Grades at TJ

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These kids are in the top 25 percent of their middle school. So it's not like they wouldn't be in the top 25 percent likely at their base high school. Others can surpass them but it's not like they somehow just dropped down to the 50th percentile of their base high school very often just because of grades.

Are you serious? Do you know how many kids in FCPS don’t apply or do apply to TJ and are rejected who were in the top 25% of their 8th grade class? You cannot base how a kid will do at 17/18 on how they did at 13/14.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS got accepted - Trying to decide if he should choose TJ or base school. He has been a straight A student up until now, but the general feedback we have from friends is to not go ahead with TJ. How common / uncommon are straight As in TJ. What kind of grades are we looking at for a top 20% student at TJ?

NP here. We are in the same boat- don’t know if our kid is going to be happy there. Straight As at base school. Lots of ECs. Generally a great kid.

If you watched the livestream/zoom, the perspective I am getting is that your kid needs to love science or math or art. (The art thing was interesting!) It’s not about getting straight As or going to college at this stage: it’s about making sure the kids find their passions and opportunities. There were a lot of questions about whether or not TJ will help their kids get into college. And I’m sure a lot of that was a response to threads here on DCUM.

What that tells me is that regardless of what you read here, the most important part will be going to meet with teachers, talk to counselors, and talk with your child. That this forum is not reflective of what actually is going on in the school.

I was also pleasantly surprised to hear about Ibest and the 8th period more in detail. It makes sense and I think it will help my kids realize that they understand the struggles of incoming freshmen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS got accepted - Trying to decide if he should choose TJ or base school. He has been a straight A student up until now, but the general feedback we have from friends is to not go ahead with TJ. How common / uncommon are straight As in TJ. What kind of grades are we looking at for a top 20% student at TJ?

NP here. We are in the same boat- don’t know if our kid is going to be happy there. Straight As at base school. Lots of ECs. Generally a great kid.

If you watched the livestream/zoom, the perspective I am getting is that your kid needs to love science or math or art. (The art thing was interesting!) It’s not about getting straight As or going to college at this stage: it’s about making sure the kids find their passions and opportunities. There were a lot of questions about whether or not TJ will help their kids get into college. And I’m sure a lot of that was a response to threads here on DCUM.

What that tells me is that regardless of what you read here, the most important part will be going to meet with teachers, talk to counselors, and talk with your child. That this forum is not reflective of what actually is going on in the school.

I was also pleasantly surprised to hear about Ibest and the 8th period more in detail. It makes sense and I think it will help my kids realize that they understand the struggles of incoming freshmen.

Even if your kid isn't science or math or art inclined, they can still find their people. Just having that peer group of smart kids who understands what it's like can really help kids come out of their shells. If your kid already has a peer group, though, that may not be what's needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS got accepted - Trying to decide if he should choose TJ or base school. He has been a straight A student up until now, but the general feedback we have from friends is to not go ahead with TJ. How common / uncommon are straight As in TJ. What kind of grades are we looking at for a top 20% student at TJ?

NP here. We are in the same boat- don’t know if our kid is going to be happy there. Straight As at base school. Lots of ECs. Generally a great kid.

If you watched the livestream/zoom, the perspective I am getting is that your kid needs to love science or math or art. (The art thing was interesting!) It’s not about getting straight As or going to college at this stage: it’s about making sure the kids find their passions and opportunities. There were a lot of questions about whether or not TJ will help their kids get into college. And I’m sure a lot of that was a response to threads here on DCUM.

What that tells me is that regardless of what you read here, the most important part will be going to meet with teachers, talk to counselors, and talk with your child. That this forum is not reflective of what actually is going on in the school.

I was also pleasantly surprised to hear about Ibest and the 8th period more in detail. It makes sense and I think it will help my kids realize that they understand the struggles of incoming freshmen.

This sounds like an idealized version of the school. The homework and commuting demands will curtail your kid's ability to do lots of ECs. The lack of sleep will affect them. The rules may grind them down. The counselors don't interact much with you over the years - they are following a lot of kids. You don't know which teachers you're going to get, so those conversations may not be useful. Different teachers of the same subjects take very different approaches. Some kids take art as a break from the academics, but it's not known as a big part of the school. 8th period isn't the be all and end all - kids often do study hall or tutoring to catch up, rather than anything creative or amazing.

I'd love to see your review after four years. The whole "grades aren't the most important thing" doesn't matter until your kid gets rejected by Virginia Tech for being in the bottom half of the class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These kids are in the top 25 percent of their middle school. So it's not like they wouldn't be in the top 25 percent likely at their base high school. Others can surpass them but it's not like they somehow just dropped down to the 50th percentile of their base high school very often just because of grades.

Are you serious? Do you know how many kids in FCPS don’t apply or do apply to TJ and are rejected who were in the top 25% of their 8th grade class? You cannot base how a kid will do at 17/18 on how they did at 13/14.

I can guess that the TJ acceptances would not be in the bottom 50th percentile of their base school. Of course I can. You are the one not making sense. You don't even seem to understand the comment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These kids are in the top 25 percent of their middle school. So it's not like they wouldn't be in the top 25 percent likely at their base high school. Others can surpass them but it's not like they somehow just dropped down to the 50th percentile of their base high school very often just because of grades.

Are you serious? Do you know how many kids in FCPS don’t apply or do apply to TJ and are rejected who were in the top 25% of their 8th grade class? You cannot base how a kid will do at 17/18 on how they did at 13/14.

I can guess that the TJ acceptances would not be in the bottom 50th percentile of their base school. Of course I can. You are the one not making sense. You don't even seem to understand the comment

Over 50 percent of our base high school goes to NOVA or doesn't go to college. You really think kids who can handle TJ and were accepted might easily be in that 50 percentile come high school? It's just not true regardless of what school they attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS got accepted - Trying to decide if he should choose TJ or base school. He has been a straight A student up until now, but the general feedback we have from friends is to not go ahead with TJ. How common / uncommon are straight As in TJ. What kind of grades are we looking at for a top 20% student at TJ?

NP here. We are in the same boat- don’t know if our kid is going to be happy there. Straight As at base school. Lots of ECs. Generally a great kid.

If you watched the livestream/zoom, the perspective I am getting is that your kid needs to love science or math or art. (The art thing was interesting!) It’s not about getting straight As or going to college at this stage: it’s about making sure the kids find their passions and opportunities. There were a lot of questions about whether or not TJ will help their kids get into college. And I’m sure a lot of that was a response to threads here on DCUM.

What that tells me is that regardless of what you read here, the most important part will be going to meet with teachers, talk to counselors, and talk with your child. That this forum is not reflective of what actually is going on in the school.

I was also pleasantly surprised to hear about Ibest and the 8th period more in detail. It makes sense and I think it will help my kids realize that they understand the struggles of incoming freshmen.

We fell for this Art pitch, and now DC as a junior is sitting on Cs in every math class starting with Math1 and science classes. only classes with A are the art classes.

[Anonymous]

DD was just accepted and has mostly had straight A’s in middle school up to now.

But our schools is a Title One. Some of her classes planned to do a lot of things at the beginning of the year but then they fell behind and didn’t finish.

Do you think she could be disadvantaged in comparison to other kids going to TJ from different schools around the country?

[Anonymous]

I meant to type “county.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD was just accepted and has mostly had straight A’s in middle school up to now.

But our schools is a Title One. Some of her classes planned to do a lot of things at the beginning of the year but then they fell behind and didn’t finish.

Do you think she could be disadvantaged in comparison to other kids going to TJ from different schools around the country?

It may well be a shock. What math class is she doing in MS?

Even coming from a wealthier school that wasn't AAP was a shock. Most kids going to TJ are used to doing well in school. Many students find out they aren't the best when they hit college. TJ kids learn this in 9th grade.

Maybe she could do a TJ math class over the summer or some high level camp to get used to the increased rigor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD was just accepted and has mostly had straight A’s in middle school up to now.

But our schools is a Title One. Some of her classes planned to do a lot of things at the beginning of the year but then they fell behind and didn’t finish.

Do you think she could be disadvantaged in comparison to other kids going to TJ from different schools around the country?

It may well be a shock. What math class is she doing in MS?

Even coming from a wealthier school that wasn't AAP was a shock. Most kids going to TJ are used to doing well in school. Many students find out they aren't the best when they hit college. TJ kids learn this in 9th grade.

Maybe she could do a TJ math class over the summer or some high level camp to get used to the increased rigor.

She is taking algebra one right now. Our school does not offer honors algebra.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These kids are in the top 25 percent of their middle school. So it's not like they wouldn't be in the top 25 percent likely at their base high school. Others can surpass them but it's not like they somehow just dropped down to the 50th percentile of their base high school very often just because of grades.

Are you serious? Do you know how many kids in FCPS don’t apply or do apply to TJ and are rejected who were in the top 25% of their 8th grade class? You cannot base how a kid will do at 17/18 on how they did at 13/14.

No one can predict performance three years out. But it appears most 8th graders with algebra dont accept their offer even if they are in top 25% of their middle school class. Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These kids are in the top 25 percent of their middle school. So it's not like they wouldn't be in the top 25 percent likely at their base high school. Others can surpass them but it's not like they somehow just dropped down to the 50th percentile of their base high school very often just because of grades.

Are you serious? Do you know how many kids in FCPS don’t apply or do apply to TJ and are rejected who were in the top 25% of their 8th grade class? You cannot base how a kid will do at 17/18 on how they did at 13/14.

I don't know. The kids I saw smashing it at Mathcounts in 7th and 8th grade continued to be the top kids at TJ then at Harvard/MIT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These kids are in the top 25 percent of their middle school. So it's not like they wouldn't be in the top 25 percent likely at their base high school. Others can surpass them but it's not like they somehow just dropped down to the 50th percentile of their base high school very often just because of grades.

Are you serious? Do you know how many kids in FCPS don’t apply or do apply to TJ and are rejected who were in the top 25% of their 8th grade class? You cannot base how a kid will do at 17/18 on how they did at 13/14.

I don't know. The kids I saw smashing it at Mathcounts in 7th and 8th grade continued to be the top kids at TJ then at Harvard/MIT.

Interestingly, all the TJ news releases from the principal and supervisor rely on these advanced math and science student achievements, the same students that admissions limits in number under diversity quotas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These kids are in the top 25 percent of their middle school. So it's not like they wouldn't be in the top 25 percent likely at their base high school. Others can surpass them but it's not like they somehow just dropped down to the 50th percentile of their base high school very often just because of grades.

Are you serious? Do you know how many kids in FCPS don’t apply or do apply to TJ and are rejected who were in the top 25% of their 8th grade class? You cannot base how a kid will do at 17/18 on how they did at 13/14.

I don't know. The kids I saw smashing it at Mathcounts in 7th and 8th grade continued to be the top kids at TJ then at Harvard/MIT.

Interestingly, all the TJ news releases from the principal and supervisor rely on these advanced math and science student achievements, the same students that admissions limits in number under diversity quotas.

The Asian kids work, work, work all the time. Most are not fun to be around but they will go to MIT.