Which schools accepted your 4.3 - 4.4 TJ kid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, a girl turned down Harvard for Duke last year. Another girl turned down Harvard for Stanford the year before last. In fact, every year students turned down Harvard for other schools, as Harvard admits more than 10 from TJ every year but only 5 or so chose to attend.

That's really impressive for Duke. Especially at a STEM bastion like TJ, kids only turn down Harvard for MIT or Stanford, and maybe Princeton. Also the matriculation rate to Harvard from TJ is close to 70-80%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My TJ 2022 DD with >4.5 GPA + 1580 SAT didn't get in to the 3 Ivy's that she applied to or Duke. It still hurts sometimes especially when people say "being a girl is a hook for STEM" because that is not at all true even with high stats.

Last year was really hard so there isn’t much more your daughter likely could have done. I heard a girl in STEM turned down Harvard for Duke last year, is that true?

But the fact remains i.e. if you are a girl in STEM with high stats, you are NOT given admittance in a silver platter to an elite school just because you are a girl. As more schools try to narrow down the gender gap, girls are competing among themselves and boys among boys. And so, the accomplishments needed for an average girl to get into a T50+ school is less than it is required by a boy. Boys have more energy in general and do a lot if they are motivated, and so the competition is fierce among them. Also, gender birth rate is around 105 boys per 100 girls, so there are more boys in general.

+1
wonder why no-one commented to this post. everyone agrees?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ is incredibly competitive so it’s hard to tell if admissions-wise kids who are good (but not the best at TJ) would have been better off staying at their base school. DC was a good student at TJ and was fortunate to receive acceptances by Northwestern, Cornell, Rice among others. But rejected or waitlisted from HYPSM, Duke, Columbia, Caltech, UPenn, Brown. At the time we wondered if an acceptance could’ve been earned from one of the latter 10 schools if DC graduated from regular public with everything else

Even though your kid did not get into HYPSM, Duke ..., your DC should have easy handling college courts than most students who graduated from regular public schools (at least for the first two years college courts). This based on experiences with my two kids.

have no idea what TJ is but I will say this - my oldest DC graduated top 10% from an above average public hs in the Northeast, got into a Nescac with a sports hook, and has academically “outperformed all of the private school kids” - his words not mine. Granted these are mostly not nova kids, but kids who went to schools like choate, phillips exeter, newark academy, etc. I have no idea why, just providing one small anecdote from a kid who believes his public school education prepared him for college just fine. That said, a ton of kids from his high school probably “fell through the cracks”, which is one of the real value drivers for a private - making sure your kid stays on track.

TJ is Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. It is, I believe, the number one ranked public high school in the United States. I live in DC and my kids did not go (nor would they have had we lived in VA). It is something unique and, while your story is nice, these kids are on another level from most high school students, public or private school. The reason their GPAs are not higher is that they all take math and other sciences classes well beyond what the AP offers. I don't think anyone is worried about them keeping up. The problem is having them all together coming from the same high school, it is harder to be the stand out in a sea of stand outs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are having a hard time putting our list together. So wanted to find out where TJ kids with 4.3 - 4.4 GPA are likely to be accepted. Our DC is probably end up in that range with after her senior year with very high SAT score.

From TJ, you are not getting into the Ivy+ schools with that GPA unless you are aiming for something non-tech AND you have outstanding ECs that are one of a kind. Might have a shot if you are female or URM.

Share what your kid wants to study as well as profile (URM, male/female, GPA, number of APs, classes planned for senior year, intended course of study, ECs and leadership roles, etc.). Without that input, it's hard to provide any advice.

I assume this is specific to TJ—gpa.

My kid has had all As in the most rigorous course load available (honors/APs) and 4.4 gpa is the highest you can obtain (private). The school is known for rigor.

I assume schools with countless APs are different.

Highest TJ-gpa is generally between 4.6 - 4.7 (likely below 4.7). Even though most Ivy's and T10s say Gpa is just a data point, it is not true for TJ kids. The Naviance scattergram is clear on Ivy's and T10s only admitting TJ kids in the 4.5-4.6+ range. 4.3 -4.4 are right below where the Ivy's admit and they are either denied or waitlisted to be ultimately denied. The difference between a 4.4 and a 4.5 is couple of B+s and A-s in some of the hardest classes at TJ and for that matter for any high schooler at any school. The holistic admission is a total myth at least when it comes to TJ kids because data never lies. The admission of TJ kids are purely GPA driven.

True, but GPA is gamed at TJ by so many of the 4.5+ kids. There are a ton of kids with top GPA that avoided the hardest Post-AP classes until their senior year so the grade wouldn’t count for collage. These certain kids will fill their elective classes with only the AP’s that get easy A’s. Parents of these kids will scream at the school for the “right” (easier grader) teacher. For instance, there are two teachers doing Post BCCalc math. One actually teaches and grades hard but ok, the other can’t even answer questions past the script, grades really hard, and has a reputation. Some kids avoid all post AP Math classes till senior year, or only take the post APCompSci class in Web design/App design versus AI (Python) and Computer Vision (C++).

Admissions offices know this. I watched one AO talk about an engineering applicant who took all the post-AP CS courses but never took AP Physics. They’re not getting in for engineering majors regardless of GPA if they don’t have AP lab science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, a girl turned down Harvard for Duke last year. Another girl turned down Harvard for Stanford the year before last. In fact, every year students turned down Harvard for other schools, as Harvard admits more than 10 from TJ every year but only 5 or so chose to attend.

That year, all of the Stanford admits were also admitted to Harvard. None of them attended Harvard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, a girl turned down Harvard for Duke last year. Another girl turned down Harvard for Stanford the year before last. In fact, every year students turned down Harvard for other schools, as Harvard admits more than 10 from TJ every year but only 5 or so chose to attend.

That's really impressive for Duke. Especially at a STEM bastion like TJ, kids only turn down Harvard for MIT or Stanford, and maybe Princeton. Also the matriculation rate to Harvard from TJ is close to 70-80%.

Duke offered her a full ride scholarship. She is a URM which helps with college admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TJ is incredibly competitive so it’s hard to tell if admissions-wise kids who are good (but not the best at TJ) would have been better off staying at their base school. DC was a good student at TJ and was fortunate to receive acceptances by Northwestern, Cornell, Rice among others. But rejected or waitlisted from HYPSM, Duke, Columbia, Caltech, UPenn, Brown. At the time we wondered if an acceptance could’ve been earned from one of the latter 10 schools if DC graduated from regular public with everything else

comments like this completely baffle me - applying to every T15 screams prestige seeker - no concern about fit -

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ is incredibly competitive so it’s hard to tell if admissions-wise kids who are good (but not the best at TJ) would have been better off staying at their base school. DC was a good student at TJ and was fortunate to receive acceptances by Northwestern, Cornell, Rice among others. But rejected or waitlisted from HYPSM, Duke, Columbia, Caltech, UPenn, Brown. At the time we wondered if an acceptance could’ve been earned from one of the latter 10 schools if DC graduated from regular public with everything else

comments like this completely baffle me - applying to every T15 screams prestige seeker - no concern about fit -

Yeah, I don't get this either. These are very different schools. My Blair kid applied to a few T15 but ones that appealed to her for course of study, campus dynamic etc. Also, many of these schools have supplements. These take time and energy to make a good impression. This may be part of the issue for PP's rejections/WL, not just the competitive cohort. Mine also had some LAC targets and likelies and umd.

[Anonymous]

PP - yup and the AOs are pretty good at sniffing this out I think - because they are always extremely concerned about fit..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The GPA is ok, hard to say how many AP that equates to. If you take a look around, you will see a lot of perfect stat kids getting very few offers. Huge factor is major- if its CS, be prepared for battle. Hopefully its some obscure in which case your kid will waltz in lots of places. Hopefully you are not asian or white or if you are either, you remember your grandma was from spain before you file that application. It is actually harder to be accepted from TJ vs. other schools - my son turned down TJ after talking to a senior who couldn't get in anywhere because they were quota'ing the TJ kids (going into engineering). Truthfully, aim for schools in the 15-35 ranking range. My son had a 4.4 GPA 12 AP/DE, and a 1560 SAT, top 1% of his class and tons of amazing ECS and the highest ranked CS program he got into was #18.

Remember your grandma was from Spain??? Lying and teaching that to your kid. No words.
Didn't you hear about the celebrities' college scandal? I hope you get caught.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My TJ 2022 DD with >4.5 GPA + 1580 SAT didn't get in to the 3 Ivy's that she applied to or Duke. It still hurts sometimes especially when people say "being a girl is a hook for STEM" because that is not at all true even with high stats.

Last year was really hard so there isn’t much more your daughter likely could have done. I heard a girl in STEM turned down Harvard for Duke last year, is that true?

But the fact remains i.e. if you are a girl in STEM with high stats, you are NOT given admittance in a silver platter to an elite school just because you are a girl. As more schools try to narrow down the gender gap, girls are competing among themselves and boys among boys. And so, the accomplishments needed for an average girl to get into a T50+ school is less than it is required by a boy. Boys have more energy in general and do a lot if they are motivated, and so the competition is fierce among them. Also, gender birth rate is around 105 boys per 100 girls, so there are more boys in general.

+1
wonder why no-one commented to this post. everyone agrees?

Don't feed the troll.

[Anonymous]

3000+ schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My TJ 2022 DD with >4.5 GPA + 1580 SAT didn't get in to the 3 Ivy's that she applied to or Duke. It still hurts sometimes especially when people say "being a girl is a hook for STEM" because that is not at all true even with high stats.

Last year was really hard so there isn’t much more your daughter likely could have done. I heard a girl in STEM turned down Harvard for Duke last year, is that true?

But the fact remains i.e. if you are a girl in STEM with high stats, you are NOT given admittance in a silver platter to an elite school just because you are a girl. As more schools try to narrow down the gender gap, girls are competing among themselves and boys among boys. And so, the accomplishments needed for an average girl to get into a T50+ school is less than it is required by a boy. Boys have more energy in general and do a lot if they are motivated, and so the competition is fierce among them. Also, gender birth rate is around 105 boys per 100 girls, so there are more boys in general.

+1
wonder why no-one commented to this post. everyone agrees?

Don't feed the troll.

it's a troll for parents who only have boys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The GPA is ok, hard to say how many AP that equates to. If you take a look around, you will see a lot of perfect stat kids getting very few offers. Huge factor is major- if its CS, be prepared for battle. Hopefully its some obscure in which case your kid will waltz in lots of places. Hopefully you are not asian or white or if you are either, you remember your grandma was from spain before you file that application. It is actually harder to be accepted from TJ vs. other schools - my son turned down TJ after talking to a senior who couldn't get in anywhere because they were quota'ing the TJ kids (going into engineering). Truthfully, aim for schools in the 15-35 ranking range. My son had a 4.4 GPA 12 AP/DE, and a 1560 SAT, top 1% of his class and tons of amazing ECS and the highest ranked CS program he got into was #18.

Remember your grandma was from Spain??? Lying and teaching that to your kid. No words.
Didn't you hear about the celebrities' college scandal? I hope you get caught.

Why do anyone care about school/program ranking if the intended major is CS? I’d think school ranking is more important if some is trying to major in English or history.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC had 4.4-4.5 from TJ.

36 ACT.

National science award winner.

University of Chicago.

The Ivies are overrated IMO and I went to one of the Big 3 Ivy schools.

Ivies are not as interested in excellence anymore.

so what are they interested in? Mediocrity?

Being woke, and bowing to their grantors, such as the NIH and China. They are captured institutions that cannot be trusted to be a good place for the pursuit of truth. Just telling it like it is.