Waitlisted at TJ - now what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
...not necessarily. They may be among the most advanced math students in the area but that doesn't necessarily mean they would be strong contributors at TJ. There are no end of kids who have been exceptional math students entering TJ who have made essentially zero impact within the school during their four years.

Why is that a criterion? The school should be serving the students, not the other way around.

Wrong

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new system has no way to measure STEM achievement or interest. It prioritized diversity of geography, disadvantaged students, special ed and English language learners. It does not distinguish between center middle schools and base middle schools thereby making it harder for kids who chose to accept aap center placement and the most rigorous curriculum to get into TJ.

There isn’t anything wrong if we allocate a portion of seats to economically disadvantaged, provided its properly identified. However, I have always been critical about how the new process discriminated against center schools.

What I really want is to correctly identify the stem intersect/talent with whatever selection process there is. It should ‘never’ be case where you (especially kids themselves) cannot explain why some got in while others who appears to be more deserving couldn’t. My kid is damn sure that he would have gotten in if his teachers had any input.

On the whole, I would say my kid is probably more surprised than disappointed by the wait list. He says there are quite a few in the similar situation as his and would have plenty of company at his base school. He just asked me if TJ exclusive course work is more important than college admissions. I said absolutely not and not even by a long shot. He seems to be happy with it and moved on with his stuff.

Last year I was a little skeptical about the efficiency of TJ admissions, but now that I have had first hand experience with my kid and his friends (I have accompanied/interacted with them to several events) , I am sure the new process is screwed up. If you haven’t already gotten it by now, I am sure it will be abundantly clear in 4 years when we learn where TJ stacks up among other schools. All I hope is this is what we really want with TJ. That’s all I have to say! Please feel to disagree and bold any sentence in my post and offer your valuable criticism.

haha. This is what my kid said about two kids (no other experience factors) who received offers from a feeder school - X got in because of race and Y must have lied about being poor otherwise there is no way X or Y could get the offer while there are many others with better grades and clearly smarter got wait listed. When I said race isn't factor my kid said it must be a lottery then as there is no other explanation.

I am sure kids who received offers are definitely above average, but its not like it used to be where we used to know well ahead that who might get into TJ and who might not. It used to be that we were rarely surprised with the kids who got into TJ though there were a very few missed out. Now, kids have no clue and its really really sad. It's like when you get a promotion and everyone thinks you must have offered personal favors. We all know promotions should always be a formality and not a surprise to anyone.

My kid just texted me about one of his bus buddy got in, who is taking algebra I in 8th and with with GPA barely enough to qualify. Owns SF home in the same community as ours, so must not be disadvantaged. This is a center school, with majority AAP and most kids taking Geo HN in 8th with not so insignificant number taking even Algebra 2 as well. Now, my kid is absolutely certain that race is a factor, otherwise there is no way his bus buddy would have gotten in - his buddy himself shocked that he got in apparently. Can anyone explain this with out race being a factor? What the hell is going on??

Did his parents check yes to either of the meals questions?

Race has nothing to do with it!

I would like to think so, but my kid can’t explain at least two admissions with out factoring in race. He thinks only 1 of 5 admissions he is aware is apparently smart according to him and none of the other smart/standout kids that he knew didn’t get in. No idea what boxes anyone checked in, no one will reveal them and it’s up to anyone’s interpretation. I wish fcps makes every admission, gpa and selection criteria public.

I hope race wasn’t a factor, but with kids (mine and others) assuming/discussing it absolutely is, I am afraid kids start developing unnecessary resentment and affected psychologically. This is all my kid and his friends were talking/discussing since Friday, who got in and how they could have got in. It really sucks kids discussing these things and I really hope they get over it.

A lot of the smart kids I knew (including one kid who's taking precalc in 8th grade) were rejected, and all of them got the math problem wrong. I think a lot of weightage was placed on the math problem, but you should also acknowledge that there were more than 2500 applicants, and you could've missed the mark by one point, so I don't really think race had much to do with it. After all, there were lots of complaints about the new system, so I'd assume that TJ was less inclined to go with their radical diversification system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Relax. Not the end of the world. Many TJ kids attending dame school as my non TJ senior. Except mine didn’t get the amount of stress Tj kids went through. Be a strong student at a base school. Tj is way over rated.

I completely agree on the fact that it is by no means the end of the world if you don't get into TJ, and you can do amazing in a base school too. However, I don't completely agree that "TJ is way over rated." I too know a few people who graduated from TJ but went into pretty mediocre colleges that lots of people who attended their base schools went to. It's a huge misconception that getting into TJ will get you a good college. If you're at the bottom or pretty average at TJ, you would be much better off attending your base school. However, if you're willing to work your butt off and get to the top of TJ, (like get most A's, or participate in prestigious competitions) then you'll have a great chance at lots of Ivy Leagues.

So in other words, TJ has the resources to make you great, and if you're willing to work to get to the top of TJ, then you should definitely go. Other wise, don't go. Remember, TJ doesn't make you great. Instead, it has the resources and community for you to make yourself great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Relax. Not the end of the world. Many TJ kids attending dame school as my non TJ senior. Except mine didn’t get the amount of stress Tj kids went through. Be a strong student at a base school. Tj is way over rated.

I completely agree on the fact that it is by no means the end of the world if you don't get into TJ, and you can do amazing in a base school too. However, I don't completely agree that "TJ is way over rated." I too know a few people who graduated from TJ but went into pretty mediocre colleges that lots of people who attended their base schools went to. It's a huge misconception that getting into TJ will get you a good college. If you're at the bottom or pretty average at TJ, you would be much better off attending your base school. However, if you're willing to work your butt off and get to the top of TJ, (like get most A's, or participate in prestigious competitions) then you'll have a great chance at lots of Ivy Leagues.

So in other words, TJ has the resources to make you great, and if you're willing to work to get to the top of TJ, then you should definitely go. Other wise, don't go. Remember, TJ doesn't make you great. Instead, it has the resources and community for you to make yourself great.

Excellence is a habit, TJ provides an opportunity for you to study with smartest people and you may never meet stupid students there at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Relax. Not the end of the world. Many TJ kids attending dame school as my non TJ senior. Except mine didn’t get the amount of stress Tj kids went through. Be a strong student at a base school. Tj is way over rated.

I completely agree on the fact that it is by no means the end of the world if you don't get into TJ, and you can do amazing in a base school too. However, I don't completely agree that "TJ is way over rated." I too know a few people who graduated from TJ but went into pretty mediocre colleges that lots of people who attended their base schools went to. It's a huge misconception that getting into TJ will get you a good college. If you're at the bottom or pretty average at TJ, you would be much better off attending your base school. However, if you're willing to work your butt off and get to the top of TJ, (like get most A's, or participate in prestigious competitions) then you'll have a great chance at lots of Ivy Leagues.

So in other words, TJ has the resources to make you great, and if you're willing to work to get to the top of TJ, then you should definitely go. Other wise, don't go. Remember, TJ doesn't make you great. Instead, it has the resources and community for you to make yourself great.

I have a kid at TJ right now, and I disagreed with the bolded statement. There is a lot going on besides the kids working their butt off to get most A's. It depends on the courses you are selecting or avoiding, and most importantly it depends on the teachers you are taking the courses with. Some teachers are just harder, even for the same courses and they do not give the same tests. Some courses do not curve. Some kids/parents strategized by taking P/F while others strategized by taking extra credits. And some kids cheat!! I don't know any of these until it is too late and now that all the admission directors said they only compare kids within the same schools, and not across schools, it is effectively hugely penalizing the average TJ kids that do not have perfect GPA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD waitlisted for class of 2026. She applied without putting much thought into it to have the option to figure out later. Now it's later and she needs to decide whether to stay on the list or not. Wondering if there's a deadline for admitted students to decide, and therefore how long she might be on the waitlist before a final yay or nay? Is there any kind of open house for admitted students to help inform their decisions? Certainly they can't fill a whole grade without kids visiting or learning more about the school in person, perhaps from current freshmen? Wondering what her options are to inform her decision now? Thanks for any advice, particularly from current 9th grade parents since I think the admissions process was similar last year and this.

time to take the red bus home

[Anonymous]

suck it

[Anonymous]

This is 2022 thread. The 2025 current WL thread is https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1270960.page

Too bad someone wrote what did to put 3 year old one to top.