TJ sophomore admissions

[Anonymous]

Well TJ is going to have to come up with a better plan for sophomore/junior admissions. Under the new admissions system attrition could be significant. (it already is fairly high) Right now it's only the kids that happen to know the process that can apply.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well TJ is going to have to come up with a better plan for sophomore/junior admissions. Under the new admissions system attrition could be significant. (it already is fairly high) Right now it's only the kids that happen to know the process that can apply.

I think they are gambling on the attrition to take place relatively early. In their Town Hall Meetings they definitely mentioned having a waitlist and drawing from it even up to the end of the first quarter anticipating that there might be some kids who would flush out.

Which I think is a fair gamble, given that they lowered a lot of barriers to applying in the first place - eliminating the exam, which required two Saturdays, and eliminating the $100 application fee.

[Anonymous]

Most of the kids I know who left TJ left after the completion of freshman year - not right away.

I know the admissions process has opened up to a larger group, but not sure if that will change when kids decide to leave - most parents would encourage their child to stick it out for one year I think.

Lots of unknowns - good idea to have a waitlist and good idea to have a plan for enough sections of classes to allow increased sophomore admissions as they implement the new system. Hope the admissions office, which is completely separate from the TJ admin, are working with TJ admin to make this work smoothly.

Best of luck to all of you! My TJ senior loved it there and I hope your kids do also.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of the kids I know who left TJ left after the completion of freshman year - not right away.

I know the admissions process has opened up to a larger group, but not sure if that will change when kids decide to leave - most parents would encourage their child to stick it out for one year I think.

Lots of unknowns - good idea to have a waitlist and good idea to have a plan for enough sections of classes to allow increased sophomore admissions as they implement the new system. Hope the admissions office, which is completely separate from the TJ admin, are working with TJ admin to make this work smoothly.

Best of luck to all of you! My TJ senior loved it there and I hope your kids do also.

Excellent perspective - though I would have to imagine that if they left right away, it's unlikely you would have had a chance to know them in the first place, nor would your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Fairfax County Association for the Gifted usually releases the sophomore/junior numbers as part of an TJ admissions FIOA request. Its usually too small to report, but it is possible to get the numbers if it's more than 10 or so.

One reason that in support of that they are not expanding the current classes is that FCPS kept the transfer process fairly quiet. If TJ was planning on adding 200 seats in the sophomore/junior classes, they really would have done lots of outreach especially to the Black/Hispanic students that they are hoping to get more of in this year's freshman class. There was not a town hall and the information about how to apply was not even provided in Spanish. Fcps probably does not want to change too much about the school all at once.

Wow. This is a bad look. After the endless internal and meetings during a pandemic trying to increase the diversity of the TJ students? Why would they not at least translate it? Were all just those meetings just lip service?

[Anonymous]

I finished my TJ Sophomore Application without a PSAT/SAT score because I did not take one. I think my essays were written well enough. Hopefully I can make it!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I finished my TJ Sophomore Application without a PSAT/SAT score because I did not take one. I think my essays were written well enough. Hopefully I can make it!!!

Please keep us posted. Fingers crossed for you.

[Anonymous]

Do they number the waitlists?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I finished my TJ Sophomore Application without a PSAT/SAT score because I did not take one. I think my essays were written well enough. Hopefully I can make it!!!

Please keep us posted. Fingers crossed for you.

Thank you so much!!

I really hope I can make it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Fairfax County Association for the Gifted usually releases the sophomore/junior numbers as part of an TJ admissions FIOA request. Its usually too small to report, but it is possible to get the numbers if it's more than 10 or so.

One reason that in support of that they are not expanding the current classes is that FCPS kept the transfer process fairly quiet. If TJ was planning on adding 200 seats in the sophomore/junior classes, they really would have done lots of outreach especially to the Black/Hispanic students that they are hoping to get more of in this year's freshman class. There was not a town hall and the information about how to apply was not even provided in Spanish. Fcps probably does not want to change too much about the school all at once.

Wow. This is a bad look. After the endless internal and meetings during a pandemic trying to increase the diversity of the TJ students? Why would they not at least translate it? Were all just those meetings just lip service?

Have the sophomore/junior results come out yet?

[Anonymous]

Did TJ follow the approved expansion and add 100 students in both the class of 2023 and the class 2024? I sure hope so!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did TJ follow the approved expansion and add 100 students in both the class of 2023 and the class 2024? I sure hope so!

There was no such plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did TJ follow the approved expansion and add 100 students in both the class of 2023 and the class 2024? I sure hope so!

There was no such plan.

It’s actually somewhat possible that they will expand if the application pool this year has enough applicants. The sophomore and junior classes both have the space for 100 qualified new students. But that would mean more work for TJ staff (yes, they do help decide the soph/jr class admissions!) and unclear if they are willing to take on the challenge of welcoming a sizable number of new students.

[Anonymous]

According to the website, freshman results are coming out tomorrow (6/23) and junior results on Friday (6/25), but sophomore results are still scheduled for 6/30. I wonder if they'll stick to that timeframe or if they'll release the sophomore results this week too. Guess we'll see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well TJ is going to have to come up with a better plan for sophomore/junior admissions. Under the new admissions system attrition could be significant. (it already is fairly high) Right now it's only the kids that happen to know the process that can apply.

I think they are gambling on the attrition to take place relatively early. In their Town Hall Meetings they definitely mentioned having a waitlist and drawing from it even up to the end of the first quarter anticipating that there might be some kids who would flush out.

Which I think is a fair gamble, given that they lowered a lot of barriers to applying in the first place - eliminating the exam, which required two Saturdays, and eliminating the $100 application fee.

I would think just the opposite. With the new admissions attracting more talented students instead of just drawing from schools where prep is common this should be the strongest TJ class in decades.