Waitlisted at TJ - now what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new system has no way to measure STEM achievement or interest. It prioritized diversity of geography, disadvantaged students, special ed and English language learners. It does not distinguish between center middle schools and base middle schools thereby making it harder for kids who chose to accept aap center placement and the most rigorous curriculum to get into TJ.

There isn’t anything wrong if we allocate a portion of seats to economically disadvantaged, provided its properly identified. However, I have always been critical about how the new process discriminated against center schools.

What I really want is to correctly identify the stem intersect/talent with whatever selection process there is. It should ‘never’ be case where you (especially kids themselves) cannot explain why some got in while others who appears to be more deserving couldn’t. My kid is damn sure that he would have gotten in if his teachers had any input.

On the whole, I would say my kid is probably more surprised than disappointed by the wait list. He says there are quite a few in the similar situation as his and would have plenty of company at his base school. He just asked me if TJ exclusive course work is more important than college admissions. I said absolutely not and not even by a long shot. He seems to be happy with it and moved on with his stuff.

Last year I was a little skeptical about the efficiency of TJ admissions, but now that I have had first hand experience with my kid and his friends (I have accompanied/interacted with them to several events) , I am sure the new process is screwed up. If you haven’t already gotten it by now, I am sure it will be abundantly clear in 4 years when we learn where TJ stacks up among other schools. All I hope is this is what we really want with TJ. That’s all I have to say! Please feel to disagree and bold any sentence in my post and offer your valuable criticism.

haha. This is what my kid said about two kids (no other experience factors) who received offers from a feeder school - X got in because of race and Y must have lied about being poor otherwise there is no way X or Y could get the offer while there are many others with better grades and clearly smarter got wait listed. When I said race isn't factor my kid said it must be a lottery then as there is no other explanation.

I am sure kids who received offers are definitely above average, but its not like it used to be where we used to know well ahead that who might get into TJ and who might not. It used to be that we were rarely surprised with the kids who got into TJ though there were a very few missed out. Now, kids have no clue and its really really sad. It's like when you get a promotion and everyone thinks you must have offered personal favors. We all know promotions should always be a formality and not a surprise to anyone.

My kid just texted me about one of his bus buddy got in, who is taking algebra I in 8th and with with GPA barely enough to qualify. Owns SF home in the same community as ours, so must not be disadvantaged. This is a center school, with majority AAP and most kids taking Geo HN in 8th with not so insignificant number taking even Algebra 2 as well. Now, my kid is absolutely certain that race is a factor, otherwise there is no way his bus buddy would have gotten in - his buddy himself shocked that he got in apparently. Can anyone explain this with out race being a factor? What the hell is going on??

Kid in private school completing pre-calculus honors in 8th grade and straight As did not get in - not sure how to explain this.

Let me explain. This is the problem with private schools. Because they take $25-30k per year they teach higher level math without spending more time at grade level math. Parents think their kids are super smart bcos they are doing way complex math. These private schools should instead be spending time on some STEM activities like science bowl, science Olympiad and compete which provide students a better edge.
For example Basis participated in science Olympiad qualifying from DC and came 58th out of 60 teams that went to Nationals.
In big feeder schools kids who were part of nationals team did not make it. I don’t feel bad/sad for private

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:C4TJ did the right thing. The school board is hurting the community. Otherwise, the school board won't fail with the law-suite. TJ was merit-based and that's why students are willing to go to TJ. Making TJ worse doesn't help anybody.

DP. I agree.

I am not part of C4TJ, but they did the right thing here.

At a minimum, C4TJ exposed the current school board for the radical extremists they truly are. And they did using only the SB’s own racist and radical email to each other.

The current school board members are the villains here. That should be obvious to all by now.

Actually this statement right here just exposes you for the radical extremists that you truly are. Too late to try to sound "reasonable". You C4TJ people and supporters are on the crazy train.

#barf

nah it's crazy to take a governors school designed for the best and water it down for the sake of geographic diversity

C4TJ folks act like theirs is the only ONE TRUE DEFINITION OF MERIT, everything else is political pandering. There's no sense trying to have a reasoned discussion with them, it's their way or the highway.

I agree!

I mean, every child is gifted, in their own way - so long as you are more open minded about how giftedness should be defined. So there can be many definitions of what “merit” means.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:C4TJ did the right thing. The school board is hurting the community. Otherwise, the school board won't fail with the law-suite. TJ was merit-based and that's why students are willing to go to TJ. Making TJ worse doesn't help anybody.

DP. I agree.

I am not part of C4TJ, but they did the right thing here.

At a minimum, C4TJ exposed the current school board for the radical extremists they truly are. And they did using only the SB’s own racist and radical email to each other.

The current school board members are the villains here. That should be obvious to all by now.

Actually this statement right here just exposes you for the radical extremists that you truly are. Too late to try to sound "reasonable". You C4TJ people and supporters are on the crazy train.

nah it's crazy to take a governors school designed for the best and water it down for the sake of geographic diversity

C4TJ folks act like theirs is the only ONE TRUE DEFINITION OF MERIT, everything else is political pandering. There's no sense trying to have a reasoned discussion with them, it's their way or the highway.

I agree!

I mean, every child is gifted, in their own way - so long as you are more open minded about how giftedness should be defined. So there can be many definitions of what “merit” means.

barf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:


Let me explain. This is the problem with private schools. Because they take $25-30k per year they teach higher level math without spending more time at grade level math. Parents think their kids are super smart bcos they are doing way complex math. These private schools should instead be spending time on some STEM activities like science bowl, science Olympiad and compete which provide students a better edge.
For example Basis participated in science Olympiad qualifying from DC and came 58th out of 60 teams that went to Nationals.
In big feeder schools kids who were part of nationals team did not make it. I don’t feel bad/sad for private

NySmith does participate in the Math counts, Science bowl and Olympiads too. Last couple of years they had top positions and the kids from here make it to TJ

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new system has no way to measure STEM achievement or interest. It prioritized diversity of geography, disadvantaged students, special ed and English language learners. It does not distinguish between center middle schools and base middle schools thereby making it harder for kids who chose to accept aap center placement and the most rigorous curriculum to get into TJ.

There isn’t anything wrong if we allocate a portion of seats to economically disadvantaged, provided its properly identified. However, I have always been critical about how the new process discriminated against center schools.

What I really want is to correctly identify the stem intersect/talent with whatever selection process there is. It should ‘never’ be case where you (especially kids themselves) cannot explain why some got in while others who appears to be more deserving couldn’t. My kid is damn sure that he would have gotten in if his teachers had any input.

On the whole, I would say my kid is probably more surprised than disappointed by the wait list. He says there are quite a few in the similar situation as his and would have plenty of company at his base school. He just asked me if TJ exclusive course work is more important than college admissions. I said absolutely not and not even by a long shot. He seems to be happy with it and moved on with his stuff.

Last year I was a little skeptical about the efficiency of TJ admissions, but now that I have had first hand experience with my kid and his friends (I have accompanied/interacted with them to several events) , I am sure the new process is screwed up. If you haven’t already gotten it by now, I am sure it will be abundantly clear in 4 years when we learn where TJ stacks up among other schools. All I hope is this is what we really want with TJ. That’s all I have to say! Please feel to disagree and bold any sentence in my post and offer your valuable criticism.

haha. This is what my kid said about two kids (no other experience factors) who received offers from a feeder school - X got in because of race and Y must have lied about being poor otherwise there is no way X or Y could get the offer while there are many others with better grades and clearly smarter got wait listed. When I said race isn't factor my kid said it must be a lottery then as there is no other explanation.

I am sure kids who received offers are definitely above average, but its not like it used to be where we used to know well ahead that who might get into TJ and who might not. It used to be that we were rarely surprised with the kids who got into TJ though there were a very few missed out. Now, kids have no clue and its really really sad. It's like when you get a promotion and everyone thinks you must have offered personal favors. We all know promotions should always be a formality and not a surprise to anyone.

My kid just texted me about one of his bus buddy got in, who is taking algebra I in 8th and with with GPA barely enough to qualify. Owns SF home in the same community as ours, so must not be disadvantaged. This is a center school, with majority AAP and most kids taking Geo HN in 8th with not so insignificant number taking even Algebra 2 as well. Now, my kid is absolutely certain that race is a factor, otherwise there is no way his bus buddy would have gotten in - his buddy himself shocked that he got in apparently. Can anyone explain this with out race being a factor? What the hell is going on??

Kid in private school completing pre-calculus honors in 8th grade and straight As did not get in - not sure how to explain this.

Let me explain. This is the problem with private schools. Because they take $25-30k per year they teach higher level math without spending more time at grade level math. Parents think their kids are super smart bcos they are doing way complex math. These private schools should instead be spending time on some STEM activities like science bowl, science Olympiad and compete which provide students a better edge.
For example Basis participated in science Olympiad qualifying from DC and came 58th out of 60 teams that went to Nationals.
In big feeder schools kids who were part of nationals team did not make it. I don’t feel bad/sad for private

This is untrue. There are kids who move ahead because their understanding of abstract math is very strong and they get accelerated at every level - grade level math can become boring because they can solve it many different ways, quicker. If TJ is going ot take kids only if they go to science Olympiads and or of a particular profile (do coding, robotics etc.) and not consider truly brilliant minds, that is naturally their loss (which they wont recognize). It is wrong to discriminate location where private or under represented school if TJ wants to get the best minds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new system has no way to measure STEM achievement or interest. It prioritized diversity of geography, disadvantaged students, special ed and English language learners. It does not distinguish between center middle schools and base middle schools thereby making it harder for kids who chose to accept aap center placement and the most rigorous curriculum to get into TJ.

There isn’t anything wrong if we allocate a portion of seats to economically disadvantaged, provided its properly identified. However, I have always been critical about how the new process discriminated against center schools.

What I really want is to correctly identify the stem intersect/talent with whatever selection process there is. It should ‘never’ be case where you (especially kids themselves) cannot explain why some got in while others who appears to be more deserving couldn’t. My kid is damn sure that he would have gotten in if his teachers had any input.

On the whole, I would say my kid is probably more surprised than disappointed by the wait list. He says there are quite a few in the similar situation as his and would have plenty of company at his base school. He just asked me if TJ exclusive course work is more important than college admissions. I said absolutely not and not even by a long shot. He seems to be happy with it and moved on with his stuff.

Last year I was a little skeptical about the efficiency of TJ admissions, but now that I have had first hand experience with my kid and his friends (I have accompanied/interacted with them to several events) , I am sure the new process is screwed up. If you haven’t already gotten it by now, I am sure it will be abundantly clear in 4 years when we learn where TJ stacks up among other schools. All I hope is this is what we really want with TJ. That’s all I have to say! Please feel to disagree and bold any sentence in my post and offer your valuable criticism.

haha. This is what my kid said about two kids (no other experience factors) who received offers from a feeder school - X got in because of race and Y must have lied about being poor otherwise there is no way X or Y could get the offer while there are many others with better grades and clearly smarter got wait listed. When I said race isn't factor my kid said it must be a lottery then as there is no other explanation.

I am sure kids who received offers are definitely above average, but its not like it used to be where we used to know well ahead that who might get into TJ and who might not. It used to be that we were rarely surprised with the kids who got into TJ though there were a very few missed out. Now, kids have no clue and its really really sad. It's like when you get a promotion and everyone thinks you must have offered personal favors. We all know promotions should always be a formality and not a surprise to anyone.

My kid just texted me about one of his bus buddy got in, who is taking algebra I in 8th and with with GPA barely enough to qualify. Owns SF home in the same community as ours, so must not be disadvantaged. This is a center school, with majority AAP and most kids taking Geo HN in 8th with not so insignificant number taking even Algebra 2 as well. Now, my kid is absolutely certain that race is a factor, otherwise there is no way his bus buddy would have gotten in - his buddy himself shocked that he got in apparently. Can anyone explain this with out race being a factor? What the hell is going on??

Kid in private school completing pre-calculus honors in 8th grade and straight As did not get in - not sure how to explain this.

Let me explain. This is the problem with private schools. Because they take $25-30k per year they teach higher level math without spending more time at grade level math. Parents think their kids are super smart bcos they are doing way complex math. These private schools should instead be spending time on some STEM activities like science bowl, science Olympiad and compete which provide students a better edge.
For example Basis participated in science Olympiad qualifying from DC and came 58th out of 60 teams that went to Nationals.
In big feeder schools kids who were part of nationals team did not make it. I don’t feel bad/sad for private

This is untrue. There are kids who move ahead because their understanding of abstract math is very strong and they get accelerated at every level - grade level math can become boring because they can solve it many different ways, quicker. If TJ is going ot take kids only if they go to science Olympiads and or of a particular profile (do coding, robotics etc.) and not consider truly brilliant minds, that is naturally their loss (which they wont recognize). It is wrong to discriminate location where private or under represented school if TJ wants to get the best minds.

Just to add, I have no dog in this fight so to speak. As you say you don't have to feel bad for that kid as he will be fine!

[Anonymous]

TJ has asked parents of wait list students to either drop off the list, or confirm they want to remain.

List should be a lot smaller come next week.

Isn’t this thread supposed to be about the waitlisted students, like my 8th grader?

[Anonymous]

Does Loudoun have a per school quota or quota for the county? If someone from Loudoun declines TJ, does the spot go to the unallocated pool?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does Loudoun have a per school quota or quota for the county? If someone from Loudoun declines TJ, does the spot go to the unallocated pool?

The regulation says this:

"Each public school within Fairfax County and each cooperating school division will be presumptively allocated a number of seats equal to 1.5% of that school’s 8th grade student population (“Allocated
Seats”)"

So each school in Loudoun has its own quota, as I understand it. Therefore if someone in Loudoun declines, the seat goes to someone at the same school; if there are no students on the wait list from that school, the seat becomes unallocated.

[Anonymous]

We are also wait-listed. Just replied to remain on the waitlist.

[Anonymous]

What is next as far as dates/deadlines as of today - if we are on the waitlist?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


Let me explain. This is the problem with private schools. Because they take $25-30k per year they teach higher level math without spending more time at grade level math. Parents think their kids are super smart bcos they are doing way complex math. These private schools should instead be spending time on some STEM activities like science bowl, science Olympiad and compete which provide students a better edge.
For example Basis participated in science Olympiad qualifying from DC and came 58th out of 60 teams that went to Nationals.
In big feeder schools kids who were part of nationals team did not make it. I don’t feel bad/sad for private

NySmith does participate in the Math counts, Science bowl and Olympiads too. Last couple of years they had top positions and the kids from here make it to TJ

NySmith takes so much money kids hopefully it is worth it

[Anonymous]

Pro tip - if your child is on the waitlist, call or email and request to update their free meals questions to “yes”. It will give them another 90 experience points.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Kid in private school completing pre-calculus honors in 8th grade and straight As did not get in - not sure how to explain this.

Must have had a phenomenal essay. Or - maybe, just maybe - this is yet another made-up story designed to convince people that a problem exists where there isn't one. If the Admissions Office releases the average GPA of admitted students again and it's in the neighborhood of 3.95 again, like it was last year, then it's very likely that this story is false.

I know of at least 20 kids in Algebra 2 with all As who did not get into TJ the past two years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does Loudoun have a per school quota or quota for the county? If someone from Loudoun declines TJ, does the spot go to the unallocated pool?

The regulation says this:

"Each public school within Fairfax County and each cooperating school division will be presumptively allocated a number of seats equal to 1.5% of that school’s 8th grade student population (“Allocated
Seats”)"

So each school in Loudoun has its own quota, as I understand it. Therefore if someone in Loudoun declines, the seat goes to someone at the same school; if there are no students on the wait list from that school, the seat becomes unallocated.

1.5% of Loudoun 8th graders would be taking a lot of seats away from Fairfax schools.