TJ decisions are out

[Anonymous]

WL folks hang onto hope. My DC got in off the waitlist. It was a challenge. Thankfully I had a gut feeling that may happen so DC and I did lots of learning about TJ course options and pathways so when the Yes finally came and we had very little time to make decisions, DC was good to go. DC is very happy there and is doing very well at the moment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If grades are awesome and the scores are brilliant, then the only reason has to be the SIS or the recs. Perhaps the recommendations aren’t as excellent as you think, or the child didn’t actually want to go and that was reflected in the SIS

+1. The three test scores are only part of it! Grades, SIS, teacher recs are considered in addition. Those of you posting three test scores are missing the point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Got a denial from TJ today - Can anyone pls. provide any thoughts on what could have gone wrong to get a straight denial?

TJ Test - Reading/Quant/Science : 100/99/98
7th Grade GPA in core subjects: 4.00 (A)
Summer Geometry: A
8th Grade Algebra II (1st and 2nd Qtr ) : A and A-

Did well on SIS/Essays (unknown factor)
Excellent Teacher recommendations

My DD who got accepted last year had 4.00 GPA, A in all subjects in 7th and 8th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC admitted with no science Olympiad and no math counts or other stem activities or competitions (DC May have been the only applicant who didn’t do those activities). DC has all As (like everyone else) and has a genuine expressed interest in a specific area of science. Lots of high level sports and community service. Maybe they wanted some diversity of interests/activities and not all science Olympiad? Or just diversity in the expressed technology interests? I think the essays had to play a large role.

Ditto. Admitted last year with no stem. No prep. One specific area of interest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Got a denial from TJ today - Can anyone pls. provide any thoughts on what could have gone wrong to get a straight denial?

TJ Test - Reading/Quant/Science : 100/99/98
7th Grade GPA in core subjects: 4.00 (A)
Summer Geometry: A
8th Grade Algebra II (1st and 2nd Qtr ) : A and A-

Did well on SIS/Essays (unknown factor)
Excellent Teacher recommendations

My DD who got accepted last year had 4.00 GPA, A in all subjects in 7th and 8th.

I feel GPA on 8th grade is more important than 7th. So for 2024 parents, if your child is not getting perfect score in 7th grade, don't need to overreact. He/she still have a lot of chance.

[Anonymous]

Realize that last year TJ had a freshman suicide and got a new principal. And the TJ community has been taking a real look at where it is and what it wants to be going forward. They have weekly therapy dog visits (really!) and are really pushing mental wellness on multiple fronts— by parents, by student groups, by teachers and by the administration.

TJ has become a part of a Stanford program this year aimed at bringing balance to high performing high schools. And they are trying to change the culture and “bring the joy back into learning”. They are actually enforcing home free Thanksgiving, spring and winter breaks this year. They seem to be doing a better job spacing out the end of frehman year project dump. And for the first time, there will be no summer assignments. It seems like they are ramping up for more changes over the next couple of years.

Based on the anticdotal evidence here, it seems like this new focus may be carrying over to admissions. If so, it’s a hopeful sign. It would be great if TJ started getting more kids who wanted to be there for the sake for getting a TJ education, rather than TJ being seen as a resume bullet in college admissions. And if that could trickle down into making TJ hard to prep for, that would be even better. Middle school kids need to be doing middle school things. Not sitting in TJ prep mills. My kid is very into the overlap of music and math and TJ is great for them. If we end up with STEM literate journalists and artists who do cool things with computer graphics, that ps a great compliment to the kids who do hardcore STEM. Hardcore STEM is important. But I love to hear about the kids coming in in unusual STEM paths.

Your kids will add so much to the school. Welcome!

[Anonymous]

Don't know how involved she would be in future decisions regarding TJ, but Pat Hynes is talking about having kids selected by geography--in other words, Carson's number would be limited.
Check out her tweets this week:
twitter.com/votepathynes

Apparently, NYC is doing this now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't know how involved she would be in future decisions regarding TJ, but Pat Hynes is talking about having kids selected by geography--in other words, Carson's number would be limited.
Check out her tweets this week:
twitter.com/votepathynes

Apparently, NYC is doing this now.

One Fairfax = “until we can figure out how to improve the performance of the less fortunate, we’ll just find arbitrary ways to make the more fortunate miserable.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If grades are awesome and the scores are brilliant, then the only reason has to be the SIS or the recs. Perhaps the recommendations aren’t as excellent as you think, or the child didn’t actually want to go and that was reflected in the SIS

+1. The three test scores are only part of it! Grades, SIS, teacher recs are considered in addition. Those of you posting three test scores are missing the point.

The point is that most weight is given to subjective scoring of essays/SIS. It is certainly not choosing
The top stem candidates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If grades are awesome and the scores are brilliant, then the only reason has to be the SIS or the recs. Perhaps the recommendations aren’t as excellent as you think, or the child didn’t actually want to go and that was reflected in the SIS

+1. The three test scores are only part of it! Grades, SIS, teacher recs are considered in addition. Those of you posting three test scores are missing the point.

The point is that most weight is given to subjective scoring of essays/SIS. It is certainly not choosing
The top stem candidates

TJ no longer seems to be a STEM school at this point. I think this is good and bad but it looks like they are more about creating a well balanced instead of kids who are interested in STEM which I thought was a prerequisite since it is a STEM school

One possible strategy is that they take semi finalists off of test scores but then for who gets in it's much more subjective which might be how they are weeding out the cookie cutter hard core STEM folks but again why call it a STEM school if you aren't taking people actually interest in STEM

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If grades are awesome and the scores are brilliant, then the only reason has to be the SIS or the recs. Perhaps the recommendations aren’t as excellent as you think, or the child didn’t actually want to go and that was reflected in the SIS

+1. The three test scores are only part of it! Grades, SIS, teacher recs are considered in addition. Those of you posting three test scores are missing the point.

The point is that most weight is given to subjective scoring of essays/SIS. It is certainly not choosing
The top stem candidates

TJ no longer seems to be a STEM school at this point. I think this is good and bad but it looks like they are more about creating a well balanced instead of kids who are interested in STEM which I thought was a prerequisite since it is a STEM school

One possible strategy is that they take semi finalists off of test scores but then for who gets in it's much more subjective which might be how they are weeding out the cookie cutter hard core STEM folks but again why call it a STEM school if you aren't taking people actually interest in STEM

It is simply an impossible task to separate these 8th graders. Most of the applications are essentially identical. Using subjective criteria to such a large extent seems the only way to go. I know it leaves many middle school teachers scratching their heads on why some kids were selected and others were not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't know how involved she would be in future decisions regarding TJ, but Pat Hynes is talking about having kids selected by geography--in other words, Carson's number would be limited.
Check out her tweets this week:
twitter.com/votepathynes

Apparently, NYC is doing this now.

NYC isn’t doing this now. Which is why the Stuvy numbers are so bad.

And the Eastern NOVA Rep. bring this up every year. And it gets quickly and roundly shot down in Committee. There is zero taste in the state legislature for messing with TJ’s success. But politicians gotta pander. And really, it addresses the wrong problem. Rather than whining about Equal TJ representation, Eastern County should be asking why the Western County kids are doing so much better, and what can be done to bring the Eastern County kids up. Rather than suppressing western county talent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't know how involved she would be in future decisions regarding TJ, but Pat Hynes is talking about having kids selected by geography--in other words, Carson's number would be limited.
Check out her tweets this week:
twitter.com/votepathynes

Apparently, NYC is doing this now.

One Fairfax = “until we can figure out how to improve the performance of the less fortunate, we’ll just find arbitrary ways to make the more fortunate miserable.”

And the less fortune miserable. TJ has a high drop back rate. And Pat Haynes wants more kids per allocated per MS than some MSs have applicants. So, literally any applicant from X school could get in. If a kid isn’t prepared for TJ the will go there and fail. TJ has a if you dont like it or can’t hack it you don’t have to be here policy. Which is fair. The seat can go to a froshmore. So, you either water down the requirements, or dropback many more kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If grades are awesome and the scores are brilliant, then the only reason has to be the SIS or the recs. Perhaps the recommendations aren’t as excellent as you think, or the child didn’t actually want to go and that was reflected in the SIS

+1. The three test scores are only part of it! Grades, SIS, teacher recs are considered in addition. Those of you posting three test scores are missing the point.

The point is that most weight is given to subjective scoring of essays/SIS. It is certainly not choosing
The top stem candidates

TJ no longer seems to be a STEM school at this point. I think this is good and bad but it looks like they are more about creating a well balanced instead of kids who are interested in STEM which I thought was a prerequisite since it is a STEM school

One possible strategy is that they take semi finalists off of test scores but then for who gets in it's much more subjective which might be how they are weeding out the cookie cutter hard core STEM folks but again why call it a STEM school if you aren't taking people actually interest in STEM

That is essentially what they do. They drop the pool each year from 3000 kids to 1000 kids on the hard test numbers. Then drop the 1000 kids to 480 based on refs and SIS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If grades are awesome and the scores are brilliant, then the only reason has to be the SIS or the recs. Perhaps the recommendations aren’t as excellent as you think, or the child didn’t actually want to go and that was reflected in the SIS

+1. The three test scores are only part of it! Grades, SIS, teacher recs are considered in addition. Those of you posting three test scores are missing the point.

The point is that most weight is given to subjective scoring of essays/SIS. It is certainly not choosing
The top stem candidates

TJ no longer seems to be a STEM school at this point. I think this is good and bad but it looks like they are more about creating a well balanced instead of kids who are interested in STEM which I thought was a prerequisite since it is a STEM school

One possible strategy is that they take semi finalists off of test scores but then for who gets in it's much more subjective which might be how they are weeding out the cookie cutter hard core STEM folks but again why call it a STEM school if you aren't taking people actually interest in STEM

Go and actually read TJ’s mission statement. It’s a much richer curriculum than just STEM. They do a lot of group projects. Put an emphasis on fine arts and language, and require the rigorous blocked humanities. Discuss and debate and do so f——g many PowerPoint presentations your head would spin. There is a lot more going on than who is the best mathbot. And more tears shed in many houses about APUSH than Math. Whether they are interested or not, no one gets out of TJ without the equivalent of 7 STEM APs: CS, Calc, Stats, Bio, Chem, Physics I and Geoscience (with the TJ intro science classes being taught from the AP books at the intro level. And a physics and geosciences curriculum they train other schools from around the work on). Plus design tech. Plus a year long senior research project. Bare minimum for every single kid. So yes— it’s a STEM school. But, it’s not just a STEM school.