2023 TJHSST Student - Ask me anything

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

PP. how would you even do that? Two separate admissions processes? Or an illegal quota?

yes, two separate admission processes. One for merit. One for diversity. Don't mess up.

This makes ‘no sense’ because parents just buy ‘insider information’ to the test questions… which defeats the purpose of an entrance test

Stop this test is ok. It's not ok to use unweighted GPA. It is not ok to drop the teacher's recommendation letter. It's not ok to put AAP center school in such a disadvantaged situation. The new admission doesn't want the real strong kids to get into TJ.

+1

The school board has decided that broader access is more important than identifying a class of the absolute strongest/most gifted students (even assuming that would be possible). If they can do it in a legal (non-racially discriminatory way), will you accept that decision? If they win the court case, will you let it go? If they make whatever change the court requires to make it non-racially discriminatory will you accept that? For example, if all they did was require seats be set aside for each middle school and those seats be filled without considering the race or gender of the students, would you be OK with that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

PP. how would you even do that? Two separate admissions processes? Or an illegal quota?

yes, two separate admission processes. One for merit. One for diversity. Don't mess up.

This makes ‘no sense’ because parents just buy ‘insider information’ to the test questions… which defeats the purpose of an entrance test

Stop this test is ok. It's not ok to use unweighted GPA. It is not ok to drop the teacher's recommendation letter. It's not ok to put AAP center school in such a disadvantaged situation. The new admission doesn't want the real strong kids to get into TJ.

+1

The school board has decided that broader access is more important than identifying a class of the absolute strongest/most gifted students (even assuming that would be possible). If they can do it in a legal (non-racially discriminatory way), will you accept that decision? If they win the court case, will you let it go? If they make whatever change the court requires to make it non-racially discriminatory will you accept that? For example, if all they did was require seats be set aside for each middle school and those seats be filled without considering the race or gender of the students, would you be OK with that?

No, because it's contrary to the mission of VA Governor's Schools. Their mission is to identify the strongest/most gifted students whose needs can't be met at their local school. FCPS can open its own magnet STEM school, but it can't rewrite the mission of a Governor's School.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

PP. how would you even do that? Two separate admissions processes? Or an illegal quota?

yes, two separate admission processes. One for merit. One for diversity. Don't mess up.

This makes ‘no sense’ because parents just buy ‘insider information’ to the test questions… which defeats the purpose of an entrance test

Stop this test is ok. It's not ok to use unweighted GPA. It is not ok to drop the teacher's recommendation letter. It's not ok to put AAP center school in such a disadvantaged situation. The new admission doesn't want the real strong kids to get into TJ.

+1

The school board has decided that broader access is more important than identifying a class of the absolute strongest/most gifted students (even assuming that would be possible). If they can do it in a legal (non-racially discriminatory way), will you accept that decision? If they win the court case, will you let it go? If they make whatever change the court requires to make it non-racially discriminatory will you accept that? For example, if all they did was require seats be set aside for each middle school and those seats be filled without considering the race or gender of the students, would you be OK with that?

whether I accept or not, doesn't matter, the question is whether the community wants TJ as a school for the most gifted. You do realize that the academic quality of a school is directly related to its selection process, don't you? TJ is TJ because of the quality of the cohort. MIT is MIT because of the quality of the cohort. Yeah. the curriculum and instructors are important but it starts with the cohort. I would say 75% of the succes is due to quality of cohort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

PP. how would you even do that? Two separate admissions processes? Or an illegal quota?

yes, two separate admission processes. One for merit. One for diversity. Don't mess up.

This makes ‘no sense’ because parents just buy ‘insider information’ to the test questions… which defeats the purpose of an entrance test

Stop this test is ok. It's not ok to use unweighted GPA. It is not ok to drop the teacher's recommendation letter. It's not ok to put AAP center school in such a disadvantaged situation. The new admission doesn't want the real strong kids to get into TJ.

+1

The school board has decided that broader access is more important than identifying a class of the absolute strongest/most gifted students (even assuming that would be possible). If they can do it in a legal (non-racially discriminatory way), will you accept that decision? If they win the court case, will you let it go? If they make whatever change the court requires to make it non-racially discriminatory will you accept that? For example, if all they did was require seats be set aside for each middle school and those seats be filled without considering the race or gender of the students, would you be OK with that?

whether I accept or not, doesn't matter, the question is whether the community wants TJ as a school for the most gifted. You do realize that the academic quality of a school is directly related to its selection process, don't you? TJ is TJ because of the quality of the cohort. MIT is MIT because of the quality of the cohort. Yeah. the curriculum and instructors are important but it starts with the cohort. I would say 75% of the succes is due to quality of cohort.

Every single well-regarded American university selects its cohort with an eye toward diversity. Most of them do so explicitly with respect to geographic diversity. Yes, even MIT and Caltech.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The school board has decided that broader access is more important than identifying a class of the absolute strongest/most gifted students (even assuming that would be possible). If they can do it in a legal (non-racially discriminatory way), will you accept that decision? If they win the court case, will you let it go? If they make whatever change the court requires to make it non-racially discriminatory will you accept that? For example, if all they did was require seats be set aside for each middle school and those seats be filled without considering the race or gender of the students, would you be OK with that?

No, because it's contrary to the mission of VA Governor's Schools. Their mission is to identify the strongest/most gifted students whose needs can't be met at their local school. FCPS can open its own magnet STEM school, but it can't rewrite the mission of a Governor's School.

+1. Diversity is a fine goal to strive for and we can debate the best way to do so, but Governor's Schools have a clear charter which the current TJ admissions policy is at odds with.

I'm not sure how they got away with any of this to begin with, but it probably won't be long befe the state stops permitting FCPS to be the sole administrator of TJ.

[Anonymous]

You guys can't keep your squabble out of a thread that has nothing to do with your squabble. Can you please take your "What TJ should be" and "How can we make TJ what we want again" debate back to one of the other threads and leave this one for the students to answer questions. There are at least 6 other threads with the same discussion on the main page.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The school board has decided that broader access is more important than identifying a class of the absolute strongest/most gifted students (even assuming that would be possible). If they can do it in a legal (non-racially discriminatory way), will you accept that decision? If they win the court case, will you let it go? If they make whatever change the court requires to make it non-racially discriminatory will you accept that? For example, if all they did was require seats be set aside for each middle school and those seats be filled without considering the race or gender of the students, would you be OK with that?

No, because it's contrary to the mission of VA Governor's Schools. Their mission is to identify the strongest/most gifted students whose needs can't be met at their local school. FCPS can open its own magnet STEM school, but it can't rewrite the mission of a Governor's School.

+1. Diversity is a fine goal to strive for and we can debate the best way to do so, but Governor's Schools have a clear charter which the current TJ admissions policy is at odds with.

I'm not sure how they got away with any of this to begin with, but it probably won't be long befe the state stops permitting FCPS to be the sole administrator of TJ.

It's not at odds at all. The Governor's School charter simply requires them to select students who are sufficiently advanced, not the most advanced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You guys can't keep your squabble out of a thread that has nothing to do with your squabble. Can you please take your "What TJ should be" and "How can we make TJ what we want again" debate back to one of the other threads and leave this one for the students to answer questions. There are at least 6 other threads with the same discussion on the main page.

Thank you PP! Just now getting to lunch and have some free time if anyone wants to ask something that I can help with.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for offering to answer questions during your lunch! Can you talk a bit about your peer group, friendships, etc.? Are students supportive of each other or does competition win out? Is there good school spirit? Would love to hear whatever you can share about the social aspects of the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for offering to answer questions during your lunch! Can you talk a bit about your peer group, friendships, etc.? Are students supportive of each other or does competition win out? Is there good school spirit? Would love to hear whatever you can share about the social aspects of the school.

School spirit is AMAZING!!! I still have a lot of base school friends and they're all jealous of TJ homecoming. The whole week is filled with spirit and friendly competitions among the classes, and everyone always cheers for the freshmen to do well.

There are definitely pockets of the school that are really competitive, but I've been surprised at how easy it's been to block that stuff out. All of the clubs in 8th period allow you to find your people and it makes it easy to develop friendships and connect with older students like myself who can help you get through the tough times.

The toughest times of year as far as the toxic stuff goes is probably college app season. I'm not looking forward to that because a lot of my senior friends struggled with not getting in where they wanted to and having to see others get in. But the whole "it's easier to get in from your base school" is overblown, I think. But there are a ton of groups that are really supportive of one another and I think there's more awareness of mental health stuff because of programs like Challenge Success. I wish more people paid attention to that program and stopped comparing themselves to one another.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not at odds at all. The Governor's School charter simply requires them to select students who are sufficiently advanced, not the most advanced.

Exactly. Congrats to all of the WELL-QUALIFIED kids who will be joining TJ in the fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

PP. how would you even do that? Two separate admissions processes? Or an illegal quota?

yes, two separate admission processes. One for merit. One for diversity. Don't mess up.

This makes ‘no sense’ because parents just buy ‘insider information’ to the test questions… which defeats the purpose of an entrance test

Stop this test is ok. It's not ok to use unweighted GPA. It is not ok to drop the teacher's recommendation letter. It's not ok to put AAP center school in such a disadvantaged situation. The new admission doesn't want the real strong kids to get into TJ.

+1

There is no way to determine who is the "most gifted." The kids who are there now from other admissions processes are undoubtedly smart, but there is not a perfect way to determine this. As a taxpayer, I am much more comfortable with the new process, which requires that kids from around the county have a better chance, is more equitable and less likely to be gamed. I think endlessly prepping kids for a test is borderline abusive -- not honoring the whole child -- and if the new process mitigates this, I think it will make for healthier kids and families.

The school board has decided that broader access is more important than identifying a class of the absolute strongest/most gifted students (even assuming that would be possible). If they can do it in a legal (non-racially discriminatory way), will you accept that decision? If they win the court case, will you let it go? If they make whatever change the court requires to make it non-racially discriminatory will you accept that? For example, if all they did was require seats be set aside for each middle school and those seats be filled without considering the race or gender of the students, would you be OK with that?

whether I accept or not, doesn't matter, the question is whether the community wants TJ as a school for the most gifted. You do realize that the academic quality of a school is directly related to its selection process, don't you? TJ is TJ because of the quality of the cohort. MIT is MIT because of the quality of the cohort. Yeah. the curriculum and instructors are important but it starts with the cohort. I would say 75% of the succes is due to quality of cohort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for offering to answer questions during your lunch! Can you talk a bit about your peer group, friendships, etc.? Are students supportive of each other or does competition win out? Is there good school spirit? Would love to hear whatever you can share about the social aspects of the school.

School spirit is AMAZING!!! I still have a lot of base school friends and they're all jealous of TJ homecoming. The whole week is filled with spirit and friendly competitions among the classes, and everyone always cheers for the freshmen to do well.

There are definitely pockets of the school that are really competitive, but I've been surprised at how easy it's been to block that stuff out. All of the clubs in 8th period allow you to find your people and it makes it easy to develop friendships and connect with older students like myself who can help you get through the tough times.

The toughest times of year as far as the toxic stuff goes is probably college app season. I'm not looking forward to that because a lot of my senior friends struggled with not getting in where they wanted to and having to see others get in. But the whole "it's easier to get in from your base school" is overblown, I think. But there are a ton of groups that are really supportive of one another and I think there's more awareness of mental health stuff because of programs like Challenge Success. I wish more people paid attention to that program and stopped comparing themselves to one another.

Thank you! I appreciate your perspective. If TJ is full of kids like you, it's sure to be a great experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not at odds at all. The Governor's School charter simply requires them to select students who are sufficiently advanced, not the most advanced.

Exactly. Congrats to all of the WELL-QUALIFIED kids who will be joining TJ in the fall.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Did you and other Asian kids at TJ want more diversity? Just curious

Second student poster from before.

I am South Asian. I can tell you for sure that a good number of my Asian classmates did not want more diversity. A lot of them have younger siblings or family friends who are interested in TJ and it's a big thing in our community to share our experiences both with the school and the admissions process. I think when I was a freshman I honestly might have felt the same way - my parents have some feelings about Black people that are pretty backwards but that they don't think are racist, and I was raised with a lot of the same ideas. I think the biggest thing that changed my view, looking back, was hearing from the parents and my friends who wanted to fight against the changes - the things that they said about Black kids and poorer kids and their idea of "merit" started to sound really gross to me. I've always felt lucky to have been accepted to TJ, because a lot of my friends weren't.

I doubt if this is a real south asian student and whether what he/she said about the parents are true or not.
I am an asian parent. Let me tell you what I think.
If TJ is supposed to support academically strong students, let's evaluate students from this angle. It doesn't matter what color the students are and how rich/poor the students are.
I'm ok for TJ to increase some quotes to enhance diversity. But let's make things clear. How many students are admitted for merit and how many students are admitted for diversity. Don't mix everything up as the new admission does.
The new admission process doesn't help with finding those students who are academically strong.

That's exactly what the new selection criteria does! It evaluates all students relative to their home school. They do not know anyone's race. Seems perfect to me.