Not really. The belief from TJ parents is that TJ students would be 1 or 2 at their base school. This kid will never have gone to TJ so she’s not included in that. |
50 minutes commute is a good time to sleep in the bus. The bus nap is become my kid routine (about 40 minutes) 😀, he said almost all kid sleep in the bus. |
🙄 You seek to be shopping for offense. It’s not a slight against the base school to say the kid would “be one of the high performers” at their base school. That doesn’t necessarily have to mean valedictorian or salutorian - just means they will more likely be in the top percentage layer at a non-TJ school. That’s just due to the fact that it is a magnet for high academic performers vs other schools have a more mixed set of kids, even very good schools. |
50 minutes actually not that bad. We live in McLean pyramid and the commute is about 35-40 minutes from depot to the door. Can you imagine kids from Loudoun or Prince William county, there are plenty of them, majority are survive and graduate. It trains their resilience. |
OP: Let your child guide the choice. They can choose to attend and if the commute is really hard on them, they can transfer to their base school. |
Buses come after the eighth period clubs. Sports/band are a different matter. |
Man, sad to hear about choir. It used to be such a wonderful program! |
Agree with this. I went to TJ and I had an hour+ commute (closer to 2 hours in the morning) from western Prince William. It was an amazing experience. DD is in 7th and we a relatively easy commute to TJ. Will not apply next year because DD would not do well with the pressure, even though academically it would be really enriching and she could keep up. |
PP who lived in western PWC and loved TJ - it does, but I refuse to commute over 30 minutes now. It's totally due to those 4 years of living on I-66. |
+1,000,000 |
Sports and classes are offered based on student interest, so if there aren't enough kids to have JV and Varsity teams or hire a teacher for choir, they won't do it. This is how it is in every school--these just happen to be the programs impacted by TJ student preference. The theatre program is actually quite robust and popular. There are a number of elective courses, including dual enrollment options at higher levels, and they've put on the same schedule of shows as every other area high school--a play, one acts, and a musical. The current theatre teacher was a long-time professor at GMU and a playwright, so I'd say they're in good hands there. RE: clubs - TJ has a gazillion. There are plenty of choices for students who don't want to do academic activities. They're just run only during 8th period, not after school, to ensure every kid can participate. Sports are the only activities that require consistent after school time. |
For those deciding between TJ and their base school, keep in mind that peer influence is a significant factor during the teen years. It can greatly impact your child’s future. At TJ, students are surrounded by high achievers, which can reduce distractions and encourage academic focus. Just my two cents. |
I heard a story that a family rented out their western fairfax home, and they rent near TJ as exchange. Some does above and beyond. |
Maybe because TJHSST is supposed to be a STEM focused school and students admitted are supposed to like activities such as Science Olympiad, math competition, science bowl,....... |
Also while many post on here that if stay at base will be too and do much better at colleges, take that with grain of salt. At TJ, there are consistently 30-40 go to ivys, MIT CalTech, 30-40 go to Tech for engineering, another 30 or more to uva, and more to William and Mary— so that’s beyond top 100 getting into TOP schools. Most other HS (with few exceptions) you see 1 to an Ivy-maybe- few if any to MIT and handfuls to rest. Which odds sound better to you if you know your kid? |