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

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

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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.

For enrolled, the 75th percentile is 1510, not 1540.

[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

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.

The chip on my shoulder comes from people saying that TJ provides the correct academic peers for my kid when that TJ kid is then regrouped with the same beneath-him academic peers in college. It also comes when someone says absolutely students at NOVA or CMU are not my kid's academic peers. Those same NOVA students are highly accomplished and go on to great institutions or are adding a class in at NOVA while also attending a higher ranked school.

[Anonymous]

TJ parent here.

We were hearing a lot of senior parents complain last year about college acceptances. A lot of parents thought TJ damaged their kids chances in getting into a prestige school.

However, DC made friends with a lot of seniors. All of them have said the following (with the exception of cal tech and mit kids) - TJ prepared them for college. They joke that they regretted it- but privately, they are having a blast at college and doing really well and some are getting extremely prestigious internships as freshmen.

TJ kids are fine.

[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:

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.

The chip on my shoulder comes from people saying that TJ provides the correct academic peers for my kid when that TJ kid is then regrouped with the same beneath-him academic peers in college. It also comes when someone says absolutely students at NOVA or CMU are not my kid's academic peers. Those same NOVA students are highly accomplished and go on to great institutions or are adding a class in at NOVA while also attending a higher ranked school.

DP here.

Are you ok?

A lot of people say stuff because of their own insecurities. Do not pay attention to them. Literally- you have to ignore it.

Do you know how many white people complained to me (an Asian person) about how DEI was ruining TJ? Four. To my face. And two Asian people. And my kid was the only one they knew who got in.

Just let it go. Our kids are fine.

[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:

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.

The chip on my shoulder comes from people saying that TJ provides the correct academic peers for my kid when that TJ kid is then regrouped with the same beneath-him academic peers in college. It also comes when someone says absolutely students at NOVA or CMU are not my kid's academic peers. Those same NOVA students are highly accomplished and go on to great institutions or are adding a class in at NOVA while also attending a higher ranked school.

DP here.

Are you ok?

A lot of people say stuff because of their own insecurities. Do not pay attention to them. Literally- you have to ignore it.

Do you know how many white people complained to me (an Asian person) about how DEI was ruining TJ? Four. To my face. And two Asian people. And my kid was the only one they knew who got in.

Just let it go. Our kids are fine.

Yes, I am okay. But don't agree with anyone looking down on anyone else. That's where this stems from.

[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:

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.

The chip on my shoulder comes from people saying that TJ provides the correct academic peers for my kid when that TJ kid is then regrouped with the same beneath-him academic peers in college. It also comes when someone says absolutely students at NOVA or CMU are not my kid's academic peers. Those same NOVA students are highly accomplished and go on to great institutions or are adding a class in at NOVA while also attending a higher ranked school.

DP here.

Are you ok?

A lot of people say stuff because of their own insecurities. Do not pay attention to them. Literally- you have to ignore it.

Do you know how many white people complained to me (an Asian person) about how DEI was ruining TJ? Four. To my face. And two Asian people. And my kid was the only one they knew who got in.

Just let it go. Our kids are fine.

Yes, I am okay. But don't agree with anyone looking down on anyone else. That's where this stems from.

Just … consider the fact that everyone is dealing with their own insecurities.

That’s it. When people talk poop, it’s because they can’t deal with their own insecurities. It’s never about you.

Half the time- they all need some Xanax.

[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:

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.

The chip on my shoulder comes from people saying that TJ provides the correct academic peers for my kid when that TJ kid is then regrouped with the same beneath-him academic peers in college. It also comes when someone says absolutely students at NOVA or CMU are not my kid's academic peers. Those same NOVA students are highly accomplished and go on to great institutions or are adding a class in at NOVA while also attending a higher ranked school.

DP here.

Are you ok?

A lot of people say stuff because of their own insecurities. Do not pay attention to them. Literally- you have to ignore it.

Do you know how many white people complained to me (an Asian person) about how DEI was ruining TJ? Four. To my face. And two Asian people. And my kid was the only one they knew who got in.

Just let it go. Our kids are fine.

Yes, I am okay. But don't agree with anyone looking down on anyone else. That's where this stems from.

It has been explained to you 5M times over that no one posting here is looking down on you and their base school. Maybe IRL someone said something snarky to you but you keep arguing here as if people are attacking you when they are not.

[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:

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.

The chip on my shoulder comes from people saying that TJ provides the correct academic peers for my kid when that TJ kid is then regrouped with the same beneath-him academic peers in college. It also comes when someone says absolutely students at NOVA or CMU are not my kid's academic peers. Those same NOVA students are highly accomplished and go on to great institutions or are adding a class in at NOVA while also attending a higher ranked school.

DP here.

Are you ok?

A lot of people say stuff because of their own insecurities. Do not pay attention to them. Literally- you have to ignore it.

Do you know how many white people complained to me (an Asian person) about how DEI was ruining TJ? Four. To my face. And two Asian people. And my kid was the only one they knew who got in.

Just let it go. Our kids are fine.

Yes, I am okay. But don't agree with anyone looking down on anyone else. That's where this stems from.

It has been explained to you 5M times over that no one posting here is looking down on you and their base school. Maybe IRL someone said something snarky to you but you keep arguing here as if people are attacking you when they are not.

- except that is w exactly what some poster(s?) said.

[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:

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.

The chip on my shoulder comes from people saying that TJ provides the correct academic peers for my kid when that TJ kid is then regrouped with the same beneath-him academic peers in college. It also comes when someone says absolutely students at NOVA or CMU are not my kid's academic peers. Those same NOVA students are highly accomplished and go on to great institutions or are adding a class in at NOVA while also attending a higher ranked school.

DP here.

Are you ok?

A lot of people say stuff because of their own insecurities. Do not pay attention to them. Literally- you have to ignore it.

Do you know how many white people complained to me (an Asian person) about how DEI was ruining TJ? Four. To my face. And two Asian people. And my kid was the only one they knew who got in.

Just let it go. Our kids are fine.

Yes, I am okay. But don't agree with anyone looking down on anyone else. That's where this stems from.

Just … consider the fact that everyone is dealing with their own insecurities.

That’s it. When people talk poop, it’s because they can’t deal with their own insecurities. It’s never about you.

Half the time- they all need some Xanax.

👍

[Anonymous]

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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.

The chip on my shoulder comes from people saying that TJ provides the correct academic peers for my kid when that TJ kid is then regrouped with the same beneath-him academic peers in college. It also comes when someone says absolutely students at NOVA or CMU are not my kid's academic peers. Those same NOVA students are highly accomplished and go on to great institutions or are adding a class in at NOVA while also attending a higher ranked school.

DP here.

Are you ok?

A lot of people say stuff because of their own insecurities. Do not pay attention to them. Literally- you have to ignore it.

Do you know how many white people complained to me (an Asian person) about how DEI was ruining TJ? Four. To my face. And two Asian people. And my kid was the only one they knew who got in.

Just let it go. Our kids are fine.

Yes, I am okay. But don't agree with anyone looking down on anyone else. That's where this stems from.

It has been explained to you 5M times over that no one posting here is looking down on you and their base school. Maybe IRL someone said something snarky to you but you keep arguing here as if people are attacking you when they are not.

- except that is w exactly what some poster(s?) said.

No. It’s not. PP is reading offense into comments that isn’t there. Most posters - and me above that PP was arguing with several times - have said we let our kid pick TJ because it was a great fit for them for HS. And looking at colleges now there are many colleges that would be good fits - not only Ivys. Acknowledging this is not a slam on the base school. My other kid goes there - I like it. But it was not the best fit for my oldest who really thrived in the TJ environment.

[Anonymous]

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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.

The chip on my shoulder comes from people saying that TJ provides the correct academic peers for my kid when that TJ kid is then regrouped with the same beneath-him academic peers in college. It also comes when someone says absolutely students at NOVA or CMU are not my kid's academic peers. Those same NOVA students are highly accomplished and go on to great institutions or are adding a class in at NOVA while also attending a higher ranked school.

DP here.

Are you ok?

A lot of people say stuff because of their own insecurities. Do not pay attention to them. Literally- you have to ignore it.

Do you know how many white people complained to me (an Asian person) about how DEI was ruining TJ? Four. To my face. And two Asian people. And my kid was the only one they knew who got in.

Just let it go. Our kids are fine.

Yes, I am okay. But don't agree with anyone looking down on anyone else. That's where this stems from.

It has been explained to you 5M times over that no one posting here is looking down on you and their base school. Maybe IRL someone said something snarky to you but you keep arguing here as if people are attacking you when they are not.

- except that is w exactly what some poster(s?) said.

No. It’s not. PP is reading offense into comments that isn’t there. Most posters - and me above that PP was arguing with several times - have said we let our kid pick TJ because it was a great fit for them for HS. And looking at colleges now there are many colleges that would be good fits - not only Ivys. Acknowledging this is not a slam on the base school. My other kid goes there - I like it. But it was not the best fit for my oldest who really thrived in the TJ environment.

A poster said that TJ offers academic peers, unlike the base school.

This raised the question about what happens when the base HS kids reunite with TJ kids at college.

A different poster said UVA would offer “more than enough highly academic kids to provide a good peer group.”

That poster was asked which college would NOT offer an academic peers group to TJ kids and the person said Radford, ODU, Christopher Newport or NOVA.

How is that not looking down on the students attending those four listed schools, especially when NOVA students sometimes transfer to UVA or W&M and other good schools?

[Anonymous]

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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.

The chip on my shoulder comes from people saying that TJ provides the correct academic peers for my kid when that TJ kid is then regrouped with the same beneath-him academic peers in college. It also comes when someone says absolutely students at NOVA or CMU are not my kid's academic peers. Those same NOVA students are highly accomplished and go on to great institutions or are adding a class in at NOVA while also attending a higher ranked school.

DP here.

Are you ok?

A lot of people say stuff because of their own insecurities. Do not pay attention to them. Literally- you have to ignore it.

Do you know how many white people complained to me (an Asian person) about how DEI was ruining TJ? Four. To my face. And two Asian people. And my kid was the only one they knew who got in.

Just let it go. Our kids are fine.

Yes, I am okay. But don't agree with anyone looking down on anyone else. That's where this stems from.

It has been explained to you 5M times over that no one posting here is looking down on you and their base school. Maybe IRL someone said something snarky to you but you keep arguing here as if people are attacking you when they are not.

- except that is w exactly what some poster(s?) said.

No. It’s not. PP is reading offense into comments that isn’t there. Most posters - and me above that PP was arguing with several times - have said we let our kid pick TJ because it was a great fit for them for HS. And looking at colleges now there are many colleges that would be good fits - not only Ivys. Acknowledging this is not a slam on the base school. My other kid goes there - I like it. But it was not the best fit for my oldest who really thrived in the TJ environment.

A poster said that TJ offers academic peers, unlike the base school.

This raised the question about what happens when the base HS kids reunite with TJ kids at college.

A different poster said UVA would offer “more than enough highly academic kids to provide a good peer group.”

That poster was asked which college would NOT offer an academic peers group to TJ kids and the person said Radford, ODU, Christopher Newport or NOVA.

How is that not looking down on the students attending those four listed schools, especially when NOVA students sometimes transfer to UVA or W&M and other good schools?

You seem to have trouble understanding there is a difference between "there are NO smart kids" at this place and "there is a very large critical mass of smart kids" at this place. Both scenarios relate to the latter and no one was ever arguing the former. Having academic peers at TJ is more about wanting the "large critical mass" vibe it offers and does not mean there are no smart kids at the base school - that's obviously not the case.

As for the college level, I'd 100% agree that some smart kids do go to Radford, CNU, Chris. Newport and NOVA. But I'd also say they do not have the large critical mass of kids at that level that UVA/W&M/Tech and similar level colleges offer.

None of that is "looking down on" anyone but this is certainly true. Check out avg SATs for indication.

[Anonymous]

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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.

The chip on my shoulder comes from people saying that TJ provides the correct academic peers for my kid when that TJ kid is then regrouped with the same beneath-him academic peers in college. It also comes when someone says absolutely students at NOVA or CMU are not my kid's academic peers. Those same NOVA students are highly accomplished and go on to great institutions or are adding a class in at NOVA while also attending a higher ranked school.

DP here.

Are you ok?

A lot of people say stuff because of their own insecurities. Do not pay attention to them. Literally- you have to ignore it.

Do you know how many white people complained to me (an Asian person) about how DEI was ruining TJ? Four. To my face. And two Asian people. And my kid was the only one they knew who got in.

Just let it go. Our kids are fine.

Yes, I am okay. But don't agree with anyone looking down on anyone else. That's where this stems from.

It has been explained to you 5M times over that no one posting here is looking down on you and their base school. Maybe IRL someone said something snarky to you but you keep arguing here as if people are attacking you when they are not.

- except that is w exactly what some poster(s?) said.

No. It’s not. PP is reading offense into comments that isn’t there. Most posters - and me above that PP was arguing with several times - have said we let our kid pick TJ because it was a great fit for them for HS. And looking at colleges now there are many colleges that would be good fits - not only Ivys. Acknowledging this is not a slam on the base school. My other kid goes there - I like it. But it was not the best fit for my oldest who really thrived in the TJ environment.

A poster said that TJ offers academic peers, unlike the base school.

This raised the question about what happens when the base HS kids reunite with TJ kids at college.

A different poster said UVA would offer “more than enough highly academic kids to provide a good peer group.”

That poster was asked which college would NOT offer an academic peers group to TJ kids and the person said Radford, ODU, Christopher Newport or NOVA.

How is that not looking down on the students attending those four listed schools, especially when NOVA students sometimes transfer to UVA or W&M and other good schools?

You seem to have trouble understanding there is a difference between "there are NO smart kids" at this place and "there is a very large critical mass of smart kids" at this place. Both scenarios relate to the latter and no one was ever arguing the former. Having academic peers at TJ is more about wanting the "large critical mass" vibe it offers and does not mean there are no smart kids at the base school - that's obviously not the case.

As for the college level, I'd 100% agree that some smart kids do go to Radford, CNU, Chris. Newport and NOVA. But I'd also say they do not have the large critical mass of kids at that level that UVA/W&M/Tech and similar level colleges offer.

None of that is "looking down on" anyone but this is certainly true. Check out avg SATs for indication.

+1000

The key word is "academic peers".

Last year I had a problem with wildlife and I called a company after a quick google lookup. The person who came turned out to be a high school student who is just graduating. He is so impressive and very interested and knowledgeable in wildlife. Resolved my problem and had wonderful tips for me going forward. He said he would be studying Wildlife management at West Virginia University. He is just as impressive as anyone who is going to a HYPSM. He is all hands on and does not look like the kind of person who would have enjoyed studying intricate theories at a HYPSM. I would bet on this person and invest money with him if he ever started a larger business.

Most of T20 are academically inclined, Duh! And fit kids who are so inclined. I do not think my kid would every be able to handle the things this person can do. Each is impressive in their own way.

[Anonymous]

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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.

The chip on my shoulder comes from people saying that TJ provides the correct academic peers for my kid when that TJ kid is then regrouped with the same beneath-him academic peers in college. It also comes when someone says absolutely students at NOVA or CMU are not my kid's academic peers. Those same NOVA students are highly accomplished and go on to great institutions or are adding a class in at NOVA while also attending a higher ranked school.

DP here.

Are you ok?

A lot of people say stuff because of their own insecurities. Do not pay attention to them. Literally- you have to ignore it.

Do you know how many white people complained to me (an Asian person) about how DEI was ruining TJ? Four. To my face. And two Asian people. And my kid was the only one they knew who got in.

Just let it go. Our kids are fine.

Yes, I am okay. But don't agree with anyone looking down on anyone else. That's where this stems from.

It has been explained to you 5M times over that no one posting here is looking down on you and their base school. Maybe IRL someone said something snarky to you but you keep arguing here as if people are attacking you when they are not.

- except that is w exactly what some poster(s?) said.

No. It’s not. PP is reading offense into comments that isn’t there. Most posters - and me above that PP was arguing with several times - have said we let our kid pick TJ because it was a great fit for them for HS. And looking at colleges now there are many colleges that would be good fits - not only Ivys. Acknowledging this is not a slam on the base school. My other kid goes there - I like it. But it was not the best fit for my oldest who really thrived in the TJ environment.

A poster said that TJ offers academic peers, unlike the base school.

This raised the question about what happens when the base HS kids reunite with TJ kids at college.

A different poster said UVA would offer “more than enough highly academic kids to provide a good peer group.”

That poster was asked which college would NOT offer an academic peers group to TJ kids and the person said Radford, ODU, Christopher Newport or NOVA.

How is that not looking down on the students attending those four listed schools, especially when NOVA students sometimes transfer to UVA or W&M and other good schools?

You seem to have trouble understanding there is a difference between "there are NO smart kids" at this place and "there is a very large critical mass of smart kids" at this place. Both scenarios relate to the latter and no one was ever arguing the former. Having academic peers at TJ is more about wanting the "large critical mass" vibe it offers and does not mean there are no smart kids at the base school - that's obviously not the case.

As for the college level, I'd 100% agree that some smart kids do go to Radford, CNU, Chris. Newport and NOVA. But I'd also say they do not have the large critical mass of kids at that level that UVA/W&M/Tech and similar level colleges offer.

None of that is "looking down on" anyone but this is certainly true. Check out avg SATs for indication.

+1000

The key word is "academic peers".

Last year I had a problem with wildlife and I called a company after a quick google lookup. The person who came turned out to be a high school student who is just graduating. He is so impressive and very interested and knowledgeable in wildlife. Resolved my problem and had wonderful tips for me going forward. He said he would be studying Wildlife management at West Virginia University. He is just as impressive as anyone who is going to a HYPSM. He is all hands on and does not look like the kind of person who would have enjoyed studying intricate theories at a HYPSM. I would bet on this person and invest money with him if he ever started a larger business.

Most of T20 are academically inclined, Duh! And fit kids who are so inclined. I do not think my kid would every be able to handle the things this person can do. Each is impressive in their own way.

This is the type of looking down that I am referring to...but evidently TJ parents can't help but be TJparenting.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

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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.

The chip on my shoulder comes from people saying that TJ provides the correct academic peers for my kid when that TJ kid is then regrouped with the same beneath-him academic peers in college. It also comes when someone says absolutely students at NOVA or CMU are not my kid's academic peers. Those same NOVA students are highly accomplished and go on to great institutions or are adding a class in at NOVA while also attending a higher ranked school.

DP here.

Are you ok?

A lot of people say stuff because of their own insecurities. Do not pay attention to them. Literally- you have to ignore it.

Do you know how many white people complained to me (an Asian person) about how DEI was ruining TJ? Four. To my face. And two Asian people. And my kid was the only one they knew who got in.

Just let it go. Our kids are fine.

Yes, I am okay. But don't agree with anyone looking down on anyone else. That's where this stems from.

It has been explained to you 5M times over that no one posting here is looking down on you and their base school. Maybe IRL someone said something snarky to you but you keep arguing here as if people are attacking you when they are not.

- except that is w exactly what some poster(s?) said.

No. It’s not. PP is reading offense into comments that isn’t there. Most posters - and me above that PP was arguing with several times - have said we let our kid pick TJ because it was a great fit for them for HS. And looking at colleges now there are many colleges that would be good fits - not only Ivys. Acknowledging this is not a slam on the base school. My other kid goes there - I like it. But it was not the best fit for my oldest who really thrived in the TJ environment.

A poster said that TJ offers academic peers, unlike the base school.

This raised the question about what happens when the base HS kids reunite with TJ kids at college.

A different poster said UVA would offer “more than enough highly academic kids to provide a good peer group.”

That poster was asked which college would NOT offer an academic peers group to TJ kids and the person said Radford, ODU, Christopher Newport or NOVA.

How is that not looking down on the students attending those four listed schools, especially when NOVA students sometimes transfer to UVA or W&M and other good schools?

You seem to have trouble understanding there is a difference between "there are NO smart kids" at this place and "there is a very large critical mass of smart kids" at this place. Both scenarios relate to the latter and no one was ever arguing the former. Having academic peers at TJ is more about wanting the "large critical mass" vibe it offers and does not mean there are no smart kids at the base school - that's obviously not the case.

As for the college level, I'd 100% agree that some smart kids do go to Radford, CNU, Chris. Newport and NOVA. But I'd also say they do not have the large critical mass of kids at that level that UVA/W&M/Tech and similar level colleges offer.

None of that is "looking down on" anyone but this is certainly true. Check out avg SATs for indication.

+1000

The key word is "academic peers".

Last year I had a problem with wildlife and I called a company after a quick google lookup. The person who came turned out to be a high school student who is just graduating. He is so impressive and very interested and knowledgeable in wildlife. Resolved my problem and had wonderful tips for me going forward. He said he would be studying Wildlife management at West Virginia University. He is just as impressive as anyone who is going to a HYPSM. He is all hands on and does not look like the kind of person who would have enjoyed studying intricate theories at a HYPSM. I would bet on this person and invest money with him if he ever started a larger business.

Most of T20 are academically inclined, Duh! And fit kids who are so inclined. I do not think my kid would every be able to handle the things this person can do. Each is impressive in their own way.

This is the type of looking down that I am referring to...but evidently TJ parents can't help but be TJparenting.

I’m not PP but seriously you have a complex. PP clearly was praising this kid not looking down on him. Not everyone needs to fit in the same box to be someone who is respected.