Waitlisted at TJ - now what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Consider yourself lucky....my child has PTSD from TJ. And I am not kidding.

Did you move the child back to base when you realized that their mental health was being affected?

Different poster. Same experience. We did. Best. Decision. Ever. DC accepted at many schools, heading to top school. Well balanced life and ready for college. In hindsight we would have never sent our DC there in the first place.

Good example of needing the right fit. TJ is fantastic for some and not for others and it is great that you and your kid realized Tj didn’t work for them.

But I don’t agree with your need to mention a “top school.” Stop viewing that as the end goal of education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Consider yourself lucky....my child has PTSD from TJ. And I am not kidding.

Did you move the child back to base when you realized that their mental health was being affected?

Different poster. Same experience. We did. Best. Decision. Ever. DC accepted at many schools, heading to top school. Well balanced life and ready for college. In hindsight we would have never sent our DC there in the first place.

Good example of needing the right fit. TJ is fantastic for some and not for others and it is great that you and your kid realized Tj didn’t work for them.

But I don’t agree with your need to mention a “top school.” Stop viewing that as the end goal of education.

For a high school education, that is a reasonable end goal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Consider yourself lucky....my child has PTSD from TJ. And I am not kidding.

Did you move the child back to base when you realized that their mental health was being affected?

Yes, but the damage had been done.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Relax. Not the end of the world. Many TJ kids attending dame school as my non TJ senior. Except mine didn’t get the amount of stress Tj kids went through. Be a strong student at a base school. Tj is way over rated.

Depends on the base school. Let's not act like going to a mediocre base school provides the same peer group as TJ. And the bottom 10% of TJ students attend the same colleges as the top 10% of the base high school students.

This is false. The top 10% of our base high school isn't going to Virginia Tech.

The bottom 10% of TJ doesn’t even sniff Virginia Tech anymore. That was where they went about 15-20 years ago, before the prep age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, college admissions is not the way to judge TJ. The experience and education those kids receive is its own value, for the right-fit kid.

This is the most important point IMO. Too many people focus on the outcome and not the journey itself.

Sure, some students from base schools get into the same universities as TJ students. But for the right fit STEM-focused student, the rigorous education and peer group is worth it in and of itself.

At the base school they may be bored out of their minds in class and socially ostracized as weird/nerd/unpopular, while at TJ they'd fit in both academically and socially.

There's a large difference between attending a school where every student is academically motivated and a school where less than 10% of students are academically motivated and the rest resents them.

If one doesn't like TJ, they can always transfer down to a base school. The opposite does not happen.

The strongest math and science students that I know were not admitted this year. Those students will stay at their base schools and do very well with a stronger group of peers than in previous years. TJ will not be able to offer more remediation for the bottom without taking away from the top. Have a great day!

Tell me about it! My kid was super disappointed that he got weight listed especially after hearing couple of his friends got in, which was a surprise for all as these kids didn’t particularly stand out in class or after school programs. However, he did find some comfort as few other kids who he himself looks up to (or healthy competition with) also got wait listed. My kid is well recognized among his friends and teachers for being strong in STEM and other courses as well. So it was quite a surprise for him. Anyways, we told that the new system has no way of recognizing his talent and being from a feeder school, he should just assume that he lost out in a weird lottery. Hopefully, he will do fine at base school and should find many like minded kids who would thrive at TJ, but lost out like him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They’ve already thrown the baby out with the bath water at TJ and anyone fortunate enough to get turned down lucked out.

Mmm, those sour grapes are delicious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, college admissions is not the way to judge TJ. The experience and education those kids receive is its own value, for the right-fit kid.

This is the most important point IMO. Too many people focus on the outcome and not the journey itself.

Sure, some students from base schools get into the same universities as TJ students. But for the right fit STEM-focused student, the rigorous education and peer group is worth it in and of itself.

At the base school they may be bored out of their minds in class and socially ostracized as weird/nerd/unpopular, while at TJ they'd fit in both academically and socially.

There's a large difference between attending a school where every student is academically motivated and a school where less than 10% of students are academically motivated and the rest resents them.

If one doesn't like TJ, they can always transfer down to a base school. The opposite does not happen.

The strongest math and science students that I know were not admitted this year. Those students will stay at their base schools and do very well with a stronger group of peers than in previous years. TJ will not be able to offer more remediation for the bottom without taking away from the top. Have a great day!

Tell me about it! My kid was super disappointed that he got weight listed especially after hearing couple of his friends got in, which was a surprise for all as these kids didn’t particularly stand out in class or after school programs. However, he did find some comfort as few other kids who he himself looks up to (or healthy competition with) also got wait listed. My kid is well recognized among his friends and teachers for being strong in STEM and other courses as well. So it was quite a surprise for him. Anyways, we told that the new system has no way of recognizing his talent and being from a feeder school, he should just assume that he lost out in a weird lottery. Hopefully, he will do fine at base school and should find many like minded kids who would thrive at TJ, but lost out like him.

So you lied to him. Got it.

[Anonymous]

I have seen TJ parents being extremely involved and keep pushing the student at school. Have you ever seen a PTA fighting like a national election campaign? Going to the national media and supreme court? On average more TJ students get into IVYs than any school in the US. But the question here is at what cost? As a student, you are constantly judged and feel inferior no matter how hard you work because if you don't have the money and support, you can't compete. Families have an army of people lined up to help the student. Tutors, coaching for extracurriculars, patents, non-profits, internships, and research papers. Don't expect the kid to excel at TJ without this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Consider yourself lucky....my child has PTSD from TJ. And I am not kidding.

Did you move the child back to base when you realized that their mental health was being affected?

Different poster. Same experience. We did. Best. Decision. Ever. DC accepted at many schools, heading to top school. Well balanced life and ready for college. In hindsight we would have never sent our DC there in the first place.

Good example of needing the right fit. TJ is fantastic for some and not for others and it is great that you and your kid realized Tj didn’t work for them.

But I don’t agree with your need to mention a “top school.” Stop viewing that as the end goal of education.

For a high school education, that is a reasonable end goal.

It’s really not because college is not an end. There are lots of great colleges where kids can continue to learn and grow. And, the education at TJ and the peer group is a valuable experience in and of itself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have seen TJ parents being extremely involved and keep pushing the student at school. Have you ever seen a PTA fighting like a national election campaign? Going to the national media and supreme court? On average more TJ students get into IVYs than any school in the US. But the question here is at what cost? As a student, you are constantly judged and feel inferior no matter how hard you work because if you don't have the money and support, you can't compete. Families have an army of people lined up to help the student. Tutors, coaching for extracurriculars, patents, non-profits, internships, and research papers. Don't expect the kid to excel at TJ without this.

I have not seen kids at TJ need tutors. But my kids didn’t do any prep to get in. Again, for the right kid, TJ is not going to make them suffer.

The crop of parents trying to tear apart the school has been horrible and a big change from what the school was before the admission changes tore it apart.

[Anonymous]

I see it mentioned that TJ has feeder schools. Can I ask which schools they are? I am assuming Longfellow, Carson and who else?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have seen TJ parents being extremely involved and keep pushing the student at school. Have you ever seen a PTA fighting like a national election campaign? Going to the national media and supreme court? On average more TJ students get into IVYs than any school in the US. But the question here is at what cost? As a student, you are constantly judged and feel inferior no matter how hard you work because if you don't have the money and support, you can't compete. Families have an army of people lined up to help the student. Tutors, coaching for extracurriculars, patents, non-profits, internships, and research papers. Don't expect the kid to excel at TJ without this.

I have not seen kids at TJ need tutors. But my kids didn’t do any prep to get in. Again, for the right kid, TJ is not going to make them suffer.

The crop of parents trying to tear apart the school has been horrible and a big change from what the school was before the admission changes tore it apart.

The kids I know that got in, ALL needed extensive tutoring. There is so little time for anything that’s not academic or resume padding, because of this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have seen TJ parents being extremely involved and keep pushing the student at school. Have you ever seen a PTA fighting like a national election campaign? Going to the national media and supreme court? On average more TJ students get into IVYs than any school in the US. But the question here is at what cost? As a student, you are constantly judged and feel inferior no matter how hard you work because if you don't have the money and support, you can't compete. Families have an army of people lined up to help the student. Tutors, coaching for extracurriculars, patents, non-profits, internships, and research papers. Don't expect the kid to excel at TJ without this.

I have not seen kids at TJ need tutors. But my kids didn’t do any prep to get in. Again, for the right kid, TJ is not going to make them suffer.

The crop of parents trying to tear apart the school has been horrible and a big change from what the school was before the admission changes tore it apart.

The kids I know that got in, ALL needed extensive tutoring. There is so little time for anything that’s not academic or resume padding, because of this.

This is exactly right. There is a dopey narrative going on that all of a sudden, the new crop of students needs a bunch of extra help in order to survive. There are a few students for whom this is the case currently (perhaps 20%), but that is not a significant change from what was needed previously.

The difference is that now the population has fewer resources and therefore the school system is stepping up to provide the support. The dark secret about TJ before the admissions updates was that MANY students required private tutoring to stay afloat, exactly as PP mentions, but parents did a better job of keeping it a secret.

[Anonymous]

The new admissions process has weakened the caliber of students attending TJ.

Even prior to this the only logical reason to attend TJ was if you were heading into the lower 1/2 of pyramids in FCPS

The top half of FCPS always has a similar caliber of top talent as TJ and better overall college admissions to boot. Instead of the russian roulette at TJ where plenty of smart kids end up in the bottom 2/3 of the class with worse college admission results than being the top 10% at their base school if they would have stayed.

So, bottom line TJ was questionable to attend before and is even more so now.

[Anonymous]

new admission enlarged the bottom part in TJ. It's probably good for those kids who can stay top 3% in their base school.