Waitlisted at TJ - now what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the link to the FCAG report I just mentioned:
https://www.fcag.org/documents/TJ_Class_of_2025_analysis.pdf

Yes, we know the students that were admitted weren't as well prepped as in years past but were selected because they were naturally more gifted than the less successful preppers.

Diversity is great and diversity in any cohort enriches the cohort - schools or workplace.

But to claim that by increasing diversity we have somehow admitted more “naturally gifted” students is the kind of asinine wokeness that is leading the progressives to ruin.

You wanted a more diverse class through this reform - understood. But to claim all this BS around natural giftedness, et al demonstrates an absolute absence of logic or a cult-like following of woke ideology.

+1. We can't win if our position is that doing away with a test and giving extra points for "experience factors" such as poverty and ESL is the trick to getting the best and brightest. We are so much better off sticking to the fact that all of Fairfax pays taxes that support TJ so all middle schools in Fairfax should have the opportunity to send the top 1.5% of their middle school student body to TJ. Why is that so hard to stand behind?

Disagree, admitting the top performers from all schools will result in a stronger cohort than admitting the 3rd tier preppers from the most affluent school. This is just common sense, but some parents dislike this since it makes it harder to game admissions.

Bull. It is not common sense. It's your load of crap opinion. Don't try to assume away the issue by labelling your unsupported and unsubstantiated opinions as common sense. #wokie

It's a well known fact that admitting the top performers from all schools results in a stronger cohort than admitting the 3rd tier preppers from the most affluent school. This is just common sense, but some affluent parents dislike this since it makes it harder to game admissions with their $$$.

"Common sense?" Says who? You are presupposing that 1) there are 3rd tier preppers to start with 2) that they actually could get in to TJ, and 3) that holding open a lot of seats for every middle school didn't push out more talented kids that otherwise would have gotten in but didn't because of the woke admissions process. Come back with some facts and numbers if you can find them (which you can't) and try again. I think it's common sense that an objective, race-blind competitive admissions process that has a difficult admissions test results in a stronger cohort than holding open seats and giving bonus points to other students in the process based on geography and income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the link to the FCAG report I just mentioned:
https://www.fcag.org/documents/TJ_Class_of_2025_analysis.pdf

Yes, we know the students that were admitted weren't as well prepped as in years past but were selected because they were naturally more gifted than the less successful preppers.

Diversity is great and diversity in any cohort enriches the cohort - schools or workplace.

But to claim that by increasing diversity we have somehow admitted more “naturally gifted” students is the kind of asinine wokeness that is leading the progressives to ruin.

You wanted a more diverse class through this reform - understood. But to claim all this BS around natural giftedness, et al demonstrates an absolute absence of logic or a cult-like following of woke ideology.

+1. We can't win if our position is that doing away with a test and giving extra points for "experience factors" such as poverty and ESL is the trick to getting the best and brightest. We are so much better off sticking to the fact that all of Fairfax pays taxes that support TJ so all middle schools in Fairfax should have the opportunity to send the top 1.5% of their middle school student body to TJ. Why is that so hard to stand behind?

Disagree, admitting the top performers from all schools will result in a stronger cohort than admitting the 3rd tier preppers from the most affluent school. This is just common sense, but some parents dislike this since it makes it harder to game admissions.

Bull. It is not common sense. It's your load of crap opinion. Don't try to assume away the issue by labelling your unsupported and unsubstantiated opinions as common sense. #wokie

It's a well known fact that admitting the top performers from all schools results in a stronger cohort than admitting the 3rd tier preppers from the most affluent school. This is just common sense, but some affluent parents dislike this since it makes it harder to game admissions with their $$$.

You nailed it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the link to the FCAG report I just mentioned:
https://www.fcag.org/documents/TJ_Class_of_2025_analysis.pdf

Yes, we know the students that were admitted weren't as well prepped as in years past but were selected because they were naturally more gifted than the less successful preppers.

Diversity is great and diversity in any cohort enriches the cohort - schools or workplace.

But to claim that by increasing diversity we have somehow admitted more “naturally gifted” students is the kind of asinine wokeness that is leading the progressives to ruin.

You wanted a more diverse class through this reform - understood. But to claim all this BS around natural giftedness, et al demonstrates an absolute absence of logic or a cult-like following of woke ideology.

+1. We can't win if our position is that doing away with a test and giving extra points for "experience factors" such as poverty and ESL is the trick to getting the best and brightest. We are so much better off sticking to the fact that all of Fairfax pays taxes that support TJ so all middle schools in Fairfax should have the opportunity to send the top 1.5% of their middle school student body to TJ. Why is that so hard to stand behind?

Disagree, admitting the top performers from all schools will result in a stronger cohort than admitting the 3rd tier preppers from the most affluent school. This is just common sense, but some parents dislike this since it makes it harder to game admissions.

Bull. It is not common sense. It's your load of crap opinion. Don't try to assume away the issue by labelling your unsupported and unsubstantiated opinions as common sense. #wokie

It's a well known fact that admitting the top performers from all schools results in a stronger cohort than admitting the 3rd tier preppers from the most affluent school. This is just common sense, but some affluent parents dislike this since it makes it harder to game admissions with their $$$.

You nailed it!

There are two problems with it, even though I generally agree that TJ needs to admit kids from all over the region and not specific schools -
1. Giving 2/3rd weight to essays (the whole gpa only carries 1/3rd) that tests writing skills more than anything doesn't really select top performers for each school especially when there is no weightage to teacher input or any other stem stuff such as electives and school sponsored after school activities that don't cost money etc.
2. The new process punishes kids who are defaulted to their AAP centers when in fact the center school kids do in fact come from all over the region. These kids often take difficult courses and face much stiffer competition from peers. Please don't say kids have a choice of school, hardly anyone thinks of TJ in 6th grade and very very few AAP kids go to base school and even those who do, usually do it for personal reasons and not TJ. Base schools don't even have capacity to take in all the AAP kids, which is by design - this is absolutely stupid response to unfair treatment of AAP kids.

You got to accept that there is a problem when two neighbor kids one who went to center school with perfect GPA, tons of STEM (electives and after school activities - even if we only consider at school stuff) got wait listed where another kid who took Algebra I in 8th grade with a B+ and zero stem participation (school offers, but not taken) got accepted.

Now, all we have to do is wait and see how the new admission process affecting the TJ. If the school as a whole getting smarter, power to those who support the new process. If not, TJ will settle as just another above average high school, not much different from schools like Langley or McLean and TJ will only benefit the kids from under performing schools and kids who have better rated base schools may think TJ isn't really worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the link to the FCAG report I just mentioned:
https://www.fcag.org/documents/TJ_Class_of_2025_analysis.pdf

Yes, we know the students that were admitted weren't as well prepped as in years past but were selected because they were naturally more gifted than the less successful preppers.

Diversity is great and diversity in any cohort enriches the cohort - schools or workplace.

But to claim that by increasing diversity we have somehow admitted more “naturally gifted” students is the kind of asinine wokeness that is leading the progressives to ruin.

You wanted a more diverse class through this reform - understood. But to claim all this BS around natural giftedness, et al demonstrates an absolute absence of logic or a cult-like following of woke ideology.

+1. We can't win if our position is that doing away with a test and giving extra points for "experience factors" such as poverty and ESL is the trick to getting the best and brightest. We are so much better off sticking to the fact that all of Fairfax pays taxes that support TJ so all middle schools in Fairfax should have the opportunity to send the top 1.5% of their middle school student body to TJ. Why is that so hard to stand behind?

Disagree, admitting the top performers from all schools will result in a stronger cohort than admitting the 3rd tier preppers from the most affluent school. This is just common sense, but some parents dislike this since it makes it harder to game admissions.

Bull. It is not common sense. It's your load of crap opinion. Don't try to assume away the issue by labelling your unsupported and unsubstantiated opinions as common sense. #wokie

It's a well known fact that admitting the top performers from all schools results in a stronger cohort than admitting the 3rd tier preppers from the most affluent school. This is just common sense, but some affluent parents dislike this since it makes it harder to game admissions with their $$$.

You nailed it!

It's not hard to see that some pyramids have far more higher-achieving kids than others. You can ignore these differences, which are apparent in both middle schools and high schools other than TJ, but pretending that there isn't a far deeper bench in some pyramids than others is willful blindness. It's obvious that you try to mask it by suggesting that disparities that are the result of differences in resources, intelligence, and parental commitment to their children's education is all somehow due to test prepping.

You aren't fooling anyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the link to the FCAG report I just mentioned:
https://www.fcag.org/documents/TJ_Class_of_2025_analysis.pdf

Yes, we know the students that were admitted weren't as well prepped as in years past but were selected because they were naturally more gifted than the less successful preppers.

Diversity is great and diversity in any cohort enriches the cohort - schools or workplace.

But to claim that by increasing diversity we have somehow admitted more “naturally gifted” students is the kind of asinine wokeness that is leading the progressives to ruin.

You wanted a more diverse class through this reform - understood. But to claim all this BS around natural giftedness, et al demonstrates an absolute absence of logic or a cult-like following of woke ideology.

+1. We can't win if our position is that doing away with a test and giving extra points for "experience factors" such as poverty and ESL is the trick to getting the best and brightest. We are so much better off sticking to the fact that all of Fairfax pays taxes that support TJ so all middle schools in Fairfax should have the opportunity to send the top 1.5% of their middle school student body to TJ. Why is that so hard to stand behind?

Disagree, admitting the top performers from all schools will result in a stronger cohort than admitting the 3rd tier preppers from the most affluent school. This is just common sense, but some parents dislike this since it makes it harder to game admissions.

Bull. It is not common sense. It's your load of crap opinion. Don't try to assume away the issue by labelling your unsupported and unsubstantiated opinions as common sense. #wokie

It's a well known fact that admitting the top performers from all schools results in a stronger cohort than admitting the 3rd tier preppers from the most affluent school. This is just common sense, but some affluent parents dislike this since it makes it harder to game admissions with their $$$.

You nailed it!

It's not hard to see that some pyramids have far more higher-achieving kids than others. You can ignore these differences, which are apparent in both middle schools and high schools other than TJ, but pretending that there isn't a far deeper bench in some pyramids than others is willful blindness. It's obvious that you try to mask it by suggesting that disparities that are the result of differences in resources, intelligence, and parental commitment to their children's education is all somehow due to test prepping.

You aren't fooling anyone.

+1 It's so transparent. "Test prep" is such a strawman argument. There are plenty of studies that show prepping makes at best a marginal difference. The highest scorers are always the most gifted. They are taking a possibility at the margin that one kid on the borderline did slightly better than another kid and got the edge in admissions because he prepped and it made a slight difference. #stopasianhate

[Anonymous]

Has anyone heard of anyone getting off the waitlist recently?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone heard of anyone getting off the waitlist recently?

Yep, so far three rounds have been released (including the unofficial FARMs one).

https://tjhsst.fcps.edu/choosing9thgradecourses

You can check the updates under this link to see how many rounds have been released and when.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the link to the FCAG report I just mentioned:
https://www.fcag.org/documents/TJ_Class_of_2025_analysis.pdf

Yes, we know the students that were admitted weren't as well prepped as in years past but were selected because they were naturally more gifted than the less successful preppers.

Diversity is great and diversity in any cohort enriches the cohort - schools or workplace.

But to claim that by increasing diversity we have somehow admitted more “naturally gifted” students is the kind of asinine wokeness that is leading the progressives to ruin.

You wanted a more diverse class through this reform - understood. But to claim all this BS around natural giftedness, et al demonstrates an absolute absence of logic or a cult-like following of woke ideology.

+1. We can't win if our position is that doing away with a test and giving extra points for "experience factors" such as poverty and ESL is the trick to getting the best and brightest. We are so much better off sticking to the fact that all of Fairfax pays taxes that support TJ so all middle schools in Fairfax should have the opportunity to send the top 1.5% of their middle school student body to TJ. Why is that so hard to stand behind?

Disagree, admitting the top performers from all schools will result in a stronger cohort than admitting the 3rd tier preppers from the most affluent school. This is just common sense, but some parents dislike this since it makes it harder to game admissions.

Bull. It is not common sense. It's your load of crap opinion. Don't try to assume away the issue by labelling your unsupported and unsubstantiated opinions as common sense. #wokie

It's a well known fact that admitting the top performers from all schools results in a stronger cohort than admitting the 3rd tier preppers from the most affluent school. This is just common sense, but some affluent parents dislike this since it makes it harder to game admissions with their $$$.

You nailed it!

It's not hard to see that some pyramids have far more higher-achieving kids than others. You can ignore these differences, which are apparent in both middle schools and high schools other than TJ, but pretending that there isn't a far deeper bench in some pyramids than others is willful blindness. It's obvious that you try to mask it by suggesting that disparities that are the result of differences in resources, intelligence, and parental commitment to their children's education is all somehow due to test prepping.

You aren't fooling anyone.

+1 It's so transparent. "Test prep" is such a strawman argument. There are plenty of studies that show prepping makes at best a marginal difference. The highest scorers are always the most gifted. They are taking a possibility at the margin that one kid on the borderline did slightly better than another kid and got the edge in admissions because he prepped and it made a slight difference. #stopasianhate

I don’t really mind getting rid of math test, but you are correct that prepping doesn’t make that much of difference beyond one’s capabilities. We did cogat workbook (from Amazon) for my kid, and it only improved the raw score by 2 to 3 and my kid would have made it either way. However, I do agree that this could be significant for kids who are on the borderline and this is where holistic process (teacher input etc) comes in -for example one of my kids friends didn’t make it to AAP in spite of having both nnat and cogat above cut off, but not over 140. Generally teachers, who spend a lot of time with kids, know which kids have the potential.

Unfortunately, TJ now determines admission solely based on massive importance to essays compared to only core gpa and ‘nothing else’ is taken into consideration. And if the kid goes to AAP center, kid is screwed with huge competition where so many kids are virtually indistinguishable from each other using grades and kid who who impressed with the style of writing (often with help of writing coaches) has significant advantage as essay grading is very subjective. But, obviously we all agree that smart stem kids are always the best writers correct?? 😀

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the link to the FCAG report I just mentioned:
https://www.fcag.org/documents/TJ_Class_of_2025_analysis.pdf

Yes, we know the students that were admitted weren't as well prepped as in years past but were selected because they were naturally more gifted than the less successful preppers.

Diversity is great and diversity in any cohort enriches the cohort - schools or workplace.

But to claim that by increasing diversity we have somehow admitted more “naturally gifted” students is the kind of asinine wokeness that is leading the progressives to ruin.

You wanted a more diverse class through this reform - understood. But to claim all this BS around natural giftedness, et al demonstrates an absolute absence of logic or a cult-like following of woke ideology.

+1. We can't win if our position is that doing away with a test and giving extra points for "experience factors" such as poverty and ESL is the trick to getting the best and brightest. We are so much better off sticking to the fact that all of Fairfax pays taxes that support TJ so all middle schools in Fairfax should have the opportunity to send the top 1.5% of their middle school student body to TJ. Why is that so hard to stand behind?

Disagree, admitting the top performers from all schools will result in a stronger cohort than admitting the 3rd tier preppers from the most affluent school. This is just common sense, but some parents dislike this since it makes it harder to game admissions.

Bull. It is not common sense. It's your load of crap opinion. Don't try to assume away the issue by labelling your unsupported and unsubstantiated opinions as common sense. #wokie

It's a well known fact that admitting the top performers from all schools results in a stronger cohort than admitting the 3rd tier preppers from the most affluent school. This is just common sense, but some affluent parents dislike this since it makes it harder to game admissions with their $$$.

You nailed it!

It's not hard to see that some pyramids have far more higher-achieving kids than others. You can ignore these differences, which are apparent in both middle schools and high schools other than TJ, but pretending that there isn't a far deeper bench in some pyramids than others is willful blindness. It's obvious that you try to mask it by suggesting that disparities that are the result of differences in resources, intelligence, and parental commitment to their children's education is all somehow due to test prepping.

You aren't fooling anyone.

+1 It's so transparent. "Test prep" is such a strawman argument. There are plenty of studies that show prepping makes at best a marginal difference. The highest scorers are always the most gifted. They are taking a possibility at the margin that one kid on the borderline did slightly better than another kid and got the edge in admissions because he prepped and it made a slight difference. #stopasianhate

I don’t really mind getting rid of math test, but you are correct that prepping doesn’t make that much of difference beyond one’s capabilities. We did cogat workbook (from Amazon) for my kid, and it only improved the raw score by 2 to 3 and my kid would have made it either way. However, I do agree that this could be significant for kids who are on the borderline and this is where holistic process (teacher input etc) comes in -for example one of my kids friends didn’t make it to AAP in spite of having both nnat and cogat above cut off, but not over 140. Generally teachers, who spend a lot of time with kids, know which kids have the potential.

Unfortunately, TJ now determines admission solely based on massive importance to essays compared to only core gpa and ‘nothing else’ is taken into consideration. And if the kid goes to AAP center, kid is screwed with huge competition where so many kids are virtually indistinguishable from each other using grades and kid who who impressed with the style of writing (often with help of writing coaches) has significant advantage as essay grading is very subjective. But, obviously we all agree that smart stem kids are always the best writers correct?? 😀

PP here, my kid said actually cogat test was a lot easier than the workbook, so this 2 to 3 might not be an improvement at all. All the workbooks did was to get some familiarity with questions snd made my kid less nervous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone heard of anyone getting off the waitlist recently?

Yep, so far three rounds have been released (including the unofficial FARMs one).

https://tjhsst.fcps.edu/choosing9thgradecourses

You can check the updates under this link to see how many rounds have been released and when.

The TJ coursework is interesting - history is elective and instead there is a design course. Last year my kid took PE during summer and got to take two stem electives (looks like base school had better elective options than TJ) along with geography. So whoever thought they were missing out by not getting into TJ, should know that they can purse similar course work at base school, except for few courses that are exclusive to TJ assuming the kid is really interested in those specific courses. Even then, motivated kids can easily find alternatives. With now messed up TJ admissions, there is more likelihood of finding similarly focused stem kids at base schools (especially northern Fairfax) now to pair up to pursue their interests 😀

[Anonymous]

Is anyone else having trouble logging into their account in the admissions portal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the link to the FCAG report I just mentioned:
https://www.fcag.org/documents/TJ_Class_of_2025_analysis.pdf

Yes, we know the students that were admitted weren't as well prepped as in years past but were selected because they were naturally more gifted than the less successful preppers.

Diversity is great and diversity in any cohort enriches the cohort - schools or workplace.

But to claim that by increasing diversity we have somehow admitted more “naturally gifted” students is the kind of asinine wokeness that is leading the progressives to ruin.

You wanted a more diverse class through this reform - understood. But to claim all this BS around natural giftedness, et al demonstrates an absolute absence of logic or a cult-like following of woke ideology.

+1. We can't win if our position is that doing away with a test and giving extra points for "experience factors" such as poverty and ESL is the trick to getting the best and brightest. We are so much better off sticking to the fact that all of Fairfax pays taxes that support TJ so all middle schools in Fairfax should have the opportunity to send the top 1.5% of their middle school student body to TJ. Why is that so hard to stand behind?

Disagree, admitting the top performers from all schools will result in a stronger cohort than admitting the 3rd tier preppers from the most affluent school. This is just common sense, but some parents dislike this since it makes it harder to game admissions.

Bull. It is not common sense. It's your load of crap opinion. Don't try to assume away the issue by labelling your unsupported and unsubstantiated opinions as common sense. #wokie

It's a well known fact that admitting the top performers from all schools results in a stronger cohort than admitting the 3rd tier preppers from the most affluent school. This is just common sense, but some affluent parents dislike this since it makes it harder to game admissions with their $$$.

You nailed it!

It's not hard to see that some pyramids have far more higher-achieving kids than others. You can ignore these differences, which are apparent in both middle schools and high schools other than TJ, but pretending that there isn't a far deeper bench in some pyramids than others is willful blindness. It's obvious that you try to mask it by suggesting that disparities that are the result of differences in resources, intelligence, and parental commitment to their children's education is all somehow due to test prepping.

You aren't fooling anyone.

There certainly is a far deeper bench at Carson than there is at, say, Whitman. That’s why Carson STILL gets in 50-60 kids compared to 5-6 at Whitman.

This is a better situation than 80-90 kids from Carson and 0 kids from Whitman, and if you can’t understand that on its face you don’t understand the classroom environment. And that’s fine - but don’t pretend that you do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the link to the FCAG report I just mentioned:
https://www.fcag.org/documents/TJ_Class_of_2025_analysis.pdf

Yes, we know the students that were admitted weren't as well prepped as in years past but were selected because they were naturally more gifted than the less successful preppers.

Diversity is great and diversity in any cohort enriches the cohort - schools or workplace.

But to claim that by increasing diversity we have somehow admitted more “naturally gifted” students is the kind of asinine wokeness that is leading the progressives to ruin.

You wanted a more diverse class through this reform - understood. But to claim all this BS around natural giftedness, et al demonstrates an absolute absence of logic or a cult-like following of woke ideology.

+1. We can't win if our position is that doing away with a test and giving extra points for "experience factors" such as poverty and ESL is the trick to getting the best and brightest. We are so much better off sticking to the fact that all of Fairfax pays taxes that support TJ so all middle schools in Fairfax should have the opportunity to send the top 1.5% of their middle school student body to TJ. Why is that so hard to stand behind?

Disagree, admitting the top performers from all schools will result in a stronger cohort than admitting the 3rd tier preppers from the most affluent school. This is just common sense, but some parents dislike this since it makes it harder to game admissions.

Bull. It is not common sense. It's your load of crap opinion. Don't try to assume away the issue by labelling your unsupported and unsubstantiated opinions as common sense. #wokie

It's a well known fact that admitting the top performers from all schools results in a stronger cohort than admitting the 3rd tier preppers from the most affluent school. This is just common sense, but some affluent parents dislike this since it makes it harder to game admissions with their $$$.

You nailed it!

It's not hard to see that some pyramids have far more higher-achieving kids than others. You can ignore these differences, which are apparent in both middle schools and high schools other than TJ, but pretending that there isn't a far deeper bench in some pyramids than others is willful blindness. It's obvious that you try to mask it by suggesting that disparities that are the result of differences in resources, intelligence, and parental commitment to their children's education is all somehow due to test prepping.

You aren't fooling anyone.

There certainly is a far deeper bench at Carson than there is at, say, Whitman. That’s why Carson STILL gets in 50-60 kids compared to 5-6 at Whitman.

This is a better situation than 80-90 kids from Carson and 0 kids from Whitman, and if you can’t understand that on its face you don’t understand the classroom environment. And that’s fine - but don’t pretend that you do.

Carson gets 50-60? I think its more along the lines of 25-35. Carson is a center kids with AAP alone consists of 500 (out of 750) kids each grade (representing oakton, chantilly, westfields, south lakes and herndon pyramids) and around 300 kids apply to TJ. While I agree that it gets more TJ admissions in raw numbers (allocated and unused spillovers), but nowhere close to 60 kids. Also, environment at Carson is significantly more competitive and lot tougher to standout and since there expected to be 150 kids with 3.9+ GPA, essays pretty much determine their chances of getting admitted to TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the link to the FCAG report I just mentioned:
https://www.fcag.org/documents/TJ_Class_of_2025_analysis.pdf

Yes, we know the students that were admitted weren't as well prepped as in years past but were selected because they were naturally more gifted than the less successful preppers.

Diversity is great and diversity in any cohort enriches the cohort - schools or workplace.

But to claim that by increasing diversity we have somehow admitted more “naturally gifted” students is the kind of asinine wokeness that is leading the progressives to ruin.

You wanted a more diverse class through this reform - understood. But to claim all this BS around natural giftedness, et al demonstrates an absolute absence of logic or a cult-like following of woke ideology.

+1. We can't win if our position is that doing away with a test and giving extra points for "experience factors" such as poverty and ESL is the trick to getting the best and brightest. We are so much better off sticking to the fact that all of Fairfax pays taxes that support TJ so all middle schools in Fairfax should have the opportunity to send the top 1.5% of their middle school student body to TJ. Why is that so hard to stand behind?

Disagree, admitting the top performers from all schools will result in a stronger cohort than admitting the 3rd tier preppers from the most affluent school. This is just common sense, but some parents dislike this since it makes it harder to game admissions.

Bull. It is not common sense. It's your load of crap opinion. Don't try to assume away the issue by labelling your unsupported and unsubstantiated opinions as common sense. #wokie

It's a well known fact that admitting the top performers from all schools results in a stronger cohort than admitting the 3rd tier preppers from the most affluent school. This is just common sense, but some affluent parents dislike this since it makes it harder to game admissions with their $$$.

You nailed it!

It's not hard to see that some pyramids have far more higher-achieving kids than others. You can ignore these differences, which are apparent in both middle schools and high schools other than TJ, but pretending that there isn't a far deeper bench in some pyramids than others is willful blindness. It's obvious that you try to mask it by suggesting that disparities that are the result of differences in resources, intelligence, and parental commitment to their children's education is all somehow due to test prepping.

You aren't fooling anyone.

There certainly is a far deeper bench at Carson than there is at, say, Whitman. That’s why Carson STILL gets in 50-60 kids compared to 5-6 at Whitman.

This is a better situation than 80-90 kids from Carson and 0 kids from Whitman, and if you can’t understand that on its face you don’t understand the classroom environment. And that’s fine - but don’t pretend that you do.

Carson gets 50-60? I think its more along the lines of 25-35. Carson is a center kids with AAP alone consists of 500 (out of 750) kids each grade (representing oakton, chantilly, westfields, south lakes and herndon pyramids) and around 300 kids apply to TJ. While I agree that it gets more TJ admissions in raw numbers (allocated and unused spillovers), but nowhere close to 60 kids. Also, environment at Carson is significantly more competitive and lot tougher to standout and since there expected to be 150 kids with 3.9+ GPA, essays pretty much determine their chances of getting admitted to TJ.

Wrong. Carson got over 50 offers this year according to the FCPS article.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the link to the FCAG report I just mentioned:
https://www.fcag.org/documents/TJ_Class_of_2025_analysis.pdf

Yes, we know the students that were admitted weren't as well prepped as in years past but were selected because they were naturally more gifted than the less successful preppers.

Diversity is great and diversity in any cohort enriches the cohort - schools or workplace.

But to claim that by increasing diversity we have somehow admitted more “naturally gifted” students is the kind of asinine wokeness that is leading the progressives to ruin.

You wanted a more diverse class through this reform - understood. But to claim all this BS around natural giftedness, et al demonstrates an absolute absence of logic or a cult-like following of woke ideology.

+1. We can't win if our position is that doing away with a test and giving extra points for "experience factors" such as poverty and ESL is the trick to getting the best and brightest. We are so much better off sticking to the fact that all of Fairfax pays taxes that support TJ so all middle schools in Fairfax should have the opportunity to send the top 1.5% of their middle school student body to TJ. Why is that so hard to stand behind?

Disagree, admitting the top performers from all schools will result in a stronger cohort than admitting the 3rd tier preppers from the most affluent school. This is just common sense, but some parents dislike this since it makes it harder to game admissions.

Bull. It is not common sense. It's your load of crap opinion. Don't try to assume away the issue by labelling your unsupported and unsubstantiated opinions as common sense. #wokie

It's a well known fact that admitting the top performers from all schools results in a stronger cohort than admitting the 3rd tier preppers from the most affluent school. This is just common sense, but some affluent parents dislike this since it makes it harder to game admissions with their $$$.

You nailed it!

It's not hard to see that some pyramids have far more higher-achieving kids than others. You can ignore these differences, which are apparent in both middle schools and high schools other than TJ, but pretending that there isn't a far deeper bench in some pyramids than others is willful blindness. It's obvious that you try to mask it by suggesting that disparities that are the result of differences in resources, intelligence, and parental commitment to their children's education is all somehow due to test prepping.

You aren't fooling anyone.

There certainly is a far deeper bench at Carson than there is at, say, Whitman. That’s why Carson STILL gets in 50-60 kids compared to 5-6 at Whitman.

This is a better situation than 80-90 kids from Carson and 0 kids from Whitman, and if you can’t understand that on its face you don’t understand the classroom environment. And that’s fine - but don’t pretend that you do.

In other words, the case for TJ now isn’t to take the strongest kids in the region and cultivate their talents, but to rescue some above-average kids from the Mount Vernon pyramid, as they’d otherwise be stuck at an under-performing IB school that FCPS is too lazy to do anything about.