TJ admissions now verifying free and reduced price meal status for successful 2026 applicants

Anonymous
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Anonymous wrote:Note to self, don’t post when tired. Sorry for the ramble above.

Slight edit….

Curies still runs a program for MS kids to prepare for TJ and other schools. It is a good deal more expensive then the regular classes for math and science. They run about $10,000 if you take the full sequence.

So yes, the prep classes are expensive.


Curie prep courses are not to prep kids for TJ but to set a strong foundation for their high school and beyond wherever they go. Not every kid who joins curie makes it to TJ. You still need lot of hard work. The teachers there are very passionate about teaching and work very hard as well. It is no different than AOPS or other courses. Curie does focus on how to answer essay questions but it is not just for TJ test but it is to teach how to structure essay answers for any kind of test/application. We being parents if we can afford should invest in kids education. If somebody is interested in Curie but can't afford, talk to them and they may be able to enrool for reduced fee or even free.....no harm in asking.


Dr. Rao, with all due respect this is false and was false during the time of the old admissions process. You ran a course that was very narrowly targeted to the exact types of exams that the old admissions process featured and your courses were informed by your old students violating their signed agreements not to discuss the exam materials.

I am curious, why is it that virtually 100% of the students whose first and last names you featured on your Facebook pages are of South Asian descent? Clearly there are students of all races who are interested in TJ - is there a reason your program seems to only seems to cater to families who share your ethnic background?


Further, if it were about enrichment, they wouldn't have been compiling a comprehensive question bank to give their students an edge with the exam. They have instead focused on concepts. Look I'm not against prep but let's stop trying to fool people by pretending it's not what it is.


Everyone knows it there was massive cheating and test scamming - that's why FCPS put an end to it. The tiger moms - the gig is up, the truth is like a lion that has been set free. Move on.


They're still ticked they can't game the admissions as easily now.


Obviously.


There's a sky high probability that the same kids who test prep for TJ admission also expend tons of time and energy into the rest of their academics.

The fantasy floating around that there's a bunch of undeserving Asian kids who only study hard for 1 test to get into TJ and "game the system" is completely delusional.


Nobody said they didnd't, but even the less affluent students who can't afford test prep do that too.


that's exactly why test prep is so critical because it confers an incredible edge to those who can afford it
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:How many kids did Curie get into TJ in 2026?


I heard 140 from one mom who is well-connected. This was after a handful of kids were removed due to free meals.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:How many kids did Curie get into TJ in 2026?


I heard 140 from one mom who is well-connected. This was after a handful of kids were removed due to free meals.


I still marvel at how brilliant and devious they were to use the free-meals question to weed out the more toxic applicants.
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Anonymous wrote:Curie results for 2026?

They got 133 in 2024 and 93 in 2025.


Curie's having 93 out of 550 seats, suggests either Fairfax didn't eliminate the preppability of admissions, or that Curie was getting a lot of students who were going to get in anyways.


What it actually means is that Curie is relatively ubiquitous among the South Asian community in Western Fairfax and Loudoun counties. If a South Asian student gets into TJ from that part of the county, there's a pretty strong chance (although it isn't 100%) that that student is a Curie product.

In each case, either the student would have gotten in anyway (which means the parents wasted their money) or the student nudged out someone else (which is why people use the "pay-to-play" term that everyone seems to hate so much).


Real pay to play is the "Varsity Blues" cases not prepping.


Remember that Varsity Blues wasn't just fake sports. It was also kids being provided with test answers, in the case of the fraudulent SAT testing protocols. That's actually a one-to-one comparison with the recent TJ scandal of kids at prep centers getting the answers ahead of time.


Such absolute lies, It is very much people like you who also attacked the capitol and killed people saying the elections were fake.


I read postings where multiple current TJ students discussed seeing the Quant Q questions ahead of time. One that comes to mind is TJ Vents on Facebook during the summer of 2020.

Were all those kids lying? I’m inclined to believe the children when they said they saw those questions ahead of time. Curie got 50 kids in the class of 2022, 80 in the class of 2023 and 120 on the Class of 2024.


So better to eliminate elections because there are a few instances of fraud?

Throw the book at Curie. Make them pay through the nose and if there is any evidence of fraud, lock up everyone responsible.

FCPS side, you can make tests that do not repeat the same questions every year. I heard there are tests like that.

There is no need to eliminate teacher recommendations. There is none. No justification. But FCPS did that.

I can also point to one clear case of fraudulent admission to TJ in the class of 2025. Teacher recommendation would have 100% caught that case. I know because the science teacher recommendation letter that they would have had to provide would be a ding.

But woke social justice warriors - the exact equivalent of Trump nut job bleach drinking retard supporters, wanted to jump on Floyd wagon and promote their agenda.

This is how you get a liberal left wing supporter to contribute and vote for Trump.




There are SAT sample questions at SAT prep classes! Maybe TJ should have put some work to put together a test with non-standard math questions...

It is so sad that such false equivalences and bad faith are being employed to pull down kids who are doing math. to favor kids who don't do the work but want to write essays. truly counterproductive for society.



This was literally the entire point of the Quant-Q. The Quant-Q is an entire exam filled with non-standard math questions that are designed to test a student's native problem-solving ability against questions that they've never seen before. It was also a secured exam that both proctors and students were required to sign an NDA for after having seen it.

It became less than useless - and indeed a confounding variable in the admissions process - when, as reported by multiple TJ students, kids memorized the questions, brought them back to Curie, and allowed Curie to create a bank of questions to inform their $5K/year prep classes.

Curie didn't do anything illegal - a few enterprising 8th graders who probably wanted to help their little brothers or sisters did. For this reason, there isn't any value in a potential investigation. But the bottom line is that Curie killed their golden goose and indirectly impacted hundreds, if not thousands, of Indian families in the process.

Never mind the damage they did to their community by releasing the lists of first and last names of the students who were admitted - and identified many of them as Loudoun County residents by indicating that they were also admitted to AOS and AET.

If you ever needed evidence that Dr. Rao was in this solely to make an easy buck off of Indian families (because remember, literally 100% of Curie TJ/AOS/AET admits are South Asian), that was it. He used them to sell his program and made millions as a result.


Quant Q by your definition is standardized. Just like SAT. Rediitt has hundreds of students sharing SAT questions after they attend the exam and prep centers help here too.
So my point remains. TJ could have come up with non-standardized tests with all the millions at their disposal.


The SATs are standardized but not secured. There is no agreement that students sign not to share the questions on the exam and the point of the SAT isn’t to test people on how they respond to question types that they haven’t seen.

Additionally, the school itself has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the admissions process.


So if school is not responsible, who is? Nobody? I have nothing to do with TJ. Just a curious onlooker.


The county. But I appreciate your confirmation that you don’t know what you’re talking about.


So who in the county is responsible specifically? Is it an external agency reporting to the county board?


If you are involved in education in this area, "the county" refers to FCPS.

FCPS operates the TJ Admissions process through an office that is solely tasked with that responsibility. The TJ Admissions Office and process is under the umbrella of the Chief Equity Officer, a position currently held by Dr. Nardos King. Dr. King, among several other positions, was formerly the principal at Mt. Vernon High School.


So the chief equity officer is responsible for the admissions test. Cool!


Sure, in a sense. She is responsible for managing the people who decide how to implement the policy adopted by the School Board.


Isn't her performance metrics different though - given that she is chief equity officer?


Seems like CEO is now Chief Equity Officer at this organization! The chief equity officer is now responsible for the admissions test. Given how she is measured, literally, equity is the key consideration, not merit. You couldn't make this up.


Why would you have to make it up? It's a resource and it makes sense for all parties involved to distribute it in a manner that promotes both excellence and equity. They're not mutually exclusive goals, as much as people on this board would make you believe that they are.


How does one enter this "equity officer" profession? I hope a generation of youth dream of becoming chief equity officers and we have a millions of them.

Imagine how much they would contribute to society!

These are all parasites in the true sense of the term. Blood sucking leaches!


No more Chief Executive Officer. Only Chief Equity officers. Let's others do the work. We will just make it equal. We have reached true dystopia. With people asking to be CEOs (chief equity officers). This is the state of America - where ambitious men and women from all the world come to make their lives better.


The point seems to be to create an infinite number of organizational scourges, who constantly look for new ways to ascribe the lack of effort of certain people to the purported shortcomings of others.


It is even worse. The point seems to punish people who work by pushing them down to be equal to someone who chooses to work less. Not trying to pull everyone up. Pushing the winners down to manufacture equity is the easy way for the chief equity officer to earn their fat salaries. The whole thing is beyond ludicrous.


I wouldn't describe it as punishing people who work at gaming the system so much as leveling the playing field so all students have an equal shot not just those who can pony up $20k for prep classes.



First off this reference to $20k without any basis is meaningless.
There are more dropout in 10th and more needing remediaal maths under this asian / immmigrant exclusion project.

Also, to use that argument to include misdirected students who till 5th grade could not qualify for cogat and could not qualify for algebra, is nothing but an extension of privilege, mostly white


I think the $20,000 is someone totaling classes at a place like Curie from Pre-K through 8th grade. The TJ Prep class is no longer on the main page, I seem to recall that one being in the SAT Prep range or a bit more expensive. I think it is crazy to call enrichment classes prep. DS does math because he likes to take math. We started in third grade, with the pandemic. We are not doing it to prep for TJ or college but we would be crazy to not acknowledge that the classes will help him compete in those areas if he chooses to do so.

Then I look at the Curie middle school programs and see the rising 8th grade class, which requires the rising 7th grade class. The one class, 8th grade, is about $5,000m for the year. The 7th grade program is over $4,000. So the 2 classes are at the $9,000 range. They are not the Algebra, Geometry, or other type of classes the offer. I would guess that these are the TJ Prep classes that people talk about.

Here is how they describe the program

“This program incorporates high-level coursework in math, English, writing, science, and critical thinking, with a focus on preparation for success in high school and college. This program will prepare students not only to pass any test for admission into specialized programs like AOS/AET and TJ, but also to succeed and even thrive in high school and later in college.”

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScu7l3Xzc4H36n7C6sFXNCuF0Kime_f_CwtGvQ2m-7e7qH-Ng/viewform

So yeah, the prep is real even if the cost of the specific program is only about 1/2 of the amount the poster is talking about.


We started in 3rd with Kumon. Then RSM in 4th, by 6th we had switched to AoPS in addition to Curie. It does add up quickly.


Think of it as an investment in kids future
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:How many kids did Curie get into TJ in 2026?


I heard 140 from one mom who is well-connected. This was after a handful of kids were removed due to free meals.


If Curie has that high success rate even with the new process without tests, it talks about the quality of education they provide and how they focus on kids learning vs preparing for a particular test. Just an FYI, my child went to curie and got into TJ but they did not practice any Heredity related questions that was asked in the STEM test. What they taught was how to structure and write the answers within 30 mins. It is a skill they need for their future.

With the new process, they have made it really hard for kids from feeder schools (Longfellow, Carson, Rocky Run, Cooper) and kids with GPA 4 have hard time getting in while kids from other schools with B grades got in. Thanks to the new 1.5% quota per school
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:How many kids did Curie get into TJ in 2026?


I heard 140 from one mom who is well-connected. This was after a handful of kids were removed due to free meals.


If Curie has that high success rate even with the new process without tests, it talks about the quality of education they provide and how they focus on kids learning vs preparing for a particular test. Just an FYI, my child went to curie and got into TJ but they did not practice any Heredity related questions that was asked in the STEM test. What they taught was how to structure and write the answers within 30 mins. It is a skill they need for their future.

With the new process, they have made it really hard for kids from feeder schools (Longfellow, Carson, Rocky Run, Cooper) and kids with GPA 4 have hard time getting in while kids from other schools with B grades got in. Thanks to the new 1.5% quota per school


I think they help the kids write essays. This isn't preparing them it's more like hiring a ghostwriter.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:How many kids did Curie get into TJ in 2026?


I heard 140 from one mom who is well-connected. This was after a handful of kids were removed due to free meals.


If Curie has that high success rate even with the new process without tests, it talks about the quality of education they provide and how they focus on kids learning vs preparing for a particular test. Just an FYI, my child went to curie and got into TJ but they did not practice any Heredity related questions that was asked in the STEM test. What they taught was how to structure and write the answers within 30 mins. It is a skill they need for their future.

With the new process, they have made it really hard for kids from feeder schools (Longfellow, Carson, Rocky Run, Cooper) and kids with GPA 4 have hard time getting in while kids from other schools with B grades got in. Thanks to the new 1.5% quota per school


#fakenews
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:How many kids did Curie get into TJ in 2026?


I heard 140 from one mom who is well-connected. This was after a handful of kids were removed due to free meals.


If Curie has that high success rate even with the new process without tests, it talks about the quality of education they provide and how they focus on kids learning vs preparing for a particular test. Just an FYI, my child went to curie and got into TJ but they did not practice any Heredity related questions that was asked in the STEM test. What they taught was how to structure and write the answers within 30 mins. It is a skill they need for their future.

With the new process, they have made it really hard for kids from feeder schools (Longfellow, Carson, Rocky Run, Cooper) and kids with GPA 4 have hard time getting in while kids from other schools with B grades got in. Thanks to the new 1.5% quota per school


#fakenews


What is fake news? Kids with B grade getting into TJ? I know kids who got in with Bs. So unfortunate that they took away seats from qualified kids from feeder schools who worked really hard in MS
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Are people already aware that there was a loophole to the verification?

Filling out the online FRM form allowed the parents to claim low income without producing documentation. The TJ Admissions office only needed confirmation that the parents had submitted the form.

This is insane.


Do all FARMS kids at all schools need to prove it with documentation? Or is it just TJ?


FARMS families have to provide documentation in order to receive FARMs. So yes, all FARMs kids have to prove it. It was a box that you could check on the TJ application and you did not have to submit documentation at the time the application was due.

You don't just call the school and say "My kid is a FARMs kid" or check a box on the form at your base school. You apply and provide the approved paperwork to your school.


You don't make a phone call. This year, there was a online form. You could easily fudge the numbers. The "approved paperwork" was hitting the submit button.


So then, there's no FARMS documentation required? Parents just self report on application (like TJ)?
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Note to self, don’t post when tired. Sorry for the ramble above.

Slight edit….

Curies still runs a program for MS kids to prepare for TJ and other schools. It is a good deal more expensive then the regular classes for math and science. They run about $10,000 if you take the full sequence.

So yes, the prep classes are expensive.


Curie prep courses are not to prep kids for TJ but to set a strong foundation for their high school and beyond wherever they go. Not every kid who joins curie makes it to TJ. You still need lot of hard work. The teachers there are very passionate about teaching and work very hard as well. It is no different than AOPS or other courses. Curie does focus on how to answer essay questions but it is not just for TJ test but it is to teach how to structure essay answers for any kind of test/application. We being parents if we can afford should invest in kids education. If somebody is interested in Curie but can't afford, talk to them and they may be able to enrool for reduced fee or even free.....no harm in asking.


Dr. Rao, with all due respect this is false and was false during the time of the old admissions process. You ran a course that was very narrowly targeted to the exact types of exams that the old admissions process featured and your courses were informed by your old students violating their signed agreements not to discuss the exam materials.

I am curious, why is it that virtually 100% of the students whose first and last names you featured on your Facebook pages are of South Asian descent? Clearly there are students of all races who are interested in TJ - is there a reason your program seems to only seems to cater to families who share your ethnic background?


Further, if it were about enrichment, they wouldn't have been compiling a comprehensive question bank to give their students an edge with the exam. They have instead focused on concepts. Look I'm not against prep but let's stop trying to fool people by pretending it's not what it is.


Everyone knows it there was massive cheating and test scamming - that's why FCPS put an end to it. The tiger moms - the gig is up, the truth is like a lion that has been set free. Move on.


They're still ticked they can't game the admissions as easily now.


Obviously.


There's a sky high probability that the same kids who test prep for TJ admission also expend tons of time and energy into the rest of their academics.

The fantasy floating around that there's a bunch of undeserving Asian kids who only study hard for 1 test to get into TJ and "game the system" is completely delusional.


Nobody said they didnd't, but even the less affluent students who can't afford test prep do that too.


Oh, like the COGAT, NNAT, SAT, and ACT tests? Should FCPS eliminate all of those too?
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:How many kids did Curie get into TJ in 2026?


I heard 140 from one mom who is well-connected. This was after a handful of kids were removed due to free meals.


Let’s wait until they publish their results. Curie can’t help patting themselves on the back, so it will only be a matter of time before they shout it from the rooftops.

If that number is in fact correct, and if as usual 100% of those admits are of South Asian descent, it would mean that approximately 95% of the Indian population in 2026 are from Curie.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:How many kids did Curie get into TJ in 2026?


I heard 140 from one mom who is well-connected. This was after a handful of kids were removed due to free meals.


If Curie has that high success rate even with the new process without tests, it talks about the quality of education they provide and how they focus on kids learning vs preparing for a particular test. Just an FYI, my child went to curie and got into TJ but they did not practice any Heredity related questions that was asked in the STEM test. What they taught was how to structure and write the answers within 30 mins. It is a skill they need for their future.

With the new process, they have made it really hard for kids from feeder schools (Longfellow, Carson, Rocky Run, Cooper) and kids with GPA 4 have hard time getting in while kids from other schools with B grades got in. Thanks to the new 1.5% quota per school


#fakenews


What is fake news? Kids with B grade getting into TJ? I know kids who got in with Bs. So unfortunate that they took away seats from qualified kids from feeder schools who worked really hard in MS


Getting a B in a class is neither evidence of being unqualified nor of not working hard in academics.
Anonymous
Why not simply offer a free test prep program through FCPS for the FARMS students?

Or could this be more about privileged parents, who can afford test prep, gaining admission advantages under the cloak of equity because volunteering, test prep, and complaining to the manager won't get their kid into TJ?
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:How many kids did Curie get into TJ in 2026?


I heard 140 from one mom who is well-connected. This was after a handful of kids were removed due to free meals.


If Curie has that high success rate even with the new process without tests, it talks about the quality of education they provide and how they focus on kids learning vs preparing for a particular test. Just an FYI, my child went to curie and got into TJ but they did not practice any Heredity related questions that was asked in the STEM test. What they taught was how to structure and write the answers within 30 mins. It is a skill they need for their future.

With the new process, they have made it really hard for kids from feeder schools (Longfellow, Carson, Rocky Run, Cooper) and kids with GPA 4 have hard time getting in while kids from other schools with B grades got in. Thanks to the new 1.5% quota per school


#fakenews


What is fake news? Kids with B grade getting into TJ? I know kids who got in with Bs. So unfortunate that they took away seats from qualified kids from feeder schools who worked really hard in MS


Yes, schools are only admitting their top kids. If these feeder schools have 90 kids with 4.0's that just tells me there's mass grade inflation, and if there's some other school, where the very top kid, has just a B average, they are still the best of the best at a place that's far more competitive. The truth is only the very best of the best at any school are getting in and wealthy parents aren't able to easily game admissions by purchasing the test answers for their children so they're angry.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Why not simply offer a free test prep program through FCPS for the FARMS students?

Or could this be more about privileged parents, who can afford test prep, gaining admission advantages under the cloak of equity because volunteering, test prep, and complaining to the manager won't get their kid into TJ?


Sure, wealthy people can purchase better and more comprehensive prep than whatever is free, giving them their edge while the free prep will provide a veneer of fairness for the poors?
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