TJ - got accepted but still undecided

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those deciding between TJ and their base school, keep in mind that peer influence is a significant factor during the teen years. It can greatly impact your child’s future. At TJ, students are surrounded by high achievers, which can reduce distractions and encourage academic focus. Just my two cents.

Also while many post on here that if stay at base will be too and do much better at colleges, take that with grain of salt. At TJ, there are consistently 30-40 go to ivys, MIT CalTech, 30-40 go to Tech for engineering, another 30 or more to uva, and more to William and Mary— so that’s beyond top 100 getting into TOP schools. Most other HS (with few exceptions) you see 1 to an Ivy-maybe- few if any to MIT and handfuls to rest. Which odds sound better to you if you know your kid?

I think this corroborates with info from some other threads: if your kid can be among the top 10 percent (top 50-55 among 550), good chance to aim for tier 1 schools (Ivys + Standford/MIT/Caltech and other top tech or non-tech); top 25 percent (the next 50-80), good chance to aim for anything above UVA/VT/WM (including these). The remaining 75 percent depends, UVA/VT/WM might be their best unless they have something extraordinary (as their academic is proved to be not top 10 percent).

In that case, a kid in the middle peck could have a better chance to aim for tier 1 and schools above UVA/VT/WM if he/she is top 5 percent at a reputable base school - better looking GPA and also more extracurricular (more time to develop this part of the profile).

Other than the college outcome, the child's interests in STEM, overall development (not just academic) and mental health are also important. It depends a lot on the child and as parent, maybe let the child decide and own the decision, after getting as much information as possible and giving your own advice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those deciding between TJ and their base school, keep in mind that peer influence is a significant factor during the teen years. It can greatly impact your child’s future. At TJ, students are surrounded by high achievers, which can reduce distractions and encourage academic focus. Just my two cents.

Also while many post on here that if stay at base will be too and do much better at colleges, take that with grain of salt. At TJ, there are consistently 30-40 go to ivys, MIT CalTech, 30-40 go to Tech for engineering, another 30 or more to uva, and more to William and Mary— so that’s beyond top 100 getting into TOP schools. Most other HS (with few exceptions) you see 1 to an Ivy-maybe- few if any to MIT and handfuls to rest. Which odds sound better to you if you know your kid?

I think this corroborates with info from some other threads: if your kid can be among the top 10 percent (top 50-55 among 550), good chance to aim for tier 1 schools (Ivys + Standford/MIT/Caltech and other top tech or non-tech); top 25 percent (the next 50-80), good chance to aim for anything above UVA/VT/WM (including these). The remaining 75 percent depends, UVA/VT/WM might be their best unless they have something extraordinary (as their academic is proved to be not top 10 percent).

In that case, a kid in the middle peck could have a better chance to aim for tier 1 and schools above UVA/VT/WM if he/she is top 5 percent at a reputable base school - better looking GPA and also more extracurricular (more time to develop this part of the profile).

Other than the college outcome, the child's interests in STEM, overall development (not just academic) and mental health are also important. It depends a lot on the child and as parent, maybe let the child decide and own the decision, after getting as much information as possible and giving your own advice.

The percentage going to UVA/WM/VT has gone down over time. In 2009, 186 graduates went to one of those three. In 2023, it was 91.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We went to preview night and were so surprised by the LACK of solid afterschool and in school EC activities. No choir. Only Varsity football. Limited theatre program. Not everyone wants to do Science Olympiad all the time.

If TJ wants to focus on bringing in well rounded kids then it needs to provided these kids more opportunities besides just academics. How is there no choir at TJ?

Maybe because TJHSST is supposed to be a STEM focused school and students admitted are supposed to like activities such as Science Olympiad, math competition, science bowl,.......

+1 In addition, they are a lot of very different 8th period clubs (academic and non-academic) and many options after school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello, my DS got accepted to TJ and we live in Fairfax county. The commute is easily 50 min to 1 hour from our depot.

Talking to other parents I have heard about the difficulties of being in TJ.

Can any TJ parent info on the following please that can help us decide what works best for our family?

1. I have heard that if kids stay for after school club, parents have to pick up? It is going to be a 1 hour drive for either me or my husband and we have 3 other kids and their activities during the evening.

2. DS has his cousins in UVA and UMD and has visited those colleges and loves to join one of them. He would surely get better GPA in his base school compared to the GPA in TJ and he is concerned. Would ED application help on this case?

3. I am more sure how things have changed post the new way of admission/selection of students into TJ, my hope is TJ is not as stressful as it used to be before and slightly better. We are also concerned about stress/mental health/not having enough sleep/constant struggle.

Can you share your exp?

Buses come after the eighth period clubs. Sports/band are a different matter.

Can someone clarify if this involves orchestra? That's just a school-day elective, right?

[Anonymous]

During school day.

https://tjorchestra.org/faqs/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those deciding between TJ and their base school, keep in mind that peer influence is a significant factor during the teen years. It can greatly impact your child’s future. At TJ, students are surrounded by high achievers, which can reduce distractions and encourage academic focus. Just my two cents.

Also while many post on here that if stay at base will be too and do much better at colleges, take that with grain of salt. At TJ, there are consistently 30-40 go to ivys, MIT CalTech, 30-40 go to Tech for engineering, another 30 or more to uva, and more to William and Mary— so that’s beyond top 100 getting into TOP schools. Most other HS (with few exceptions) you see 1 to an Ivy-maybe- few if any to MIT and handfuls to rest. Which odds sound better to you if you know your kid?

I think this corroborates with info from some other threads: if your kid can be among the top 10 percent (top 50-55 among 550), good chance to aim for tier 1 schools (Ivys + Standford/MIT/Caltech and other top tech or non-tech); top 25 percent (the next 50-80), good chance to aim for anything above UVA/VT/WM (including these). The remaining 75 percent depends, UVA/VT/WM might be their best unless they have something extraordinary (as their academic is proved to be not top 10 percent).

In that case, a kid in the middle peck could have a better chance to aim for tier 1 and schools above UVA/VT/WM if he/she is top 5 percent at a reputable base school - better looking GPA and also more extracurricular (more time to develop this part of the profile).

Other than the college outcome, the child's interests in STEM, overall development (not just academic) and mental health are also important. It depends a lot on the child and as parent, maybe let the child decide and own the decision, after getting as much information as possible and giving your own advice.

The percentage going to UVA/WM/VT has gone down over time. In 2009, 186 graduates went to one of those three. In 2023, it was 91.

Lots of other changes in that time period including more applications overall from NOVA and just more kids applying total to these school. Plus the USNWR scoring change to give more points for FGLI which doesn’t match the TJ student body that well (unless people are cheating and saying they are first gen because their parents’ degrees are not US degrees).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those deciding between TJ and their base school, keep in mind that peer influence is a significant factor during the teen years. It can greatly impact your child’s future. At TJ, students are surrounded by high achievers, which can reduce distractions and encourage academic focus. Just my two cents.

Also while many post on here that if stay at base will be too and do much better at colleges, take that with grain of salt. At TJ, there are consistently 30-40 go to ivys, MIT CalTech, 30-40 go to Tech for engineering, another 30 or more to uva, and more to William and Mary— so that’s beyond top 100 getting into TOP schools. Most other HS (with few exceptions) you see 1 to an Ivy-maybe- few if any to MIT and handfuls to rest. Which odds sound better to you if you know your kid?

I think this corroborates with info from some other threads: if your kid can be among the top 10 percent (top 50-55 among 550), good chance to aim for tier 1 schools (Ivys + Standford/MIT/Caltech and other top tech or non-tech); top 25 percent (the next 50-80), good chance to aim for anything above UVA/VT/WM (including these). The remaining 75 percent depends, UVA/VT/WM might be their best unless they have something extraordinary (as their academic is proved to be not top 10 percent).

In that case, a kid in the middle peck could have a better chance to aim for tier 1 and schools above UVA/VT/WM if he/she is top 5 percent at a reputable base school - better looking GPA and also more extracurricular (more time to develop this part of the profile).

Other than the college outcome, the child's interests in STEM, overall development (not just academic) and mental health are also important. It depends a lot on the child and as parent, maybe let the child decide and own the decision, after getting as much information as possible and giving your own advice.

The percentage going to UVA/WM/VT has gone down over time. In 2009, 186 graduates went to one of those three. In 2023, it was 91.

Lots of other changes in that time period including more applications overall from NOVA and just more kids applying total to these school. Plus the USNWR scoring change to give more points for FGLI which doesn’t match the TJ student body that well (unless people are cheating and saying they are first gen because their parents’ degrees are not US degrees).

I think this coincides with the increase in students going to schools that were less on the radar in 2009 (Michigan, Illinois, Purdue, Georgia Tech, Pitt, Maryland, etc.). Part of it may be active recruitment by those schools based on TJ's recognition as a leading STEM magnet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stay at base school.
If 50 minutes from TJ, it’s not Langley or
Mclean so your kid is going to be one of the high performers at base school and will have a better shot of being admitted to UMD or UVA with stellar grades from base school.

Definitely base school. I'm not saying this to make room on the waitlist either, really!

[Anonymous]

Re: Busses and clubs- Clubs meet during 8th period instead of afterschool. There are 4 total activity blocks per week. There are SO many clubs, both stem focused and not. There are actually more clubs than most base schools. Sports and marching band are after busses leave. There are also various competitions that bleed into afterschool.

TJ has traditional clubs like Keyettes, book club, Young Dems/Republicans, FBLA, Model UN (HUGE at TJ), STEM clubs like rocketry, bowl teams, environmental science, and unique clubs like Namaste, TJ Sends Smiles, and Tolkien Appreciation Society. There really is something for everyone, and at 4 choices per week, lots of opportunities to try something new.