algebra 1 and is generally a strong student. He will apply for TJ but if not accepted then he will be equally happy at McLean HS as well.

I am just trying to gauge realistic chances, I googled and it said 62 kids but then on this board someone mentioned 42, I would appreciate if someone can share the correct number. TIA!

Seems like Longfellow kids have some of the best odds of any school!

No... quite literally the exact opposite. If one takes a randomly chosen applicant from the FCPS pool, applying from Longfellow is one of the worst odds as there is a very, very small chance the applicant would fall in the top 1.5%. Take a randomly chosen applicant and send them from Poe MS, then there is a higher probability that they would fall into the top 1.5% of reserved seats.

The odds of getting into TJ from Longfellow were higher than from any other AAP center with a substantial number of TJ applicants, at least last year, as the prior post indicates.

There are some middle schools that only had a limited number of applicants to TJ in the Class of 2026. Schools with less than 20 applicants included Stone (11), Whitman (13), Herndon (15), Liberty (16), and Poe (17). So, depending on the number of kids at those schools who ended up admitted to TJ, either based on the 1.5% set aside or from the residual pool, the admissions rate from some of those schools likely was higher than the rate at Longfellow (26.2%). But then, if you don't get into TJ, you don't have McLean as your back-up option.

I have no idea how they determine top students at Longfellow or anywhere else. My kid is a freshman at mclean. He probably would have gotten into TJ on the old system (he just kills math tests - no idea why). He had all A’s in honors classes at Longfellow. I look at his friend group who also didn’t get into TJ and there are some strong science/math kids there. But the kids that did go to TJ also appear to be strong students - so no complaints on quality of the class. He’s having a great experience at McLean. Your kid will be fine either way.

Between all the grade inflation and application gaming, it's difficult for them to differentiate students beyond a point. Regardless, I'm sure there are many equally strong opportunities available at McLean. One of my kid's is applying next year. They're a total rockstar. Won all kinds of math awards at the state level even. Straight A's in the highest track etc, but I realize it's kind of a crap shoot. Still I'm not really clear whether they'd really be better off at TJ. Their homeschool Langlely is also great so either way I'm fine with however way it goes.

Just math awards does not get the kid to get into TJ. If you look at scoring rubric, 1/3 score is gpa, 1/3 is SPS answers, 1/3 is stem problem and writing the answer. If the kid can solve problem but is a poor writer, they won’t make it

Either way the suggestion that the new system introduces more uncertainty into the process is correct. The net result is that people are less inclined to believe the top candidates are being admitted to TJ and more inclined to shrug when their kid doesn’t get in. Maybe that’s what FCPS wanted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is a rising 7th grader, will be in Algebra 1 and is generally a strong student. He will apply for TJ but if not accepted then he will be equally happy at McLean HS as well.

I am just trying to gauge realistic chances, I googled and it said 62 kids but then on this board someone mentioned 42, I would appreciate if someone can share the correct number. TIA!

Seems like Longfellow kids have some of the best odds of any school!

No... quite literally the exact opposite. If one takes a randomly chosen applicant from the FCPS pool, applying from Longfellow is one of the worst odds as there is a very, very small chance the applicant would fall in the top 1.5%. Take a randomly chosen applicant and send them from Poe MS, then there is a higher probability that they would fall into the top 1.5% of reserved seats.

The odds of getting into TJ from Longfellow were higher than from any other AAP center with a substantial number of TJ applicants, at least last year, as the prior post indicates.

There are some middle schools that only had a limited number of applicants to TJ in the Class of 2026. Schools with less than 20 applicants included Stone (11), Whitman (13), Herndon (15), Liberty (16), and Poe (17). So, depending on the number of kids at those schools who ended up admitted to TJ, either based on the 1.5% set aside or from the residual pool, the admissions rate from some of those schools likely was higher than the rate at Longfellow (26.2%). But then, if you don't get into TJ, you don't have McLean as your back-up option.

I have no idea how they determine top students at Longfellow or anywhere else. My kid is a freshman at mclean. He probably would have gotten into TJ on the old system (he just kills math tests - no idea why). He had all A’s in honors classes at Longfellow. I look at his friend group who also didn’t get into TJ and there are some strong science/math kids there. But the kids that did go to TJ also appear to be strong students - so no complaints on quality of the class. He’s having a great experience at McLean. Your kid will be fine either way.

Between all the grade inflation and application gaming, it's difficult for them to differentiate students beyond a point. Regardless, I'm sure there are many equally strong opportunities available at McLean. One of my kid's is applying next year. They're a total rockstar. Won all kinds of math awards at the state level even. Straight A's in the highest track etc, but I realize it's kind of a crap shoot. Still I'm not really clear whether they'd really be better off at TJ. Their homeschool Langlely is also great so either way I'm fine with however way it goes.

Just math awards does not get the kid to get into TJ. If you look at scoring rubric, 1/3 score is gpa, 1/3 is SPS answers, 1/3 is stem problem and writing the answer. If the kid can solve problem but is a poor writer, they won’t make it

Either way the suggestion that the new system introduces more uncertainty into the process is correct. The net result is that people are less inclined to believe the top candidates are being admitted to TJ and more inclined to shrug when their kid doesn’t get in. Maybe that’s what FCPS wanted.

Of course. The more opaque the admission criteria is, the less chance any kind of lawsuit has of standing up in court since there is nothing specific that can be brought up. The lawyers learned from past tiger families who challenged decisions in court.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because FCPS invokes exceptions to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act to shield certain information from disclosure, one can only determine the admissions rates to TJ for those middle schools where there were 10 or more students accepted. Of those 10 middle schools, the acceptance rates for the Class of 2026 were as follows:

Longfellow 26.2%
Carson 23.3%
Frost 23.3%
Rocky Run 22.6%
Sandburg 22.2%
Glasgow 21.3%
Twain 21.1%
Lake Braddock 17.8%
Cooper 17.4%
Kilmer 12.6%

Man... what happened to Kilmer in the last couple of years?? It used to be up there.

Many of the AAP kids at Kilmer had come from the Langley pyramid. Those kids go to Cooper now.

Otherwise hard to say. There’s a sense that Kilmer is a donut hole now when it comes to TJ - the more STEM-focused families send their kids to Longfellow but on the other hand Kilmer kids get no boost for coming from a school like Glasgow that previously had been under-represented when it came to TJ admissions. Most likely the number of applications to TJ from Kilmer will drop in the future and the admissions rate will increase.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is a rising 7th grader, will be in Algebra 1 and is generally a strong student. He will apply for TJ but if not accepted then he will be equally happy at McLean HS as well.

I am just trying to gauge realistic chances, I googled and it said 62 kids but then on this board someone mentioned 42, I would appreciate if someone can share the correct number. TIA!

Seems like Longfellow kids have some of the best odds of any school!

No... quite literally the exact opposite. If one takes a randomly chosen applicant from the FCPS pool, applying from Longfellow is one of the worst odds as there is a very, very small chance the applicant would fall in the top 1.5%. Take a randomly chosen applicant and send them from Poe MS, then there is a higher probability that they would fall into the top 1.5% of reserved seats.

The odds of getting into TJ from Longfellow were higher than from any other AAP center with a substantial number of TJ applicants, at least last year, as the prior post indicates.

There are some middle schools that only had a limited number of applicants to TJ in the Class of 2026. Schools with less than 20 applicants included Stone (11), Whitman (13), Herndon (15), Liberty (16), and Poe (17). So, depending on the number of kids at those schools who ended up admitted to TJ, either based on the 1.5% set aside or from the residual pool, the admissions rate from some of those schools likely was higher than the rate at Longfellow (26.2%). But then, if you don't get into TJ, you don't have McLean as your back-up option.

I have no idea how they determine top students at Longfellow or anywhere else. My kid is a freshman at mclean. He probably would have gotten into TJ on the old system (he just kills math tests - no idea why). He had all A’s in honors classes at Longfellow. I look at his friend group who also didn’t get into TJ and there are some strong science/math kids there. But the kids that did go to TJ also appear to be strong students - so no complaints on quality of the class. He’s having a great experience at McLean. Your kid will be fine either way.

Between all the grade inflation and application gaming, it's difficult for them to differentiate students beyond a point. Regardless, I'm sure there are many equally strong opportunities available at McLean. One of my kid's is applying next year. They're a total rockstar. Won all kinds of math awards at the state level even. Straight A's in the highest track etc, but I realize it's kind of a crap shoot. Still I'm not really clear whether they'd really be better off at TJ. Their homeschool Langlely is also great so either way I'm fine with however way it goes.

What does "all kinds of math awards at the state level" mean? There's really only Mathcounts at the state level. There's also AMC8, which has no state level.

There are multiple other tests where there are state rankings including Noetic and Math Kangeroo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is a rising 7th grader, will be in Algebra 1 and is generally a strong student. He will apply for TJ but if not accepted then he will be equally happy at McLean HS as well.

I am just trying to gauge realistic chances, I googled and it said 62 kids but then on this board someone mentioned 42, I would appreciate if someone can share the correct number. TIA!

Seems like Longfellow kids have some of the best odds of any school!

No... quite literally the exact opposite. If one takes a randomly chosen applicant from the FCPS pool, applying from Longfellow is one of the worst odds as there is a very, very small chance the applicant would fall in the top 1.5%. Take a randomly chosen applicant and send them from Poe MS, then there is a higher probability that they would fall into the top 1.5% of reserved seats.

The odds of getting into TJ from Longfellow were higher than from any other AAP center with a substantial number of TJ applicants, at least last year, as the prior post indicates.

There are some middle schools that only had a limited number of applicants to TJ in the Class of 2026. Schools with less than 20 applicants included Stone (11), Whitman (13), Herndon (15), Liberty (16), and Poe (17). So, depending on the number of kids at those schools who ended up admitted to TJ, either based on the 1.5% set aside or from the residual pool, the admissions rate from some of those schools likely was higher than the rate at Longfellow (26.2%). But then, if you don't get into TJ, you don't have McLean as your back-up option.

I have no idea how they determine top students at Longfellow or anywhere else. My kid is a freshman at mclean. He probably would have gotten into TJ on the old system (he just kills math tests - no idea why). He had all A’s in honors classes at Longfellow. I look at his friend group who also didn’t get into TJ and there are some strong science/math kids there. But the kids that did go to TJ also appear to be strong students - so no complaints on quality of the class. He’s having a great experience at McLean. Your kid will be fine either way.

Between all the grade inflation and application gaming, it's difficult for them to differentiate students beyond a point. Regardless, I'm sure there are many equally strong opportunities available at McLean. One of my kid's is applying next year. They're a total rockstar. Won all kinds of math awards at the state level even. Straight A's in the highest track etc, but I realize it's kind of a crap shoot. Still I'm not really clear whether they'd really be better off at TJ. Their homeschool Langlely is also great so either way I'm fine with however way it goes.

Just math awards does not get the kid to get into TJ. If you look at scoring rubric, 1/3 score is gpa, 1/3 is SPS answers, 1/3 is stem problem and writing the answer. If the kid can solve problem but is a poor writer, they won’t make it

Either way the suggestion that the new system introduces more uncertainty into the process is correct. The net result is that people are less inclined to believe the top candidates are being admitted to TJ and more inclined to shrug when their kid doesn’t get in. Maybe that’s what FCPS wanted.

If by uncertainty, you mean fairness then I agree.

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Anonymous wrote:DC is a rising 7th grader, will be in Algebra 1 and is generally a strong student. He will apply for TJ but if not accepted then he will be equally happy at McLean HS as well.

I am just trying to gauge realistic chances, I googled and it said 62 kids but then on this board someone mentioned 42, I would appreciate if someone can share the correct number. TIA!

Seems like Longfellow kids have some of the best odds of any school!

No... quite literally the exact opposite. If one takes a randomly chosen applicant from the FCPS pool, applying from Longfellow is one of the worst odds as there is a very, very small chance the applicant would fall in the top 1.5%. Take a randomly chosen applicant and send them from Poe MS, then there is a higher probability that they would fall into the top 1.5% of reserved seats.

The odds of getting into TJ from Longfellow were higher than from any other AAP center with a substantial number of TJ applicants, at least last year, as the prior post indicates.

There are some middle schools that only had a limited number of applicants to TJ in the Class of 2026. Schools with less than 20 applicants included Stone (11), Whitman (13), Herndon (15), Liberty (16), and Poe (17). So, depending on the number of kids at those schools who ended up admitted to TJ, either based on the 1.5% set aside or from the residual pool, the admissions rate from some of those schools likely was higher than the rate at Longfellow (26.2%). But then, if you don't get into TJ, you don't have McLean as your back-up option.

I have no idea how they determine top students at Longfellow or anywhere else. My kid is a freshman at mclean. He probably would have gotten into TJ on the old system (he just kills math tests - no idea why). He had all A’s in honors classes at Longfellow. I look at his friend group who also didn’t get into TJ and there are some strong science/math kids there. But the kids that did go to TJ also appear to be strong students - so no complaints on quality of the class. He’s having a great experience at McLean. Your kid will be fine either way.

Between all the grade inflation and application gaming, it's difficult for them to differentiate students beyond a point. Regardless, I'm sure there are many equally strong opportunities available at McLean. One of my kid's is applying next year. They're a total rockstar. Won all kinds of math awards at the state level even. Straight A's in the highest track etc, but I realize it's kind of a crap shoot. Still I'm not really clear whether they'd really be better off at TJ. Their homeschool Langlely is also great so either way I'm fine with however way it goes.

Just math awards does not get the kid to get into TJ. If you look at scoring rubric, 1/3 score is gpa, 1/3 is SPS answers, 1/3 is stem problem and writing the answer. If the kid can solve problem but is a poor writer, they won’t make it

Either way the suggestion that the new system introduces more uncertainty into the process is correct. The net result is that people are less inclined to believe the top candidates are being admitted to TJ and more inclined to shrug when their kid doesn’t get in. Maybe that’s what FCPS wanted.

If by uncertainty, you mean fairness then I agree.

I don't mean that. It's a more subjective process, borne of pandering for political gain, with a not-so-healthy dose of anti-Asian bias tossed into the mix.