My child graduated from TJ and he/she is now..................

[Anonymous]

With all of the discussion that is going on about TJ, I am wondering how much of a difference it has made in terms of colleges attended, careers chosen or jobs obtained subsequent to graduation.

I think there is a tendency to assume that graduating from TJ is something of a passport for future success. I am wondering how accurate this assumption is in real life. I am sure that many do very well but I somehow believe that probably the majority fare about as well as they would have even if they did not graduate from TJ but instead one of the other excellent high schools in Northern Virginia.

Would parents who have children who graduated from TJ or posters who know others whose kids graduated from TJ post what their/these kids are doing today?

I think a lot of the discussion regarding TJ's admission policies and selective admission is because there is a belief that graduating from TJ will ensure success for a kid in college and thereafter. Perhaps this is true ........ but maybe this is an incorrect premise.

To those whose children have done very well after graduating from TJ, would he/she have likely done just as well if graduation had been from a regular school?

[Anonymous]

I would really like to see statistics or at least examples of the TJ alumni who obtained STEM doctorate degrees. I believe this is the best metric to gauge the success of a STEM magnet school.

[Anonymous]

I know a boy who was so burnt out after graduating TJ, he dropped out of GMU after only one year. Brilliant kid too. But depressed. TJ damaged him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With all of the discussion that is going on about TJ, I am wondering how much of a difference it has made in terms of colleges attended, careers chosen or jobs obtained subsequent to graduation.

I think there is a tendency to assume that graduating from TJ is something of a passport for future success. I am wondering how accurate this assumption is in real life. I am sure that many do very well but I somehow believe that probably the majority fare about as well as they would have even if they did not graduate from TJ but instead one of the other excellent high schools in Northern Virginia.

Would parents who have children who graduated from TJ or posters who know others whose kids graduated from TJ post what their/these kids are doing today?

I think a lot of the discussion regarding TJ's admission policies and selective admission is because there is a belief that graduating from TJ will ensure success for a kid in college and thereafter. Perhaps this is true ........ but maybe this is an incorrect premise.

To those whose children have done very well after graduating from TJ, would he/she have likely done just as well if graduation had been from a regular school?

One thing that is often overlooked about TJ education is that regardless of how one performed at TJ or what colleges these graduates end up attending (top 10, top 50, public etc.), it appears almost all TJ graduates do well in college. This is important since most if not all TJ graduates (any ambitious college students) plan to attend graduate school, law school or medical school. TJ prepares its graduates for any college academic requirements and they are likely to be in a position to attend decent graduate school, law school and medical school. Three examples that I know of:

1. One student dropped out of TJ due to academic reasons and now attends Langley. This student is in top 10% at Langley.
2. Another student seriously considered dropping out of TJ few times but ultimately graduated and now attends top 20 college and doing very well.
3. I heard one black TJ graduate give a short speech and she said that she found out how lucky she was to have attended TJ since many of her college friends were having difficulty in some of the college courses but she did not and graduated near the top of her class without much difficulty due to education she received at TJ.

TJ graduates gain confidence that they have survived very rigorous academic program and that they can take on any college or graduate program.

[Anonymous]

The one TJ grad I know ended up in a Public Service job. He is a type-A jerk, cut throat, and classic procrastinator and stays away from those of us that will call him on his crap.

[Anonymous]

Fast food minimum wage worker, dropped or failed out of college, don't know which. I am not kidding.

[Anonymous]

Humanities grads from UVA.

Or if in STEM at UVA, many of the women become math teachers and come back to teach in FCPS, or wish to. It's nice we have a steady flow of math teachers but I would have expected more variety, or some to be more ambitious.

[Anonymous]

This thread is fast becoming let's crap on TJ thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is fast becoming let's crap on TJ thread.

I don't know any tj parents, but I went there myself about 15 years ago. Among my friends and acquaintances are software engineers, professors, a minister, plenty of doctors and lawyers. I work part time at a nonprofit whose mission I care about. It's kind of a mommy track job but it suits my life now. I don't know if my career would have been different if I'd gone to a different school. But I do look back on high school very fondly and made lifelong friendships with some amazing people. I don't think I would have been as happy elsewhere. Of course I have no idea what its like there now, sounds like more of a pressure cooker then back then.

[Anonymous]

I'm a TJ grad with a biology degree and an MBA and now I'm a SAHM.

[Anonymous]

Remember average life expectancy in US is 78.74 years. sure, 4 years of high school will make big impact, so is 4 years of college. No argument that TJ sent most of its graduate into college, top or average. But to expect TJ making every its graduate great success is to expect Harvard making every its graduate head of every industry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Humanities grads from UVA.

Or if in STEM at UVA, many of the women become math teachers and come back to teach in FCPS, or wish to. It's nice we have a steady flow of math teachers but I would have expected more variety, or some to be more ambitious.

It's actually great that the talent stays, or tries to stay in the area and nurtures new talent. Hope they are good teachers!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Remember average life expectancy in US is 78.74 years. sure, 4 years of high school will make big impact, so is 4 years of college. No argument that TJ sent most of its graduate into college, top or average. But to expect TJ making every its graduate great success is to expect Harvard making every its graduate head of every industry.

It kind of all depends on what your definition of success is, no?

[Anonymous]

On a related note, what are the statistics on TJ graduates (a) going to the top 10 colleges such as MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, and the like, in fields such as science and engineering, (b) later on pursuing advanced degrees such as Masters or Ph.D. in science and engineering from top 10 schools, and (c) making it to top positions in professional careers (successful entrepreneurs of the kind in Silicon Valley, CEO's, CTO's of fortune 500 companies, well known professors in academia, top scientists or engineers in our national laboratories, and the like)?

I'd also be interested in the same statistic for the FCPS AAP, that seems to be so sought after. How many of the TJ or AAP grads are really creative or out of the box thinkers and achievers in their higher education or professional careers?

Most of what I have seen are TJ grads going to William and Mary, GMU, and UVa and the like. No offense to these schools, but they are not in the same league as the top schools, and for a high school and a school district that touts to be one of the top in the nation, i'd think that the product of the system needs to be sought after by the best and brightest institutions and organizations in the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On a related note, what are the statistics on TJ graduates (a) going to the top 10 colleges such as MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, and the like, in fields such as science and engineering, (b) later on pursuing advanced degrees such as Masters or Ph.D. in science and engineering from top 10 schools, and (c) making it to top positions in professional careers (successful entrepreneurs of the kind in Silicon Valley, CEO's, CTO's of fortune 500 companies, well known professors in academia, top scientists or engineers in our national laboratories, and the like)?

I'd also be interested in the same statistic for the FCPS AAP, that seems to be so sought after. How many of the TJ or AAP grads are really creative or out of the box thinkers and achievers in their higher education or professional careers?

Most of what I have seen are TJ grads going to William and Mary, GMU, and UVa and the like. No offense to these schools, but they are not in the same league as the top schools, and for a high school and a school district that touts to be one of the top in the nation, i'd think that the product of the system needs to be sought after by the best and brightest institutions and organizations in the country.

For the last 6 to 7 years, approximate average acceptances per year: about 8 to 14 accepted to Stanford, about 15 to 27 accepted to Berkeley, about 15 to 20 accepted to Princeton, about 13 to 18 accepted to MIT, about 30 to 40 accepted to Cornell, about 11 to 15 accepted to Columbia, about 10 to 14 accepted to UPenn, about 10 to 16 accepted to Dartmouth/Brown, about 5 to 10 accepted to CalTech and about 9 to 14 accepted to Yale. As for VA schools, each year on average about 90 to 100 attend UVA, about 60 to 70 attend W&M, about 50 attend VATech and about 5 to 7 attend GMU.