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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Not really; the problem is the racist attitude of many at TJ. That any black or Hispanic student is only there because of affirmative action.

Having affirmative action to admit more blacks and Hispanics would tend to reinforce that assumption.

It is certainly possible that there are some minorities who could do well at TJ but are not applying or enrolling because they don't like the culture.
I know of one minority student who was qualified to get in to TJ, but was not allowed to apply.
Not sure if he would have been admitted if he were eligible, because his school is highly competitive.
If the admissions is only wink wink race blind, then he would have definitely been admitted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
They aren't looking for advanced problem solvers either. Each of the last two years, an 8th grade JMO qualifier got rejected from TJ.

I'm not even specifically stating that kids with high AMC 10 scores or kids taking Calculus in 8th or 9th grade ought to be guaranteed admissions. I think that if a child is taking precalc in 8th, has straight As throughout, and has qualified for AIME a couple times, that kid is the real deal. Kids like this should undoubtedly be accepted to TJ. I would not be surprised if the majority of kids that FCPS has accelerated to Algebra in 5th or earlier would fit this profile.

How would they know about it, since JMO qualifier is well after applications are in.

JMO qualifiers may not be known before applications are due, but the status is known well before TJ decisions are made. Even if the kid didn't state their status on the application, because they wouldn't have known at the time, it would be entirely possible for TJ admissions to take note of the 1 or 2 FCPS 8th graders who made JMO, and then take that into consideration when evaluating applications. The same is the case for Mathcounts. By the end of March, the top kids in the state are known. Someone could audit the TJ applications and make note of the kids who finish in the top 10 in the state.

Also, every JMO qualifier is going to have a very high AMC 10 score. These scores are known before the applications are due. When only 15 8th graders in VA are qualifying for AIME, and the bulk of those are within 10 points of the cutoff, the kids who are > 25 points above the cutoff should stand out.

How do you know that those things were NOT taken into consideration, and that those same students weren’t found wanting in other areas?

You don’t. Plain and simple.

Now come on that is just silly. You cannot know anything about the current application process if you say this.

I fully support the shift to having a minimum set of seats for all middle schools but WITHIN a middle school and/or for the extra kids not allocated seats from the middle school process I think you do need a way to ensure the tippy top off the charts math kids get in. And there is nothing to guarantee that now.

Some middle schools don’t have “top off the charts” kids but they are not freshmen and sophomores anyway.

You need to stop obsessing about this. TJ’s future has been decided - it will be an above-average high school in the future, not the #1 school in the country.

I know! When they eliminated the 2nd and 3rd tier preppers and replaced them with naturally gifted students in the selection it made the latest crop of TJ admits among the strongest in the school's history.

The 2nd and 3rd tier preppers were not being admitted to TJ. I think you mean 2nd and 3rd tier students who prepped. I know of many who went to Curie and were not admitted to TJ or AOS/AET.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Not really; the problem is the racist attitude of many at TJ. That any black or Hispanic student is only there because of affirmative action.

Having affirmative action to admit more blacks and Hispanics would tend to reinforce that assumption.

There isn't an ideal solution. Pushing in more URMs who by most metrics look less qualified will reinforce any racist assumptions. But not pushing them in perpetuates the idea that URMs don't belong at TJ and alienates the highly qualified URMs. I think the hope is that pushing some URMs in now will change the environment enough that kids URMs won't specifically avoid TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Not really; the problem is the racist attitude of many at TJ. That any black or Hispanic student is only there because of affirmative action.

Having affirmative action to admit more blacks and Hispanics would tend to reinforce that assumption.

There isn't an ideal solution. Pushing in more URMs who by most metrics look less qualified will reinforce any racist assumptions. But not pushing them in perpetuates the idea that URMs don't belong at TJ and alienates the highly qualified URMs. I think the hope is that pushing some URMs in now will change the environment enough that kids URMs won't specifically avoid TJ.

I agree that is the idea. and a big part of why a "merit lottery" was originally proposed. Avoids stigma and the soft bigotry of lower expectations while achieving some demographic balance that resembles that of the county at large.

[Anonymous]

A merit lottery won't work because the wokesters wont be satisfied with the small amounts not of urm still

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A merit lottery won't work because the wokesters wont be satisfied with the small amounts not of urm still

And the pro-prep folks would also hate that since they can't buy admissions...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A merit lottery won't work because the wokesters wont be satisfied with the small amounts not of urm still

And the pro-prep folks would also hate that since they can't buy admissions...

How did you buy admissions? Did it take long?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Not really; the problem is the racist attitude of many at TJ. That any black or Hispanic student is only there because of affirmative action.

Having affirmative action to admit more blacks and Hispanics would tend to reinforce that assumption.

It doesn't matter if it's reinforced. If the attitude already existed when it wasn't true, at least now they're reaping the benefits of an actual process that's in place.

And besides, there's literally no way to know for sure why a student got into TJ under the new process. There are probably kids in the most recent classes who came from the AAP program at Rachel Carson who got an allocated space because of their FARMS status.

And undoubtedly - just as there used to be every year under the old process - there are kids who come from historically underrepresented schools who would have gotten in irrespective of the existence of allocated spaces. There are simply more of them now.

To make an assumption about how a kid got in purely because of where they came from, while you might be statistically likely to be right, is useless because you might be wrong AND you're trying to use it as a strike against that kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Not really; the problem is the racist attitude of many at TJ. That any black or Hispanic student is only there because of affirmative action.

Having affirmative action to admit more blacks and Hispanics would tend to reinforce that assumption.

There isn't an ideal solution. Pushing in more URMs who by most metrics look less qualified will reinforce any racist assumptions. But not pushing them in perpetuates the idea that URMs don't belong at TJ and alienates the highly qualified URMs. I think the hope is that pushing some URMs in now will change the environment enough that kids URMs won't specifically avoid TJ.

This is exactly right. No one on the pro-reform side cares about the racist assumptions because they will exist regardless of whether there is a policy in place.

Making TJ appear to be accessible to all students will raise the caliber of the applicant pool. The goal should be 4,000 and eventually 5,000 applications per year - numbers that should have been reached decades ago given the explosion of population in the catchment area.

Ideally, in the not-too-distant future, Level IV AAP services will be available at every middle school, eliminating the need for centers AND eliminating the need for allocated seats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Not really; the problem is the racist attitude of many at TJ. That any black or Hispanic student is only there because of affirmative action.

Having affirmative action to admit more blacks and Hispanics would tend to reinforce that assumption.

There isn't an ideal solution. Pushing in more URMs who by most metrics look less qualified will reinforce any racist assumptions. But not pushing them in perpetuates the idea that URMs don't belong at TJ and alienates the highly qualified URMs. I think the hope is that pushing some URMs in now will change the environment enough that kids URMs won't specifically avoid TJ.

This is exactly right. No one on the pro-reform side cares about the racist assumptions because they will exist regardless of whether there is a policy in place.

Making TJ appear to be accessible to all students will raise the caliber of the applicant pool. The goal should be 4,000 and eventually 5,000 applications per year - numbers that should have been reached decades ago given the explosion of population in the catchment area.

Ideally, in the not-too-distant future, Level IV AAP services will be available at every middle school, eliminating the need for centers AND eliminating the need for allocated seats.

Please keep pushing this. Both sides agree making AAP services more accessible is the real way out of all of this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Not really; the problem is the racist attitude of many at TJ. That any black or Hispanic student is only there because of affirmative action.

Having affirmative action to admit more blacks and Hispanics would tend to reinforce that assumption.

There isn't an ideal solution. Pushing in more URMs who by most metrics look less qualified will reinforce any racist assumptions. But not pushing them in perpetuates the idea that URMs don't belong at TJ and alienates the highly qualified URMs. I think the hope is that pushing some URMs in now will change the environment enough that kids URMs won't specifically avoid TJ.

This is exactly right. No one on the pro-reform side cares about the racist assumptions because they will exist regardless of whether there is a policy in place.

Making TJ appear to be accessible to all students will raise the caliber of the applicant pool. The goal should be 4,000 and eventually 5,000 applications per year - numbers that should have been reached decades ago given the explosion of population in the catchment area.

Ideally, in the not-too-distant future, Level IV AAP services will be available at every middle school, eliminating the need for centers AND eliminating the need for allocated seats.

Please keep pushing this. Both sides agree making AAP services more accessible is the real way out of all of this.

Yes!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A merit lottery won't work because the wokesters wont be satisfied with the small amounts not of urm still

And the pro-prep folks would also hate that since they can't buy admissions...

How did you buy admissions? Did it take long?

Most of the prep centers were compiling question banks based on student exit interviews. Some even claimed they had seen many of the same questions ahead of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Not really; the problem is the racist attitude of many at TJ. That any black or Hispanic student is only there because of affirmative action.

Having affirmative action to admit more blacks and Hispanics would tend to reinforce that assumption.

There isn't an ideal solution. Pushing in more URMs who by most metrics look less qualified will reinforce any racist assumptions. But not pushing them in perpetuates the idea that URMs don't belong at TJ and alienates the highly qualified URMs. I think the hope is that pushing some URMs in now will change the environment enough that kids URMs won't specifically avoid TJ.

This is exactly right. No one on the pro-reform side cares about the racist assumptions because they will exist regardless of whether there is a policy in place.

Making TJ appear to be accessible to all students will raise the caliber of the applicant pool. The goal should be 4,000 and eventually 5,000 applications per year - numbers that should have been reached decades ago given the explosion of population in the catchment area.

Ideally, in the not-too-distant future, Level IV AAP services will be available at every middle school, eliminating the need for centers AND eliminating the need for allocated seats.

Please keep pushing this. Both sides agree making AAP services more accessible is the real way out of all of this.

The need for local allotment will persist since wealthier areas will buy outside enrichment to confer an advantage to their kids.