TJ admissions now verifying free and reduced price meal status for successful 2026 applicants

[Anonymous]

So now some admissions will be taken back. No one should’ve cheated but admissions should have verified first. Some kids are in for a lot of embarrassment. Not great for mental health.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No verification was done for 2025 so who knows if the class of 2025 really has that percentage of FARMS

Kids weren’t in school to receive free meals in fall of 2021 so no cheaters then.

Incorrect. Some applicants were in school in fall of 2021.

Which NoVA schools were in person in fall 2021?

Loudoun. Fairfax wasn't?

Ugh. Fall of 2020 when the class of 2025 was applying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't have much sympathy for anyone who knowingly misrepresented their FARMS status, but it seems like FCPS should have been clearer in their prior communications.

Either way it just makes TJ seem less appealing and more like a "look at all our poor STEM kids" demonstration project.

+1

The timing sucks but glad they are not letting families take advantage of the system. The cheaters may have displaced kids who were truly low-income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so why didn't TJ admissions ask for this information before? They are incompetent.

Exactly. They are stressing the kids. Someone needs to sue TJ

They probably will be sued over this because their question wasn't about FARMS eligibility it was about receiving free meals. The question was poorly written.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So now some admissions will be taken back. No one should’ve cheated but admissions should have verified first. Some kids are in for a lot of embarrassment. Not great for mental health.

What is bad for a kid's mental health is having a parent that would LIE about being poor to cheat the system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So now some admissions will be taken back. No one should’ve cheated but admissions should have verified first. Some kids are in for a lot of embarrassment. Not great for mental health.

They should have verified before admissions decisions were made. There is no way that TJ was not aware that there were people who were saying yes based on everyone receiving free meals this year. People have been openly discussing doing that this year here for gods sake. And I would bet that if they had looked at the numbers who answered yes on the application was far different then the percentage of FARMs students at each of the MS.

But any student who is stressed by this should have known that there was a real chance they were going to be called out for their answer on that question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TJ admissions is verifying FARMS eligibility and will reevaluate applications if status cannot be verified which May result in a different admissions outcome

Why are you even posting this? Of course they should be checking FARMS eligibility as the other FCPS schools do

[Anonymous]

This latest debacle illustrates the fallacy that TJ - one public school in a large public school system with over 200 schools - could ever try to replicate the sophisticated admissions process of a private university.

They need to streamline the process with a focus on the students who score the highest on an objective, rigorous test intended to measure STEM aptitude, or just get rid of the magnet program at TJ entirely.

What they are doing now is just one embarrassment after another for a once-excellent public school system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This latest debacle illustrates the fallacy that TJ - one public school in a large public school system with over 200 schools - could ever try to replicate the sophisticated admissions process of a private university.

They need to streamline the process with a focus on the students who score the highest on an objective, rigorous test intended to measure STEM aptitude, or just get rid of the magnet program at TJ entirely.

What they are doing now is just one embarrassment after another for a once-excellent public school system.

You can drop the faux hysteria.

The admissions process for one school does not reflect the quality of instruction for the entire school district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So now some admissions will be taken back. No one should’ve cheated but admissions should have verified first. Some kids are in for a lot of embarrassment. Not great for mental health.

A number of folks will magically decline the offer rather than invite scrutiny of their child and family. No sympathy for the incompetent FCPS but no sympathy for the gamers either. Life lesson for kids to follow the straight and narrow path

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So now some admissions will be taken back. No one should’ve cheated but admissions should have verified first. Some kids are in for a lot of embarrassment. Not great for mental health.

A number of folks will magically decline the offer rather than invite scrutiny of their child and family. No sympathy for the incompetent FCPS but no sympathy for the gamers either. Life lesson for kids to follow the straight and narrow path

Don’t be led astray by your corrupt parents.

[Anonymous]

As a parent of TJ kids admitted under the old system, I am so tired of FCPS causing controversy and scandals about TJ. They keep causing drama and unwanted attention that affects the students and their experience. How could they have decided to give weight for low income status and not even verify that first?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of TJ kids admitted under the old system, I am so tired of FCPS causing controversy and scandals about TJ. They keep causing drama and unwanted attention that affects the students and their experience. How could they have decided to give weight for low income status and not even verify that first?

And they are verifying AFTER students accepted or declined their offers of admission. Waitlisted students must also now be verified. Do not know why they are only taking action to verify now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know many points was saying yes to FARMS worth?

90 points

How many total possible points?

Not sure what it means? I think they just added 90 points to total

How many points were the other components worth? GPA. Essays etc

300 GPA, 300 SPS, 300 Math/Science test. up to 225 additional experience points of which meals was 90.

Stop lying on these threads. GPA is only worth 37.5 points, with a minimum possible value of 262.5 through a maximum of 300. The meals bonus was worth over twice as many points as the entire span from a 3.5 GPA through a 4.0.

[Anonymous]

Shame it happened like this, but Karma is real.

Don't know how people slept at night. No one can sue over this, because no one's kid is entitled to TJHSST. If your child was only admitted because you feigned economic disadvantage, then your child didn't truly earn their offer. Sorry. On to the next kid, who either is actually economically disadvantaged or didn't need to pretend to be to get into TJ.