Transferring back to base school from TJ

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are quite a few freshman that have started the process and then decided to stay this year after the parent meeting. If your child is drowning, switch now for 2nd quarter. Freshman year will ramp up a bit more during 2nd semester— if they are struggling now, it will likely only get harder.

Although there are always a few that transfer back, it seems a lot lower than in years past these days.

These vague references make you sound like trump.

We don't have to make this about the new admissions process if you feel like the uptick in kids returning to base schools reflects poorly on it.
But stop it with the bullsh*t.
The number of kids returning to their base school has increased significantly, the administration does what it can to try to keep that number low but sometimes it is in the best interests of the student to return. It's not like half the class is returning but over 40 students in the incoming class of 2025 are not going to be in the graduating class of 2025, it used to be 4 or 5.

I want every kid to be successful but that success may not be possible at TJ for every student.

This is a huge undersell of the number of kids returning to base.

There were a couple of years surrounding Covid when the number of students dropping out was low, but historically the rate of returns was between 8-12% for most years.

486 students were admitted for Class of 2024 and 439 graduated. And that also includes admitted froshmores. And that was the last class to be admitted before the new admissions process.

It never "used to be 4 or 5". That's nonsense.

Someone linked VDOE data in an earlier thread backing up the disparity pre and post admissions change.
There is some natural attrition that will occur at a school like TJ because people can move out of the TJ district but you can't really move into the TJ school district as easily.
Do you have published data to support your statement?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are quite a few freshman that have started the process and then decided to stay this year after the parent meeting. If your child is drowning, switch now for 2nd quarter. Freshman year will ramp up a bit more during 2nd semester— if they are struggling now, it will likely only get harder.

Although there are always a few that transfer back, it seems a lot lower than in years past these days.

These vague references make you sound like trump.

We don't have to make this about the new admissions process if you feel like the uptick in kids returning to base schools reflects poorly on it.
But stop it with the bullsh*t.
The number of kids returning to their base school has increased significantly, the administration does what it can to try to keep that number low but sometimes it is in the best interests of the student to return. It's not like half the class is returning but over 40 students in the incoming class of 2025 are not going to be in the graduating class of 2025, it used to be 4 or 5.

I want every kid to be successful but that success may not be possible at TJ for every student.

This is a huge undersell of the number of kids returning to base.

There were a couple of years surrounding Covid when the number of students dropping out was low, but historically the rate of returns was between 8-12% for most years.

486 students were admitted for Class of 2024 and 439 graduated. And that also includes admitted froshmores. And that was the last class to be admitted before the new admissions process.

It never "used to be 4 or 5". That's nonsense.

So let’s look at the school profile sheets:

From 2021:

Class of 2021: 436
Class of 2022: 454
Class of 2023: 466
Class of 2024: 436


From 2022:

Class of 2022: 451
Class of 2023: 461
Class of 2024: 450
Class of 2025: 541

From 2023:

Class of 2023: 459
Class of 2024: 441
Class of 2025: 532
Class of 2026: 539

So here is the deal with this data, which you can find from the school profile: these are the numbers of the kids who finish. Not start.

Class of 2023: we see even in their senior and junior years about 5 kids per year transferring out, with the original quant Q scores.

Class of 2024, same admissions, we see 9 kids drop out and then froshmore apps but in sophomore year- 3 kids

Class of 2025: new kids. A difference of 9 kids. Granted there are froshmores, but we see that in 2024 as well and would see a drop in 2023 too.

When we look at fall enrollment from the school quality reports, we see this:

Class of 2024:
450 to 441 to 439

Class of 2025:
541 to 532 to 504

Class of 2026
538 to 535.

Now I want to mention something here that needs repeating: the class of 2025 really got the short end of the stick with virtual school and the pandemic. We really will not know what the admissions changes will do until the class of 2026 or even the class of 2027. I mean this because they did evaluations of these kids and there were huge gaps in learning this year that they are catching up on. But we aren’t see the hug drop off in 2025 between freshman and sophomore year or between sophomore and junior year. We are seeing it between junior and senior year. And that’s with the new admissions and covid. So until we know what is going on there, I would not make conclusions about how the admissions is messing up TJ.

The other thing I want to admit is that as a parent at TJ: I think there is a huge push to have your kids take the hardest classes. And start a tech start up. And be president of all the clubs. And do all the olympiads. And … get straight As. We feel the pressure and just don’t know how to deal with it.

And I think that push is just … dumb.

Your kid is in TJ. Take the easy As. Let them balance out their schedule and do the things they love. They have to learn this in college anyway. Let them learn this now so that in college, they can be the mature adult changing the world there.

If we had stayed at our base school, I would be pushing my kid more to do more. But here: their classes are college class levels but they get to do it with our love and guidance. Relax a little and let them learn how to learn more deeply.

Just a thought.

[Anonymous]

Several great points have been made by experienced parents, thanks. This is why this forum is helpful.

My son is a TJ freshman, he needs to study pretty much all the classes, mainly RS, CS and Biology. I think workload has been reasonable so far, but time is needed for all topics. I can see it can be hard if the kid is not fully prepared or doesn't study well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess no one else’s TJ kid wants to go back to base?

As a Mom of a Senior I would say pls do transfer. Its a nightmarish life and the workload is unbelievably difficult, grading very difficult, and teachers with no consideration for a kid's mental health. DC is graduating, but in retrospect if we had to choose between base school and TJ, would choose base school hands down. And just before the haters start, DD is in top 25% of TJ.

Why would you let your kid stay if it was a nightmare for them? My kids loved their time there but if they struggled like yours did, they would have switched to base.

I’m not the poster, but in my case, my child may not want to go back even if things do not go well. We cannot just force them to go back to base. Every child, every experience is different, so please be kind when writing comments.

Thank you for this note. I am the PP who mentioned about DD having a nightmarish life at TJ. And we still stand by it. It gets difficult on the kid to move back kto base school after a while, the factors are so many, including the social aspect. Even as a Senior the teachers, their expectations and the work load is unbelievably high. No consideration for the fact that this is college application time.

Another thing we would like to point out - most of the kids at TJ surprisingly have had their elder siblings graduate from TJ as well. You will be amazed to see most of the families have had both kids at TJ - which means you have elder siblings helping the ones currently at TJ with their work, assignments, grades. And parents in a closed group who hold prior tests, question banks, etc. You can search the thread, this was discussed as well.

[Anonymous]

“And parents in a closed group who hold prior tests, question banks, etc. ”

That’s cheating if so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“And parents in a closed group who hold prior tests, question banks, etc. ”

That’s cheating if so.

And it sucks for the oldest, who by definition does not have an older sibling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess no one else’s TJ kid wants to go back to base?

As a Mom of a Senior I would say pls do transfer. Its a nightmarish life and the workload is unbelievably difficult, grading very difficult, and teachers with no consideration for a kid's mental health. DC is graduating, but in retrospect if we had to choose between base school and TJ, would choose base school hands down. And just before the haters start, DD is in top 25% of TJ.

Why would you let your kid stay if it was a nightmare for them? My kids loved their time there but if they struggled like yours did, they would have switched to base.

I’m not the poster, but in my case, my child may not want to go back even if things do not go well. We cannot just force them to go back to base. Every child, every experience is different, so please be kind when writing comments.

Thank you for this note. I am the PP who mentioned about DD having a nightmarish life at TJ. And we still stand by it. It gets difficult on the kid to move back kto base school after a while, the factors are so many, including the social aspect. Even as a Senior the teachers, their expectations and the work load is unbelievably high. No consideration for the fact that this is college application time.

Another thing we would like to point out - most of the kids at TJ surprisingly have had their elder siblings graduate from TJ as well. You will be amazed to see most of the families have had both kids at TJ - which means you have elder siblings helping the ones currently at TJ with their work, assignments, grades. And parents in a closed group who hold prior tests, question banks, etc. You can search the thread, this was discussed as well.

Half or more of kids at TJ are either the elder of two children or an only child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess no one else’s TJ kid wants to go back to base?

As a Mom of a Senior I would say pls do transfer. Its a nightmarish life and the workload is unbelievably difficult, grading very difficult, and teachers with no consideration for a kid's mental health. DC is graduating, but in retrospect if we had to choose between base school and TJ, would choose base school hands down. And just before the haters start, DD is in top 25% of TJ.

Why would you let your kid stay if it was a nightmare for them? My kids loved their time there but if they struggled like yours did, they would have switched to base.

I’m not the poster, but in my case, my child may not want to go back even if things do not go well. We cannot just force them to go back to base. Every child, every experience is different, so please be kind when writing comments.

Thank you for this note. I am the PP who mentioned about DD having a nightmarish life at TJ. And we still stand by it. It gets difficult on the kid to move back kto base school after a while, the factors are so many, including the social aspect. Even as a Senior the teachers, their expectations and the work load is unbelievably high. No consideration for the fact that this is college application time.

Another thing we would like to point out - most of the kids at TJ surprisingly have had their elder siblings graduate from TJ as well. You will be amazed to see most of the families have had both kids at TJ - which means you have elder siblings helping the ones currently at TJ with their work, assignments, grades. And parents in a closed group who hold prior tests, question banks, etc. You can search the thread, this was discussed as well.

I don't believe the comment about test banks. It doesn't happen.
But I do think an older sibling can help a younger sibling navigate TJ.
I don't think it's a noticable boost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess no one else’s TJ kid wants to go back to base?

As a Mom of a Senior I would say pls do transfer. Its a nightmarish life and the workload is unbelievably difficult, grading very difficult, and teachers with no consideration for a kid's mental health. DC is graduating, but in retrospect if we had to choose between base school and TJ, would choose base school hands down. And just before the haters start, DD is in top 25% of TJ.

Why would you let your kid stay if it was a nightmare for them? My kids loved their time there but if they struggled like yours did, they would have switched to base.

I’m not the poster, but in my case, my child may not want to go back even if things do not go well. We cannot just force them to go back to base. Every child, every experience is different, so please be kind when writing comments.

Thank you for this note. I am the PP who mentioned about DD having a nightmarish life at TJ. And we still stand by it. It gets difficult on the kid to move back kto base school after a while, the factors are so many, including the social aspect. Even as a Senior the teachers, their expectations and the work load is unbelievably high. No consideration for the fact that this is college application time.

Another thing we would like to point out - most of the kids at TJ surprisingly have had their elder siblings graduate from TJ as well. You will be amazed to see most of the families have had both kids at TJ - which means you have elder siblings helping the ones currently at TJ with their work, assignments, grades. And parents in a closed group who hold prior tests, question banks, etc. You can search the thread, this was discussed as well.

Half or more of kids at TJ are either the elder of two children or an only child.

DP. Which means 30-40% of students have older siblings passing tests and assignments down. Unlike base high schools, where siblings may be taking different classes with different teachers or teams, at TJ, everyone takes the same core classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are quite a few freshman that have started the process and then decided to stay this year after the parent meeting. If your child is drowning, switch now for 2nd quarter. Freshman year will ramp up a bit more during 2nd semester— if they are struggling now, it will likely only get harder.

Although there are always a few that transfer back, it seems a lot lower than in years past these days.

These vague references make you sound like trump.

We don't have to make this about the new admissions process if you feel like the uptick in kids returning to base schools reflects poorly on it.
But stop it with the bullsh*t.
The number of kids returning to their base school has increased significantly, the administration does what it can to try to keep that number low but sometimes it is in the best interests of the student to return. It's not like half the class is returning but over 40 students in the incoming class of 2025 are not going to be in the graduating class of 2025, it used to be 4 or 5.

I want every kid to be successful but that success may not be possible at TJ for every student.

This is a huge undersell of the number of kids returning to base.

There were a couple of years surrounding Covid when the number of students dropping out was low, but historically the rate of returns was between 8-12% for most years.

486 students were admitted for Class of 2024 and 439 graduated. And that also includes admitted froshmores. And that was the last class to be admitted before the new admissions process.

It never "used to be 4 or 5". That's nonsense.

So let’s look at the school profile sheets:

From 2021:

Class of 2021: 436
Class of 2022: 454
Class of 2023: 466
Class of 2024: 436


From 2022:

Class of 2022: 451
Class of 2023: 461
Class of 2024: 450
Class of 2025: 541

From 2023:

Class of 2023: 459
Class of 2024: 441
Class of 2025: 532
Class of 2026: 539

So here is the deal with this data, which you can find from the school profile: these are the numbers of the kids who finish. Not start.

Class of 2023: we see even in their senior and junior years about 5 kids per year transferring out, with the original quant Q scores.

Class of 2024, same admissions, we see 9 kids drop out and then froshmore apps but in sophomore year- 3 kids

Class of 2025: new kids. A difference of 9 kids. Granted there are froshmores, but we see that in 2024 as well and would see a drop in 2023 too.

When we look at fall enrollment from the school quality reports, we see this:

Class of 2024:
450 to 441 to 439

Class of 2025:
541 to 532 to 504

Class of 2026
538 to 535.

Now I want to mention something here that needs repeating: the class of 2025 really got the short end of the stick with virtual school and the pandemic. We really will not know what the admissions changes will do until the class of 2026 or even the class of 2027. I mean this because they did evaluations of these kids and there were huge gaps in learning this year that they are catching up on. But we aren’t see the hug drop off in 2025 between freshman and sophomore year or between sophomore and junior year. We are seeing it between junior and senior year. And that’s with the new admissions and covid. So until we know what is going on there, I would not make conclusions about how the admissions is messing up TJ.

The other thing I want to admit is that as a parent at TJ: I think there is a huge push to have your kids take the hardest classes. And start a tech start up. And be president of all the clubs. And do all the olympiads. And … get straight As. We feel the pressure and just don’t know how to deal with it.

And I think that push is just … dumb.

Your kid is in TJ. Take the easy As. Let them balance out their schedule and do the things they love. They have to learn this in college anyway. Let them learn this now so that in college, they can be the mature adult changing the world there.

If we had stayed at our base school, I would be pushing my kid more to do more. But here: their classes are college class levels but they get to do it with our love and guidance. Relax a little and let them learn how to learn more deeply.

Just a thought.

The numbers here are illuminating, but you have to remember that at least 480 kids had been admitted to each of the freshmen classes prior to 2025.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess no one else’s TJ kid wants to go back to base?

As a Mom of a Senior I would say pls do transfer. Its a nightmarish life and the workload is unbelievably difficult, grading very difficult, and teachers with no consideration for a kid's mental health. DC is graduating, but in retrospect if we had to choose between base school and TJ, would choose base school hands down. And just before the haters start, DD is in top 25% of TJ.

Why would you let your kid stay if it was a nightmare for them? My kids loved their time there but if they struggled like yours did, they would have switched to base.

I’m not the poster, but in my case, my child may not want to go back even if things do not go well. We cannot just force them to go back to base. Every child, every experience is different, so please be kind when writing comments.

Thank you for this note. I am the PP who mentioned about DD having a nightmarish life at TJ. And we still stand by it. It gets difficult on the kid to move back kto base school after a while, the factors are so many, including the social aspect. Even as a Senior the teachers, their expectations and the work load is unbelievably high. No consideration for the fact that this is college application time.

Another thing we would like to point out - most of the kids at TJ surprisingly have had their elder siblings graduate from TJ as well. You will be amazed to see most of the families have had both kids at TJ - which means you have elder siblings helping the ones currently at TJ with their work, assignments, grades. And parents in a closed group who hold prior tests, question banks, etc. You can search the thread, this was discussed as well.

Half or more of kids at TJ are either the elder of two children or an only child.

DP. Which means 30-40% of students have older siblings passing tests and assignments down. Unlike base high schools, where siblings may be taking different classes with different teachers or teams, at TJ, everyone takes the same core classes.

that's not true. Most siblings don't want to attend TJ. There are very few siblings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Several great points have been made by experienced parents, thanks. This is why this forum is helpful.

My son is a TJ freshman, he needs to study pretty much all the classes, mainly RS, CS and Biology. I think workload has been reasonable so far, but time is needed for all topics. I can see it can be hard if the kid is not fully prepared or doesn't study well.

Yeah the workload difference is significant compared to base school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess no one else’s TJ kid wants to go back to base?

As a Mom of a Senior I would say pls do transfer. Its a nightmarish life and the workload is unbelievably difficult, grading very difficult, and teachers with no consideration for a kid's mental health. DC is graduating, but in retrospect if we had to choose between base school and TJ, would choose base school hands down. And just before the haters start, DD is in top 25% of TJ.

Why would you let your kid stay if it was a nightmare for them? My kids loved their time there but if they struggled like yours did, they would have switched to base.

I’m not the poster, but in my case, my child may not want to go back even if things do not go well. We cannot just force them to go back to base. Every child, every experience is different, so please be kind when writing comments.

Thank you for this note. I am the PP who mentioned about DD having a nightmarish life at TJ. And we still stand by it. It gets difficult on the kid to move back kto base school after a while, the factors are so many, including the social aspect. Even as a Senior the teachers, their expectations and the work load is unbelievably high. No consideration for the fact that this is college application time.

Another thing we would like to point out - most of the kids at TJ surprisingly have had their elder siblings graduate from TJ as well. You will be amazed to see most of the families have had both kids at TJ - which means you have elder siblings helping the ones currently at TJ with their work, assignments, grades. And parents in a closed group who hold prior tests, question banks, etc. You can search the thread, this was discussed as well.

Half or more of kids at TJ are either the elder of two children or an only child.

DP. Which means 30-40% of students have older siblings passing tests and assignments down. Unlike base high schools, where siblings may be taking different classes with different teachers or teams, at TJ, everyone takes the same core classes.

Not with the same teachers.

[Anonymous]

Most mental health issues at TJ are because of parental pressure, not teachers or classmates. I’ve had two there, including a current senior. My kids love it there. They are not in the top 25% of the class but not in the bottom 25% either. If your kid needs to excel to be happy then they should leave. If they are failing all their classes or even getting Ds, they should leave. But if they are getting Bs and maybe the occasional C, and they value the education that TJ has to offer, let them stay. There’s more to life (much more) than maximizing college admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most mental health issues at TJ are because of parental pressure, not teachers or classmates. I’ve had two there, including a current senior. My kids love it there. They are not in the top 25% of the class but not in the bottom 25% either. If your kid needs to excel to be happy then they should leave. If they are failing all their classes or even getting Ds, they should leave. But if they are getting Bs and maybe the occasional C, and they value the education that TJ has to offer, let them stay. There’s more to life (much more) than maximizing college admissions.

Agree, if student is receiving Cs and Ds, during their freshman year especially in Math, English, and Biology, they would be better off at their base school, where they have a better chance of earning As and Bs. It's ironic that students are having to find out for themselves if TJ is a good academic fit after getting admitted and are halfway through their freshman year.