Official TJ Admissions Decisions Results for the Class of 2025

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
3. The students who got in with Algebra 1 but who solved what was reportedly (?) a geometry essay question are either very bright or took geometry ahead of public school offering (in which case they were also prepped outside their public school, so their natural math ability is completely unknown). Perhaps, the problem solving essay was just a distraction and had no real weight in the application process (this would explain why there was no score of any thought attached to it).

This is the shocking part. There is no way that kids who were at the time only halfway through Algebra I would have been equipped to solve a geometry problem of any real depth. So, we're left with several possibilities:
1. They completely ignored the problem when making admissions decisions.
2. The problem was so trivial that everyone aced it.
3. Algebra I kids who crushed the problem are kids receiving outside prep, because that's the only way they would have the math tools to solve the problem.
4. The Algebra I kids had help or cheated on the problem, since they were at home and unmonitored.

All of these are more plausible than imagining that there are tons of Algebra I kids who are hidden math geniuses and completely derived the material they needed to solve a geometry problem that they've never learned before.

Cases 3 and 4 sound like exactly the type of kids they don't want at TJ.

I hope someone FOIAs the application data. Names and schools can be redacted

It’s safe to assume some school-specific data will be FOIA’d or leaked. There are jealous haters on the School Board whose primary motivation in all this was the day when they could tell people how they slashed the number of admits from Carson, Longfellow, and Rocky Run.

[Anonymous]

A lot of the kids who did really well in Mathcounts, AMC, Science Olympiad and hence mentioned it in the essays got rejected. It seems they want to root out these kids in the name of equity to give opportunity to those who did not do these events.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From what it looks like from looking at data from different self-reports (including here), the admissions team was aiming for roughly 40% in Algebra I, 60% in Geometry/Algebra II.

I don't think being an high math class increased a child’s “ranking” at all. In fact, at some schools, being in a lower math class may have actually helped.

That is ridiculous.

Goodby #1 high school in the country once the last merit based admissions class gdaduates in 2024.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From what it looks like from looking at data from different self-reports (including here), the admissions team was aiming for roughly 40% in Algebra I, 60% in Geometry/Algebra II.

I don't think being an high math class increased a child’s “ranking” at all. In fact, at some schools, being in a lower math class may have actually helped.

That is ridiculous.

Goodby #1 high school in the country once the last merit based admissions class gdaduates in 2024.

What a silly, frivolous school it will soon become. Kind of like the public school equivalent of an expensive private school that is less rigorous than the nearest public schools - think Bullis or Flint Hill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a kid in my DS’s baseball team whose parents brag about not being part of the test prep crowd. Yet their son has been pushed to take Algebra II in 8th, on every math/science competition team, plays travel sports, volunteer etc. They just decided to work a different angle to get into TJ. It has been all they talk about. They are the type of parents who would have their kid in any niche thing to get them into an Ivy but try to act like the kid is just such a natural genius. I’m sure I will hear if he got in and not a word if he didn’t.

What's funny about a parent like YOU is that you will be doing the exact same things in 3 years when it's time for college admissions without batting an eyelid. Just because someone else is doing similar things ahead of a schedule your kind developed doesn't mean that's bad. It's just different. Let's see how many of you take the SAT on "RAW" talent. Some fools spend over $500/HOUR on SAT coaching and not one of them is Asian.

Which is why many of us will be happy to see the SAT and ACT go away for good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of the kids who did really well in Mathcounts, AMC, Science Olympiad and hence mentioned it in the essays got rejected. It seems they want to root out these kids in the name of equity to give opportunity to those who did not do these events.

Well, of course. All of those kids who are in Algebra II or pre-calc and who spend a lot of time doing STEM extracurriculars are just overly prepped products of their parents' pushing, and they're not at all special. The truly special kids are the ones who haven't demonstrated any particular aptitude in or passion for STEM. That Algebra I kid who didn't join any STEM extracurriculars and didn't earn any elite awards is the true talent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of the kids who did really well in Mathcounts, AMC, Science Olympiad and hence mentioned it in the essays got rejected. It seems they want to root out these kids in the name of equity to give opportunity to those who did not do these events.

Well, of course. All of those kids who are in Algebra II or pre-calc and who spend a lot of time doing STEM extracurriculars are just overly prepped products of their parents' pushing, and they're not at all special. The truly special kids are the ones who haven't demonstrated any particular aptitude in or passion for STEM. That Algebra I kid who didn't join any STEM extracurriculars and didn't earn any elite awards is the true talent.

From our middle school, a few kids that got in are exactly what you define as Over prepped. Algebra 2, Math Counts, AMC 8 honor roll, Science Olympiad medal winners - yet they made it. But there are another few with similar achievements showing their interest in STEM that are in the waitlist. And there are a few that played video games all the way and got offers too. How do you explain this kind of variation in acceptances? I believe all of them had 4.0 GPA, some Algebra 2 and some Geometry. And mind you almost all of them took prep classes . So please stop generalizing and defending this admission process as identifiers of true talent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of the kids who did really well in Mathcounts, AMC, Science Olympiad and hence mentioned it in the essays got rejected. It seems they want to root out these kids in the name of equity to give opportunity to those who did not do these events.

Well, of course. All of those kids who are in Algebra II or pre-calc and who spend a lot of time doing STEM extracurriculars are just overly prepped products of their parents' pushing, and they're not at all special. The truly special kids are the ones who haven't demonstrated any particular aptitude in or passion for STEM. That Algebra I kid who didn't join any STEM extracurriculars and didn't earn any elite awards is the true talent.

From our middle school, a few kids that got in are exactly what you define as Over prepped. Algebra 2, Math Counts, AMC 8 honor roll, Science Olympiad medal winners - yet they made it. But there are another few with similar achievements showing their interest in STEM that are in the waitlist. And there are a few that played video games all the way and got offers too. How do you explain this kind of variation in acceptances? I believe all of them had 4.0 GPA, some Algebra 2 and some Geometry. And mind you almost all of them took prep classes . So please stop generalizing and defending this admission process as identifiers of true talent

Your sarcasm meter seems to be malfunctioning. You should look into that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of the kids who did really well in Mathcounts, AMC, Science Olympiad and hence mentioned it in the essays got rejected. It seems they want to root out these kids in the name of equity to give opportunity to those who did not do these events.

Well, of course. All of those kids who are in Algebra II or pre-calc and who spend a lot of time doing STEM extracurriculars are just overly prepped products of their parents' pushing, and they're not at all special. The truly special kids are the ones who haven't demonstrated any particular aptitude in or passion for STEM. That Algebra I kid who didn't join any STEM extracurriculars and didn't earn any elite awards is the true talent.

From our middle school, a few kids that got in are exactly what you define as Over prepped. Algebra 2, Math Counts, AMC 8 honor roll, Science Olympiad medal winners - yet they made it. But there are another few with similar achievements showing their interest in STEM that are in the waitlist. And there are a few that played video games all the way and got offers too. How do you explain this kind of variation in acceptances? I believe all of them had 4.0 GPA, some Algebra 2 and some Geometry. And mind you almost all of them took prep classes . So please stop generalizing and defending this admission process as identifiers of true talent

Maybe the kids that didn’t get, like probably your kid, flubbed the problem solving essay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of the kids who did really well in Mathcounts, AMC, Science Olympiad and hence mentioned it in the essays got rejected. It seems they want to root out these kids in the name of equity to give opportunity to those who did not do these events.

Well, of course. All of those kids who are in Algebra II or pre-calc and who spend a lot of time doing STEM extracurriculars are just overly prepped products of their parents' pushing, and they're not at all special. The truly special kids are the ones who haven't demonstrated any particular aptitude in or passion for STEM. That Algebra I kid who didn't join any STEM extracurriculars and didn't earn any elite awards is the true talent.

From our middle school, a few kids that got in are exactly what you define as Over prepped. Algebra 2, Math Counts, AMC 8 honor roll, Science Olympiad medal winners - yet they made it. But there are another few with similar achievements showing their interest in STEM that are in the waitlist. And there are a few that played video games all the way and got offers too. How do you explain this kind of variation in acceptances? I believe all of them had 4.0 GPA, some Algebra 2 and some Geometry. And mind you almost all of them took prep classes . So please stop generalizing and defending this admission process as identifiers of true talent

Maybe the kids that didn’t get, like probably your kid, flubbed the problem solving essay.

Ha ha, my kid got in but this is what I noticed in the list of offers . Not sure if he flubbed the problem solving essay or not because unfortunately we do not receive a score of the performance
The ones who were waitlisted are competent Math problem solvers , so it could have been too easy for them. My point is the lack of uniformity in the offers given.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Accepted.
Frost. AAP. 4.0 GPA. Algebra 1 Honors.

Do you think your kid is the top 1.5% academically in Frost? If not, what the main reason that he/she got selected in your opinion?

Perhaps once the minimum criteria of GPA, algebra 1 and required number of honors courses were met to be eligible to apply, the admissions committee didn’t see actual courses the students have taken/enrolled in. Just as it is purported they were not able to see students names and race. If that is true, then students were evaluated based on GPA (I believe the highest is 4.0 because it is not weighted for admissions purposes?) the two essays and “experience factors”. I haven’t read anywhere that the specific courses the students are in (alg 1, geometry, honors, regular, AAP etc) were factors considered. Just like in elite college admissions that utilize the “holistic” approach, no single evaluative factor necessarily carries more weight than another factor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of the kids who did really well in Mathcounts, AMC, Science Olympiad and hence mentioned it in the essays got rejected. It seems they want to root out these kids in the name of equity to give opportunity to those who did not do these events.

Well, of course. All of those kids who are in Algebra II or pre-calc and who spend a lot of time doing STEM extracurriculars are just overly prepped products of their parents' pushing, and they're not at all special. The truly special kids are the ones who haven't demonstrated any particular aptitude in or passion for STEM. That Algebra I kid who didn't join any STEM extracurriculars and didn't earn any elite awards is the true talent.

It appears, a lot did depend on where they went to middle school and what their parent's income is.

[Anonymous]

Another waitlisted Algebra 2, Science Olympiad Asian Male from one of the 3 targeted AAP centers.

Next battle is advanced science courses past AP Chem, AP Bio and AP physics offered at our base high school if my son wants to take them…

[Anonymous]

Waitlisted. Hughes, 4.0, Geometry, Hispanic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
3. The students who got in with Algebra 1 but who solved what was reportedly (?) a geometry essay question are either very bright or took geometry ahead of public school offering (in which case they were also prepped outside their public school, so their natural math ability is completely unknown). Perhaps, the problem solving essay was just a distraction and had no real weight in the application process (this would explain why there was no score of any thought attached to it).

This is the shocking part. There is no way that kids who were at the time only halfway through Algebra I would have been equipped to solve a geometry problem of any real depth. So, we're left with several possibilities:
1. They completely ignored the problem when making admissions decisions.
2. The problem was so trivial that everyone aced it.
3. Algebra I kids who crushed the problem are kids receiving outside prep, because that's the only way they would have the math tools to solve the problem.
4. The Algebra I kids had help or cheated on the problem, since they were at home and unmonitored.

All of these are more plausible than imagining that there are tons of Algebra I kids who are hidden math geniuses and completely derived the material they needed to solve a geometry problem that they've never learned before.

Cases 3 and 4 sound like exactly the type of kids they don't want at TJ.

I hope someone FOIAs the application data. Names and schools can be redacted

It’s safe to assume some school-specific data will be FOIA’d or leaked. There are jealous haters on the School Board whose primary motivation in all this was the day when they could tell people how they slashed the number of admits from Carson, Longfellow, and Rocky Run.

Not a single Asian parent will be voting for any of the returning school board members, next time around from across the DMV. Not only that, those that don't typically vote will turn up in large numbers to vote.