TJ Today -

[Anonymous]

My DD got in. She did not prep (we are a military family and didn't even know TJ was an option until last Fall). Her reading and science scores were in the 90s, but her math score was a 57. I have to imagine that her SIS and recommendations are what got her accepted. She had several STEM related achievements at the district/state level.

[Anonymous]

What are the open houses that people are talking about in reference to deciding whether or not to go to TJ? When are they? How do I get more info about them?

DD was accepted but is torn between TJ and an in-district IB option. I expected to see info about these open houses in the newsletter that accepted students got, but TJ's registration info night is AFTER you have to indicate your intent to attend TJ (or not).

(As background, we're not in FCPS, so don't have that stream of info. And just moved to NoVA this year, so if open houses are things intended for 7th graders as they think about applying in 8th grade, then we would have missed them.)

[Anonymous]

Open house info:
https://www.fcps.edu/registration/thomas-jefferson-admissions/welcome/open-house

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

My DS is still saying no way and for some of the reasons you outlined above, we may not try and push Him to go. Although, I think he is the type of kid TJ was intended for. Profoundly gifted with a real science and math aptitude. No test prep at all and still did very well on entrance exam.

This sounds a lot like my son, a few years ago. He kept saying he didn't want to go, but when he went to school on Monday, his friends all made a big deal about it, congratulated him, and said, you should at least try it, man. We went to the open houses and he became a little more interested. Finally, he decided to give it a year and then reevaluate.

He ended up loving it, graduated and is a STEM major at a great school. He's very happy he went to TJ and still keeps up with his friends, who are all also at great schools. I think they'll have a very cool network of friends when they are all adults.

Tell your son he can make his own decision, but at least go to the open houses and listen and ask questions of the present students so that he has lot of good information.

Congrats to him!

Forcing a kid to attend an open house is putting undue pressure on him. Letting him know you’ll take him to the open house if he wants to check it out is not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

My DS is still saying no way and for some of the reasons you outlined above, we may not try and push Him to go. Although, I think he is the type of kid TJ was intended for. Profoundly gifted with a real science and math aptitude. No test prep at all and still did very well on entrance exam.

This sounds a lot like my son, a few years ago. He kept saying he didn't want to go, but when he went to school on Monday, his friends all made a big deal about it, congratulated him, and said, you should at least try it, man. We went to the open houses and he became a little more interested. Finally, he decided to give it a year and then reevaluate.

He ended up loving it, graduated and is a STEM major at a great school. He's very happy he went to TJ and still keeps up with his friends, who are all also at great schools. I think they'll have a very cool network of friends when they are all adults.

Tell your son he can make his own decision, but at least go to the open houses and listen and ask questions of the present students so that he has lot of good information.

Congrats to him!

Forcing a kid to attend an open house is putting undue pressure on him. Letting him know you’ll take him to the open house if he wants to check it out is not.

There is nothing wrong with opening a child's mind. He cannot make a proper decision in the dark. If a door is open he should walk in and look around before he shuts it forever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

My DS is still saying no way and for some of the reasons you outlined above, we may not try and push Him to go. Although, I think he is the type of kid TJ was intended for. Profoundly gifted with a real science and math aptitude. No test prep at all and still did very well on entrance exam.

This sounds a lot like my son, a few years ago. He kept saying he didn't want to go, but when he went to school on Monday, his friends all made a big deal about it, congratulated him, and said, you should at least try it, man. We went to the open houses and he became a little more interested. Finally, he decided to give it a year and then reevaluate.

He ended up loving it, graduated and is a STEM major at a great school. He's very happy he went to TJ and still keeps up with his friends, who are all also at great schools. I think they'll have a very cool network of friends when they are all adults.

Tell your son he can make his own decision, but at least go to the open houses and listen and ask questions of the present students so that he has lot of good information.

Congrats to him!

Forcing a kid to attend an open house is putting undue pressure on him. Letting him know you’ll take him to the open house if he wants to check it out is not.

There is nothing wrong with opening a child's mind. He cannot make a proper decision in the dark. If a door is open he should walk in and look around before he shuts it forever.

The child is obviously smart, but you’re simply trying to validate your child’s decision by urging others to put pressure on their kid. Sad.

[Anonymous]

My DD knows a child who so much didn't want to go to TJ that he intentionally failed the test by choosing the same answer D in one of the sections.

[Anonymous]

DS is in waitlist.. aspire 97% and 98%; quant q 57%. We moved in from a different country and heard about TJ option for the first time in fall..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD says she will be fine at TJ and fine at her base school. And she will. But underneath I can tell she wants it so badly. Her brother attends, so she knows exactly what she would be signing up for.

Speaking of which, her brother is also profoundly gifted but lazy. I would not push it. TJ cannot be done on just be smart. You need to put in the hours and hours and hours each week. And be self-motivated enough to teach yourself. There are definitely times I regret letting him attend, because I knew it would be an issue. And it is. His grades are just not where they would be if he got the “low hanging fruit”— test corrections, test retakes, extra credit. We spend way too much time arguing about effort and grades, and AP hate that this is the last 4 years before college. He love the schools and is happy there. He really wanted to go. He will not consider dropping back to the base school. I would never, ever, send a kid to TJ who was not enthusiastic about going. And certainly not one who is being honest with you about not wanting the work load.

In the same way, I don’t worry at all about DD if she is accepted. She is very smart, but not super fast intelligence/brilliant like her brother. But she will work, and work and work some more if she goes, and has been fixated for years in an areas of STEM unique to TJ.

Her brother says that TJ admissions is fatally flawed if he gets in and she does not, because she is exactly the kid who would thrive at TJ.

Good luck to every kid with fingers crossed today.

Hope she made it in. My DS is still saying no way and for some of the reasons you outlined above, we may not try and push Him to go. Although, I think he is the type of kid TJ was intended for. Profoundly gifted with a real science and math aptitude. No test prep at all and still did very well on entrance exam.

PP above and thank you. She was not accepted. High Aspire scores, but only a 74on the Quant-Q. Only in Algebra, so that didn’t help. She is hurting so badly right now, because she wanted it so much for so long. But, she is a strong, smart, determined (stubborn) kid and we have a great base school. Sometimes in life, the boy you love dumps you, the college of your dreams says no, or the dream job goes to someone else. It’s a tough lesson to learn. But eventually we all suffer disappointments. And as a parent, it’s hard to see the undermotivated meh on STEM kid attend while the super hardworking loves STEM kid get turned down. But it is what it is.

So we are letting her grieve and be angry and eat ice cream this weekend. And come Tuesday, she can feel sad at home, but we expect her to move on in public, register for summer programs since she will not have TJ summer school, register for base HS orientation and be gracious towards her peers who were accepted.

TJ is an amazing place and a great education. It comes at a price and requires sacrifice. I hope she comes to see that her base school is still a great option, and she can still do everything in STEM that she has dreamed of. And that maybe going to her base school could be for the best.

God, parenting is hard sometimes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

My DS is still saying no way and for some of the reasons you outlined above, we may not try and push Him to go. Although, I think he is the type of kid TJ was intended for. Profoundly gifted with a real science and math aptitude. No test prep at all and still did very well on entrance exam.

This sounds a lot like my son, a few years ago. He kept saying he didn't want to go, but when he went to school on Monday, his friends all made a big deal about it, congratulated him, and said, you should at least try it, man. We went to the open houses and he became a little more interested. Finally, he decided to give it a year and then reevaluate.

He ended up loving it, graduated and is a STEM major at a great school. He's very happy he went to TJ and still keeps up with his friends, who are all also at great schools. I think they'll have a very cool network of friends when they are all adults.

Tell your son he can make his own decision, but at least go to the open houses and listen and ask questions of the present students so that he has lot of good information.

Congrats to him!

Forcing a kid to attend an open house is putting undue pressure on him. Letting him know you’ll take him to the open house if he wants to check it out is not.

There is nothing wrong with opening a child's mind. He cannot make a proper decision in the dark. If a door is open he should walk in and look around before he shuts it forever.

Exactly. You can't make a good decision without good information. I seem to recall that they had two different open houses our year- one for academics and one for sports and other activities. They were great opportunities for my son to talk with present students and teachers and find out more about the school. Also, a couple of his middle school teachers congratulated him and told him that he was just the kind of kid that TJ was meant for, which helped him to think that he would at least give it a try..

We took one year at a time and had a talk at the end of each year about whether he wanted to stay there. Once he was there, he realized it was the right place for him.

[Anonymous]

To the pp whose daughter did not get in but son attends, I am sorry she is sad but I think she has a great support system behind her and will do great. Sometimes things happen for a reason and she will prevail. But I agree, parenting is hard and it hurts to see your kid sad.

[Anonymous]

To the pp whose daughter did not get in but son attends, I am sorry she is sad but I think she has a great support system behind her and will do great. Sometimes things happen for a reason and she will prevail. But I agree, parenting is hard and it hurts to see your kid sad.

[Anonymous]

My DD got 75 in Quant Q, 95 in English and 99 in Science - Accepted.

[Anonymous]

My DD didn't solve the essay math question, yet was still accepted...seems that they definitely try to look at the whole picture.

[Anonymous]

So do we think the new test helped them select the right students? Seeing students with the low math scores being admitted is really surprising to me.

I have a child who seemed like an outstanding candidate with high scores who did not get in last year and a younger child who might apply for 3 years from now. Just wondering if the TJ admissions office has made changes for the better or if it’s still the same crapshoot.