And it is much worse today than even 10 years ago |
| Basically ivy league based on intelligence. Even if you are in the bottom half you will get into better colleges than the top half of mediocre and crap high schools. |
Northern Virginia has very few "mediocre and crap high schools." |
I must know several unicorns. I know many who love it, I know many that are okay with it and I know some that transferred because the costs were not worth the benefits and I know a few for whom it was detrimental. Jut like every other HS. |
| TJ mom here: Don't send your DC just because they were accepted. Need to have a strong interest in STEM subjects. The teachers at TJ are not the best. But it is perfect for many kids there. |
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For a lifetime, really? Any grown-up who is still living off his/her TJ acceptance/experience is just as pathetic as the high school sports star who never moved on. |
Basically, you're writing is incoherent. |
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I'll bite. I went to TJ and think it was a mistake. I (or my parents) got caught up in the arms race of achievement without me taking a real look at my interests, which were not STEM based.
I did fine and left for my base school after a year. It was not the right fit for me and I think parents are in such a rush to get the "best" for their kids they don't think through what is the "right" place for them. I have small kids now and unless they express a strong interest in STEM and have a crazy focus/executive skills, I won't push TJ. |
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If your kid really likes school and gets good grades, yes, I will recommend. Otherwise, if he is not really into school or is self-motivated, he/she will be fine at base school or TJ (if they get in.)
It is really best for people who thrive in a very challenging environment. It doesn't really open doors for you.... or rather, if you are smart enough to have doors open for you, it will happen whether you go to TJ or you go to your base school. -Graduate |
Are you paying attention parents???? |
So true. |
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Is TJ worth it? To answer that, you would need to look at kids that could have gone to TJ but didn't...and see how they did in life. I have not seen any stats on, for example, the SAT scores of admitted but did not go to TJ.
Another way to do it is to partition the 400 or so students to the base school...it is about 25 kids per HS. Assume that they are equivalent to the top 25 at each school, and see people went. How many people from TJ went to MIT? How about the rest of FCPS? |