TJ Admit, but worried!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People are conflating two things

1. Old process is flawed

Hence, it seems the assumption seems to be

2. New process is good/better

I would agree the old process is flawed but new process is even more flawed. I do like the idea of some percentage of kids from each HS getting into TJ. That is a good decision. Dropping recommendation letters is the most damaging of all.

We need reform, but in a thoughtful way. Not like the rushed half baked job they did in the middle of a pandemic.

The new process isn't perfect but it's an order of magnitude better than the previous one. A system that includes all students not just those from the most affluent schools is a huge improvement. Also ending the tyranny of prep companies with their question banks was another big problem since people were effectively buying access.

Very true but many parents wish to go back to the system where they could buy their kids way into TJ. They're bitter that the new process creates a level playing field that doesn't favor schools where parents invest heavily in prep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To those worried about joining TJ. I would say, nothing to worry at all. If you kid is interested he/she will do well. The problem comes if the parent is the one pushing the decision.

Exactly. My kid was also on the M1 track in freshman. She got a A on the dreaded RS1, while some kids who were jumping to pre-calc were struggling with B’s

TJ does a great job teaching kids and aI would not worry too much about levels etc.

Correct advise to give to have the kid struggle mightily all 4 years and forced to find easy courses, easy research track and easy teachers and still ending up in the bottom 20% and going to GMU/JMU/VCU after struggling and not being able to devote any meaningful time to ECs and more than 270 clubs/teams etc. Oh, and forget about band, orchestra or sports since they suck up too much time for kids in the bottom 20%. Would have wound up with higher GPA and would have had time for ECs and more sleep as well if the kid went to regular HS.

Parent of former TJ student.

Or they could be inspired by the challenge of having opportunities they never imagined existed and rise to the challenge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To those worried about joining TJ. I would say, nothing to worry at all. If you kid is interested he/she will do well. The problem comes if the parent is the one pushing the decision.

Exactly. My kid was also on the M1 track in freshman. She got a A on the dreaded RS1, while some kids who were jumping to pre-calc were struggling with B’s

TJ does a great job teaching kids and aI would not worry too much about levels etc.

Correct advise to give to have the kid struggle mightily all 4 years and forced to find easy courses, easy research track and easy teachers and still ending up in the bottom 20% and going to GMU/JMU/VCU after struggling and not being able to devote any meaningful time to ECs and more than 270 clubs/teams etc. Oh, and forget about band, orchestra or sports since they suck up too much time for kids in the bottom 20%. Would have wound up with higher GPA and would have had time for ECs and more sleep as well if the kid went to regular HS.

Parent of former TJ student.

Or they could be inspired by the challenge of having opportunities they never imagined existed and rise to the challenge.

Well, somebody has to be in the bottom 20% - not all TJ students can be in the top 50%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To those worried about joining TJ. I would say, nothing to worry at all. If you kid is interested he/she will do well. The problem comes if the parent is the one pushing the decision.

Exactly. My kid was also on the M1 track in freshman. She got a A on the dreaded RS1, while some kids who were jumping to pre-calc were struggling with B’s

TJ does a great job teaching kids and aI would not worry too much about levels etc.

Correct advise to give to have the kid struggle mightily all 4 years and forced to find easy courses, easy research track and easy teachers and still ending up in the bottom 20% and going to GMU/JMU/VCU after struggling and not being able to devote any meaningful time to ECs and more than 270 clubs/teams etc. Oh, and forget about band, orchestra or sports since they suck up too much time for kids in the bottom 20%. Would have wound up with higher GPA and would have had time for ECs and more sleep as well if the kid went to regular HS.

Parent of former TJ student.

Or they could be inspired by the challenge of having opportunities they never imagined existed and rise to the challenge.

Well, somebody has to be in the bottom 20% - not all TJ students can be in the top 50%.

Yes, but the smart money is on the kids who were enrolled in $20k in prep to appear gifted

[Anonymous]

OP i hope you skip over the replies that are just looking to argue AGAIN about the admission process - as if there are not a million other spots to do that - and focus on the replies from people actually trying to respond to your question/situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP i hope you skip over the replies that are just looking to argue AGAIN about the admission process - as if there are not a million other spots to do that - and focus on the replies from people actually trying to respond to your question/situation.

TLDR One group of parents wants to narrowly define merit in a way that benefits their kids while marginalizing other county residents

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People are conflating two things

1. Old process is flawed

Hence, it seems the assumption seems to be

2. New process is good/better

I would agree the old process is flawed but new process is even more flawed. I do like the idea of some percentage of kids from each HS getting into TJ. That is a good decision. Dropping recommendation letters is the most damaging of all.

We need reform, but in a thoughtful way. Not like the rushed half baked job they did in the middle of a pandemic.

The new process isn't perfect but it's an order of magnitude better than the previous one. A system that includes all students not just those from the most affluent schools is a huge improvement. Also ending the tyranny of prep companies with their question banks was another big problem since people were effectively buying access.

This is pure BS. It is actually orders of magnitude worse than the previous one. Now half of the class if filled with students who aren't even qualified to TJ. Have you seem the Math 4 teacher email?
Identity politics and social engineer need to stop messing our schools.

Based on the flowchart linked above, Math 4 would not have been kids taking algebra in 8th grade. It would be in line with taking weaker kids in a school who are taking geometry. That is mostly what I saw at our school, though some may have been in algebra 1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TJ parent here. Daughter is a sophomore. She took Algebra 1 in 8th grade. She was never too fond of Math, she got good grades but was no way accelerated or a math genius. However, she was passionate about science, she participated in science olympiads, designed science experiments on her own. She wanted to go to TJ for the science related opportunities, and is loving it there. She is not interested in engineering or CS but is completely utilizing the opportunities offered by TJ for science.

Not OP but this also describes my daughter. She is focused more on the wide range of unique and experiential opportunities that TJ offers to students. One of the biggest pulls for her is being around other smart and motivated students. As for whether or not she ends up in the "top 20%"...whatever. Our hope is that she does well and has an enriching and full high school experience.

We went to the Preview Night and she came away SO excited by the school, teachers she spoke to, AND how kind the current students were. All of the rising freshman know this will be hard and my guess is most of them will be fine. And hopefully, they don't come on this board and read threads about TJ college acceptances being a "mess" this year because admissitions to HYP allegedly went down. Success is about much more than your college admission success rate or final GPA. (Anyone else remember their HS GPA?)

[Anonymous]

If the woke group which came with the new TJ admissions process has their way, the best approach to global warming would be:

Lets stop using thermometers then we would not have to worry about global warming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People are conflating two things

1. Old process is flawed

Hence, it seems the assumption seems to be

2. New process is good/better

I would agree the old process is flawed but new process is even more flawed. I do like the idea of some percentage of kids from each HS getting into TJ. That is a good decision. Dropping recommendation letters is the most damaging of all.

We need reform, but in a thoughtful way. Not like the rushed half baked job they did in the middle of a pandemic.

The new process isn't perfect but it's an order of magnitude better than the previous one. A system that includes all students not just those from the most affluent schools is a huge improvement. Also ending the tyranny of prep companies with their question banks was another big problem since people were effectively buying access.

This is pure BS. It is actually orders of magnitude worse than the previous one. Now half of the class if filled with students who aren't even qualified to TJ. Have you seem the Math 4 teacher email?
Identity politics and social engineer need to stop messing our schools.

Based on the flowchart linked above, Math 4 would not have been kids taking algebra in 8th grade. It would be in line with taking weaker kids in a school who are taking geometry. That is mostly what I saw at our school, though some may have been in algebra 1.

Math 4 apparently equates to Trig so wouldn't it have been mostly kids in their sophomore year at TJ in 2021-2022 (as in the last class admitted under the old system)? The more "standard" non-genius starting point for TJ math is Math 3 i think (Algebra 2 - so kids that took Algebra 1 in 7th) and I think this would have been even more the case for the 2021-2022 TJ freshmen class (first batch under the new system).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ parent here. Daughter is a sophomore. She took Algebra 1 in 8th grade. She was never too fond of Math, she got good grades but was no way accelerated or a math genius. However, she was passionate about science, she participated in science olympiads, designed science experiments on her own. She wanted to go to TJ for the science related opportunities, and is loving it there. She is not interested in engineering or CS but is completely utilizing the opportunities offered by TJ for science.

Not OP but this also describes my daughter. She is focused more on the wide range of unique and experiential opportunities that TJ offers to students. One of the biggest pulls for her is being around other smart and motivated students. As for whether or not she ends up in the "top 20%"...whatever. Our hope is that she does well and has an enriching and full high school experience.

We went to the Preview Night and she came away SO excited by the school, teachers she spoke to, AND how kind the current students were. All of the rising freshman know this will be hard and my guess is most of them will be fine. And hopefully, they don't come on this board and read threads about TJ college acceptances being a "mess" this year because admissitions to HYP allegedly went down. Success is about much more than your college admission success rate or final GPA. (Anyone else remember their HS GPA?)

Congrats to your DD, PP! And glad she liked the orientation - the things you mention here are what my DD enjoys most about the school and also what impressed her during orientation last year. She too has a more well rounded approach to college goals vs a HYP-or-bust mentality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Math 4 apparently equates to Trig so wouldn't it have been mostly kids in their sophomore year at TJ in 2021-2022 (as in the last class admitted under the old system)? The more "standard" non-genius starting point for TJ math is Math 3 i think (Algebra 2 - so kids that took Algebra 1 in 7th) and I think this would have been even more the case for the 2021-2022 TJ freshmen class (first batch under the new system).

These are semester courses. Someone who took geometry in 8th might have Math 4 second semester of freshman year. I think algebra 2 kids also started with Math 4 freshman year and took Math 5 second semester.
However, it may have been the teachers sent the letter about poor work in Math 5, not Math 4.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Math 4 apparently equates to Trig so wouldn't it have been mostly kids in their sophomore year at TJ in 2021-2022 (as in the last class admitted under the old system)? The more "standard" non-genius starting point for TJ math is Math 3 i think (Algebra 2 - so kids that took Algebra 1 in 7th) and I think this would have been even more the case for the 2021-2022 TJ freshmen class (first batch under the new system).

These are semester courses. Someone who took geometry in 8th might have Math 4 second semester of freshman year. I think algebra 2 kids also started with Math 4 freshman year and took Math 5 second semester.
However, it may have been the teachers sent the letter about poor work in Math 5, not Math 4.

Here’s the flow chart: https://tjhsst.fcps.edu/node/3332

If they took geometry in 8th then they take Math 3 spring semester freshmen year. Before that they take Research Statistics for fall semester. I know this because DC is in this sequence this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:op here.

thanks.. AP physics required Calculus, but can be taken concurrently ( which will be by Senior year)

Agree starting with Geom might limit the course selection.

The regular AP Physics class should require calc. I don't know about TJ so I guess anything is possible but normally it's just Physics C that requires advanced math and the regular AP Physics requires Algebra 2.

sorry "should NOT require calc"

When my kid was there, they didn't offer the lower level AP physics courses, only AP Physics C which did require AP Calc BC before or concurrently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:op here.

thanks.. AP physics required Calculus, but can be taken concurrently ( which will be by Senior year)

Agree starting with Geom might limit the course selection.

The regular AP Physics class should require calc. I don't know about TJ so I guess anything is possible but normally it's just Physics C that requires advanced math and the regular AP Physics requires Algebra 2.

sorry "should NOT require calc"

When my kid was there, they didn't offer the lower level AP physics courses, only AP Physics C which did require AP Calc BC before or concurrently.

In MCPS kids at our school take AP Physics in tandem with Algebra 2 in 9th grade.