Older TJ kids: is there regret w/college app results

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have a 12th grader at TJ and definitely thinking about the original question--any regrets based on college results?

UVA is an outlier--it will be harder to get into UVA from TJ than base school.

But outside of that, there are definite pluses and minuses. The folks that got into Michigan last year, etc say that they are very well prepared. Same for other schools. Only folks at Cal Tech and MIT have said that college is harder than high school.

In terms of college results (and you can't go by the IG shares right now bc there are many TJ seniors with REA or SCEA acceptances that aren't sharing...people sharing now are ED admits bc they are committed) it's a bit nuanced. I think for the top students--there's an advantage bc colleges WILL look at the TJ students and likely admit some. In other words, some TJ students will be discussed in committee. For the "bottom" students, they are all going to really respectable schools--they have all finished calc in 11th grade, maybe 12th grade. So the "floor" for the lowest GPAs are all solid schools, with names you've heard of. This is perhaps one of the differences compared to our base school. In naviance, there are some schools that accept 100% of TJ applicants (Clemson).

For the top 25% etc, it looks like folks are getting good results (not UVA, as mentioned above). We feel more confident that our student is more likely to get a T10-20 acceptance, and more resigned to the fact that they might not get a UVA acceptance. But class rank isn't factored in as much as it was 20 yrs ago. And the experiences (engineering lab, for example, or ECs) have made for great essay topics.

There are some TJ students, who get perfect SATs and stratospheric grades, but who don't get prestigious acceptances, and that feeds a narrative of "well, then who can get in?". But they are also folks who didn't really have much impact on the school--they just studied. On the flip side, there are many more who have the high scores (GPA/SAT), the national science competition awards, and are also leading several clubs and making a huge impact on the school's community and the local community. Those folks go to Yale.

So far, we've been very happy with the TJ experience for our student. And we're good, so far, with the college options. TJ is not for everyone--and that's key. But I don't know that I would be worried about a negative college impact unless increasing chances at UVA is the goal.

TJ Sophomore parent here and my kid is doing well grade wise but we are white knuckling it a bit academically. I feel like he is being challenged in a way that he would not be at his base school and intellectually, I know that he will be better off in the long run with a better more rigorous education but I went to an ivy+ school where I met my spouse and it is a sizable part of our identity. We wanted something like that for him. I see really smart seniors getting rejected from schools that make my jaw drop. Did they submit a limerick for their essay or something?

UVA is really starting to look like a fantastic landing spot but they don't like TJ kids for some reason.

This is false. They don't like boring TJ kids.

You don't understand striver culture at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"My kid took algebra 2 in 9th and it was pretty clear that a lot (not all, but a lot) of the kids taking pre-calc or calculus in 9th grade were qualitatively better at math and it was a long hard struggle to catch up with the calculus kids because they're not standing still. "

meh. My kid (sr now at TJ) also took Alg 2 in 9th and while yes there are some crazy genious kids at TJ there is also a big swath that simply was able to do Alg 1 in 6th at their ES whereas at the vast majority of ESs across the county that's not an option. DC would have done fine with Alg 1 in 6th but it wasn't a route really even at our AAP center. She didn't struggle to keep up with those kids.

How did she do on the math team?

? She had zero interest in the math team. She does do other ECs at TJ.

Then she's not keeping up with those kids.

Cuz yep all kids’ goals are the same for their ECs and having had the route to take Alg 1 in 6th when virtually all other schools do not offer this permanent makes every one of those kids geniuses.

Can you clarify your post? This is word salad.
We are only talking about math.
My point is that a lot of kids that were accelerated in math were better at math. They weren't born that way but the early acceleration made them that way and it took a lot to catch up to them.
The reason I bring up math team is because at TJ the top math students are not measured by standardized tests like the SATs, everyone is getting 800 on that. They are measured by their performance on the competitive math exams. If you don't really care about that then that's fine but that is where the math comeptition is at TJ.

My point is that my Alg 2 in 9th kid has not had a hard time “keeping up” in her classes at TJ and with her overall GPA. She took Calc BC in 11 like most and has a pretty strong although not top 10% GPA.

She had zero interest in the math club. Only some kids do. Not joining the math club does not mean kids who are on “normal advanced” track of Alg 2 in 9th are “behind in math” at TJ. That was the earlier claim.

Also - part of why many kids who did Algebra 2 in 8th are on that track is not because they are so much smarter than kids doing Algebra 2 in 9th but rather that Algebra 2 in 8th is only available in limited spots. Most kids have no access to it.

Finally I will agree that if your kid did math club at TJ then yeah sure they probably were among the very top kids in math. But kids do not need to be in that small group to still do well and “keep up” with math at TJ broadly speaking.

I'm not saying she can't keep up with her classes or that these other kids are smarter than her.
I don't think my kid can't keep up or that other kids are smarter than him.
I'm saying that these kids are smart and the head start they get is hard to overcome. These kids are progressing swiftly and in o0rder to come up form behind he had to do a lot of extra work.

TJ has a lot of kids on USAMO and one kid on the US national math olympiad team.

I think this conversation is drifting. My initial statement was that there are some kids at TJ that you can't catch up to if you start too far behind. And they are the ones you are compared to in college admissions.

The real competition for the spots at MIT isn't the SAT. Everybody gets a perfect math SAT. EVERYBODY. It's your performance at the math competitions that set you apart from the other 100+ kids that get a perfect math score at TJ. Oh, you're not competing on the math team competitions? Then you're not a likely candidate for some of these majors at some of these schools (they might be ok with some other stem olympiad achievement but math is the one they want)

Who said they are gunning for MIT? When UVA becomes unattainable, there should be a concern.

If you're trying to go to UVA, then wtf are you even doing at TJ?

sigh. Please go back to like page 1 and look at the replies from people saying that choosing TJ because you think it will max your chances of an Ivy admit is stupid. Yes, many kids at TJ are aiming at Ivy/Ivy+ or other top schools. Many also are aiming at UVA or Tech because they are great schools at affordable sticker tags. If you're UMC the Ivy/Ivy+ schools are giving you $0 in almost all cases. $90K a year may not be affordable for all kids that could be in that tier of schools and so they're going to need to look elsewhere.

Pick TJ if your kid wants a really high-academics peer group and enjoy the challenge of it. Don't pick it if the only reason your kid is going is to maximize college targets - that's going to backfire if that's all you/they want out of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"My kid took algebra 2 in 9th and it was pretty clear that a lot (not all, but a lot) of the kids taking pre-calc or calculus in 9th grade were qualitatively better at math and it was a long hard struggle to catch up with the calculus kids because they're not standing still. "

meh. My kid (sr now at TJ) also took Alg 2 in 9th and while yes there are some crazy genious kids at TJ there is also a big swath that simply was able to do Alg 1 in 6th at their ES whereas at the vast majority of ESs across the county that's not an option. DC would have done fine with Alg 1 in 6th but it wasn't a route really even at our AAP center. She didn't struggle to keep up with those kids.

How did she do on the math team?

? She had zero interest in the math team. She does do other ECs at TJ.

Then she's not keeping up with those kids.

Cuz yep all kids’ goals are the same for their ECs and having had the route to take Alg 1 in 6th when virtually all other schools do not offer this permanent makes every one of those kids geniuses.

Can you clarify your post? This is word salad.
We are only talking about math.
My point is that a lot of kids that were accelerated in math were better at math. They weren't born that way but the early acceleration made them that way and it took a lot to catch up to them.
The reason I bring up math team is because at TJ the top math students are not measured by standardized tests like the SATs, everyone is getting 800 on that. They are measured by their performance on the competitive math exams. If you don't really care about that then that's fine but that is where the math comeptition is at TJ.

My point is that my Alg 2 in 9th kid has not had a hard time “keeping up” in her classes at TJ and with her overall GPA. She took Calc BC in 11 like most and has a pretty strong although not top 10% GPA.

She had zero interest in the math club. Only some kids do. Not joining the math club does not mean kids who are on “normal advanced” track of Alg 2 in 9th are “behind in math” at TJ. That was the earlier claim.

Also - part of why many kids who did Algebra 2 in 8th are on that track is not because they are so much smarter than kids doing Algebra 2 in 9th but rather that Algebra 2 in 8th is only available in limited spots. Most kids have no access to it.

Finally I will agree that if your kid did math club at TJ then yeah sure they probably were among the very top kids in math. But kids do not need to be in that small group to still do well and “keep up” with math at TJ broadly speaking.

I'm not saying she can't keep up with her classes or that these other kids are smarter than her.
I don't think my kid can't keep up or that other kids are smarter than him.
I'm saying that these kids are smart and the head start they get is hard to overcome. These kids are progressing swiftly and in o0rder to come up form behind he had to do a lot of extra work.

TJ has a lot of kids on USAMO and one kid on the US national math olympiad team.

I think this conversation is drifting. My initial statement was that there are some kids at TJ that you can't catch up to if you start too far behind. And they are the ones you are compared to in college admissions.

The real competition for the spots at MIT isn't the SAT. Everybody gets a perfect math SAT. EVERYBODY. It's your performance at the math competitions that set you apart from the other 100+ kids that get a perfect math score at TJ. Oh, you're not competing on the math team competitions? Then you're not a likely candidate for some of these majors at some of these schools (they might be ok with some other stem olympiad achievement but math is the one they want)

Who said they are gunning for MIT? When UVA becomes unattainable, there should be a concern.

If you're trying to go to UVA, then wtf are you even doing at TJ?

sigh. Please go back to like page 1 and look at the replies from people saying that choosing TJ because you think it will max your chances of an Ivy admit is stupid. Yes, many kids at TJ are aiming at Ivy/Ivy+ or other top schools. Many also are aiming at UVA or Tech because they are great schools at affordable sticker tags. If you're UMC the Ivy/Ivy+ schools are giving you $0 in almost all cases. $90K a year may not be affordable for all kids that could be in that tier of schools and so they're going to need to look elsewhere.

Pick TJ if your kid wants a really high-academics peer group and enjoy the challenge of it. Don't pick it if the only reason your kid is going is to maximize college targets - that's going to backfire if that's all you/they want out of it.

NP: so you want this for your 9-12th grader but don’t care about this for your young adult?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"My kid took algebra 2 in 9th and it was pretty clear that a lot (not all, but a lot) of the kids taking pre-calc or calculus in 9th grade were qualitatively better at math and it was a long hard struggle to catch up with the calculus kids because they're not standing still. "

meh. My kid (sr now at TJ) also took Alg 2 in 9th and while yes there are some crazy genious kids at TJ there is also a big swath that simply was able to do Alg 1 in 6th at their ES whereas at the vast majority of ESs across the county that's not an option. DC would have done fine with Alg 1 in 6th but it wasn't a route really even at our AAP center. She didn't struggle to keep up with those kids.

How did she do on the math team?

? She had zero interest in the math team. She does do other ECs at TJ.

Then she's not keeping up with those kids.

Cuz yep all kids’ goals are the same for their ECs and having had the route to take Alg 1 in 6th when virtually all other schools do not offer this permanent makes every one of those kids geniuses.

Can you clarify your post? This is word salad.
We are only talking about math.
My point is that a lot of kids that were accelerated in math were better at math. They weren't born that way but the early acceleration made them that way and it took a lot to catch up to them.
The reason I bring up math team is because at TJ the top math students are not measured by standardized tests like the SATs, everyone is getting 800 on that. They are measured by their performance on the competitive math exams. If you don't really care about that then that's fine but that is where the math comeptition is at TJ.

My point is that my Alg 2 in 9th kid has not had a hard time “keeping up” in her classes at TJ and with her overall GPA. She took Calc BC in 11 like most and has a pretty strong although not top 10% GPA.

She had zero interest in the math club. Only some kids do. Not joining the math club does not mean kids who are on “normal advanced” track of Alg 2 in 9th are “behind in math” at TJ. That was the earlier claim.

Also - part of why many kids who did Algebra 2 in 8th are on that track is not because they are so much smarter than kids doing Algebra 2 in 9th but rather that Algebra 2 in 8th is only available in limited spots. Most kids have no access to it.

Finally I will agree that if your kid did math club at TJ then yeah sure they probably were among the very top kids in math. But kids do not need to be in that small group to still do well and “keep up” with math at TJ broadly speaking.

I'm not saying she can't keep up with her classes or that these other kids are smarter than her.
I don't think my kid can't keep up or that other kids are smarter than him.
I'm saying that these kids are smart and the head start they get is hard to overcome. These kids are progressing swiftly and in o0rder to come up form behind he had to do a lot of extra work.

TJ has a lot of kids on USAMO and one kid on the US national math olympiad team.

I think this conversation is drifting. My initial statement was that there are some kids at TJ that you can't catch up to if you start too far behind. And they are the ones you are compared to in college admissions.

The real competition for the spots at MIT isn't the SAT. Everybody gets a perfect math SAT. EVERYBODY. It's your performance at the math competitions that set you apart from the other 100+ kids that get a perfect math score at TJ. Oh, you're not competing on the math team competitions? Then you're not a likely candidate for some of these majors at some of these schools (they might be ok with some other stem olympiad achievement but math is the one they want)

Who said they are gunning for MIT? When UVA becomes unattainable, there should be a concern.

If you're trying to go to UVA, then wtf are you even doing at TJ?

sigh. Please go back to like page 1 and look at the replies from people saying that choosing TJ because you think it will max your chances of an Ivy admit is stupid. Yes, many kids at TJ are aiming at Ivy/Ivy+ or other top schools. Many also are aiming at UVA or Tech because they are great schools at affordable sticker tags. If you're UMC the Ivy/Ivy+ schools are giving you $0 in almost all cases. $90K a year may not be affordable for all kids that could be in that tier of schools and so they're going to need to look elsewhere.

Pick TJ if your kid wants a really high-academics peer group and enjoy the challenge of it. Don't pick it if the only reason your kid is going is to maximize college targets - that's going to backfire if that's all you/they want out of it.

NP: so you want this for your 9-12th grader but don’t care about this for your young adult?

You don't think UVA has a high end academics peer group? It might not be uniformly high end but 25% of UVA students that submitted SATs got a 1540 or better on the SAT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"My kid took algebra 2 in 9th and it was pretty clear that a lot (not all, but a lot) of the kids taking pre-calc or calculus in 9th grade were qualitatively better at math and it was a long hard struggle to catch up with the calculus kids because they're not standing still. "

meh. My kid (sr now at TJ) also took Alg 2 in 9th and while yes there are some crazy genious kids at TJ there is also a big swath that simply was able to do Alg 1 in 6th at their ES whereas at the vast majority of ESs across the county that's not an option. DC would have done fine with Alg 1 in 6th but it wasn't a route really even at our AAP center. She didn't struggle to keep up with those kids.

How did she do on the math team?

? She had zero interest in the math team. She does do other ECs at TJ.

Then she's not keeping up with those kids.

Cuz yep all kids’ goals are the same for their ECs and having had the route to take Alg 1 in 6th when virtually all other schools do not offer this permanent makes every one of those kids geniuses.

Can you clarify your post? This is word salad.
We are only talking about math.
My point is that a lot of kids that were accelerated in math were better at math. They weren't born that way but the early acceleration made them that way and it took a lot to catch up to them.
The reason I bring up math team is because at TJ the top math students are not measured by standardized tests like the SATs, everyone is getting 800 on that. They are measured by their performance on the competitive math exams. If you don't really care about that then that's fine but that is where the math comeptition is at TJ.

My point is that my Alg 2 in 9th kid has not had a hard time “keeping up” in her classes at TJ and with her overall GPA. She took Calc BC in 11 like most and has a pretty strong although not top 10% GPA.

She had zero interest in the math club. Only some kids do. Not joining the math club does not mean kids who are on “normal advanced” track of Alg 2 in 9th are “behind in math” at TJ. That was the earlier claim.

Also - part of why many kids who did Algebra 2 in 8th are on that track is not because they are so much smarter than kids doing Algebra 2 in 9th but rather that Algebra 2 in 8th is only available in limited spots. Most kids have no access to it.

Finally I will agree that if your kid did math club at TJ then yeah sure they probably were among the very top kids in math. But kids do not need to be in that small group to still do well and “keep up” with math at TJ broadly speaking.

I'm not saying she can't keep up with her classes or that these other kids are smarter than her.
I don't think my kid can't keep up or that other kids are smarter than him.
I'm saying that these kids are smart and the head start they get is hard to overcome. These kids are progressing swiftly and in o0rder to come up form behind he had to do a lot of extra work.

TJ has a lot of kids on USAMO and one kid on the US national math olympiad team.

I think this conversation is drifting. My initial statement was that there are some kids at TJ that you can't catch up to if you start too far behind. And they are the ones you are compared to in college admissions.

The real competition for the spots at MIT isn't the SAT. Everybody gets a perfect math SAT. EVERYBODY. It's your performance at the math competitions that set you apart from the other 100+ kids that get a perfect math score at TJ. Oh, you're not competing on the math team competitions? Then you're not a likely candidate for some of these majors at some of these schools (they might be ok with some other stem olympiad achievement but math is the one they want)

Who said they are gunning for MIT? When UVA becomes unattainable, there should be a concern.

If you're trying to go to UVA, then wtf are you even doing at TJ?

sigh. Please go back to like page 1 and look at the replies from people saying that choosing TJ because you think it will max your chances of an Ivy admit is stupid. Yes, many kids at TJ are aiming at Ivy/Ivy+ or other top schools. Many also are aiming at UVA or Tech because they are great schools at affordable sticker tags. If you're UMC the Ivy/Ivy+ schools are giving you $0 in almost all cases. $90K a year may not be affordable for all kids that could be in that tier of schools and so they're going to need to look elsewhere.

Pick TJ if your kid wants a really high-academics peer group and enjoy the challenge of it. Don't pick it if the only reason your kid is going is to maximize college targets - that's going to backfire if that's all you/they want out of it.

NP: so you want this for your 9-12th grader but don’t care about this for your young adult?

You don't think UVA has a high end academics peer group? It might not be uniformly high end but 25% of UVA students that submitted SATs got a 1540 or better on the SAT.

The person said don’t pick TJ to maximize college targets. Lots of TJ kids don’t get into TJ.

And thanks for the (bolded) chuckle. Those UVA kids are the same riff raff you looked down on as being not a high enough peer group at the base schools for your TJ kids

[Anonymous]

Dont get into UVA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"My kid took algebra 2 in 9th and it was pretty clear that a lot (not all, but a lot) of the kids taking pre-calc or calculus in 9th grade were qualitatively better at math and it was a long hard struggle to catch up with the calculus kids because they're not standing still. "

meh. My kid (sr now at TJ) also took Alg 2 in 9th and while yes there are some crazy genious kids at TJ there is also a big swath that simply was able to do Alg 1 in 6th at their ES whereas at the vast majority of ESs across the county that's not an option. DC would have done fine with Alg 1 in 6th but it wasn't a route really even at our AAP center. She didn't struggle to keep up with those kids.

How did she do on the math team?

? She had zero interest in the math team. She does do other ECs at TJ.

Then she's not keeping up with those kids.

Cuz yep all kids’ goals are the same for their ECs and having had the route to take Alg 1 in 6th when virtually all other schools do not offer this permanent makes every one of those kids geniuses.

Can you clarify your post? This is word salad.
We are only talking about math.
My point is that a lot of kids that were accelerated in math were better at math. They weren't born that way but the early acceleration made them that way and it took a lot to catch up to them.
The reason I bring up math team is because at TJ the top math students are not measured by standardized tests like the SATs, everyone is getting 800 on that. They are measured by their performance on the competitive math exams. If you don't really care about that then that's fine but that is where the math comeptition is at TJ.

My point is that my Alg 2 in 9th kid has not had a hard time “keeping up” in her classes at TJ and with her overall GPA. She took Calc BC in 11 like most and has a pretty strong although not top 10% GPA.

She had zero interest in the math club. Only some kids do. Not joining the math club does not mean kids who are on “normal advanced” track of Alg 2 in 9th are “behind in math” at TJ. That was the earlier claim.

Also - part of why many kids who did Algebra 2 in 8th are on that track is not because they are so much smarter than kids doing Algebra 2 in 9th but rather that Algebra 2 in 8th is only available in limited spots. Most kids have no access to it.

Finally I will agree that if your kid did math club at TJ then yeah sure they probably were among the very top kids in math. But kids do not need to be in that small group to still do well and “keep up” with math at TJ broadly speaking.

I'm not saying she can't keep up with her classes or that these other kids are smarter than her.
I don't think my kid can't keep up or that other kids are smarter than him.
I'm saying that these kids are smart and the head start they get is hard to overcome. These kids are progressing swiftly and in o0rder to come up form behind he had to do a lot of extra work.

TJ has a lot of kids on USAMO and one kid on the US national math olympiad team.

I think this conversation is drifting. My initial statement was that there are some kids at TJ that you can't catch up to if you start too far behind. And they are the ones you are compared to in college admissions.

The real competition for the spots at MIT isn't the SAT. Everybody gets a perfect math SAT. EVERYBODY. It's your performance at the math competitions that set you apart from the other 100+ kids that get a perfect math score at TJ. Oh, you're not competing on the math team competitions? Then you're not a likely candidate for some of these majors at some of these schools (they might be ok with some other stem olympiad achievement but math is the one they want)

Who said they are gunning for MIT? When UVA becomes unattainable, there should be a concern.

If you're trying to go to UVA, then wtf are you even doing at TJ?

sigh. Please go back to like page 1 and look at the replies from people saying that choosing TJ because you think it will max your chances of an Ivy admit is stupid. Yes, many kids at TJ are aiming at Ivy/Ivy+ or other top schools. Many also are aiming at UVA or Tech because they are great schools at affordable sticker tags. If you're UMC the Ivy/Ivy+ schools are giving you $0 in almost all cases. $90K a year may not be affordable for all kids that could be in that tier of schools and so they're going to need to look elsewhere.

Pick TJ if your kid wants a really high-academics peer group and enjoy the challenge of it. Don't pick it if the only reason your kid is going is to maximize college targets - that's going to backfire if that's all you/they want out of it.

NP: so you want this for your 9-12th grader but don’t care about this for your young adult?

You don't think UVA has a high end academics peer group? It might not be uniformly high end but 25% of UVA students that submitted SATs got a 1540 or better on the SAT.

The person said don’t pick TJ to maximize college targets. Lots of TJ kids don’t get into TJ.

And thanks for the (bolded) chuckle. Those UVA kids are the same riff raff you looked down on as being not a high enough peer group at the base schools for your TJ kids

You realize there are a lot of schools across the county right? And yes there are smart kids at all of them. But there is nowhere that has the vibe of TJ. I’m not looking down on anyone. I have one kid at TJ and one kid at base (who had no interest in going and I agree its vibe would have been a bad fit for him). It is about whether the school is a good fit for a specific kid - just like college selection is about fit for a given kid not a one size fits all answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"My kid took algebra 2 in 9th and it was pretty clear that a lot (not all, but a lot) of the kids taking pre-calc or calculus in 9th grade were qualitatively better at math and it was a long hard struggle to catch up with the calculus kids because they're not standing still. "

meh. My kid (sr now at TJ) also took Alg 2 in 9th and while yes there are some crazy genious kids at TJ there is also a big swath that simply was able to do Alg 1 in 6th at their ES whereas at the vast majority of ESs across the county that's not an option. DC would have done fine with Alg 1 in 6th but it wasn't a route really even at our AAP center. She didn't struggle to keep up with those kids.

How did she do on the math team?

? She had zero interest in the math team. She does do other ECs at TJ.

Then she's not keeping up with those kids.

Cuz yep all kids’ goals are the same for their ECs and having had the route to take Alg 1 in 6th when virtually all other schools do not offer this permanent makes every one of those kids geniuses.

Can you clarify your post? This is word salad.
We are only talking about math.
My point is that a lot of kids that were accelerated in math were better at math. They weren't born that way but the early acceleration made them that way and it took a lot to catch up to them.
The reason I bring up math team is because at TJ the top math students are not measured by standardized tests like the SATs, everyone is getting 800 on that. They are measured by their performance on the competitive math exams. If you don't really care about that then that's fine but that is where the math comeptition is at TJ.

My point is that my Alg 2 in 9th kid has not had a hard time “keeping up” in her classes at TJ and with her overall GPA. She took Calc BC in 11 like most and has a pretty strong although not top 10% GPA.

She had zero interest in the math club. Only some kids do. Not joining the math club does not mean kids who are on “normal advanced” track of Alg 2 in 9th are “behind in math” at TJ. That was the earlier claim.

Also - part of why many kids who did Algebra 2 in 8th are on that track is not because they are so much smarter than kids doing Algebra 2 in 9th but rather that Algebra 2 in 8th is only available in limited spots. Most kids have no access to it.

Finally I will agree that if your kid did math club at TJ then yeah sure they probably were among the very top kids in math. But kids do not need to be in that small group to still do well and “keep up” with math at TJ broadly speaking.

I'm not saying she can't keep up with her classes or that these other kids are smarter than her.
I don't think my kid can't keep up or that other kids are smarter than him.
I'm saying that these kids are smart and the head start they get is hard to overcome. These kids are progressing swiftly and in o0rder to come up form behind he had to do a lot of extra work.

TJ has a lot of kids on USAMO and one kid on the US national math olympiad team.

I think this conversation is drifting. My initial statement was that there are some kids at TJ that you can't catch up to if you start too far behind. And they are the ones you are compared to in college admissions.

The real competition for the spots at MIT isn't the SAT. Everybody gets a perfect math SAT. EVERYBODY. It's your performance at the math competitions that set you apart from the other 100+ kids that get a perfect math score at TJ. Oh, you're not competing on the math team competitions? Then you're not a likely candidate for some of these majors at some of these schools (they might be ok with some other stem olympiad achievement but math is the one they want)

Who said they are gunning for MIT? When UVA becomes unattainable, there should be a concern.

If you're trying to go to UVA, then wtf are you even doing at TJ?

sigh. Please go back to like page 1 and look at the replies from people saying that choosing TJ because you think it will max your chances of an Ivy admit is stupid. Yes, many kids at TJ are aiming at Ivy/Ivy+ or other top schools. Many also are aiming at UVA or Tech because they are great schools at affordable sticker tags. If you're UMC the Ivy/Ivy+ schools are giving you $0 in almost all cases. $90K a year may not be affordable for all kids that could be in that tier of schools and so they're going to need to look elsewhere.

Pick TJ if your kid wants a really high-academics peer group and enjoy the challenge of it. Don't pick it if the only reason your kid is going is to maximize college targets - that's going to backfire if that's all you/they want out of it.

NP: so you want this for your 9-12th grader but don’t care about this for your young adult?

You don't think UVA has a high end academics peer group? It might not be uniformly high end but 25% of UVA students that submitted SATs got a 1540 or better on the SAT.

The person said don’t pick TJ to maximize college targets. Lots of TJ kids don’t get into TJ.

And thanks for the (bolded) chuckle. Those UVA kids are the same riff raff you looked down on as being not a high enough peer group at the base schools for your TJ kids

You realize there are a lot of schools across the county right? And yes there are smart kids at all of them. But there is nowhere that has the vibe of TJ. I’m not looking down on anyone. I have one kid at TJ and one kid at base (who had no interest in going and I agree its vibe would have been a bad fit for him). It is about whether the school is a good fit for a specific kid - just like college selection is about fit for a given kid not a one size fits all answer.

It’s absurd to say you picked TJ for the academic peer group because you are also saying the academic peer group at the base school was inferior and:

Many/most tj kids will end up at the same colleges as the tj kids - do you then think your kid is superior or now can fit in with those kids academically?

If a base kid gets into an top ranked college over a tj applicant, is that base kid all of a sudden an academic peer of the tj kids or above the tj kid academically?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"My kid took algebra 2 in 9th and it was pretty clear that a lot (not all, but a lot) of the kids taking pre-calc or calculus in 9th grade were qualitatively better at math and it was a long hard struggle to catch up with the calculus kids because they're not standing still. "

meh. My kid (sr now at TJ) also took Alg 2 in 9th and while yes there are some crazy genious kids at TJ there is also a big swath that simply was able to do Alg 1 in 6th at their ES whereas at the vast majority of ESs across the county that's not an option. DC would have done fine with Alg 1 in 6th but it wasn't a route really even at our AAP center. She didn't struggle to keep up with those kids.

How did she do on the math team?

? She had zero interest in the math team. She does do other ECs at TJ.

Then she's not keeping up with those kids.

Cuz yep all kids’ goals are the same for their ECs and having had the route to take Alg 1 in 6th when virtually all other schools do not offer this permanent makes every one of those kids geniuses.

Can you clarify your post? This is word salad.
We are only talking about math.
My point is that a lot of kids that were accelerated in math were better at math. They weren't born that way but the early acceleration made them that way and it took a lot to catch up to them.
The reason I bring up math team is because at TJ the top math students are not measured by standardized tests like the SATs, everyone is getting 800 on that. They are measured by their performance on the competitive math exams. If you don't really care about that then that's fine but that is where the math comeptition is at TJ.

My point is that my Alg 2 in 9th kid has not had a hard time “keeping up” in her classes at TJ and with her overall GPA. She took Calc BC in 11 like most and has a pretty strong although not top 10% GPA.

She had zero interest in the math club. Only some kids do. Not joining the math club does not mean kids who are on “normal advanced” track of Alg 2 in 9th are “behind in math” at TJ. That was the earlier claim.

Also - part of why many kids who did Algebra 2 in 8th are on that track is not because they are so much smarter than kids doing Algebra 2 in 9th but rather that Algebra 2 in 8th is only available in limited spots. Most kids have no access to it.

Finally I will agree that if your kid did math club at TJ then yeah sure they probably were among the very top kids in math. But kids do not need to be in that small group to still do well and “keep up” with math at TJ broadly speaking.

I'm not saying she can't keep up with her classes or that these other kids are smarter than her.
I don't think my kid can't keep up or that other kids are smarter than him.
I'm saying that these kids are smart and the head start they get is hard to overcome. These kids are progressing swiftly and in o0rder to come up form behind he had to do a lot of extra work.

TJ has a lot of kids on USAMO and one kid on the US national math olympiad team.

I think this conversation is drifting. My initial statement was that there are some kids at TJ that you can't catch up to if you start too far behind. And they are the ones you are compared to in college admissions.

The real competition for the spots at MIT isn't the SAT. Everybody gets a perfect math SAT. EVERYBODY. It's your performance at the math competitions that set you apart from the other 100+ kids that get a perfect math score at TJ. Oh, you're not competing on the math team competitions? Then you're not a likely candidate for some of these majors at some of these schools (they might be ok with some other stem olympiad achievement but math is the one they want)

Who said they are gunning for MIT? When UVA becomes unattainable, there should be a concern.

If you're trying to go to UVA, then wtf are you even doing at TJ?

sigh. Please go back to like page 1 and look at the replies from people saying that choosing TJ because you think it will max your chances of an Ivy admit is stupid. Yes, many kids at TJ are aiming at Ivy/Ivy+ or other top schools. Many also are aiming at UVA or Tech because they are great schools at affordable sticker tags. If you're UMC the Ivy/Ivy+ schools are giving you $0 in almost all cases. $90K a year may not be affordable for all kids that could be in that tier of schools and so they're going to need to look elsewhere.

Pick TJ if your kid wants a really high-academics peer group and enjoy the challenge of it. Don't pick it if the only reason your kid is going is to maximize college targets - that's going to backfire if that's all you/they want out of it.

NP: so you want this for your 9-12th grader but don’t care about this for your young adult?

You don't think UVA has a high end academics peer group? It might not be uniformly high end but 25% of UVA students that submitted SATs got a 1540 or better on the SAT.

The person said don’t pick TJ to maximize college targets. Lots of TJ kids don’t get into TJ.

And thanks for the (bolded) chuckle. Those UVA kids are the same riff raff you looked down on as being not a high enough peer group at the base schools for your TJ kids

I'm a different poster. Ithink UVA has more than enough highly academic kids to provide a good peer group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"My kid took algebra 2 in 9th and it was pretty clear that a lot (not all, but a lot) of the kids taking pre-calc or calculus in 9th grade were qualitatively better at math and it was a long hard struggle to catch up with the calculus kids because they're not standing still. "

meh. My kid (sr now at TJ) also took Alg 2 in 9th and while yes there are some crazy genious kids at TJ there is also a big swath that simply was able to do Alg 1 in 6th at their ES whereas at the vast majority of ESs across the county that's not an option. DC would have done fine with Alg 1 in 6th but it wasn't a route really even at our AAP center. She didn't struggle to keep up with those kids.

How did she do on the math team?

? She had zero interest in the math team. She does do other ECs at TJ.

Then she's not keeping up with those kids.

Cuz yep all kids’ goals are the same for their ECs and having had the route to take Alg 1 in 6th when virtually all other schools do not offer this permanent makes every one of those kids geniuses.

Can you clarify your post? This is word salad.
We are only talking about math.
My point is that a lot of kids that were accelerated in math were better at math. They weren't born that way but the early acceleration made them that way and it took a lot to catch up to them.
The reason I bring up math team is because at TJ the top math students are not measured by standardized tests like the SATs, everyone is getting 800 on that. They are measured by their performance on the competitive math exams. If you don't really care about that then that's fine but that is where the math comeptition is at TJ.

My point is that my Alg 2 in 9th kid has not had a hard time “keeping up” in her classes at TJ and with her overall GPA. She took Calc BC in 11 like most and has a pretty strong although not top 10% GPA.

She had zero interest in the math club. Only some kids do. Not joining the math club does not mean kids who are on “normal advanced” track of Alg 2 in 9th are “behind in math” at TJ. That was the earlier claim.

Also - part of why many kids who did Algebra 2 in 8th are on that track is not because they are so much smarter than kids doing Algebra 2 in 9th but rather that Algebra 2 in 8th is only available in limited spots. Most kids have no access to it.

Finally I will agree that if your kid did math club at TJ then yeah sure they probably were among the very top kids in math. But kids do not need to be in that small group to still do well and “keep up” with math at TJ broadly speaking.

I'm not saying she can't keep up with her classes or that these other kids are smarter than her.
I don't think my kid can't keep up or that other kids are smarter than him.
I'm saying that these kids are smart and the head start they get is hard to overcome. These kids are progressing swiftly and in o0rder to come up form behind he had to do a lot of extra work.

TJ has a lot of kids on USAMO and one kid on the US national math olympiad team.

I think this conversation is drifting. My initial statement was that there are some kids at TJ that you can't catch up to if you start too far behind. And they are the ones you are compared to in college admissions.

The real competition for the spots at MIT isn't the SAT. Everybody gets a perfect math SAT. EVERYBODY. It's your performance at the math competitions that set you apart from the other 100+ kids that get a perfect math score at TJ. Oh, you're not competing on the math team competitions? Then you're not a likely candidate for some of these majors at some of these schools (they might be ok with some other stem olympiad achievement but math is the one they want)

Who said they are gunning for MIT? When UVA becomes unattainable, there should be a concern.

If you're trying to go to UVA, then wtf are you even doing at TJ?

sigh. Please go back to like page 1 and look at the replies from people saying that choosing TJ because you think it will max your chances of an Ivy admit is stupid. Yes, many kids at TJ are aiming at Ivy/Ivy+ or other top schools. Many also are aiming at UVA or Tech because they are great schools at affordable sticker tags. If you're UMC the Ivy/Ivy+ schools are giving you $0 in almost all cases. $90K a year may not be affordable for all kids that could be in that tier of schools and so they're going to need to look elsewhere.

Pick TJ if your kid wants a really high-academics peer group and enjoy the challenge of it. Don't pick it if the only reason your kid is going is to maximize college targets - that's going to backfire if that's all you/they want out of it.

NP: so you want this for your 9-12th grader but don’t care about this for your young adult?

You don't think UVA has a high end academics peer group? It might not be uniformly high end but 25% of UVA students that submitted SATs got a 1540 or better on the SAT.

The person said don’t pick TJ to maximize college targets. Lots of TJ kids don’t get into TJ.

And thanks for the (bolded) chuckle. Those UVA kids are the same riff raff you looked down on as being not a high enough peer group at the base schools for your TJ kids

I'm a different poster. Ithink UVA has more than enough highly academic kids to provide a good peer group.

Which college doesn’t?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
It’s absurd to say you picked TJ for the academic peer group because you are also saying the academic peer group at the base school was inferior and:

Many/most tj kids will end up at the same colleges as the tj kids - do you then think your kid is superior or now can fit in with those kids academically?

If a base kid gets into an top ranked college over a tj applicant, is that base kid all of a sudden an academic peer of the tj kids or above the tj kid academically?

Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"My kid took algebra 2 in 9th and it was pretty clear that a lot (not all, but a lot) of the kids taking pre-calc or calculus in 9th grade were qualitatively better at math and it was a long hard struggle to catch up with the calculus kids because they're not standing still. "

meh. My kid (sr now at TJ) also took Alg 2 in 9th and while yes there are some crazy genious kids at TJ there is also a big swath that simply was able to do Alg 1 in 6th at their ES whereas at the vast majority of ESs across the county that's not an option. DC would have done fine with Alg 1 in 6th but it wasn't a route really even at our AAP center. She didn't struggle to keep up with those kids.

How did she do on the math team?

? She had zero interest in the math team. She does do other ECs at TJ.

Then she's not keeping up with those kids.

Cuz yep all kids’ goals are the same for their ECs and having had the route to take Alg 1 in 6th when virtually all other schools do not offer this permanent makes every one of those kids geniuses.

Can you clarify your post? This is word salad.
We are only talking about math.
My point is that a lot of kids that were accelerated in math were better at math. They weren't born that way but the early acceleration made them that way and it took a lot to catch up to them.
The reason I bring up math team is because at TJ the top math students are not measured by standardized tests like the SATs, everyone is getting 800 on that. They are measured by their performance on the competitive math exams. If you don't really care about that then that's fine but that is where the math comeptition is at TJ.

My point is that my Alg 2 in 9th kid has not had a hard time “keeping up” in her classes at TJ and with her overall GPA. She took Calc BC in 11 like most and has a pretty strong although not top 10% GPA.

She had zero interest in the math club. Only some kids do. Not joining the math club does not mean kids who are on “normal advanced” track of Alg 2 in 9th are “behind in math” at TJ. That was the earlier claim.

Also - part of why many kids who did Algebra 2 in 8th are on that track is not because they are so much smarter than kids doing Algebra 2 in 9th but rather that Algebra 2 in 8th is only available in limited spots. Most kids have no access to it.

Finally I will agree that if your kid did math club at TJ then yeah sure they probably were among the very top kids in math. But kids do not need to be in that small group to still do well and “keep up” with math at TJ broadly speaking.

I'm not saying she can't keep up with her classes or that these other kids are smarter than her.
I don't think my kid can't keep up or that other kids are smarter than him.
I'm saying that these kids are smart and the head start they get is hard to overcome. These kids are progressing swiftly and in o0rder to come up form behind he had to do a lot of extra work.

TJ has a lot of kids on USAMO and one kid on the US national math olympiad team.

I think this conversation is drifting. My initial statement was that there are some kids at TJ that you can't catch up to if you start too far behind. And they are the ones you are compared to in college admissions.

The real competition for the spots at MIT isn't the SAT. Everybody gets a perfect math SAT. EVERYBODY. It's your performance at the math competitions that set you apart from the other 100+ kids that get a perfect math score at TJ. Oh, you're not competing on the math team competitions? Then you're not a likely candidate for some of these majors at some of these schools (they might be ok with some other stem olympiad achievement but math is the one they want)

Who said they are gunning for MIT? When UVA becomes unattainable, there should be a concern.

If you're trying to go to UVA, then wtf are you even doing at TJ?

sigh. Please go back to like page 1 and look at the replies from people saying that choosing TJ because you think it will max your chances of an Ivy admit is stupid. Yes, many kids at TJ are aiming at Ivy/Ivy+ or other top schools. Many also are aiming at UVA or Tech because they are great schools at affordable sticker tags. If you're UMC the Ivy/Ivy+ schools are giving you $0 in almost all cases. $90K a year may not be affordable for all kids that could be in that tier of schools and so they're going to need to look elsewhere.

Pick TJ if your kid wants a really high-academics peer group and enjoy the challenge of it. Don't pick it if the only reason your kid is going is to maximize college targets - that's going to backfire if that's all you/they want out of it.

NP: so you want this for your 9-12th grader but don’t care about this for your young adult?

You don't think UVA has a high end academics peer group? It might not be uniformly high end but 25% of UVA students that submitted SATs got a 1540 or better on the SAT.

The person said don’t pick TJ to maximize college targets. Lots of TJ kids don’t get into TJ.

And thanks for the (bolded) chuckle. Those UVA kids are the same riff raff you looked down on as being not a high enough peer group at the base schools for your TJ kids

I'm a different poster. Ithink UVA has more than enough highly academic kids to provide a good peer group.

Which college doesn’t?

Radford, ODU, Christopher Newport or NOVA

[Anonymous]

Sooo... To summarize this 15 page thread... The average TJ kid is just too bright to ever find a peer group in a base HS, however he/she might not even make it into college with those same kids. But that's OK, because we have so many anecdotes here that one should feel confident that someday in some interview, someone will take him/ her to lunch because of the mutual HS connection! Wow. OK!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"My kid took algebra 2 in 9th and it was pretty clear that a lot (not all, but a lot) of the kids taking pre-calc or calculus in 9th grade were qualitatively better at math and it was a long hard struggle to catch up with the calculus kids because they're not standing still. "

meh. My kid (sr now at TJ) also took Alg 2 in 9th and while yes there are some crazy genious kids at TJ there is also a big swath that simply was able to do Alg 1 in 6th at their ES whereas at the vast majority of ESs across the county that's not an option. DC would have done fine with Alg 1 in 6th but it wasn't a route really even at our AAP center. She didn't struggle to keep up with those kids.

How did she do on the math team?

? She had zero interest in the math team. She does do other ECs at TJ.

Then she's not keeping up with those kids.

Cuz yep all kids’ goals are the same for their ECs and having had the route to take Alg 1 in 6th when virtually all other schools do not offer this permanent makes every one of those kids geniuses.

Can you clarify your post? This is word salad.
We are only talking about math.
My point is that a lot of kids that were accelerated in math were better at math. They weren't born that way but the early acceleration made them that way and it took a lot to catch up to them.
The reason I bring up math team is because at TJ the top math students are not measured by standardized tests like the SATs, everyone is getting 800 on that. They are measured by their performance on the competitive math exams. If you don't really care about that then that's fine but that is where the math comeptition is at TJ.

My point is that my Alg 2 in 9th kid has not had a hard time “keeping up” in her classes at TJ and with her overall GPA. She took Calc BC in 11 like most and has a pretty strong although not top 10% GPA.

She had zero interest in the math club. Only some kids do. Not joining the math club does not mean kids who are on “normal advanced” track of Alg 2 in 9th are “behind in math” at TJ. That was the earlier claim.

Also - part of why many kids who did Algebra 2 in 8th are on that track is not because they are so much smarter than kids doing Algebra 2 in 9th but rather that Algebra 2 in 8th is only available in limited spots. Most kids have no access to it.

Finally I will agree that if your kid did math club at TJ then yeah sure they probably were among the very top kids in math. But kids do not need to be in that small group to still do well and “keep up” with math at TJ broadly speaking.

I'm not saying she can't keep up with her classes or that these other kids are smarter than her.
I don't think my kid can't keep up or that other kids are smarter than him.
I'm saying that these kids are smart and the head start they get is hard to overcome. These kids are progressing swiftly and in o0rder to come up form behind he had to do a lot of extra work.

TJ has a lot of kids on USAMO and one kid on the US national math olympiad team.

I think this conversation is drifting. My initial statement was that there are some kids at TJ that you can't catch up to if you start too far behind. And they are the ones you are compared to in college admissions.

The real competition for the spots at MIT isn't the SAT. Everybody gets a perfect math SAT. EVERYBODY. It's your performance at the math competitions that set you apart from the other 100+ kids that get a perfect math score at TJ. Oh, you're not competing on the math team competitions? Then you're not a likely candidate for some of these majors at some of these schools (they might be ok with some other stem olympiad achievement but math is the one they want)

Who said they are gunning for MIT? When UVA becomes unattainable, there should be a concern.

If you're trying to go to UVA, then wtf are you even doing at TJ?

sigh. Please go back to like page 1 and look at the replies from people saying that choosing TJ because you think it will max your chances of an Ivy admit is stupid. Yes, many kids at TJ are aiming at Ivy/Ivy+ or other top schools. Many also are aiming at UVA or Tech because they are great schools at affordable sticker tags. If you're UMC the Ivy/Ivy+ schools are giving you $0 in almost all cases. $90K a year may not be affordable for all kids that could be in that tier of schools and so they're going to need to look elsewhere.

Pick TJ if your kid wants a really high-academics peer group and enjoy the challenge of it. Don't pick it if the only reason your kid is going is to maximize college targets - that's going to backfire if that's all you/they want out of it.

NP: so you want this for your 9-12th grader but don’t care about this for your young adult?

You don't think UVA has a high end academics peer group? It might not be uniformly high end but 25% of UVA students that submitted SATs got a 1540 or better on the SAT.

The person said don’t pick TJ to maximize college targets. Lots of TJ kids don’t get into TJ.

And thanks for the (bolded) chuckle. Those UVA kids are the same riff raff you looked down on as being not a high enough peer group at the base schools for your TJ kids

I'm a different poster. Ithink UVA has more than enough highly academic kids to provide a good peer group.

Which college doesn’t?

Radford, ODU, Christopher Newport or NOVA

Please come off your high horse. Do you really think this? Lots of your “yes to UVA academic peers but ew to NOVA peers” are NOVA grads who transferred to UVA from NOVA on a guaranteed admission track.

NOVA grads also go places like w&m (guaranteed transfer), Princeton (one is there and also a Rhodes Scholar), or Oxford, gtown (in fact, there is a possible direct path to Gtown for a student nominated by NOVA for Gtown to consider), etc.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2022/11/10/elite-universities-aim-to-increase-community-college-transfer-students-via-new-pipeline/

- i’m a NOVA adjunct faculty and we have students attend the school who also attend prestigious universities elsewhere full time. Some for credit and some for courses for graduate school like premed. Are these NOVA students peers or also beneath tj kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"My kid took algebra 2 in 9th and it was pretty clear that a lot (not all, but a lot) of the kids taking pre-calc or calculus in 9th grade were qualitatively better at math and it was a long hard struggle to catch up with the calculus kids because they're not standing still. "

meh. My kid (sr now at TJ) also took Alg 2 in 9th and while yes there are some crazy genious kids at TJ there is also a big swath that simply was able to do Alg 1 in 6th at their ES whereas at the vast majority of ESs across the county that's not an option. DC would have done fine with Alg 1 in 6th but it wasn't a route really even at our AAP center. She didn't struggle to keep up with those kids.

How did she do on the math team?

? She had zero interest in the math team. She does do other ECs at TJ.

Then she's not keeping up with those kids.

Cuz yep all kids’ goals are the same for their ECs and having had the route to take Alg 1 in 6th when virtually all other schools do not offer this permanent makes every one of those kids geniuses.

Can you clarify your post? This is word salad.
We are only talking about math.
My point is that a lot of kids that were accelerated in math were better at math. They weren't born that way but the early acceleration made them that way and it took a lot to catch up to them.
The reason I bring up math team is because at TJ the top math students are not measured by standardized tests like the SATs, everyone is getting 800 on that. They are measured by their performance on the competitive math exams. If you don't really care about that then that's fine but that is where the math comeptition is at TJ.

My point is that my Alg 2 in 9th kid has not had a hard time “keeping up” in her classes at TJ and with her overall GPA. She took Calc BC in 11 like most and has a pretty strong although not top 10% GPA.

She had zero interest in the math club. Only some kids do. Not joining the math club does not mean kids who are on “normal advanced” track of Alg 2 in 9th are “behind in math” at TJ. That was the earlier claim.

Also - part of why many kids who did Algebra 2 in 8th are on that track is not because they are so much smarter than kids doing Algebra 2 in 9th but rather that Algebra 2 in 8th is only available in limited spots. Most kids have no access to it.

Finally I will agree that if your kid did math club at TJ then yeah sure they probably were among the very top kids in math. But kids do not need to be in that small group to still do well and “keep up” with math at TJ broadly speaking.

I'm not saying she can't keep up with her classes or that these other kids are smarter than her.
I don't think my kid can't keep up or that other kids are smarter than him.
I'm saying that these kids are smart and the head start they get is hard to overcome. These kids are progressing swiftly and in o0rder to come up form behind he had to do a lot of extra work.

TJ has a lot of kids on USAMO and one kid on the US national math olympiad team.

I think this conversation is drifting. My initial statement was that there are some kids at TJ that you can't catch up to if you start too far behind. And they are the ones you are compared to in college admissions.

The real competition for the spots at MIT isn't the SAT. Everybody gets a perfect math SAT. EVERYBODY. It's your performance at the math competitions that set you apart from the other 100+ kids that get a perfect math score at TJ. Oh, you're not competing on the math team competitions? Then you're not a likely candidate for some of these majors at some of these schools (they might be ok with some other stem olympiad achievement but math is the one they want)

Who said they are gunning for MIT? When UVA becomes unattainable, there should be a concern.

If you're trying to go to UVA, then wtf are you even doing at TJ?

sigh. Please go back to like page 1 and look at the replies from people saying that choosing TJ because you think it will max your chances of an Ivy admit is stupid. Yes, many kids at TJ are aiming at Ivy/Ivy+ or other top schools. Many also are aiming at UVA or Tech because they are great schools at affordable sticker tags. If you're UMC the Ivy/Ivy+ schools are giving you $0 in almost all cases. $90K a year may not be affordable for all kids that could be in that tier of schools and so they're going to need to look elsewhere.

Pick TJ if your kid wants a really high-academics peer group and enjoy the challenge of it. Don't pick it if the only reason your kid is going is to maximize college targets - that's going to backfire if that's all you/they want out of it.

NP: so you want this for your 9-12th grader but don’t care about this for your young adult?

You don't think UVA has a high end academics peer group? It might not be uniformly high end but 25% of UVA students that submitted SATs got a 1540 or better on the SAT.

The person said don’t pick TJ to maximize college targets. Lots of TJ kids don’t get into TJ.

And thanks for the (bolded) chuckle. Those UVA kids are the same riff raff you looked down on as being not a high enough peer group at the base schools for your TJ kids

You realize there are a lot of schools across the county right? And yes there are smart kids at all of them. But there is nowhere that has the vibe of TJ. I’m not looking down on anyone. I have one kid at TJ and one kid at base (who had no interest in going and I agree its vibe would have been a bad fit for him). It is about whether the school is a good fit for a specific kid - just like college selection is about fit for a given kid not a one size fits all answer.

It’s absurd to say you picked TJ for the academic peer group because you are also saying the academic peer group at the base school was inferior and:

Many/most tj kids will end up at the same colleges as the tj kids - do you then think your kid is superior or now can fit in with those kids academically?

If a base kid gets into an top ranked college over a tj applicant, is that base kid all of a sudden an academic peer of the tj kids or above the tj kid academically?

Why do you have such a chip on your shoulder? You seem to be trying to find offense and look for insult where there is none.

Our base school is a mid range one in FCPS. I like it. DC #2 is doing great there and it’s a good fit for him. For DC1 though she did not feel like she fit in well and did not like the base school. At TJ she found her fit.

She has grown a lot the last few years because of the confidence of being somewhere she felt comfortable at and that was a good match FOR HER. It was never about us looking down on the bare school and we did not push her to go - she WANTED to go and try for the challenge and the fresh start there. Lots of TJ kids have a similar experience. Could she have found her people at base and are there some really smart kids there too. Yes of course. It’s not all or nothing. But she did not want to stay and the move I think ended up being a really positive experience for her.

Now on to college. UVA has tons of very smart kids. So does W&M and kids in Tech’s engineering program for instance too. So do a wide variety of SLACs across the country. They are pulling together those smart kids from schools across VA and beyond. Ivy does not have a lock on smart kids just as TJ had no monopoly on them. Once again - it is about finding the right fit for this next stage of life.

I am sure you will find some reason to find offense here but believe it or not most TJ parents are not looking down on their base schools and it is not uncommon for families to have one kid at TJ and one at base since their kids are not identical in needs/personalities.