Rigor at TJ compared to regular FCPS high Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Remember the wealthy in McLean and Langley wouldn't be at UVA either.

Yes, they would also not make the cut and likely go to some mediocre private school.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think TJ is more rigorous in general than UVA especially for the top 10%.

TJ is more rigorous than all but a select handful of colleges in the country. When it comes specifically to undergrad work in STEM, TJ outpaces basically everyone except MIT and Caltech. At any other school TJ students will routinely report that college is easier.

Even MIT and Caltech gets impressed at the mention of TJ. The difficulty level at TJ is so high that course handouts come with warning labels: "Caution: Contents may induce spontaneous brain combustion." TJ students dont just study physics; they're trying to decipher the secrets of the universe while simultaneously figuring out how to operate a microwave without blowing up the entire building. In chemistry, they've concocted potions that could either win them a Nobel Prize or turn their classmates into frogs. In biology, they spend so much time peering into microscopes that they forever see double every time they look at a regular-sized object. And in calculus they solve such complex mathematical equations that teachers bring in university professors to help grade them.

Serious question: What were you hoping to accomplish with this reply?

We may never know! But we can have a little fun, can we not?

Comparing high school rigor even if it's TJ to college-level courses is like comparing a kiddie pool to the Mariana Trench. At TJ, students are navigating the shallow waters of Calculus BC and maybe multivariable calculus, while a ranked college hits them with the tidal wave of quantum physics with applied calculus. It's like trying to go from driving a big boy bicycle to piloting a spaceship to Mars. TJ is like the kiddie menu or an adult meal at a corner restaurant, and college is the five-course chef's tasting menu at a Michelin-starred restaurant – and you better believe it comes with a hefty bill of late-night & weekend cramming and existential crises.

You don't know what you're talking about. Ask just about any TJ student (except for the ones who attend the schools I mentioned) and they will tell you that college was FAR easier than TJ.

The material is more challenging (or at least more advanced) in college, but the workload, the level of time stress, and the exam pressure is FAR less.

That's not really unique to TJ. Our IB kids that come back to visit report that the IB diploma was far more work than their first two years of college.

Maybe your IB kid went to place like Uva - only the bottom 20% of TJ grads even consider Uva.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think TJ is more rigorous in general than UVA especially for the top 10%.

TJ is more rigorous than all but a select handful of colleges in the country. When it comes specifically to undergrad work in STEM, TJ outpaces basically everyone except MIT and Caltech. At any other school TJ students will routinely report that college is easier.

Even MIT and Caltech gets impressed at the mention of TJ. The difficulty level at TJ is so high that course handouts come with warning labels: "Caution: Contents may induce spontaneous brain combustion." TJ students dont just study physics; they're trying to decipher the secrets of the universe while simultaneously figuring out how to operate a microwave without blowing up the entire building. In chemistry, they've concocted potions that could either win them a Nobel Prize or turn their classmates into frogs. In biology, they spend so much time peering into microscopes that they forever see double every time they look at a regular-sized object. And in calculus they solve such complex mathematical equations that teachers bring in university professors to help grade them.

Serious question: What were you hoping to accomplish with this reply?

We may never know! But we can have a little fun, can we not?

Comparing high school rigor even if it's TJ to college-level courses is like comparing a kiddie pool to the Mariana Trench. At TJ, students are navigating the shallow waters of Calculus BC and maybe multivariable calculus, while a ranked college hits them with the tidal wave of quantum physics with applied calculus. It's like trying to go from driving a big boy bicycle to piloting a spaceship to Mars. TJ is like the kiddie menu or an adult meal at a corner restaurant, and college is the five-course chef's tasting menu at a Michelin-starred restaurant – and you better believe it comes with a hefty bill of late-night & weekend cramming and existential crises.

You don't know what you're talking about. Ask just about any TJ student (except for the ones who attend the schools I mentioned) and they will tell you that college was FAR easier than TJ.

The material is more challenging (or at least more advanced) in college, but the workload, the level of time stress, and the exam pressure is FAR less.

That's not really unique to TJ. Our IB kids that come back to visit report that the IB diploma was far more work than their first two years of college.

PP. Given what I've heard from the IB program at places like Marshall and Justice, I absolutely believe that. Undergraduate college work isn't as hard as a lot of people make it out to be, even at the so-called "elite" schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think TJ is more rigorous in general than UVA especially for the top 10%.

TJ is more rigorous than all but a select handful of colleges in the country. When it comes specifically to undergrad work in STEM, TJ outpaces basically everyone except MIT and Caltech. At any other school TJ students will routinely report that college is easier.

Even MIT and Caltech gets impressed at the mention of TJ. The difficulty level at TJ is so high that course handouts come with warning labels: "Caution: Contents may induce spontaneous brain combustion." TJ students dont just study physics; they're trying to decipher the secrets of the universe while simultaneously figuring out how to operate a microwave without blowing up the entire building. In chemistry, they've concocted potions that could either win them a Nobel Prize or turn their classmates into frogs. In biology, they spend so much time peering into microscopes that they forever see double every time they look at a regular-sized object. And in calculus they solve such complex mathematical equations that teachers bring in university professors to help grade them.

Serious question: What were you hoping to accomplish with this reply?

We may never know! But we can have a little fun, can we not?

Comparing high school rigor even if it's TJ to college-level courses is like comparing a kiddie pool to the Mariana Trench. At TJ, students are navigating the shallow waters of Calculus BC and maybe multivariable calculus, while a ranked college hits them with the tidal wave of quantum physics with applied calculus. It's like trying to go from driving a big boy bicycle to piloting a spaceship to Mars. TJ is like the kiddie menu or an adult meal at a corner restaurant, and college is the five-course chef's tasting menu at a Michelin-starred restaurant – and you better believe it comes with a hefty bill of late-night & weekend cramming and existential crises.

You don't know what you're talking about. Ask just about any TJ student (except for the ones who attend the schools I mentioned) and they will tell you that college was FAR easier than TJ.

The material is more challenging (or at least more advanced) in college, but the workload, the level of time stress, and the exam pressure is FAR less.

That's not really unique to TJ. Our IB kids that come back to visit report that the IB diploma was far more work than their first two years of college.

Maybe your IB kid went to place like Uva - only the bottom 20% of TJ grads even consider Uva.

This is false. In recent years a student would have to be at least in the top 30-40% of the class at TJ to have a shot at UVA... and the top 20% to get in ED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think TJ is more rigorous in general than UVA especially for the top 10%.

TJ is more rigorous than all but a select handful of colleges in the country. When it comes specifically to undergrad work in STEM, TJ outpaces basically everyone except MIT and Caltech. At any other school TJ students will routinely report that college is easier.

Even MIT and Caltech gets impressed at the mention of TJ. The difficulty level at TJ is so high that course handouts come with warning labels: "Caution: Contents may induce spontaneous brain combustion." TJ students dont just study physics; they're trying to decipher the secrets of the universe while simultaneously figuring out how to operate a microwave without blowing up the entire building. In chemistry, they've concocted potions that could either win them a Nobel Prize or turn their classmates into frogs. In biology, they spend so much time peering into microscopes that they forever see double every time they look at a regular-sized object. And in calculus they solve such complex mathematical equations that teachers bring in university professors to help grade them.

Serious question: What were you hoping to accomplish with this reply?

We may never know! But we can have a little fun, can we not?

Comparing high school rigor even if it's TJ to college-level courses is like comparing a kiddie pool to the Mariana Trench. At TJ, students are navigating the shallow waters of Calculus BC and maybe multivariable calculus, while a ranked college hits them with the tidal wave of quantum physics with applied calculus. It's like trying to go from driving a big boy bicycle to piloting a spaceship to Mars. TJ is like the kiddie menu or an adult meal at a corner restaurant, and college is the five-course chef's tasting menu at a Michelin-starred restaurant – and you better believe it comes with a hefty bill of late-night & weekend cramming and existential crises.

You don't know what you're talking about. Ask just about any TJ student (except for the ones who attend the schools I mentioned) and they will tell you that college was FAR easier than TJ.

The material is more challenging (or at least more advanced) in college, but the workload, the level of time stress, and the exam pressure is FAR less.

That's not really unique to TJ. Our IB kids that come back to visit report that the IB diploma was far more work than their first two years of college.

Maybe your IB kid went to place like Uva - only the bottom 20% of TJ grads even consider Uva.

This is false. In recent years a student would have to be at least in the top 30-40% of the class at TJ to have a shot at UVA... and the top 20% to get in ED.

I think you may have a point, it's the bottom 30% of TJ grads.

[Anonymous]

Going back to the topic at hand. Rigor at TJ for Math is 2X-3X compared to other HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Going back to the topic at hand. Rigor at TJ for Math is 2X-3X compared to other HS.

It it makes you feel better to say that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Going back to the topic at hand. Rigor at TJ for Math is 2X-3X compared to other HS.

The only places of Higher Learning more rigorous than TJ is Caltech and MIT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Going back to the topic at hand. Rigor at TJ for Math is 2X-3X compared to other HS.

The only places of Higher Learning more rigorous than TJ is Caltech and MIT.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Going back to the topic at hand. Rigor at TJ for Math is 2X-3X compared to other HS.

The only places of Higher Learning more rigorous than TJ is Caltech and MIT.

What about Stuy and some of the other "top" high schools in the country?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Going back to the topic at hand. Rigor at TJ for Math is 2X-3X compared to other HS.

The only places of Higher Learning more rigorous than TJ is Caltech and MIT.

What about Stuy and some of the other "top" high schools in the country?

Stuy, Exeter, Andover and the likes are prob comparable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think TJ is more rigorous in general than UVA especially for the top 10%.

TJ is more rigorous than all but a select handful of colleges in the country. When it comes specifically to undergrad work in STEM, TJ outpaces basically everyone except MIT and Caltech. At any other school TJ students will routinely report that college is easier.

Even MIT and Caltech gets impressed at the mention of TJ. The difficulty level at TJ is so high that course handouts come with warning labels: "Caution: Contents may induce spontaneous brain combustion." TJ students dont just study physics; they're trying to decipher the secrets of the universe while simultaneously figuring out how to operate a microwave without blowing up the entire building. In chemistry, they've concocted potions that could either win them a Nobel Prize or turn their classmates into frogs. In biology, they spend so much time peering into microscopes that they forever see double every time they look at a regular-sized object. And in calculus they solve such complex mathematical equations that teachers bring in university professors to help grade them.

Serious question: What were you hoping to accomplish with this reply?

We may never know! But we can have a little fun, can we not?

Comparing high school rigor even if it's TJ to college-level courses is like comparing a kiddie pool to the Mariana Trench. At TJ, students are navigating the shallow waters of Calculus BC and maybe multivariable calculus, while a ranked college hits them with the tidal wave of quantum physics with applied calculus. It's like trying to go from driving a big boy bicycle to piloting a spaceship to Mars. TJ is like the kiddie menu or an adult meal at a corner restaurant, and college is the five-course chef's tasting menu at a Michelin-starred restaurant – and you better believe it comes with a hefty bill of late-night & weekend cramming and existential crises.

You don't know what you're talking about. Ask just about any TJ student (except for the ones who attend the schools I mentioned) and they will tell you that college was FAR easier than TJ.

The material is more challenging (or at least more advanced) in college, but the workload, the level of time stress, and the exam pressure is FAR less.

That's not really unique to TJ. Our IB kids that come back to visit report that the IB diploma was far more work than their first two years of college.

PP. Given what I've heard from the IB program at places like Marshall and Justice, I absolutely believe that. Undergraduate college work isn't as hard as a lot of people make it out to be, even at the so-called "elite" schools.

I went to Harvard and then went on to Yale for law, and the hardest I've ever worked in my life was in high school. Even my legal career was easier than that.

[Anonymous]

I began by cutting trees in the neighborhood, and then went to cut forest trees. Strangely enough, the most demanding task I've ever faced was during my high school years. Handling a bear nibbling on my foot seemed like a cakewalk in comparison.

[Anonymous]

61/550 kids from class of 2025 either did not join or quit (current membership is 504 with 15 added as froshmores). This does indicate there are issues and a possibility is rigor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:61/550 kids from class of 2025 either did not join or quit (current membership is 504 with 15 added as froshmores). This does indicate there are issues and a possibility is rigor.

They used to be very clear about the rigor and advanced level of work at TJ. Now they try to hide it so you have clueless students and parents at a school that they should never have been accepted to in the first place. I applaud those students for what must be a tough change for them.