Admission to SLACs after TJ
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Anonymous
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Can someone share insights into SLAC (TOP/good) admissions after TJ? I have a DS about to join TJ that will do 4 years of music and language. Doesn't give much time to dig deep into any of the STEM subjects. Do kids get into top SLACs from here? What did the successful kids do/did while at TJ?
Note: We have heard and considered the advice of not going to TJ. Past all that so please don't repeat. |
Anonymous
pp here. Last sentence should be "Please don't repeat". |
Anonymous
Sorry OP, but gotta repeat it-- don't go to TJ and expect to do 4 years of music and 4 years of foreign language and then get into a SLAC. Putting aside the fact it's a STEM school, you have two problems. First, you need to download the TJ diploma requirements and try to work out how you get all the extras needed for graduation from TJ worked in with 4 years of music, 4 years of language. Including senior lab pre-recs. You don't have the flexibility you think you have when you add in required 4 years in each of the core classes (cannot be met in summer school, except on social studies class), plus Design tech, plus CS before junior year, plus research lab, plus research lab pre-recs, plus 2 years of PE, plus EPF. That's 31 credits (assuming only one year of pre-recs for senior lab), and only 28 credits you can take during the school year. To make your plan is logistically feasible, add three years of summer school, and no extra anything (plus no senior labs that require more than 2 semesters of pre-recs. Which is most senior labs). Second, if you can get everything crammed in, PE,the arts and foreign language are the only unweighted classes. All those extra unweighted classes when all the other kids are taking APs and post APs mean that even if your kid have an UW GPA in the top 10% (very unlikely, because your kid is not there for the STEM and they don't mess around with math at TJ), their weighted GPA will be in the bottom half of their class-- probably bottom quarter. And zero wiggle room in their schedule means zero extra APs. That is a very non-rigorous schedule out of TJ. Non-rigorous plus low GPA makes it pretty unlikely that they are admitted to a SLAC. Even if kids are getting into Pomona, your kid won't. So people can tell you which SLAC their kids got into. But I can't see you finding someone who will say 4 years of language, 4 years of arts, prestigious SLAC. We tried to do 4 years of music, 2 years of lanupguage (just make it out) and DC ended up having to sit out of music his sophomore year to make it work. If you want 4 years of language, 4 years of music and SLAC, TJ is the wrong school. Do full IB diploma instead. |
Anonymous
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You can see the full list of college destinations for the class of 2016 here. You can find lists for prior years easily enough.
http://thebullelephant.com/college-destinations-for-tjhsst-class-of-2016/ This is where at least 10 kids applied in 2016 and how many were accepted. http://thebullelephant.com/tjhsst-college-acceptance-class-of-2016/ There are many TJ kids admitted to SLACs every year. But most TJ kids are not applying to SLACs, most apply to UVA/W&M/Tech Engineering and schools with larger STEM programs. The good news is there is less competition from their classmates for these schools than for states schools, MIT, CMU etc. |
Anonymous
It depends on how well your kid does in his classes. My kid did 4 yrs band, 4 yrs Spanish, but back in Class of 2016. Things may have changed since then. Did (I think) 6 APs and a year of math post-AP. Kid had close to 4.0 unweighted GPA and was accepted to all schools applied to. Ended up at an Ivy, now a STEM student at grad school. |
Anonymous
This makes no sense. Class of 2016 just graduated less than a year ago. How is he in grad school? Also, almost nobody graduates from TJ with an UW 4.0 or close. That is not realistic for 95% of the kids at TJ. |
Anonymous
Sorry, college class of 2016, TJ class of 2012. |
Anonymous
| Ugh, not another TJ bs thread... |
Anonymous
Who's hold a gun to your head and forcing you to read it? |
Anonymous
| DS did that. What a nightmare. Everything said above is true and the some. 3.5 years foreign language. Had to drop the last semester to meet a grad requirement. 3 years summer school. English is slanted "science English " which is very different than SLAC English. They really don't care about liberal arts at TJ. The math and science was advanced and a b*****. Bottom half of class which was painful. No room to up the GPA b/c grad requirements. How did DS get in SLAC? Many hooks. Would I do that again. Never. |
Anonymous
| ^^ no music. |
Anonymous
| ^^ Also we had to fight hard to fit that .5 language in. Just was not room. Both on the schedule & to graduate. |
Anonymous
| My kid did 3 years band and 4 years latin. Not a stem kid and at Yale now. |
Anonymous
Graduation requirements increased with class of 2014. Senior lab pre-recs have as well. Good times. 
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Anonymous
| SLACs generally like TJ kids, but for the top schools the average GPA for admitted kids is the same as the GPA for the Ivys (4.3-4.4+). A lot fewer TJ kids apply to the SLACs, though, so if you have a high GPA/high scores the chance of admission is much higher than it is for the Ivys. For example, my kid had a 4.5 GPA but didn't get into HYP, Brown, MIT, but did get into Williams, Bowdoin, Amherst, Harvey Mudd. |