Top Tier Boarding school vs. TJ

[Anonymous]

Nobody cares about TJ, period, & nobody cares about what BS you went to if you don't end up at a great college. I know a lot of BS grads that are just teachers and admissions reps making $75K a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ is a special format of hell for the bottom half of the class

Explain please. Not enough info.

It's a lot of work but colleges only admit a certain number of students per school, no matter how good the school, so if you end up in the bottom half of TJ you are worse off than shining at your average high school or going to a private where not everyone is a stem superstar.

You're not thinking picture. A TJ kid in the middle of his h.s. class will easily be in the top 10% of his class at V-Tech.

That's a truly stupid statement. I am guessing you didn't go to college or (at least) you didn't go to college in the US. Any advantage a TJ kid has is "gone" by the end of first semester. If you don't work, you can't keep up in college. It doesn't matter which HS you attended.

TJ kids (along with kids from handful of other elite private/public schools) consistently make up the top students at the top universities. "TJ advantage" in terms of the college preparation/exposure received at TJ does not disappear after 1 semester. Many of the top 1% students of the top universities will be TJ grads if those lists were made public.

Also, average TJ grad will easily be one of the top students at place like VaTech, W and M and UVA. I know of one TJ grad who graduated in the bottom 20% and is doing well at UVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nobody cares about TJ, period, & nobody cares about what BS you went to if you don't end up at a great college. I know a lot of BS grads that are just teachers and admissions reps making $75K a year.

-1
Life and education is not about ending up in a great college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ is a special format of hell for the bottom half of the class

Explain please. Not enough info.

It's a lot of work but colleges only admit a certain number of students per school, no matter how good the school, so if you end up in the bottom half of TJ you are worse off than shining at your average high school or going to a private where not everyone is a stem superstar.

You're not thinking picture. A TJ kid in the middle of his h.s. class will easily be in the top 10% of his class at V-Tech.

That's a truly stupid statement. I am guessing you didn't go to college or (at least) you didn't go to college in the US. Any advantage a TJ kid has is "gone" by the end of first semester. If you don't work, you can't keep up in college. It doesn't matter which HS you attended.

TJ kids (along with kids from handful of other elite private/public schools) consistently make up the top students at the top universities. "TJ advantage" in terms of the college preparation/exposure received at TJ does not disappear after 1 semester. Many of the top 1% students of the top universities will be TJ grads if those lists were made public.

Also, average TJ grad will easily be one of the top students at place like VaTech, W and M and UVA. I know of one TJ grad who graduated in the bottom 20% and is doing well at UVA.

There isn't really a TJ advantage. These kids already test well, they would be at the top of their college classes whether they went to TJ or not. The point is, do you want your kid to be challenged immensely in one area (academics) or have them have time in high school to grow in other areas as well?

For the record, I interview kids for my Ivy. Last year only 25% of kids I interviewed from TJ got in. The kids who got in had some extracurricular they truly excelled at outside of academics and were also at the top of their class. That was true for kids from TJ and kids not from TJ, except the academic rigor at TJ is so intense that only the most driven of kids could do well in school and in life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ is a special format of hell for the bottom half of the class

Explain please. Not enough info.

It's a lot of work but colleges only admit a certain number of students per school, no matter how good the school, so if you end up in the bottom half of TJ you are worse off than shining at your average high school or going to a private where not everyone is a stem superstar.

You're not thinking picture. A TJ kid in the middle of his h.s. class will easily be in the top 10% of his class at V-Tech.

That's a truly stupid statement. I am guessing you didn't go to college or (at least) you didn't go to college in the US. Any advantage a TJ kid has is "gone" by the end of first semester. If you don't work, you can't keep up in college. It doesn't matter which HS you attended.

TJ kids (along with kids from handful of other elite private/public schools) consistently make up the top students at the top universities. "TJ advantage" in terms of the college preparation/exposure received at TJ does not disappear after 1 semester. Many of the top 1% students of the top universities will be TJ grads if those lists were made public.

Also, average TJ grad will easily be one of the top students at place like VaTech, W and M and UVA. I know of one TJ grad who graduated in the bottom 20% and is doing well at UVA.

There isn't really a TJ advantage. These kids already test well, they would be at the top of their college classes whether they went to TJ or not. The point is, do you want your kid to be challenged immensely in one area (academics) or have them have time in high school to grow in other areas as well?

For the record, I interview kids for my Ivy. Last year only 25% of kids I interviewed from TJ got in. The kids who got in had some extracurricular they truly excelled at outside of academics and were also at the top of their class. That was true for kids from TJ and kids not from TJ, except the academic rigor at TJ is so intense that only the most driven of kids could do well in school and in life.

So if you are not only looking for academics, but extracurricular, is there something that makes a kid a stand out to you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ is a special format of hell for the bottom half of the class

Explain please. Not enough info.

It's a lot of work but colleges only admit a certain number of students per school, no matter how good the school, so if you end up in the bottom half of TJ you are worse off than shining at your average high school or going to a private where not everyone is a stem superstar.

You're not thinking picture. A TJ kid in the middle of his h.s. class will easily be in the top 10% of his class at V-Tech.

That's a truly stupid statement. I am guessing you didn't go to college or (at least) you didn't go to college in the US. Any advantage a TJ kid has is "gone" by the end of first semester. If you don't work, you can't keep up in college. It doesn't matter which HS you attended.

TJ kids (along with kids from handful of other elite private/public schools) consistently make up the top students at the top universities. "TJ advantage" in terms of the college preparation/exposure received at TJ does not disappear after 1 semester. Many of the top 1% students of the top universities will be TJ grads if those lists were made public.

Also, average TJ grad will easily be one of the top students at place like VaTech, W and M and UVA. I know of one TJ grad who graduated in the bottom 20% and is doing well at UVA.

There isn't really a TJ advantage. These kids already test well, they would be at the top of their college classes whether they went to TJ or not. The point is, do you want your kid to be challenged immensely in one area (academics) or have them have time in high school to grow in other areas as well?

For the record, I interview kids for my Ivy. Last year only 25% of kids I interviewed from TJ got in. The kids who got in had some extracurricular they truly excelled at outside of academics and were also at the top of their class. That was true for kids from TJ and kids not from TJ, except the academic rigor at TJ is so intense that only the most driven of kids could do well in school and in life.

So if you are not only looking for academics, but extracurricular, is there something that makes a kid a stand out to you?

For the record, I like most interviewers have almost no input in the actual admission process. I mostly do interviews so I can keep track of what kids these days are up to and selfishly use it to my kids advantage. But for extracurriculars it is clear that kids who have national-level accomplishments are the ones that have an advantage. There's too many kids who have a smattering of club participation, some school-level leadership, and some varsity sports under their belt for those types of extracurriculars to make a difference - you just have to do some to show you are a rounded applicant, then also be very good at one extracurricular. Oh, and of course, you need to be a stellar student. That's just the baseline.

[Anonymous]

I no longer live in DC and feel confident that TJ means nothing in my current big city (bigger than DC). I did interview someone on her 40s that still had a DC "big 3" school on her résumé
That seemed laughable. Many of the opinions on boarding school here are outdated and uninformed. The very top schools have massive aid budgets and pull from the whole country as well as some of the most ambitious and prepared kids the the world and have endowments nearing a billion dollars. Not a fair fight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ is a special format of hell for the bottom half of the class

Explain please. Not enough info.

It's a lot of work but colleges only admit a certain number of students per school, no matter how good the school, so if you end up in the bottom half of TJ you are worse off than shining at your average high school or going to a private where not everyone is a stem superstar.

TJ mom here: Yes. The upper level Va state schools accept a lot of TJ students, but the competition is fierce b/c not everyone at TJ is rich or gets a scholarship to an Ivy. And it is a LOT of work and dedication. My student would have been better off at the base school. And had a better life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I no longer live in DC and feel confident that TJ means nothing in my current big city (bigger than DC). I did interview someone on her 40s that still had a DC "big 3" school on her résumé
That seemed laughable. Many of the opinions on boarding school here are outdated and uninformed. The very top schools have massive aid budgets and pull from the whole country as well as some of the most ambitious and prepared kids the the world and have endowments nearing a billion dollars. Not a fair fight.

I agree that a top boarding school is a different world than TJ. But for a public school its Ivy acceptance is VERY high. There are other magnets in other cities that are comparable. Its new world and being tech savvy is a big plus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I no longer live in DC and feel confident that TJ means nothing in my current big city (bigger than DC). I did interview someone on her 40s that still had a DC "big 3" school on her résumé
That seemed laughable. Many of the opinions on boarding school here are outdated and uninformed. The very top schools have massive aid budgets and pull from the whole country as well as some of the most ambitious and prepared kids the the world and have endowments nearing a billion dollars. Not a fair fight.

I agree that a top boarding school is a different world than TJ. But for a public school its Ivy acceptance is VERY high. There are other magnets in other cities that are comparable. Its new world and being tech savvy is a big plus.

Unfortunately for the strength of its student body, its Ivy acceptance is below par.

[Anonymous]

Defenitly top boarding school. TJ is too much stress, too long commute. I know several kids from TJ personally, and I would not want their life for my kid. They have no time for anything else in life other than school. Maximum one club in school. No time for sports, no time for travel, just study, study and study.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can buy yourself a boarding school education (they love the rich donors), but you cannot buy yourself a TJ education. Everyone knows that. Your son will be respected for coming out of TJ...people will respect the vast wealth his parents must have amassed to get him into that great BS

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Defenitly top boarding school. TJ is too much stress, too long commute. I know several kids from TJ personally, and I would not want their life for my kid. They have no time for anything else in life other than school. Maximum one club in school. No time for sports, no time for travel, just study, study and study.

I have not met any TJ students who only had 1 activity or club. All of the TJ students I knew had 3 or 4 activities with many of them also involved in sports, music or drama. TJ students travel all the time with sport teams, orchestra, band, academic teams, debate teams, research etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I no longer live in DC and feel confident that TJ means nothing in my current big city (bigger than DC). I did interview someone on her 40s that still had a DC "big 3" school on her résumé
That seemed laughable. Many of the opinions on boarding school here are outdated and uninformed. The very top schools have massive aid budgets and pull from the whole country as well as some of the most ambitious and prepared kids the the world and have endowments nearing a billion dollars. Not a fair fight.

I agree that a top boarding school is a different world than TJ. But for a public school its Ivy acceptance is VERY high. There are other magnets in other cities that are comparable. Its new world and being tech savvy is a big plus.

Unfortunately for the strength of its student body, its Ivy acceptance is below par.

Not when one includes Stanford, Berkeley, MIT, Caltech, UCLA, Duke, Northwestern, Chicago, CMU, Military Academies and other top schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ is a special format of hell for the bottom half of the class

Explain please. Not enough info.

It's a lot of work but colleges only admit a certain number of students per school, no matter how good the school, so if you end up in the bottom half of TJ you are worse off than shining at your average high school or going to a private where not everyone is a stem superstar.

TJ mom here: Yes. The upper level Va state schools accept a lot of TJ students, but the competition is fierce b/c not everyone at TJ is rich or gets a scholarship to an Ivy. And it is a LOT of work and dedication. My student would have been better off at the base school. And had a better life.

Kids would have had a better life!! Wow, that is an honest mom. God love you, I'm sure it's no comfort to admit that. Luckily i am about to avoid that mistake. Thanks for your strength of character in saying so. Makes me feel i made the right decision.