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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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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.

Qualifying for aime has not taken a wild jump to giving kid credit for the rigor of the aime itself...this is going down the rabbit hole and hitting every root on the way down

The kid qualified to take the AIME because he did very well on the AMC 10 or AMC 12. That is what AIME qualifier is. What is odd about that? You cannot just take AIME because you want to. You have earn that right by performing very well on AMC.

Right, pushing you agenda of claiming prejudice while using one Asian student, when the admissions statistics clearly show no such prejudice agains t Asians, has now gotten you to the point of justifying your pet 'victim' by giving them credit for the rigor of the aime test..qualifying to take the test is not the same as getting a perfect score - you're defensively conflating the student and the test.

Regardless of whether there are too many Asians or not, rejecting a clearly qualified applicant is wrong especially if the applicant appears to be more qualified than most admitted students. It has nothing to do with race of the applicant. Also, AIME qualifier is someone who does so well on AMC test that he/she is qualified to take the AIME test. Nothing confusing about that.

Fine. The student qualified to take a test. Why should that guarantee admission to a school?

[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:"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.

Qualifying for aime has not taken a wild jump to giving kid credit for the rigor of the aime itself...this is going down the rabbit hole and hitting every root on the way down

The kid qualified to take the AIME because he did very well on the AMC 10 or AMC 12. That is what AIME qualifier is. What is odd about that? You cannot just take AIME because you want to. You have earn that right by performing very well on AMC.

Right, pushing you agenda of claiming prejudice while using one Asian student, when the admissions statistics clearly show no such prejudice agains t Asians, has now gotten you to the point of justifying your pet 'victim' by giving them credit for the rigor of the aime test..qualifying to take the test is not the same as getting a perfect score - you're defensively conflating the student and the test.

Regardless of whether there are too many Asians or not, rejecting a clearly qualified applicant is wrong especially if the applicant appears to be more qualified than most admitted students. It has nothing to do with race of the applicant. Also, AIME qualifier is someone who does so well on AMC test that he/she is qualified to take the AIME test. Nothing confusing about that.

Fine. The student qualified to take a test. Why should that guarantee admission to a school?

Maybe because TJ had the huge issue of Math remediation involving many incoming freshmen for several years and the School Board finally amended the TJ mission statement to require exceptional quantitative skill in applicants to address that issue and admitting unqualified applicants in general. TJ has been rejecting some obviously qualified applicants for the past several years and admitting unqualified applicants (many more students leaving for academic reasons after 1 or 2 years than before). There was another Asian girl who was rejected couple years ago who was an advanced math student and she had to apply as froshmore and be admitted. (Froshmore admission is handled by school faculty not the Admissions Office ). Even this girl who was very advanced in math was not AIME qualified. Some choose to re-apply but not all. This girl is one of the top TJ students now. A year before that another advanced math applicant was rejected. Those are only the ones I am aware of and I am sure there are more. Admissions office is not doing their job and it appears they are rejecting obviously qualified applicants year after year.

[Anonymous]

VMT Members: A Petition for Justice in TJ Admissions:

Every year, TJ admits a new class of freshmen to its student body. You may have heard in past years of a few notable cases of students that showed extreme talent and promise in competitive mathematics and science who were rejected from admission to the freshman class."

https://lists.tjhsst.edu/pipermail/vmteam/2011-April/000513.html

[Anonymous]

"Fix the flawed TJHSST admissions process for this upcoming school year/cycle (2013-2014), stop TJ passing over strong math/science students."

http://fcps.uservoice.com/forums/217796-making-fairfax-county-public-schools-the-very-best/suggestions/4310098-fix-the-flawed-tjhsst-admissions-process-for-this

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Fix the flawed TJHSST admissions process for this upcoming school year/cycle (2013-2014), stop TJ passing over strong math/science students."

http://fcps.uservoice.com/forums/217796-making-fairfax-county-public-schools-the-very-best/suggestions/4310098-fix-the-flawed-tjhsst-admissions-process-for-this

"The admissions at TJ, I feel, are very prejudiced. In efforts to make a diverse community some students are being rejected due to their ethnicity. This simply isn't right.
Either review applicants more thoroughly or eliminate the whole concept entirely because if less deserving students are receiving the higher education the whole point of an excelled high school is gone to waste.
The class of 2016 and class of 2017 is comprised of faulty decisions."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Qualifying for aime has not taken a wild jump to giving kid credit for the rigor of the aime itself...this is going down the rabbit hole and hitting every root on the way down

The kid qualified to take the AIME because he did very well on the AMC 10 or AMC 12. That is what AIME qualifier is. What is odd about that? You cannot just take AIME because you want to. You have earn that right by performing very well on AMC.

Right, pushing you agenda of claiming prejudice while using one Asian student, when the admissions statistics clearly show no such prejudice agains t Asians, has now gotten you to the point of justifying your pet 'victim' by giving them credit for the rigor of the aime test..qualifying to take the test is not the same as getting a perfect score - you're defensively conflating the student and the test.

Regardless of whether there are too many Asians or not, rejecting a clearly qualified applicant is wrong especially if the applicant appears to be more qualified than most admitted students. It has nothing to do with race of the applicant. Also, AIME qualifier is someone who does so well on AMC test that he/she is qualified to take the AIME test. Nothing confusing about that.

There are plenty of other qualified applicants that also didn't get accepted, that has to do with the limited number of spots. To make it about race is ridiculous, so why keep pressing the agenda that this one kid proves a racial bias against Asians that the statistics clearly show that there is no bias against Asians (or whites).

[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:"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.

Qualifying for aime has not taken a wild jump to giving kid credit for the rigor of the aime itself...this is going down the rabbit hole and hitting every root on the way down

The kid qualified to take the AIME because he did very well on the AMC 10 or AMC 12. That is what AIME qualifier is. What is odd about that? You cannot just take AIME because you want to. You have earn that right by performing very well on AMC.

Right, pushing you agenda of claiming prejudice while using one Asian student, when the admissions statistics clearly show no such prejudice agains t Asians, has now gotten you to the point of justifying your pet 'victim' by giving them credit for the rigor of the aime test..qualifying to take the test is not the same as getting a perfect score - you're defensively conflating the student and the test.

Regardless of whether there are too many Asians or not, rejecting a clearly qualified applicant is wrong especially if the applicant appears to be more qualified than most admitted students. It has nothing to do with race of the applicant. Also, AIME qualifier is someone who does so well on AMC test that he/she is qualified to take the AIME test. Nothing confusing about that.

Fine. The student qualified to take a test. Why should that guarantee admission to a school?

Maybe because TJ had the huge issue of Math remediation involving many incoming freshmen for several years and the School Board finally amended the TJ mission statement to require exceptional quantitative skill in applicants to address that issue and admitting unqualified applicants in general. TJ has been rejecting some obviously qualified applicants for the past several years and admitting unqualified applicants (many more students leaving for academic reasons after 1 or 2 years than before). There was another Asian girl who was rejected couple years ago who was an advanced math student and she had to apply as froshmore and be admitted. (Froshmore admission is handled by school faculty not the Admissions Office ). Even this girl who was very advanced in math was not AIME qualified. Some choose to re-apply but not all. This girl is one of the top TJ students now. A year before that another advanced math applicant was rejected. Those are only the ones I am aware of and I am sure there are more. Admissions office is not doing their job and it appears they are rejecting obviously qualified applicants year after year.

STOP! The kid qualified to take the AIME the test AFTER his TJ application! The qualifying test is taken just before TJ announces acceptance. Using that as bonafides for TJ admission is specious.

[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:"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.

Qualifying for aime has not taken a wild jump to giving kid credit for the rigor of the aime itself...this is going down the rabbit hole and hitting every root on the way down

The kid qualified to take the AIME because he did very well on the AMC 10 or AMC 12. That is what AIME qualifier is. What is odd about that? You cannot just take AIME because you want to. You have earn that right by performing very well on AMC.

Right, pushing you agenda of claiming prejudice while using one Asian student, when the admissions statistics clearly show no such prejudice agains t Asians, has now gotten you to the point of justifying your pet 'victim' by giving them credit for the rigor of the aime test..qualifying to take the test is not the same as getting a perfect score - you're defensively conflating the student and the test.

Regardless of whether there are too many Asians or not, rejecting a clearly qualified applicant is wrong especially if the applicant appears to be more qualified than most admitted students. It has nothing to do with race of the applicant. Also, AIME qualifier is someone who does so well on AMC test that he/she is qualified to take the AIME test. Nothing confusing about that.

There are plenty of other qualified applicants that also didn't get accepted, that has to do with the limited number of spots. To make it about race is ridiculous, so why keep pressing the agenda that this one kid proves a racial bias against Asians that the statistics clearly show that there is no bias against Asians (or whites).

It's not just Asians, some very well qualified white applicants were rejected as well:

"Our very own Adam Hood (Current TJ Class of 2011) and last year's Adam Barth
(Class of 2014) from Longfellow were both members of the Virginia National
MATHCOUNTS Team (Adam Barth, also a USAjMO 2010 qualifier in 8th grade).
And yet, both were struck down by the tragic flaws of our current admissions
system. Both were forced to attend their base schools for a year, unable to
join and contribute to the community at TJ with their colorful personalities
and academic strengths."

[Anonymous]

Actual cases:

"Student 1: Perfect Scores on Math Test, GPA, and Teacher Recommendations. Received Average Score on Essays and SIS. REJECTED.

Student 2: Lowest Scores for All semi-finalists for Math Test, GPA, and Teacher Recs. Received Top Essays and SIS Scores. ACCEPTED."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actual cases:

"Student 1: Perfect Scores on Math Test, GPA, and Teacher Recommendations. Received Average Score on Essays and SIS. REJECTED.

Student 2: Lowest Scores for All semi-finalists for Math Test, GPA, and Teacher Recs. Received Top Essays and SIS Scores. ACCEPTED."

How would anyone know this information about other people's children? The candidates are never given their scores for the recommendations, essays, and SIS.

[Anonymous]

Apparently Superintendent Garza would like to consider an early admissions option for TJ -- from a Washington Post article: "For the county’s brightest students, Garza plans to open advanced academic centers, and she is considering an “early admission” option for high-scoring applicants to the elite Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actual cases:

"Student 1: Perfect Scores on Math Test, GPA, and Teacher Recommendations. Received Average Score on Essays and SIS. REJECTED.

Student 2: Lowest Scores for All semi-finalists for Math Test, GPA, and Teacher Recs. Received Top Essays and SIS Scores. ACCEPTED."

How would anyone know this information about other people's children? The candidates are never given their scores for the recommendations, essays, and SIS.

Apparently, an education group obtained some data with personal information redacted for presentation to FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actual cases:

"Student 1: Perfect Scores on Math Test, GPA, and Teacher Recommendations. Received Average Score on Essays and SIS. REJECTED.

Student 2: Lowest Scores for All semi-finalists for Math Test, GPA, and Teacher Recs. Received Top Essays and SIS Scores. ACCEPTED."

How would anyone know this information about other people's children? The candidates are never given their scores for the recommendations, essays, and SIS.

Apparently, an education group obtained some data with personal information redacted for presentation to FCPS.

Well, then If these are the same ones a group used a year or so ago, they are hypotheticals someone came up with to make a point. They are not actual stats from real eighth graders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actual cases:

"Student 1: Perfect Scores on Math Test, GPA, and Teacher Recommendations. Received Average Score on Essays and SIS. REJECTED.

Student 2: Lowest Scores for All semi-finalists for Math Test, GPA, and Teacher Recs. Received Top Essays and SIS Scores. ACCEPTED."

How would anyone know this information about other people's children? The candidates are never given their scores for the recommendations, essays, and SIS.

Apparently, an education group obtained some data with personal information redacted for presentation to FCPS.

Well, then If these are the same ones a group used a year or so ago, they are hypotheticals someone came up with to make a point. They are not actual stats from real eighth graders.

Assuming these are hypothetical cases that can occur, the cases illustrate what has been going on and why applicants strong in math/science are sometimes rejected and applicants weak in math/science are sometimes accepted. Also, the cases illustrate why weak applicants may be admitted over stronger students. the process should really be completely revamped.

[Anonymous]

Some TJ kids refer to the school as Thomas Jefferson High School for English and Foreign Language.