Are TJ college admissions a mess this year?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:i read this on another forum.
I know things are crazy this admissions season, country-wide.
How are things at TJ?

It's really gone downhill, but hopefully the changes to admission will help address these failings in years to come.

You must be crying because of all the envy and disdain. Stop crying and whining and try to do better.

Not sure what you're going on about but I couldn't be happier with TJ's new direction. Things should start looking up once the kids who got in because of test buying graduate.

No, things will get better due to the evisceration of affirmative action coming to the top colleges/universities near you in Summer blockbuster hit.

Yup, ending the Asian discrimination in college admissions will definitely increase the top 20 acceptances from about 80 to 160.

Hate to break it to you, but colleges are going to admit who they want to admit and they'll come up with a different way to do it. Especially private universities. And FCPS is going to find a way to do the same thing with TJ. The courts won't save you - you need to actually have positions that are popular enough to win elections.

The bottom line is that colleges and universities are businesses, and it's not good business for them in today's environment to have a predominance of any race, ethnicity, or other demographic in their student body.

Other forward-thinking businesses have recognized that there are multiple ways to achieve and demonstrate merit - should it come as a surprise that elite universities have followed in their footsteps?

We shall overcome this despicable racial discrimination against Asians someday.

People like you won’t be happy until TJ and all of the Ivies and MIT and Caltech are 100% Asian.

Despite their Asian segregation fantasies, it will never happen. The UC system has been race-blind for decades and provides a realistic glimpse of what we can expect.

But keep in mind California has a much higher percentage of Asians than most of the remainder of the US.

The UC system is not race-blind.

The UC system is required by law (namely Prop 209) to engage in race-blind hiring and admissions.

[Anonymous]

Do top colleges know that it is harder to get As at TJ vs base high school? Or do they view a 4.6 at TJ the same as a 4.6 at Oakton, Chantilly, Madison etc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do top colleges know that it is harder to get As at TJ vs base high school? Or do they view a 4.6 at TJ the same as a 4.6 at Oakton, Chantilly, Madison etc

Any AO worth their salt at an elite school is familiar with TJ. It is after all the #1 HS in the US and with its commitment to diversity and equity is also aligned with the priorities of top universities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do top colleges know that it is harder to get As at TJ vs base high school? Or do they view a 4.6 at TJ the same as a 4.6 at Oakton, Chantilly, Madison etc

AOs typically compare kids to other kids in the same school first. So a 4.6 GPA kid from TJ would be weighed against a 4.4 kid from TJ, and GPA would be one metric of comparison, along with other activities and "institutional priorities". Along with GPA they would look at class rank, or if the school doesn't rank, use bands - top 1%, top 5%, top 10% of class

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do top colleges know that it is harder to get As at TJ vs base high school? Or do they view a 4.6 at TJ the same as a 4.6 at Oakton, Chantilly, Madison etc

AOs typically compare kids to other kids in the same school first. So a 4.6 GPA kid from TJ would be weighed against a 4.4 kid from TJ, and GPA would be one metric of comparison, along with other activities and "institutional priorities". Along with GPA they would look at class rank, or if the school doesn't rank, use bands - top 1%, top 5%, top 10% of class

“Institutional priorities” of colleges. Do you think an URM at TJ who is in top 10% at TJ would fare better in elite college admissions than a top 10% URM at base high school? I’m guessing that with IP being more focused on URM/1st gen/Low-income lately, an URM at TJ who does well (around 4.4 gpa or maybe even lower?) may have a higher chance at being admitted over a non URM with a 4.6 GPA and more rigorous coursework? Has this been the situation at TJ (and other schools) lately?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do top colleges know that it is harder to get As at TJ vs base high school? Or do they view a 4.6 at TJ the same as a 4.6 at Oakton, Chantilly, Madison etc

AOs typically compare kids to other kids in the same school first. So a 4.6 GPA kid from TJ would be weighed against a 4.4 kid from TJ, and GPA would be one metric of comparison, along with other activities and "institutional priorities". Along with GPA they would look at class rank, or if the school doesn't rank, use bands - top 1%, top 5%, top 10% of class

“Institutional priorities” of colleges. Do you think an URM at TJ who is in top 10% at TJ would fare better in elite college admissions than a top 10% URM at base high school? I’m guessing that with IP being more focused on URM/1st gen/Low-income lately, an URM at TJ who does well (around 4.4 gpa or maybe even lower?) may have a higher chance at being admitted over a non URM with a 4.6 GPA and more rigorous coursework? Has this been the situation at TJ (and other schools) lately?

Top 10% of so at TJ get really good results - T20 acceptances. I am not sure if the URM at TJ will be disadvantaged by having to compete against their cohort, or if the URM hook will help them stand out sufficiently. Meaning, if the top 10% URM kid were at a base school, they would have stood out certainly, but would they have had access to the same opportunities? That's hard to say.

[Anonymous]

What GPA range is usually considered top 10% of TJ? I assume also that means 8+ AP / post AP classes as well? Or more? Compared to base school it looks like TH offers less AP classes. They don’t offer AP environmental science, world history, human geography, physics 1&2, and others

[Anonymous]

I'm a parent of TJ senior and here is number I get so far:
3 Harvard
1 or 2 Yale
2 Princeton
4 or 5 MIT (all from REA)
1 S (maybe)
1 Columbia
2 Upenn

The real number maybe higher than this but definitely not much. Worst year in decade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i read this on another forum.
I know things are crazy this admissions season, country-wide.
How are things at TJ?

It's really gone downhill, but hopefully the changes to admission will help address these failings in years to come.

You must be crying because of all the envy and disdain. Stop crying and whining and try to do better.

Not sure what you're going on about but I couldn't be happier with TJ's new direction. Things should start looking up once the kids who got in because of test buying graduate.

No, things will get better due to the evisceration of affirmative action coming to the top colleges/universities near you in Summer blockbuster hit.

Yup, ending the Asian discrimination in college admissions will definitely increase the top 20 acceptances from about 80 to 160.

Hate to break it to you, but colleges are going to admit who they want to admit and they'll come up with a different way to do it. Especially private universities. And FCPS is going to find a way to do the same thing with TJ. The courts won't save you - you need to actually have positions that are popular enough to win elections.

The bottom line is that colleges and universities are businesses, and it's not good business for them in today's environment to have a predominance of any race, ethnicity, or other demographic in their student body.

Other forward-thinking businesses have recognized that there are multiple ways to achieve and demonstrate merit - should it come as a surprise that elite universities have followed in their footsteps?

We shall overcome this despicable racial discrimination against Asians someday.

People like you won’t be happy until TJ and all of the Ivies and MIT and Caltech are 100% Asian.

Despite their Asian segregation fantasies, it will never happen. The UC system has been race-blind for decades and provides a realistic glimpse of what we can expect.

But keep in mind California has a much higher percentage of Asians than most of the remainder of the US.

The UC system is not race-blind.

The UC system is required by law (namely Prop 209) to engage in race-blind hiring and admissions.

The admissions officers at the schools know how to cheat around that, but I think the numbers did drop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a parent of TJ senior and here is number I get so far:
3 Harvard
1 or 2 Yale
2 Princeton
4 or 5 MIT (all from REA)
1 S (maybe)
1 Columbia
2 Upenn

The real number maybe higher than this but definitely not much. Worst year in decade.

Yikes! That’s a lot of less acceptances compared to last year. I know of a couple kids, once maybe middle of the pack at TJ but the other I would put in the top 10-15% who got less than desirable results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do top colleges know that it is harder to get As at TJ vs base high school? Or do they view a 4.6 at TJ the same as a 4.6 at Oakton, Chantilly, Madison etc

Any AO worth their salt at an elite school is familiar with TJ. It is after all the #1 HS in the US and with its commitment to diversity and equity is also aligned with the priorities of top universities.

The #1 rankings are based on data for classes that graduated before the change in admission policy. You can have your #1 ranking or you can have a “commitment to diversity and equity,” but you won’t have both in a few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a parent of TJ senior and here is number I get so far:
3 Harvard
1 or 2 Yale
2 Princeton
4 or 5 MIT (all from REA)
1 S (maybe)
1 Columbia
2 Upenn

The real number maybe higher than this but definitely not much. Worst year in decade.

This is what I heard so far:

8 Harvard
6 Yale
9 Princeton
11 MIT
5 Stanford
8 Columbia
10 Upenn
18 Michigan
16 CMU
14 Chicago
15 Cornell

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
This is what I heard so far:

8 Harvard
6 Yale
9 Princeton
11 MIT
5 Stanford
8 Columbia
10 Upenn
18 Michigan
16 CMU
14 Chicago
15 Cornell

This if correct is similar to last year…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a parent of TJ senior and here is number I get so far:
3 Harvard
1 or 2 Yale
2 Princeton
4 or 5 MIT (all from REA)
1 S (maybe)
1 Columbia
2 Upenn

The real number maybe higher than this but definitely not much. Worst year in decade.

Yikes! That’s a lot of less acceptances compared to last year. I know of a couple kids, once maybe middle of the pack at TJ but the other I would put in the top 10-15% who got less than desirable results.

I know it looks bleak but since the new admissions policy is better aligned with those used by the top universities I'd expect things to improve dramatically once the previous generation moves on. A lot of them only got in because of test buying anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
This is what I heard so far:

8 Harvard
6 Yale
9 Princeton
11 MIT
5 Stanford
8 Columbia
10 Upenn
18 Michigan
16 CMU
14 Chicago
15 Cornell

This if correct is similar to last year…

FWIW, here’s a link to the TJ decisions Instagram for this year.

https://instagram.com/tj2023destinations?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=