Should TJ student transfer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kid will have a high, 1550+ SAT based on PSAT. The issue is not the intelligence.

How much do senior mid year grades matter for RD? There is a chance of a 4.5 mid year (but only with stellar grades.)

Majority of schools fill 50% of their class thru ED/EA. RD to UVA from TJ is not possible. High SAT score is meaningless. What matters most is the GPA. I am telling from my child's current experience. Near perfect SAT did not help to get into top 20. For ED/EA Junior GPA is the most important

[Anonymous]

OP, if your kid doesn't want to go, do NOT make them transfer just to try to chase a more prestigious college. Pick courses carefully for next year (re: less intense ones) and let them stay if they want to. Making them move mid-HS will definitely be something that sticks with them socially and mentally a long time - and odds are will not make a huge difference at this point re: which college they end up at.

[Anonymous]

If your kid is happy at TJ, I would keep them there. The bottom 1/4 at TJ ends up at places like GMU or JMU, etc., if they do well their first year, they likely can transfer to UVA if that is the ultimate goal. You could also do the community college to UVA route or possibly get a UVA Wise offer.

Your kid is who they are, socially, academically, athletically... accept this and what it means for their college placement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kid will have a high, 1550+ SAT based on PSAT. The issue is not the intelligence.

How much do senior mid year grades matter for RD? There is a chance of a 4.5 mid year (but only with stellar grades.)

So realistically, his GPA after the junior year will be in the range of 4.3-4.4? This GPA is not low. There’s another TJ mom who posted his son’s (with similar SAT score and GPA) college outcomes on here: he got into a number of great colleges, including UNC oos, which has an acceptance rate of ~6%! But getting into UVA would be very difficult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Should my low GPA TJ kid, rising junior, transfer to a school where they can stand out more? FCCPS. My worry is that their low gpa will considered worse if they go to a school with inflated gpa.

Honestly being a TJ Senior parent - low GPA at TJ is very subjective. Everybody will be happy when kid gets into TJ and thinks they end up at MIT / Harvard when the reality is completely different unless you are at the top 10% of TJ with GPA over 4.6. Most of TJ kids end up in regular schools not top 20.

At TJ because of its intense competition, GPA 4.35 is considered top 1/3rd of the class unfortunately from what school counselors said. What GPA are you referring to here?. Low GPA from TJ won't even get you into UVA or VT. If you change school, you will have to explain in the Common App additional information section why school change was made in Junior year to give admission officers context why the change was made.

According to Naviance, Harvard and MIT are the only schools where the GPA of the average admit is above 4.6.
A 4.6 GPA is extremely difficult.
If your GPA is above 4.6 and your SAT is 1570 or higher, you've got pretty close to a 25% chance at Harvard from TJ.

Almost everybody from TJ gets into VT.

[Anonymous]

Input TJ college exmissions info (you might need to download to a doc), DC's transcript and list of ECs/awards and hobbies into paid Claude (opus model), along with the TJ HS curriculum guide for senior year, and ask it for major suggestions and school suggestions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kid will have a high, 1550+ SAT based on PSAT. The issue is not the intelligence.

How much do senior mid year grades matter for RD? There is a chance of a 4.5 mid year (but only with stellar grades.)

So realistically, his GPA after the junior year will be in the range of 4.3-4.4? This GPA is not low. There’s another TJ mom who posted his son’s (with similar SAT score and GPA) college outcomes on here: he got into a number of great colleges, including UNC oos, which has an acceptance rate of ~6%! But getting into UVA would be very difficult.

Could you provide the link to that thread?

[Anonymous]

Pick a non-STEM major and create MAJOR alignment now. at least 3 ECs should support major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Should my low GPA TJ kid, rising junior, transfer to a school where they can stand out more? FCCPS. My worry is that their low gpa will considered worse if they go to a school with inflated gpa.

Honestly being a TJ Senior parent - low GPA at TJ is very subjective. Everybody will be happy when kid gets into TJ and thinks they end up at MIT / Harvard when the reality is completely different unless you are at the top 10% of TJ with GPA over 4.6. Most of TJ kids end up in regular schools not top 20.

At TJ because of its intense competition, GPA 4.35 is considered top 1/3rd of the class unfortunately from what school counselors said. What GPA are you referring to here?. Low GPA from TJ won't even get you into UVA or VT. If you change school, you will have to explain in the Common App additional information section why school change was made in Junior year to give admission officers context why the change was made.

According to Naviance, Harvard and MIT are the only schools where the GPA of the average admit is above 4.6.
A 4.6 GPA is extremely difficult.
If your GPA is above 4.6 and your SAT is 1570 or higher, you've got pretty close to a 25% chance at Harvard from TJ.

Almost everybody from TJ gets into VT.

Sourcr?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Should my low GPA TJ kid, rising junior, transfer to a school where they can stand out more? FCCPS. My worry is that their low gpa will considered worse if they go to a school with inflated gpa.

Honestly being a TJ Senior parent - low GPA at TJ is very subjective. Everybody will be happy when kid gets into TJ and thinks they end up at MIT / Harvard when the reality is completely different unless you are at the top 10% of TJ with GPA over 4.6. Most of TJ kids end up in regular schools not top 20.

At TJ because of its intense competition, GPA 4.35 is considered top 1/3rd of the class unfortunately from what school counselors said. What GPA are you referring to here?. Low GPA from TJ won't even get you into UVA or VT. If you change school, you will have to explain in the Common App additional information section why school change was made in Junior year to give admission officers context why the change was made.

According to Naviance, Harvard and MIT are the only schools where the GPA of the average admit is above 4.6.
A 4.6 GPA is extremely difficult.
If your GPA is above 4.6 and your SAT is 1570 or higher, you've got pretty close to a 25% chance at Harvard from TJ.

Almost everybody from TJ gets into VT.

Sourcr?

Naviance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kid will have a high, 1550+ SAT based on PSAT. The issue is not the intelligence.

How much do senior mid year grades matter for RD? There is a chance of a 4.5 mid year (but only with stellar grades.)

So realistically, his GPA after the junior year will be in the range of 4.3-4.4? This GPA is not low. There’s another TJ mom who posted his son’s (with similar SAT score and GPA) college outcomes on here: he got into a number of great colleges, including UNC oos, which has an acceptance rate of ~6%! But getting into UVA would be very difficult.

Could you provide the link to that thread?

It’s not one particular thread, but she’s pretty active in various threads following the EA and RD decision dates. She might have posted on this thread as well?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kid will have a high, 1550+ SAT based on PSAT. The issue is not the intelligence.

How much do senior mid year grades matter for RD? There is a chance of a 4.5 mid year (but only with stellar grades.)

So realistically, his GPA after the junior year will be in the range of 4.3-4.4? This GPA is not low. There’s another TJ mom who posted his son’s (with similar SAT score and GPA) college outcomes on here: he got into a number of great colleges, including UNC oos, which has an acceptance rate of ~6%! But getting into UVA would be very difficult.

Could you provide the link to that thread?

It’s not one particular thread, but she’s pretty active in various threads following the EA and RD decision dates. She might have posted on this thread as well?

You can do a search on UNC in the forum and you may find it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Should my low GPA TJ kid, rising junior, transfer to a school where they can stand out more? FCCPS. My worry is that their low gpa will considered worse if they go to a school with inflated gpa.

A top school is already out of the question.
If you wanted a chance at that you should have pulled your kid from TJ before the end of first semester freshman year or better yet turn down the acceptance so he has the confidence of having gotten into TJ without the cost of dealing with TJ rigor.
I know it would have been emotionally difficult, but FCPS lied to you and your kid. They didn't have the training that the other kids at TJ had.

Your decisions really depend on the GPA.

Look at Naviance for VT

If they have a weighted GPA above 4.3, its almost 99%+
If their weighted GPA is above a 4.0, they have a pretty good shot at VT 90%+; add a 1500 SAT score to that and your chances increase to 99%+

How low is the GPA? What is their projected SAT score (how did they do on the PSAT)?

If your GPA is sub 4.0 anbd projected SAT is sub 1500, then

JMU will take almost any TJ student above a 3.5 (don't biff the application -essay and recommendations)
GMU will take almost any TJ student with a GPA above a 3 (don't biff the application)

Where do you hope your kid will go from base school?

Not op but ..
My kid has a 4.1 weighted gpa with 1530 SAT but didn’t get into Vtech this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Should my low GPA TJ kid, rising junior, transfer to a school where they can stand out more? FCCPS. My worry is that their low gpa will considered worse if they go to a school with inflated gpa.

A top school is already out of the question.
If you wanted a chance at that you should have pulled your kid from TJ before the end of first semester freshman year or better yet turn down the acceptance so he has the confidence of having gotten into TJ without the cost of dealing with TJ rigor.
I know it would have been emotionally difficult, but FCPS lied to you and your kid. They didn't have the training that the other kids at TJ had.

Your decisions really depend on the GPA.

Look at Naviance for VT

If they have a weighted GPA above 4.3, its almost 99%+
If their weighted GPA is above a 4.0, they have a pretty good shot at VT 90%+; add a 1500 SAT score to that and your chances increase to 99%+

How low is the GPA? What is their projected SAT score (how did they do on the PSAT)?

If your GPA is sub 4.0 anbd projected SAT is sub 1500, then

JMU will take almost any TJ student above a 3.5 (don't biff the application -essay and recommendations)
GMU will take almost any TJ student with a GPA above a 3 (don't biff the application)

Where do you hope your kid will go from base school?

Not op but ..
My kid has a 4.1 weighted gpa with 1530 SAT but didn’t get into Vtech this year.

Sorry to hear that. Hopefully they have gotten into someplace else that is great for them. But I am curious, were they rejected from VT or waitlisted? Rejection with those stats from TJ is pretty rare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Should my low GPA TJ kid, rising junior, transfer to a school where they can stand out more? FCCPS. My worry is that their low gpa will considered worse if they go to a school with inflated gpa.

Honestly being a TJ Senior parent - low GPA at TJ is very subjective. Everybody will be happy when kid gets into TJ and thinks they end up at MIT / Harvard when the reality is completely different unless you are at the top 10% of TJ with GPA over 4.6. Most of TJ kids end up in regular schools not top 20.

At TJ because of its intense competition, GPA 4.35 is considered top 1/3rd of the class unfortunately from what school counselors said. What GPA are you referring to here?. Low GPA from TJ won't even get you into UVA or VT. If you change school, you will have to explain in the Common App additional information section why school change was made in Junior year to give admission officers context why the change was made.

According to Naviance, Harvard and MIT are the only schools where the GPA of the average admit is above 4.6.
A 4.6 GPA is extremely difficult.
If your GPA is above 4.6 and your SAT is 1570 or higher, you've got pretty close to a 25% chance at Harvard from TJ.

Almost everybody from TJ gets into VT.

Sourcr?

Naviance.

Naviance cannot tell you this. You have no idea if it was ecs, essays, hooks, etc. plus naviance in fcps is an average of more than one year’s worth of info.

So dumb you make that claim.