Okay, here goes....Alexandria Schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only good school in alexandria is Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology and that's fcps magnet

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia/rankings

Yes, quite. A wonderful school! So wonderful that our ACPS School Board year after year refuses to let a few of their similarly inclined students take advantage of it! Keep the local talent pool in ACPS, I guess, dumb those smarties down, who cares about them.

Thomas Jefferson High School is in the Fairfax part of Alexandria, not Alexandria City btw. But MANY local public school systems allow their students to apply. They must know something ACPS doesn't wish to or, could learn from?

[Anonymous]

We are happy at Lyles Crouch. Not positive about GW Middle school, but we are years away. Figure if GW is not improved by the time we are ready for it, we'll move or do privates. No biggie. I really do not understand the level of stress and turmoil about school choices and home purchasing. This is not your parents' world - people don't settle into one home forever anymore. As for now, we love living in Old Town, walking everywhere and having a charming historical little home.

[Anonymous]

Our son is at Maury ES, we've been mostly happy with the quality of education he's receiving. Also, I'm an FCPS teacher (at a school that typically produces very high test scores), and I'm currently teaching the same grade that my son is in. I would say that the work he is bringing home is at least on par with what we are doing at my school. The PTA is very active, and there is a lot parent involvement at his school as well.

[Anonymous]

Also a parent with kids at Maury. I've been very happy with it, as have they. Active parents, nice families, nice community. They are in TAG, and they absolutely love their TAG teacher and the time spent with her, but they have good friends who are not in TAG who are also having a great experience.

My perspective is that of someone who is a product of ACPS (MacArthur, GW, TC). It had the same reputation then as now (actually, maybe worse) -- my friends at St. Agnes, St. Stephens (not yet combined), BI, BO etc. could not believe that my parents sent me to GW/TC. The fact is that there is a great education to be had in ACPS. As a bright, motivated kid with involved parents, I had a terrific experience -- amazing opportunities in athletics, great group of friends (many of whom I'm still very close to), truly engaged and caring teachers. I graduated with close to a year's worth of college credit. As a first year at UVA I found that I was much better prepared for college course work than many of my classmates who attended DC-area privates.

We'll be entering the middle school scrum next year at GW. Based on my experience and my kids' so far, I'm optomistic.

[Anonymous]

So far, TC seniors have been accepted at Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Penn, Cornell, Amherst, Duke, Chicago, Dartmouth, Brown, UVA (three as Echols scholars), William and Mary, Smith, Middlebury, NYU, Washington University, Boston College, Vassar, Michigan, Sewanee, Wake Forest, Bard, Tulane, Vanderbilt, and Syracuse, among others. Pretty impressive, I'd say! And these are just the schools that my DD has heard about through Facebook over Spring Break. I'm sure there are many more acceptances out there. TC must be doing something right!

[Anonymous]

Good news - the Governor signed the legislation to pave the way for the State to take over Jefferson-Houtson. I really hope it happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So far, TC seniors have been accepted at Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Penn, Cornell, Amherst, Duke, Chicago, Dartmouth, Brown, UVA (three as Echols scholars), William and Mary, Smith, Middlebury, NYU, Washington University, Boston College, Vassar, Michigan, Sewanee, Wake Forest, Bard, Tulane, Vanderbilt, and Syracuse, among others. Pretty impressive, I'd say! And these are just the schools that my DD has heard about through Facebook over Spring Break. I'm sure there are many more acceptances out there. TC must be doing something right!

+1. The fact is that TC's college prep programs (there are several) collectively have a better (recent) exmissions record than any but the top tiny handful of privates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So far, TC seniors have been accepted at Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Penn, Cornell, Amherst, Duke, Chicago, Dartmouth, Brown, UVA (three as Echols scholars), William and Mary, Smith, Middlebury, NYU, Washington University, Boston College, Vassar, Michigan, Sewanee, Wake Forest, Bard, Tulane, Vanderbilt, and Syracuse, among others. Pretty impressive, I'd say! And these are just the schools that my DD has heard about through Facebook over Spring Break. I'm sure there are many more acceptances out there. TC must be doing something right!

Yeah, there is a school of thought that says if you excel at TC that somehow benefits your college application because it shows you endured/shined at a poor school. Which is really sad, if you think about it. (And I've heard that thinking articulated).

[Anonymous]

My daughter believes that she's benefited from excellent teaching, an amazing array of classes (she will have taken 14 APs), interaction with students originating from over 130 countries, and the opportunity to play a significant role in the Alexandria community. She does not feel that she's been shortchanged in any way. And she's seen firsthand what's available at a top DC school, as her sister attends one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So far, TC seniors have been accepted at Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Penn, Cornell, Amherst, Duke, Chicago, Dartmouth, Brown, UVA (three as Echols scholars), William and Mary, Smith, Middlebury, NYU, Washington University, Boston College, Vassar, Michigan, Sewanee, Wake Forest, Bard, Tulane, Vanderbilt, and Syracuse, among others. Pretty impressive, I'd say! And these are just the schools that my DD has heard about through Facebook over Spring Break. I'm sure there are many more acceptances out there. TC must be doing something right!

This is all rumor. And probably reflects a few students with multiple acceptances. It also seems a little odd that this DD would pass along such detailed info to her DM.

instead, let's look at the last good data we have. Last year TC Williams grads ended up at a few good schools, but the numbers were not very impressive at all.

http://www.alexandrianews.org/2012/t-c-williams-seniors-are-going-places/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So far, TC seniors have been accepted at Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Penn, Cornell, Amherst, Duke, Chicago, Dartmouth, Brown, UVA (three as Echols scholars), William and Mary, Smith, Middlebury, NYU, Washington University, Boston College, Vassar, Michigan, Sewanee, Wake Forest, Bard, Tulane, Vanderbilt, and Syracuse, among others. Pretty impressive, I'd say! And these are just the schools that my DD has heard about through Facebook over Spring Break. I'm sure there are many more acceptances out there. TC must be doing something right!

This is all rumor. And probably reflects a few students with multiple acceptances. It also seems a little odd that this DD would pass along such detailed info to her DM.

instead, let's look at the last good data we have. Last year TC Williams grads ended up at a few good schools, but the numbers were not very impressive at all.

http://www.alexandrianews.org/2012/t-c-williams-seniors-are-going-places/

New poster here. While I appreciate you trying to keep TC from being overinflated, I am disappointed in your post. First, it's kind of mean spirited to call the pp, her dd, or her dds Facebook friends a liar. Second, the info is the exact kind of info an academically inclined student would share with her academically inclined mother. Third, the two data sets can't be compared because enrollments are not the same as acceptances. Plenty of kids would apply to Harvard, but enroll at UVA due to finances. And finally, the acceptance info can be confirmed by contacting tc's guidance counseling department.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

New poster here. While I appreciate you trying to keep TC from being overinflated, I am disappointed in your post. First, it's kind of mean spirited to call the pp, her dd, or her dds Facebook friends a liar. Second, the info is the exact kind of info an academically inclined student would share with her academically inclined mother. Third, the two data sets can't be compared because enrollments are not the same as acceptances. Plenty of kids would apply to Harvard, but enroll at UVA due to finances. And finally, the acceptance info can be confirmed by contacting tc's guidance counseling department.

+1 (to the response). In fact, the total admission list is better than the PP's child indicated, at least in terms of "name" schools. The list has improved every year for the last four. So has the number of TC seniors enrolling in competitive-admission schools. And this disregards the impressive number of kids who aren't in the top cohort at TC but who nonetheless do well and are successful in VA state (and other) colleges. The number in this range has increased every year for the last four as well.

[Anonymous]

I am the PP who posted the list. Yes, the matriculations will not be as varied as this list. One student has been accepted to one of the Ivies and a top LAC; she may attend a Virginia school due to financial constraints. Others are in similar situations. You don't see as many Sidwell or St. Albans students making the same decisions, as they typically have fewer financial considerations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So far, TC seniors have been accepted at Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Penn, Cornell, Amherst, Duke, Chicago, Dartmouth, Brown, UVA (three as Echols scholars), William and Mary, Smith, Middlebury, NYU, Washington University, Boston College, Vassar, Michigan, Sewanee, Wake Forest, Bard, Tulane, Vanderbilt, and Syracuse, among others. Pretty impressive, I'd say! And these are just the schools that my DD has heard about through Facebook over Spring Break. I'm sure there are many more acceptances out there. TC must be doing something right!

This is all rumor. And probably reflects a few students with multiple acceptances. It also seems a little odd that this DD would pass along such detailed info to her DM.

instead, let's look at the last good data we have. Last year TC Williams grads ended up at a few good schools, but the numbers were not very impressive at all.

http://www.alexandrianews.org/2012/t-c-williams-seniors-are-going-places/

New poster here. While I appreciate you trying to keep TC from being overinflated, I am disappointed in your post. First, it's kind of mean spirited to call the pp, her dd, or her dds Facebook friends a liar. Second, the info is the exact kind of info an academically inclined student would share with her academically inclined mother. Third, the two data sets can't be compared because enrollments are not the same as acceptances. Plenty of kids would apply to Harvard, but enroll at UVA due to finances. And finally, the acceptance info can be confirmed by contacting tc's guidance counseling department.

There's no danger of TC being "over-inflated." Seriously, that's certainly not what the pp intended to avoid. The reality is one individual kid who gets accepted to Harvard is also likely going to get accepted to four or five top schools, so it's a valid point that the Spring Break list could represent 20 acceptances for five kids. The odds that so many people are posting their college acceptances on FB are small anyway. It's really not relevant that you're "disappointed" -- that doesn't matter at all.

More importantly, this focus on the relatively low number of and relatively unimpressive college acceptances also spins the truth away from TC's astronomically high drop-out rate. The TC student body on the whole is not a college prep environment. Yes, kids go there and get into good colleges, but they have to do it in a bubble, and that bubble is not, shall we say, an inclusive one. It's a very complicated dynamic.

[Anonymous]

07:57: the fact that I was disappointed in your post is relevant to me. I am still considering acps, and so I am considering arguments from both sides of the issue. Although you may have brought up some valid points (list of colleges may reflect only five students), I find it hard to trust your entire line of reasoning because it's mean spirited and presumptuous. No one is saying that tc is not complicated.