Why is there such a racial/ethnic disconnect with TJ Admissions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Now it appears that FCPS is attempting to keep down the number of Asians at TJ. The top math student at Kilmer AAP center was denied admission this year. He is ethnically Chinese and so brilliant at math that he was allowed to take the exclusive American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) open only to the top math high school students across the country. He qualified to take the AIME despite being only in the 8th grade. He has had a love for math that has been demonstrated throughout elementary and middle school. He is also a straight A student. This young man is not the only Asian to be denied admission to TJ this year. Other exceptional Asian students at Kilmer Middle school, Rocky Run Middle school, and other schools were also denied admission. It is difficult to find reasons for their rejections. They are outstanding students who have excelled in math and science."

Perhaps his recommendations were not good, or he was overlooked for other issues. He should reapply next year. I know a white kid, who was ranked in the top 5 in the state who didn't get in as a freshman as was in sophomore year and soon the head of the math club. it's all about persistence, sometimes. I doubt it's about ethnicity.

Good grief. Virtually no black and Hispanic students get into TJ and someone is all hot and bothered because a single Asian kid got turned down? Get a grip.

There are currently two issues with TJ admissions:

1. Lack of blacks and Hispanics at TJ and,
2. Admission of students weak in math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because some people have the hunger to get ahead. The drive is sometimes stamped out as generations go on as there is more of a sense of security or apathy with time and familiarity.

So true. Already happening/happened with Jews.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because some people have the hunger to get ahead. The drive is sometimes stamped out as generations go on as there is more of a sense of security or apathy with time and familiarity.

So true. Already happening/happened with Jews.

Jews do not feel secure in a world that seems to have a special dislike for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Now it appears that FCPS is attempting to keep down the number of Asians at TJ. The top math student at Kilmer AAP center was denied admission this year. He is ethnically Chinese and so brilliant at math that he was allowed to take the exclusive American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) open only to the top math high school students across the country. He qualified to take the AIME despite being only in the 8th grade. He has had a love for math that has been demonstrated throughout elementary and middle school. He is also a straight A student. This young man is not the only Asian to be denied admission to TJ this year. Other exceptional Asian students at Kilmer Middle school, Rocky Run Middle school, and other schools were also denied admission. It is difficult to find reasons for their rejections. They are outstanding students who have excelled in math and science."

Perhaps his recommendations were not good, or he was overlooked for other issues. He should reapply next year. I know a white kid, who was ranked in the top 5 in the state who didn't get in as a freshman as was in sophomore year and soon the head of the math club. it's all about persistence, sometimes. I doubt it's about ethnicity.

I think it is very impressive for a middle school kid to be AIME qualifier. Even MIT is impressed with AIME qualifiers like being INTEL semifinalist.

Then perhaps the boy will go to MIT. Not getting into TJ doesn't preclude that, you know. May actually make him more determined.

The kid should apply directly to MIT and bypass TJ with that kind of math skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Now it appears that FCPS is attempting to keep down the number of Asians at TJ. The top math student at Kilmer AAP center was denied admission this year. He is ethnically Chinese and so brilliant at math that he was allowed to take the exclusive American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) open only to the top math high school students across the country. He qualified to take the AIME despite being only in the 8th grade. He has had a love for math that has been demonstrated throughout elementary and middle school. He is also a straight A student. This young man is not the only Asian to be denied admission to TJ this year. Other exceptional Asian students at Kilmer Middle school, Rocky Run Middle school, and other schools were also denied admission. It is difficult to find reasons for their rejections. They are outstanding students who have excelled in math and science."

Perhaps his recommendations were not good, or he was overlooked for other issues. He should reapply next year. I know a white kid, who was ranked in the top 5 in the state who didn't get in as a freshman as was in sophomore year and soon the head of the math club. it's all about persistence, sometimes. I doubt it's about ethnicity.

Good grief. Virtually no black and Hispanic students get into TJ and someone is all hot and bothered because a single Asian kid got turned down? Get a grip.

There are currently two issues with TJ admissions:

1. Lack of blacks and Hispanics at TJ and,
2. Admission of students weak in [b]math.

[/b]

There is currently one major problem with TJ admissions:

The school is too small to accommodate even a fraction of the qualified kids who could do great things there. This problem will only get worse as the area grows. One magnet school for the entire FCPS. Oh and it takes kids from Loudon and Arlington public school systems as well.

[Anonymous]

Maybe the new strategy will be to have bi-racial kids, with one parent being Asian. That way they can use the other race for admissions purposes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Now it appears that FCPS is attempting to keep down the number of Asians at TJ. The top math student at Kilmer AAP center was denied admission this year. He is ethnically Chinese and so brilliant at math that he was allowed to take the exclusive American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) open only to the top math high school students across the country. He qualified to take the AIME despite being only in the 8th grade. He has had a love for math that has been demonstrated throughout elementary and middle school. He is also a straight A student. This young man is not the only Asian to be denied admission to TJ this year. Other exceptional Asian students at Kilmer Middle school, Rocky Run Middle school, and other schools were also denied admission. It is difficult to find reasons for their rejections. They are outstanding students who have excelled in math and science."

Perhaps his recommendations were not good, or he was overlooked for other issues. He should reapply next year. I know a white kid, who was ranked in the top 5 in the state who didn't get in as a freshman as was in sophomore year and soon the head of the math club. it's all about persistence, sometimes. I doubt it's about ethnicity.

I think it is very impressive for a middle school kid to be AIME qualifier. Even MIT is impressed with AIME qualifiers like being INTEL semifinalist.

Then perhaps the boy will go to MIT. Not getting into TJ doesn't preclude that, you know. May actually make him more determined.

The point here is that if such an exceptionally gifted student is turned down by TJ, there's something wrong with the admissions process.

[Anonymous]

Truly gifted students shouldn't care if they are turned down by TJ. Their intelligence will be obvious wherever they go. TJ's loss. Go where you are wanted and appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Now it appears that FCPS is attempting to keep down the number of Asians at TJ. The top math student at Kilmer AAP center was denied admission this year. He is ethnically Chinese and so brilliant at math that he was allowed to take the exclusive American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) open only to the top math high school students across the country. He qualified to take the AIME despite being only in the 8th grade. He has had a love for math that has been demonstrated throughout elementary and middle school. He is also a straight A student. This young man is not the only Asian to be denied admission to TJ this year. Other exceptional Asian students at Kilmer Middle school, Rocky Run Middle school, and other schools were also denied admission. It is difficult to find reasons for their rejections. They are outstanding students who have excelled in math and science."

Perhaps his recommendations were not good, or he was overlooked for other issues. He should reapply next year. I know a white kid, who was ranked in the top 5 in the state who didn't get in as a freshman as was in sophomore year and soon the head of the math club. it's all about persistence, sometimes. I doubt it's about ethnicity.

Good grief. Virtually no black and Hispanic students get into TJ and someone is all hot and bothered because a single Asian kid got turned down? Get a grip.

There are currently two issues with TJ admissions:

1. Lack of blacks and Hispanics at TJ and,
2. Admission of students weak in [b]math.

[/b]

There is currently one major problem with TJ admissions:

The school is too small to accommodate even a fraction of the qualified kids who could do great things there. This problem will only get worse as the area grows. One magnet school for the entire FCPS. Oh and it takes kids from Loudon and Arlington public school systems as well.

They also take kids from PW County and Falls Church City as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Truly gifted students shouldn't care if they are turned down by TJ. Their intelligence will be obvious wherever they go. TJ's loss. Go where you are wanted and appreciated.

Then why make a big deal about minorities not getting into TJ? By your logic, if they are that good they should do just as fine at their base school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Truly gifted students shouldn't care if they are turned down by TJ. Their intelligence will be obvious wherever they go. TJ's loss. Go where you are wanted and appreciated.

Then why make a big deal about minorities not getting into TJ? By your logic, if they are that good they should do just as fine at their base school.

That wasn't me. Think you are talking to another poster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Truly gifted students shouldn't care if they are turned down by TJ. Their intelligence will be obvious wherever they go. TJ's loss. Go where you are wanted and appreciated.

Then why make a big deal about minorities not getting into TJ? By your logic, if they are that good they should do just as fine at their base school.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Now it appears that FCPS is attempting to keep down the number of Asians at TJ. The top math student at Kilmer AAP center was denied admission this year. He is ethnically Chinese and so brilliant at math that he was allowed to take the exclusive American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) open only to the top math high school students across the country. He qualified to take the AIME despite being only in the 8th grade. He has had a love for math that has been demonstrated throughout elementary and middle school. He is also a straight A student. This young man is not the only Asian to be denied admission to TJ this year. Other exceptional Asian students at Kilmer Middle school, Rocky Run Middle school, and other schools were also denied admission. It is difficult to find reasons for their rejections. They are outstanding students who have excelled in math and science."

Ugh... More BS anecdotes to prove something that is statically shown to not be the case. Not everyone gets in, regardless of ethnicity. Just because they didn't get in AND they were Asian, doesn't mean it was BECAUSE they are Asian. Correlation does not suggest causation.

The kids may be lacking in many other variables. Every year there is a handful of 'math whiz' kids that don't get in. And again, acceptance is not ONLY based on math and science GPA or test scores or both.

I promise they're were many 'other exceptional non-Asian students at Kilmer, Rocky Run, etc' that also didn't get in. And I guess to beat a dead horse, not ever 'exceptional' child is actually exceptional, in fact my definition, most kids aren't exceptional - so there are a bunch of parents that are either blind, in denial or liars.

"The American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) is a 3-hour integer answer contest. Students will qualify for the AIME and can participate in the AIME only if they score 120 or above or finish in the top 2.5% of the AMC 10, or if a student scores 100 or above or finishes in the top 5% of the AMC 12. The AIME is administered in schools in March." Less than 0.1% of 8th graders qualify for AIME.

Ugh the stupid, it hurts!

1) the TJ test is before the AMC 12 or AMC 10 qualifier
2) the Last TJ admissions process deadline is just after the AMC, so the only way the kid can include that king of recognition in the app is through a teacher reference, assuming they made the first cut and went into the TJ semi-finalist pool.
3) the reason why so few (and in your estimation 0.1%) of 8th graders qualify for aime isn't necessarily due to brilliance, but much more likely the fact that they are 8th graders....the qualifying tests for AIME are designed for sophmores - seniors in high school. While still a significant distinction to qualify, the rarity does not necessarily illustrate a math genius, any number of alternative scenarios are possible.
4) almost all TJ test preppers also prep for AMC, so the short is, AMC is beatable just like most nonCAD tests (and even some CAD tests). The whole top5%/top2.5% ranking with AMC does not actually denote score distribution, it is an arbitrary estimate of placement within the entire U10th population

Again, you're trying to make a single case of rejection into an ethnic prejudice in TJ selection, when the actual acceptance statistics just don't bear that out. Grow up, the kid didn't get in. And his rejection has nothing to do with his Asian ethnic background.

My kid is a member of the TJ Varsity Math Team. He doesn't know and cannot recall ANY TJ students who qualified for AIME as a middle school student. Of the 480 incoming freshmen each year, there might be 1 who qualified for AIME as a middle school student.

That's because they don't generally take the AMC 10 or AMC 12 in middle school....not because they couldn't have qualified...again correlation doesn't suggest causation...

I don't think you have actually seen the math problems typically on AIME. They are extremely difficult problems. Way more difficult than AMC 12 and AMC 12 are considered very difficult too, especially the 2nd half. They will be difficult for almost all high school students and many college math majors as well. It's not that they (middle school students) choose not to take them, it's more that only very few middle school students would even qualify to take them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Now it appears that FCPS is attempting to keep down the number of Asians at TJ. The top math student at Kilmer AAP center was denied admission this year. He is ethnically Chinese and so brilliant at math that he was allowed to take the exclusive American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) open only to the top math high school students across the country. He qualified to take the AIME despite being only in the 8th grade. He has had a love for math that has been demonstrated throughout elementary and middle school. He is also a straight A student. This young man is not the only Asian to be denied admission to TJ this year. Other exceptional Asian students at Kilmer Middle school, Rocky Run Middle school, and other schools were also denied admission. It is difficult to find reasons for their rejections. They are outstanding students who have excelled in math and science."

Perhaps his recommendations were not good, or he was overlooked for other issues. He should reapply next year. I know a white kid, who was ranked in the top 5 in the state who didn't get in as a freshman as was in sophomore year and soon the head of the math club. it's all about persistence, sometimes. I doubt it's about ethnicity.

Good grief. Virtually no black and Hispanic students get into TJ and someone is all hot and bothered because a single Asian kid got turned down? Get a grip.

Apparently you only see the race of the student and not the student himself. Maybe that kind of mentality is what led to the kid being rejected. I think you actually helped prove the point of the quoted article.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Now it appears that FCPS is attempting to keep down the number of Asians at TJ. The top math student at Kilmer AAP center was denied admission this year. He is ethnically Chinese and so brilliant at math that he was allowed to take the exclusive American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) open only to the top math high school students across the country. He qualified to take the AIME despite being only in the 8th grade. He has had a love for math that has been demonstrated throughout elementary and middle school. He is also a straight A student. This young man is not the only Asian to be denied admission to TJ this year. Other exceptional Asian students at Kilmer Middle school, Rocky Run Middle school, and other schools were also denied admission. It is difficult to find reasons for their rejections. They are outstanding students who have excelled in math and science."

Perhaps his recommendations were not good, or he was overlooked for other issues. He should reapply next year. I know a white kid, who was ranked in the top 5 in the state who didn't get in as a freshman as was in sophomore year and soon the head of the math club. it's all about persistence, sometimes. I doubt it's about ethnicity.

Good grief. Virtually no black and Hispanic students get into TJ and someone is all hot and bothered because a single Asian kid got turned down? Get a grip.

Apparently you only see the race of the student and not the student himself. Maybe that kind of mentality is what led to the kid being rejected. I think you actually helped prove the point of the quoted article.

I don't think so, as the salient point is that many black and Hispanic students rejected or discouraged from applying to TJ may have had as much aptitude and been even more interested in TJ. But go ahead and obsess over a single Asian kid.