Advice for the new TJ batch

[Anonymous]

No link. It’s an actual bulletin board inside the school with academic integrity notices pinned on it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TJ classes are on a college level. Not the hardest college but still college level. Health class for my DS was like first year nursing course. AP physics IS a bear.

I have 2 kids that have or are going through TJ - this is accurate.
It is what it is - for those who are new to TJ, welcome, and teach your kids not to bemoan this.
Most colleges (not all, some very few will be worse than TJ) will be a relatively easy adjustment for them.

The one other thing they will have to adjust to, and this is IMO the biggest problem with TJ, is the uneven grading.
Again, college will be like this so perhaps a very early intro to college-level classes. The difference at TJ is they can't pick their classes/teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can kids who have completed Spanish 1 and 2 in middle school take online summer Spanish 3 as a rising 9th grader?
Can TJHSST students complete foreign language requirement to graduate before entering TJ?

I have this question too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can kids who have completed Spanish 1 and 2 in middle school take online summer Spanish 3 as a rising 9th grader?
Can TJHSST students complete foreign language requirement to graduate before entering TJ?

I have this question too.

You should be asking two different questions. First— can you do it? Probably, under the way the online class refs are written. But, I’ve never heard of anyone trying and TJ will hate it . It’s a question for student services. You should also have a guidance counselor liaison listed by your last name on the website you can contact.

Second, should you do it? Probably not. Competitive colleges prefer 4 years of language/ AP level. They make an exception for TJ kids who quit after Language 3 junior or senior year to fit in lab pre-recs and senior lab and advanced STEM classes, because they get that the TJ curriculum has so many extra requirements. My kid did 1 & 2 freshman and sophomore year and 3 over the summer and stopped. The colleges he’s talked to seem okay with that, because, even with 3 years of summer school, there was just not room in their schedule wiggle room in their schedule due to 4 years of music. If they hadn’t had the music, colleges would have wanted the 4th year. A kid who never takes a foreign language class in HS though? It makes their transcript weaker for many colleges.

Spanish is the hardest language at TJ. A kid with 2 years of Ms often gets placed in 2nd year. At that point, just hacpve your kid start a new language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can kids who have completed Spanish 1 and 2 in middle school take online summer Spanish 3 as a rising 9th grader?
Can TJHSST students complete foreign language requirement to graduate before entering TJ?

I have this question too.

You could finish Spanish 3 over the summer and take a whole new language at TJ - like German Japanese or French and then continue with that language for a few years - that will look good to colleges and satisfy TJ that you are taking a language at TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can kids who have completed Spanish 1 and 2 in middle school take online summer Spanish 3 as a rising 9th grader?
Can TJHSST students complete foreign language requirement to graduate before entering TJ?

I have this question too.

You could finish Spanish 3 over the summer and take a whole new language at TJ - like German Japanese or French and then continue with that language for a few years - that will look good to colleges and satisfy TJ that you are taking a language at TJ.

And if you take German x 4 years or till AP you can attend German Austrian or Swiss university and German and Austrian tuition is virtually free by US standards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New pp here. Thank you for all your input here and our first DC got in.

Can first PP or others expand on this : "They will take AP level classes, like CS and World History, and not get AP credit. Make peace with that now. " '

Does that mean, they don't get AP Credit at all for many classes?

Please keep your views coming and your opinions are extremely helpful for parents like me and OP.

It means there are several classes at TJ that are taught at an AP level with AP text books but they aren't called AP classes so you don't get the GPA boost. It sucks.

Even freshman bio is taught from the AP textbook so it's basically an AP-level course just with a couple of topics short of tge full curriculum (which one could independently review to write the AP exam if there isnt room later in the students course plan to take the "real" AP bio course. Ditto for CS foundations which covers java during the year - you could with a bit of extra studying write the CS A AP exam. The first-level courses at TJ are taught at the senior-level depth of "normal" high schools. The kids at TJ are all pretty sharp and can handle a robust curriculum and pace of learning. (I'm sure the top kids at other FCPS high schools could learn at this pace as well if they loaded up on AP level courses earlier in their high school careers.)

Ok, sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New pp here. Thank you for all your input here and our first DC got in.

Can first PP or others expand on this : "They will take AP level classes, like CS and World History, and not get AP credit. Make peace with that now. " '

Does that mean, they don't get AP Credit at all for many classes?

Please keep your views coming and your opinions are extremely helpful for parents like me and OP.

It means there are several classes at TJ that are taught at an AP level with AP text books but they aren't called AP classes so you don't get the GPA boost. It sucks.

Even freshman bio is taught from the AP textbook so it's basically an AP-level course just with a couple of topics short of tge full curriculum (which one could independently review to write the AP exam if there isnt room later in the students course plan to take the "real" AP bio course. Ditto for CS foundations which covers java during the year - you could with a bit of extra studying write the CS A AP exam. The first-level courses at TJ are taught at the senior-level depth of "normal" high schools. The kids at TJ are all pretty sharp and can handle a robust curriculum and pace of learning. (I'm sure the top kids at other FCPS high schools could learn at this pace as well if they loaded up on AP level courses earlier in their high school careers.)

Ok, sure.

NP, but very true. There a reason TJ has the reputation for keeping kids up past midnight doing homework for Bs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can kids who have completed Spanish 1 and 2 in middle school take online summer Spanish 3 as a rising 9th grader?
Can TJHSST students complete foreign language requirement to graduate before entering TJ?

I have this question too.

You could finish Spanish 3 over the summer and take a whole new language at TJ - like German Japanese or French and then continue with that language for a few years - that will look good to colleges and satisfy TJ that you are taking a language at TJ.

And if you take German x 4 years or till AP you can attend German Austrian or Swiss university and German and Austrian tuition is virtually free by US standards.

It’s not so straightforward. These Unis typically need far more German proficiency at the undergraduate level - think Goethe-Institut, telc or TestDaf. Also, none of the college credits taken in HS will transfer, and the repetition of courses might be a bit of a waste of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How difficult is to get into Swim,Tennis, Basketball,Crew teams?
Usually getting into sports team in base high school is tough

I think most teams can be accessed. Basketball may be a little more difficult because of the small roster. I think the swim teams are quite good, but because of the nature of the sport most kids can be on the team. The Football team is always looking for players. If you want to play, you're in!

Cross country and track usually have space for anyone who is willing to put in the time and effort and work hard. A plus of going out for a fall sport is that new students can meet a lot of other kids while practicing in August. It’s really nice when they already know a group of kids in the first day, especially if they’re coming from one of the smaller middle schools.

Does track and crosscountry team practice everyday? Do all the teams have daily practices?