Concerns about TJ Admissions

[Anonymous]

You could always do what I did and email the head of admissions and let her know your child’s stats. I shared all of my child’s 99th percentile test results and my child is now at TJ.

[Anonymous]

The admissions process is intentionally subjective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi OP!

I am the parent of a sophomore at TJ. My child is earning excellent grades, loves TJ, and clearly belongs there.

Please read the thread someone created about rigor at TJ, though feel free to ignore the last few pages, which devolved into the same tired bickering. I’m convinced there is a troll here in the AAP section who worked on the admissions revision and/or is part of the FCPS Chief Equity Officer, Nardos King’s 55-person department at Gatehouse.

Once you have an idea of the rigor, please discuss it and help your child decide whether to apply, with one major caveat:

- please do not push them to attend if they do not want to go to TJ.

TJ has far too many students who were forced, by their parents, to go. Don’t be that parent.

As for the revised standards, the opinions about it really don’t matter on an individual basis. They will not change in time for the next admission cycle.

If your child decides TJ is the right fit, by all means, have them apply. There is little to no guarantee of admission (unless you have the right “experience factors” which account for up to 40% of the decision).

TJ is a wonderful opportunity for the right student.

And it's is a horrible soul crushing confidence killer for the wrong student.

I am the pp to whom you responded.

While I would not have put it in such inflammatory terms, I do not wholly disagree with you.

IMO, there seem to be at least two categories of “wrong students” or rather: students who are a poor fit for what TJ offers:

1) students who truly do not want to be sent to TJ, but their, um, “tiger” or helicopter or lawnmower parent(s) force them to go to TJ against their will (these student usually hate their HS experience), and

2) students who, through no fault of their own, come from middle schools which simply do not offer the rigorous academic demands during 7th and 8th grade, to adequately prepare the candidate for one of the very top-academicly-ranked high schools in the nation. Two of my child’s teachers at TJ independently shared with me they have a student or two (unnamed, of course), who struggle by with straight Cs and Ds at TJ, as a result of how poorly they were prepared during K-8 in their base pyramid in FCPS.

While we do not need yet-another admissions-revision debate, the experiences these two teachers shared appear to confirm direct consequences of the school board artificially setting a benchmark of “offering admission” to every single MS within FCPS. It’s nice to pretend all middle schools are equal, but it is far from reality (nor is it an achievable reality, imo).

BTW, both teachers felt bad for the students struggling with Ds and Cs, and the teachers both acknowledged the students would likely be at the very top of their class at their base HS, where the academic performance standards were drastically lower than at TJ.

As a side note, while TJ does have a written policy goal for students to maintain a 3.5 gpa, it is not a requirement nor is it enforced. Rather, students below an average 3.5gpa “may” be “counseled” (ie it is a suggestion), they could benefit by returning to their base. Hence, there are a few students at the very bottom who remain at TJ for all 4 years, for reasons only they and their parents know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You could always do what I did and email the head of admissions and let her know your child’s stats. I shared all of my child’s 99th percentile test results and my child is now at TJ.

Terrible idea, which could well work AGAINST your child getting in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You could always do what I did and email the head of admissions and let her know your child’s stats. I shared all of my child’s 99th percentile test results and my child is now at TJ.

Terrible idea, which could well work AGAINST your child getting in.

+1.

One of the admissions officer told me that tj really hates it when parents are pushy in this way.

I would not risk it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You could always do what I did and email the head of admissions and let her know your child’s stats. I shared all of my child’s 99th percentile test results and my child is now at TJ.

Terrible idea, which could well work AGAINST your child getting in.

+1.

One of the admissions officer told me that tj really hates it when parents are pushy in this way.

I would not risk it.

One admission officer told me they are being forced to achieve a predetermined diversity composition and parents have no idea on what criteria their student is being selected on. They only realize later after already struggling with Cs and Ds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi OP!

I am the parent of a sophomore at TJ. My child is earning excellent grades, loves TJ, and clearly belongs there.

Please read the thread someone created about rigor at TJ, though feel free to ignore the last few pages, which devolved into the same tired bickering. I’m convinced there is a troll here in the AAP section who worked on the admissions revision and/or is part of the FCPS Chief Equity Officer, Nardos King’s 55-person department at Gatehouse.

Once you have an idea of the rigor, please discuss it and help your child decide whether to apply, with one major caveat:

- please do not push them to attend if they do not want to go to TJ.

TJ has far too many students who were forced, by their parents, to go. Don’t be that parent.

As for the revised standards, the opinions about it really don’t matter on an individual basis. They will not change in time for the next admission cycle.

If your child decides TJ is the right fit, by all means, have them apply. There is little to no guarantee of admission (unless you have the right “experience factors” which account for up to 40% of the decision).

TJ is a wonderful opportunity for the right student.

And it's is a horrible soul crushing confidence killer for the wrong student.

This is an often overlooked cost.

Everybody frames the cost as some rich smart kids not being put in a rigorous environment that they think they are entitled to. Theya re rich and smart they will be fine

Putting aside how shitty a person you have to be to believe this is OK, you are also ignoring the kids who are unprepared for TJ and go there only to drown there but by the end of their freshman year, they cannot bear the thought of going back to their base school with their tail between their legs. So they gut it out at TJ with Bs and Cs with a few As and Ds mixed in, go to NOVA and get into UVA through the back door...maybe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi OP!

I am the parent of a sophomore at TJ. My child is earning excellent grades, loves TJ, and clearly belongs there.

Please read the thread someone created about rigor at TJ, though feel free to ignore the last few pages, which devolved into the same tired bickering. I’m convinced there is a troll here in the AAP section who worked on the admissions revision and/or is part of the FCPS Chief Equity Officer, Nardos King’s 55-person department at Gatehouse.

Once you have an idea of the rigor, please discuss it and help your child decide whether to apply, with one major caveat:

- please do not push them to attend if they do not want to go to TJ.

TJ has far too many students who were forced, by their parents, to go. Don’t be that parent.

As for the revised standards, the opinions about it really don’t matter on an individual basis. They will not change in time for the next admission cycle.

If your child decides TJ is the right fit, by all means, have them apply. There is little to no guarantee of admission (unless you have the right “experience factors” which account for up to 40% of the decision).

TJ is a wonderful opportunity for the right student.

And it's is a horrible soul crushing confidence killer for the wrong student.

I am the pp to whom you responded.

While I would not have put it in such inflammatory terms, I do not wholly disagree with you.

IMO, there seem to be at least two categories of “wrong students” or rather: students who are a poor fit for what TJ offers:

1) students who truly do not want to be sent to TJ, but their, um, “tiger” or helicopter or lawnmower parent(s) force them to go to TJ against their will (these student usually hate their HS experience), and

2) students who, through no fault of their own, come from middle schools which simply do not offer the rigorous academic demands during 7th and 8th grade, to adequately prepare the candidate for one of the very top-academicly-ranked high schools in the nation. Two of my child’s teachers at TJ independently shared with me they have a student or two (unnamed, of course), who struggle by with straight Cs and Ds at TJ, as a result of how poorly they were prepared during K-8 in their base pyramid in FCPS.

While we do not need yet-another admissions-revision debate, the experiences these two teachers shared appear to confirm direct consequences of the school board artificially setting a benchmark of “offering admission” to every single MS within FCPS. It’s nice to pretend all middle schools are equal, but it is far from reality (nor is it an achievable reality, imo).

BTW, both teachers felt bad for the students struggling with Ds and Cs, and the teachers both acknowledged the students would likely be at the very top of their class at their base HS, where the academic performance standards were drastically lower than at TJ.

As a side note, while TJ does have a written policy goal for students to maintain a 3.5 gpa, it is not a requirement nor is it enforced. Rather, students below an average 3.5gpa “may” be “counseled” (ie it is a suggestion), they could benefit by returning to their base. Hence, there are a few students at the very bottom who remain at TJ for all 4 years, for reasons only they and their parents know.

I think Bonitatibus used to counsel students to stay and guy it out with extra support and tutoring because they were losing so many kids after freshman year.
It has gotten to the point where some middle schools no longer try to send kids to TJ because the results have been so bad.
I think the admissions committee has stopped weighing the experience factors as heavily as they used to and so there aren't as many grossly underprepared kids as there were for the class of 2025.
They need a standardized test so at least some of the kids at the under-represented schools can have some gauge to determine if they are prepared for a place like TJ.
Right now if you go to a place like Twain and you don't know how you stack up against other TJ students, you are not really as eager to go as you might be if you knew you were at or above the median test score of previous admitted classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You could always do what I did and email the head of admissions and let her know your child’s stats. I shared all of my child’s 99th percentile test results and my child is now at TJ.

Terrible idea, which could well work AGAINST your child getting in.

+1.

One of the admissions officer told me that tj really hates it when parents are pushy in this way.

I would not risk it.

One admission officer told me they are being forced to achieve a predetermined diversity composition and parents have no idea on what criteria their student is being selected on. They only realize later after already struggling with Cs and Ds.

I hate the new admissions process but I highly doubt that there is a predetermined diversity composition. That is so clearly illegal that it's more than a lawsuit, it's an invitation to have the next republican governor come in and take over the process.

[Anonymous]

You can have concerns about TJ admissions but you can’t change it so just make sure your kid is prepared for the test and understands the pros and cons of attending TJ

As for the students whose base schools did not prepare them, I think TJ should take responsibility for getting those kids the remedial help they need. Clearly those kids are motivated. Teachers should not be accepting that those kids are destined to do poorly - they need additional supports and help and maybe there need to be some lower level classes for freshman available in certain subjects.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You could always do what I did and email the head of admissions and let her know your child’s stats. I shared all of my child’s 99th percentile test results and my child is now at TJ.

Terrible idea, which could well work AGAINST your child getting in.

+1.

One of the admissions officer told me that tj really hates it when parents are pushy in this way.

I would not risk it.

One admission officer told me they are being forced to achieve a predetermined diversity composition and parents have no idea on what criteria their student is being selected on. They only realize later after already struggling with Cs and Ds.

Yeah that didn't happen. There aren't "admission officers". There are 2.5 positions in that office.

[Anonymous]

NP: which middle schools do (or don’t) have the academic /STEM rigor to prepare interested kids for potential TJ path? Is there a record anywhere or how many kids come from each middle school each year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi OP!

I am the parent of a sophomore at TJ. My child is earning excellent grades, loves TJ, and clearly belongs there.

Please read the thread someone created about rigor at TJ, though feel free to ignore the last few pages, which devolved into the same tired bickering. I’m convinced there is a troll here in the AAP section who worked on the admissions revision and/or is part of the FCPS Chief Equity Officer, Nardos King’s 55-person department at Gatehouse.

Once you have an idea of the rigor, please discuss it and help your child decide whether to apply, with one major caveat:

- please do not push them to attend if they do not want to go to TJ.

TJ has far too many students who were forced, by their parents, to go. Don’t be that parent.

As for the revised standards, the opinions about it really don’t matter on an individual basis. They will not change in time for the next admission cycle.

If your child decides TJ is the right fit, by all means, have them apply. There is little to no guarantee of admission (unless you have the right “experience factors” which account for up to 40% of the decision).

TJ is a wonderful opportunity for the right student.

And it's is a horrible soul crushing confidence killer for the wrong student.

I am the pp to whom you responded.

While I would not have put it in such inflammatory terms, I do not wholly disagree with you.

IMO, there seem to be at least two categories of “wrong students” or rather: students who are a poor fit for what TJ offers:

1) students who truly do not want to be sent to TJ, but their, um, “tiger” or helicopter or lawnmower parent(s) force them to go to TJ against their will (these student usually hate their HS experience), and

2) students who, through no fault of their own, come from middle schools which simply do not offer the rigorous academic demands during 7th and 8th grade, to adequately prepare the candidate for one of the very top-academicly-ranked high schools in the nation. Two of my child’s teachers at TJ independently shared with me they have a student or two (unnamed, of course), who struggle by with straight Cs and Ds at TJ, as a result of how poorly they were prepared during K-8 in their base pyramid in FCPS.

While we do not need yet-another admissions-revision debate, the experiences these two teachers shared appear to confirm direct consequences of the school board artificially setting a benchmark of “offering admission” to every single MS within FCPS. It’s nice to pretend all middle schools are equal, but it is far from reality (nor is it an achievable reality, imo).

BTW, both teachers felt bad for the students struggling with Ds and Cs, and the teachers both acknowledged the students would likely be at the very top of their class at their base HS, where the academic performance standards were drastically lower than at TJ.

As a side note, while TJ does have a written policy goal for students to maintain a 3.5 gpa, it is not a requirement nor is it enforced. Rather, students below an average 3.5gpa “may” be “counseled” (ie it is a suggestion), they could benefit by returning to their base. Hence, there are a few students at the very bottom who remain at TJ for all 4 years, for reasons only they and their parents know.

Are there any middle schools which don't offer algebra 1 in 7th and geometry in 8th?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi OP!

I am the parent of a sophomore at TJ. My child is earning excellent grades, loves TJ, and clearly belongs there.

Please read the thread someone created about rigor at TJ, though feel free to ignore the last few pages, which devolved into the same tired bickering. I’m convinced there is a troll here in the AAP section who worked on the admissions revision and/or is part of the FCPS Chief Equity Officer, Nardos King’s 55-person department at Gatehouse.

Once you have an idea of the rigor, please discuss it and help your child decide whether to apply, with one major caveat:

- please do not push them to attend if they do not want to go to TJ.

TJ has far too many students who were forced, by their parents, to go. Don’t be that parent.

As for the revised standards, the opinions about it really don’t matter on an individual basis. They will not change in time for the next admission cycle.

If your child decides TJ is the right fit, by all means, have them apply. There is little to no guarantee of admission (unless you have the right “experience factors” which account for up to 40% of the decision).

TJ is a wonderful opportunity for the right student.

And it's is a horrible soul crushing confidence killer for the wrong student.

I am the pp to whom you responded.

While I would not have put it in such inflammatory terms, I do not wholly disagree with you.

IMO, there seem to be at least two categories of “wrong students” or rather: students who are a poor fit for what TJ offers:

1) students who truly do not want to be sent to TJ, but their, um, “tiger” or helicopter or lawnmower parent(s) force them to go to TJ against their will (these student usually hate their HS experience), and

2) students who, through no fault of their own, come from middle schools which simply do not offer the rigorous academic demands during 7th and 8th grade, to adequately prepare the candidate for one of the very top-academicly-ranked high schools in the nation. Two of my child’s teachers at TJ independently shared with me they have a student or two (unnamed, of course), who struggle by with straight Cs and Ds at TJ, as a result of how poorly they were prepared during K-8 in their base pyramid in FCPS.

While we do not need yet-another admissions-revision debate, the experiences these two teachers shared appear to confirm direct consequences of the school board artificially setting a benchmark of “offering admission” to every single MS within FCPS. It’s nice to pretend all middle schools are equal, but it is far from reality (nor is it an achievable reality, imo).

BTW, both teachers felt bad for the students struggling with Ds and Cs, and the teachers both acknowledged the students would likely be at the very top of their class at their base HS, where the academic performance standards were drastically lower than at TJ.

As a side note, while TJ does have a written policy goal for students to maintain a 3.5 gpa, it is not a requirement nor is it enforced. Rather, students below an average 3.5gpa “may” be “counseled” (ie it is a suggestion), they could benefit by returning to their base. Hence, there are a few students at the very bottom who remain at TJ for all 4 years, for reasons only they and their parents know.

Did they share which based pyramid this was?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi OP!

I am the parent of a sophomore at TJ. My child is earning excellent grades, loves TJ, and clearly belongs there.

Please read the thread someone created about rigor at TJ, though feel free to ignore the last few pages, which devolved into the same tired bickering. I’m convinced there is a troll here in the AAP section who worked on the admissions revision and/or is part of the FCPS Chief Equity Officer, Nardos King’s 55-person department at Gatehouse.

Once you have an idea of the rigor, please discuss it and help your child decide whether to apply, with one major caveat:

- please do not push them to attend if they do not want to go to TJ.

TJ has far too many students who were forced, by their parents, to go. Don’t be that parent.

As for the revised standards, the opinions about it really don’t matter on an individual basis. They will not change in time for the next admission cycle.

If your child decides TJ is the right fit, by all means, have them apply. There is little to no guarantee of admission (unless you have the right “experience factors” which account for up to 40% of the decision).

TJ is a wonderful opportunity for the right student.

And it's is a horrible soul crushing confidence killer for the wrong student.

This is an often overlooked cost.

Everybody frames the cost as some rich smart kids not being put in a rigorous environment that they think they are entitled to. Theya re rich and smart they will be fine

By this logic, we should just shut down TJ, since all the students who belong there would be "fine" elsewhere.