TJ vs Southlakes for UVA

[Anonymous]

Is South lakes IB a good program? Is it a comparable school to Chantilly or Oakton for STEM oriented kids?

How do the college outcomes compare? My kid is hardworking and quite smart.

We are torn between moving to a different high school area vs staying put in SLHS. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Though colleges claim they weight students against others from their school, they also really care about the GPA number as they report that average for rankings. It’s easier to be at the top of the class and a perfect GPA from south lakes. I would no longer send my child to a competitive test public or rigorous private school for high school as colleges have shifted what they value in action, not out loud. The top schools are now hurting kids who aren’t top kids at the top privates even if those children are stronger than the top kids at less rigorous schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA website tells me they don’t have school specific quotas “While we do seek to maintain a 2/3 majority of Virginians in our student population, we do not have quotas for specific high schools, towns, counties, or regions.”

UVA says all sorts of things that aren’t true.

OP, it will be easier to get in from his base (if he does well there). You don’t go to TJ for college admissions. It is mich harder to get in from there. You go for the education. My 4.3, 1580 kid was rejected from UVA from TJ but he loved TJ and is very happy where he ended up.

PP, where is your TJ kid accepted?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Though colleges claim they weight students against others from their school, they also really care about the GPA number as they report that average for rankings. It’s easier to be at the top of the class and a perfect GPA from south lakes. I would no longer send my child to a competitive test public or rigorous private school for high school as colleges have shifted what they value in action, not out loud. The top schools are now hurting kids who aren’t top kids at the top privates even if those children are stronger than the top kids at less rigorous schools.

GPA isn't a factor in US News. Nor is rank.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UVa Engineering School is fairly small. Long ago, it was maybe 2000-2200 undergrads, now probably closer to 3000 (still small). You can look up the actual number. Engineering has its own undergrad admissions pool, which is separate from A&S, Architecture, Data Science and Nursing. Partly because of its small size, UVa SEAS admissions always has been competitive.

VT has a MUCH larger E School, purely as a size contrast.

UVA engineering stats/percent submitting are considerably higher than the College of Arts & Sciences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Though colleges claim they weight students against others from their school, they also really care about the GPA number as they report that average for rankings. It’s easier to be at the top of the class and a perfect GPA from south lakes. I would no longer send my child to a competitive test public or rigorous private school for high school as colleges have shifted what they value in action, not out loud. The top schools are now hurting kids who aren’t top kids at the top privates even if those children are stronger than the top kids at less rigorous schools.

Omg this last line. Give me a break. How in the world do you even have this level of entitlement?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVa Engineering School is fairly small. Long ago, it was maybe 2000-2200 undergrads, now probably closer to 3000 (still small). You can look up the actual number. Engineering has its own undergrad admissions pool, which is separate from A&S, Architecture, Data Science and Nursing. Partly because of its small size, UVa SEAS admissions always has been competitive.

VT has a MUCH larger E School, purely as a size contrast.

UVA engineering stats/percent submitting are considerably higher than the College of Arts & Sciences.

Can you see this breakdown in the state data?

[Anonymous]

Ours had the same choice, opted to stay at base HS, and got into UVA (not CS though). Two of his close friends went to TJ, ED'd UVA and both rejected. Just an anecdote - obviously lots of TJ kids get into UVA - but I suspect it is easier from your base school if a VA public university is your goal. There is no definitive answer here because no one person can do both options and see the results. There will be better more interesting CS class options at TJ so if your kid goes there and does well they will probably be better prepared.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UVA website tells me they don’t have school specific quotas “While we do seek to maintain a 2/3 majority of Virginians in our student population, we do not have quotas for specific high schools, towns, counties, or regions.”

Yet another lie from UVA AO's. All of the breakdowns for admits to UVA and every other public college and Univesity is available at SCHEV. There are entire counties which send not a single student to UVA - those are the ones that the current UVA president is going after. You have a HUGE benefit in applying from any other county than Fairfax.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are zoned for South lakes high, but DS got admitted to TJ and he accepted.

His dream is to go to UVA for computer engineering. Heard from some friends today that it might be easier to get admitted to UVA from South lakes than TJ because of the competition at TJ.

Is this true? Is he going to be better off at South lakes for UVA or Virginia Tech for computer engineering? Thanks!

A TJ quality kid, assuming he excels academically at a base HS, will have excellent college outcomes. I know kids that just missed TJ (second round), went to base HS and ended up at Ivies. A ton of top kids at TJ who end up at UVA or t15+ schools could have made it into the Ivies/T10 had they gone to base HS.

However, a TJ education (assuming that's what the kid wants) is deep and difficult. It allows your kid to specialize in a subject area if they so choose. Every subject (even language) is taught at a higher level and is harder at TJ. Their college outcomes are also excellent. In all honesty, UVA is on the border when it comes to 'college greatness'. A strong TJ kid will get enough merit to match UVA's cost at UMD or Northeastern. The first year of college will be a breeze for most TJ kids and subsequent years will be easier as well.

You guys need to determine what's important to you.

TL/DR: If you are focused on a UVA admit, go with South Lakes. If your kid is academically focused, go with TJ. You can always transfer to UVA after freshman year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ours had the same choice, opted to stay at base HS, and got into UVA (not CS though). Two of his close friends went to TJ, ED'd UVA and both rejected. Just an anecdote - obviously lots of TJ kids get into UVA - but I suspect it is easier from your base school if a VA public university is your goal. There is no definitive answer here because no one person can do both options and see the results. There will be better more interesting CS class options at TJ so if your kid goes there and does well they will probably be better prepared.

Thanks. Was your base SLHS too? How is the IB track?

[Anonymous]

My TJ kid worked their butt off to be in top 10% of GPA and was rejected by UVA. They were accepted by a top10 national university and several SLACs though. If your kid’s goal is UVA, do not send them to TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ours had the same choice, opted to stay at base HS, and got into UVA (not CS though). Two of his close friends went to TJ, ED'd UVA and both rejected. Just an anecdote - obviously lots of TJ kids get into UVA - but I suspect it is easier from your base school if a VA public university is your goal. There is no definitive answer here because no one person can do both options and see the results. There will be better more interesting CS class options at TJ so if your kid goes there and does well they will probably be better prepared.

Thanks. Was your base SLHS too? How is the IB track?

I am not that PP but my DS is in the IB program at SLHS. What do you want to know about it? I'd say DS is working hard but is not overworked, and he's learning a lot. The amount of writing he has to do does not seem excessive to me contrary to what a lot of people say about IB.

He has friends who are graduating this year who are doing IB and got into UVA and VT.

As for "It’s easier to be at the top of the class and a perfect GPA from south lakes" - ok, yeah, TJ is a great school and you have to test to get into it, but I assure you there are plenty of smart kids at SLHS. South Lakes sends kids to top schools every year, including Ivy League, Carnegie Mellon, MIT, etc. Don't assume they're all dummies who can't compete with TJ kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA website tells me they don’t have school specific quotas “While we do seek to maintain a 2/3 majority of Virginians in our student population, we do not have quotas for specific high schools, towns, counties, or regions.”

Yet another lie from UVA AO's. All of the breakdowns for admits to UVA and every other public college and Univesity is available at SCHEV. There are entire counties which send not a single student to UVA - those are the ones that the current UVA president is going after. You have a HUGE benefit in applying from any other county than Fairfax.

Doesn't the fact that some counties have no students there support the idea that they don't have quotas?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ours had the same choice, opted to stay at base HS, and got into UVA (not CS though). Two of his close friends went to TJ, ED'd UVA and both rejected. Just an anecdote - obviously lots of TJ kids get into UVA - but I suspect it is easier from your base school if a VA public university is your goal. There is no definitive answer here because no one person can do both options and see the results. There will be better more interesting CS class options at TJ so if your kid goes there and does well they will probably be better prepared.

Thanks. Was your base SLHS too? How is the IB track?

No, different FCPS school.