Any regrets about not accepting TJ admission?

[Anonymous]

Just curious if any parents or students regretted their decision of not accepting admission and stayed with the base school instead. TIA

[Anonymous]

It's been a while. My daughter is a college senior this year. No regrets. I honestly do not think it would have been a good fit for her.

[Anonymous]

It is a very hard and high pressure school. If there is anything marginal about your students performance or the school is too far away, it would be best to just say no. The drop out rate is high for students who are struggling and then they feel they have "failed" when they return to their base schools. It is very unfortunate to pin a failure on a 14 year old -- and that is just how they see it. Do not believe for a minute that TJ is somehow "easy" it is not. Even the "remedial" math is much much harder than the "honors" math offered at the base school. The culture at the school also may not be a good fit. Trust your gut.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's been a while. My daughter is a college senior this year. No regrets. I honestly do not think it would have been a good fit for her.

Which college is she attending and what's her major?

[Anonymous]

About 95% accept the admission offer so the number not accepting the offer is very low each year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:About 95% accept the admission offer so the number not accepting the offer is very low each year.

I wonder what % of the kids accepted transfer back to their base schools after 1-2 years...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:About 95% accept the admission offer so the number not accepting the offer is very low each year.

I wonder what % of the kids accepted transfer back to their base schools after 1-2 years...

About 10% (40 to 50 Students for each class).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:About 95% accept the admission offer so the number not accepting the offer is very low each year.

I wonder what % of the kids accepted transfer back to their base schools after 1-2 years...

Approximately 25 to 50 kids transfer out each year due to various reasons including academic reasons. About 480 are accepted each year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just curious if any parents or students regretted their decision of not accepting admission and stayed with the base school instead. TIA

This is a difficult question since presumably the initial decision was made for a variety of reasons including deciding TJ was not a good fit for the child. The child would probably do well at the base school (TJ students moving back to base school from TJ for academic reasons usually make top 10%) so there would be no apparent reason to second guess the decision and the child would also do relatively well in college admissions.

The significant questions remaining are a) would the child have received better education and b) would the child have gone further in challenging him/ herself with the more rigorous academic standard/environment? One would never know since the child did not attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious if any parents or students regretted their decision of not accepting admission and stayed with the base school instead. TIA

This is a difficult question since presumably the initial decision was made for a variety of reasons including deciding TJ was not a good fit for the child. The child would probably do well at the base school (TJ students moving back to base school from TJ for academic reasons usually make top 10%) so there would be no apparent reason to second guess the decision and the child would also do relatively well in college admissions.

The significant questions remaining are a) would the child have received better education and b) would the child have gone further in challenging him/ herself with the more rigorous academic standard/environment? One would never know since the child did not attend.

But sometimes if you know your child, you can know. Some kids are extremely gifted in math and science but are interested in other things and as a parent you just know they'd be happier in another environment. Or some kids are extremely gifted, but not super competitive, and at age 14 might do better developing where they are a bigger fish in a smaller pond. One of the top seniors at our high school had nearly a 5.0 and was a National Merit Scholar who will attend Stanford. In some ways he had a less stressful, more carefree time in high school and will do great in college. It's hard to think he's missed out. TJ is a great school, but not the best school for everyone. TJ has a concentration of some of the brightest kids in the area, but it doesn't have a monopoly on great students. Plenty of brilliant kids in the area choose to go elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

And our DC is laid back, smart, into a lot of things including STEM (has been involved in community theater and school drama, Model UN, odd sports), is very gifted in languages ... and is going to TJ. DC's looking forward to the challenge. DC would do great at the home school (Langley), was accepted to great private schools, but chose TJ because of the unique experience there. Where else can you combine Chemistry and Humanities for an amazing cross-curricular course? Where else do they offer BioNanoTechnology?

[Anonymous]

I know 2 neighborhood girls who didn't accept TJ admissions. One is heading to UVA the other to Yale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And our DC is laid back, smart, into a lot of things including STEM (has been involved in community theater and school drama, Model UN, odd sports), is very gifted in languages ... and is going to TJ. DC's looking forward to the challenge. DC would do great at the home school (Langley), was accepted to great private schools, but chose TJ because of the unique experience there. Where else can you combine Chemistry and Humanities for an amazing cross-curricular course? Where else do they offer BioNanoTechnology?

Well, good for your kid. Not everyone wants the TJ experience, trust me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And our DC is laid back, smart, into a lot of things including STEM (has been involved in community theater and school drama, Model UN, odd sports), is very gifted in languages ... and is going to TJ. DC's looking forward to the challenge. DC would do great at the home school (Langley), was accepted to great private schools, but chose TJ because of the unique experience there. Where else can you combine Chemistry and Humanities for an amazing cross-curricular course? Where else do they offer BioNanoTechnology?

Don't know and don't really care.

On a thread titled "any regrets about NOT accepting TJ admission" this seems like a not-so-humble brag.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And our DC is laid back, smart, into a lot of things including STEM (has been involved in community theater and school drama, Model UN, odd sports), is very gifted in languages ... and is going to TJ. DC's looking forward to the challenge. DC would do great at the home school (Langley), was accepted to great private schools, but chose TJ because of the unique experience there. Where else can you combine Chemistry and Humanities for an amazing cross-curricular course? Where else do they offer BioNanoTechnology?

So, what you're saying is you know nothing about the topic, right?