TJ Waitlist

[Anonymous]

This. Is. So. Painful.
Honestly, we are fine with a yes or a no - base is a good option for us. We just want to know already!!

[Anonymous]

Anyone have any theories about when we will hear at this point? I’m out of guesstimates. So frustrating.

[Anonymous]

The Russians are involved. Send in Mueller.

[Anonymous]

I bet this Friday after 6 PM Friday the 13th. If not I quit TJ just for the painful admission procedure

[Anonymous]

How many kids do they have on the waitlist? Do they have more than 50? Are they having to look through too many packets again to find the next group of acceptances?

[Anonymous]

Most likely it will be released on this Friday. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How many kids do they have on the waitlist? Do they have more than 50? Are they having to look through too many packets again to find the next group of acceptances?

I am thinking they are giving time for Summer round admittance as well and finding any rejections. With Loudoun county 29 rejections, any hope remaining for waitlisted kids is not going to be a waste.

[Anonymous]

Email sent out saying decisions will be released Monday at 6.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, it was a total fakeout - I thought it would be the results already!

[Anonymous]

Good luck to all. And consider the following advice from a BTDT class of 2020 WL parent.

1. Don’t sweat registration at TJ and course registration. Your kid will need to choose a language (Spanish is the hardest, Russian and Japanese are supposed to be the easiest. Kids really love the Latin teacher. Do not take Chinese. It’s how native speakers get their credit, so kids learning from scratch have problems). You will also have to choose a fine art (band/orchestra) vs. Ancient Civ vs CS. It’s an easy process.

BUT— caveat— TJ does not have counselors there in July to give good advice. You will discover that for certain senior labs, you need AP Chem sophomore year, and therefore Honors Chemistry at next summer, therefore, you must take CS freshman year. Get the list of senior lab pre-recs. if your kid has a strong interest in a specific lab, work backwards to develop a 4 year plan. Even if your kid does not know exactly what lab,work backwards. Think beyond freshman year. Your kid needs several extra classes to graduate from TJ, and it can be hard to get them all in— especially if you have a kid taking band or orchestra. So, you need a pen outline of a plan from Day 1.

2. If your kid plays an instrument and can continue, they should. Both the band and orchestra teacher have won teacher of the year in the last 3 years. Kids who do band and orchestra universally say it was hugely helpful in stress relief and finding balance and finding a great group of friends. .

3. If your kid does not do a fine art, you will have to choose between history and CS. Choose CS. It is a pre-rec of a lot of classes your kid might want down the road, and must be done by end of sophomore year.

4th history just has to be done by graduation, and there are a bunch of interesting semester long classes for upper classmen to chose from. There are also summer classes (CS is also offered summer after freshman year. All of the music kids take it then). For example, my kid has one free semester period junior year after signing up for lab pre-Rex’s, and will take Anthropology. Should have a free semester period senior year, and will take non-AP psych., he says. For a total of one year of non-AP history. If he doesn’t intern, he might go to TJ for 2.5 weeks next summer and take the 1 semester World since 1989 to finish the requirement. .

3. The process that TJ does not have in place is to get WL kids into extracurriculars that start practicing in the summer.
You want to seek this info out ASAP.

If you have a band or orchestra kid, contact the director immediately about going in to play for next years placement (in reality, there is a freshman band where 95% of kids end up. And I believe a freshman orchestra where most freshmen end up). Allison Bailey is orchestra. Adam Forman is band. Take it from someone who had a mess on their hands with the initial freshman schedule. If your kid is not placed in a specific band or orchestra by the teacher, the counselors will not register your kid for music. Stay on the teacher to get your kid placed. Even if it is into freshman band/orchestra with no audition.

Contact the band director immediately if you have a kid who might march. The commitment date has already passed, kids are already practicing, and they are writing the program. So it may or may not be possible. Get the fall sports info immediately, so you can get the physical paperwork, find out when practice starts, etc..— many start in late July.

Most other things like academic teams will not gear up until school starts.

4. Join your class’s parent FB page immediately. Have your kid follow the kids class page. Also follow TJ Vents. It’s a great insight into what is going in at the school. Also follow the Tumblr “Real Talk TJ”. Great advice from current students and alums about how TJ works. Parents can submit questions (Russian or Latin? Should my kid try to take Advanced intro CS) and you will usually get solid, common sense answers. It is a much better source of info than DCUM).

5. Get the summer homework immediately. For most kids it is the IBET book and writtten response and a RS packet. It isn’t a huge amount of work. But the IBET piece takes some time. And it is graded. So be aware it’s out there.

Sorry for the long response. But WL parents do not have the benefit of the orientation, pyramid meet and greets, etc. It can feel like being thrown in the deep end. These are some of the things I wish I had known.

Good luck to all. The nice thing is that by the second week of school (they ma pull your kid to language test the first week), there is no difference between WL and non-WL. Thy are all on equal footing.

[Anonymous]

Thank you, PP! Really appreciate the time you put into your post!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good luck to all. And consider the following advice from a BTDT class of 2020 WL parent.

1. Don’t sweat registration at TJ and course registration. Your kid will need to choose a language (Spanish is the hardest, Russian and Japanese are supposed to be the easiest. Kids really love the Latin teacher. Do not take Chinese. It’s how native speakers get their credit, so kids learning from scratch have problems). You will also have to choose a fine art (band/orchestra) vs. Ancient Civ vs CS. It’s an easy process.

BUT— caveat— TJ does not have counselors there in July to give good advice. You will discover that for certain senior labs, you need AP Chem sophomore year, and therefore Honors Chemistry at next summer, therefore, you must take CS freshman year. Get the list of senior lab pre-recs. if your kid has a strong interest in a specific lab, work backwards to develop a 4 year plan. Even if your kid does not know exactly what lab,work backwards. Think beyond freshman year. Your kid needs several extra classes to graduate from TJ, and it can be hard to get them all in— especially if you have a kid taking band or orchestra. So, you need a pen outline of a plan from Day 1.

2. If your kid plays an instrument and can continue, they should. Both the band and orchestra teacher have won teacher of the year in the last 3 years. Kids who do band and orchestra universally say it was hugely helpful in stress relief and finding balance and finding a great group of friends. .

3. If your kid does not do a fine art, you will have to choose between history and CS. Choose CS. It is a pre-rec of a lot of classes your kid might want down the road, and must be done by end of sophomore year.

4th history just has to be done by graduation, and there are a bunch of interesting semester long classes for upper classmen to chose from. There are also summer classes (CS is also offered summer after freshman year. All of the music kids take it then). For example, my kid has one free semester period junior year after signing up for lab pre-Rex’s, and will take Anthropology. Should have a free semester period senior year, and will take non-AP psych., he says. For a total of one year of non-AP history. If he doesn’t intern, he might go to TJ for 2.5 weeks next summer and take the 1 semester World since 1989 to finish the requirement. .

3. The process that TJ does not have in place is to get WL kids into extracurriculars that start practicing in the summer.
You want to seek this info out ASAP.

If you have a band or orchestra kid, contact the director immediately about going in to play for next years placement (in reality, there is a freshman band where 95% of kids end up. And I believe a freshman orchestra where most freshmen end up). Allison Bailey is orchestra. Adam Forman is band. Take it from someone who had a mess on their hands with the initial freshman schedule. If your kid is not placed in a specific band or orchestra by the teacher, the counselors will not register your kid for music. Stay on the teacher to get your kid placed. Even if it is into freshman band/orchestra with no audition.

Contact the band director immediately if you have a kid who might march. The commitment date has already passed, kids are already practicing, and they are writing the program. So it may or may not be possible. Get the fall sports info immediately, so you can get the physical paperwork, find out when practice starts, etc..— many start in late July.

Most other things like academic teams will not gear up until school starts.

4. Join your class’s parent FB page immediately. Have your kid follow the kids class page. Also follow TJ Vents. It’s a great insight into what is going in at the school. Also follow the Tumblr “Real Talk TJ”. Great advice from current students and alums about how TJ works. Parents can submit questions (Russian or Latin? Should my kid try to take Advanced intro CS) and you will usually get solid, common sense answers. It is a much better source of info than DCUM).

5. Get the summer homework immediately. For most kids it is the IBET book and writtten response and a RS packet. It isn’t a huge amount of work. But the IBET piece takes some time. And it is graded. So be aware it’s out there.

Sorry for the long response. But WL parents do not have the benefit of the orientation, pyramid meet and greets, etc. It can feel like being thrown in the deep end. These are some of the things I wish I had known.

Good luck to all. The nice thing is that by the second week of school (they ma pull your kid to language test the first week), there is no difference between WL and non-WL. Thy are all on equal footing.

This is a great post PP. Good luck to those on the WL!
love, another TJ parent

[Anonymous]

Pp, this was very helpful. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pp, this was very helpful. Thank you.

PP and no problem. Boy do I remember the never ending WL Wait/ pain. But it was worth it! It sounds like they have a lot of slots this year for WL, with just the Loudoun refusals, so good luck. WL kids as qualified as normal admits, and very capable of doing the work. My kid is not top of the class, because math is a weaker subject, and he has lower grades there. But he is holding his own in the middle of the class. Which given the peer group at TJ makes him successful in my book. Your WL kid will go in and do great too, if they are given the chance.

WL kids are in now way “less than”. They are kids who got a point or two less on the teacher rec or the essay (which is subjective). Once there, they succeed.

[Anonymous]

Hey 9:47, what is CS? Thanks.