84 TJ kids attending UVA in the fall

[Anonymous]

I wonder if the bottom of the TJ class (bottom 25%?) does better or worse than the top 25% at Regular Fairfax High School.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It sure would suck to be in the bottom half of the TJ class...

Those are the kids going to GMU, I guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sure would suck to be in the bottom half of the TJ class...

Those are the kids going to GMU, I guess.

It does not matter how smart you are. If you do not study hard, you will end up at the bottom of the normal distribution cure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sure would suck to be in the bottom half of the TJ class...

Those are the kids going to GMU, I guess.

Are they ranked though? Do colleges know who is bottom half? They'd obviously know the GPAs of the applicants, but not necessarily how they place within the class.

The lowest GPA is a 3.0?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sure would suck to be in the bottom half of the TJ class...

Those are the kids going to GMU, I guess.

It does not matter how smart you are. If you do not study hard, you will end up at the bottom of the normal distribution cure.

But they could also ALL study hard and someone still needs to be at the bottom of the curve. Do they grade by the curve? Certainly they can't rank by the curve - if they even rank at all. Seems unlikely for a competitive magnet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sure would suck to be in the bottom half of the TJ class...

Those are the kids going to GMU, I guess.

It does not matter how smart you are. If you do not study hard, you will end up at the bottom of the normal distribution cure.

Sorry, I meant CURVE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sure would suck to be in the bottom half of the TJ class...

Those are the kids going to GMU, I guess.

The bottom fifty percent attends far better schools than GMU. Maybe the bottom 5 percent might attend GMU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sure would suck to be in the bottom half of the TJ class...

Those are the kids going to GMU, I guess.

Are they ranked though? Do colleges know who is bottom half? They'd obviously know the GPAs of the applicants, but not necessarily how they place within the class.

The lowest GPA is a 3.0?

No HS in FCPS has class ranking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sure would suck to be in the bottom half of the TJ class...

Those are the kids going to GMU, I guess.

Are they ranked though? Do colleges know who is bottom half? They'd obviously know the GPAs of the applicants, but not necessarily how they place within the class.

The lowest GPA is a 3.0?

No HS in FCPS has class ranking.

Oh - good!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if the bottom of the TJ class (bottom 25%?) does better or worse than the top 25% at Regular Fairfax High School.

I think the bottom 25% of TJ graduates end up about the same as the top 25% of regular high schools. I saw bottom 25% go off to Wellesley, UIUC, VaTech and comparable schools.

[Anonymous]

Interesting article about the TJ culture:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/genius-girl-a-harvard-stanford-admissions-hoax-and-elite-college-mania/2015/06/22/e955be78-1907-11e5-bd7f-4611a60dd8e5_story.html?tid=hpModule_99d5f542-86a2-11e2-9d71-f0feafdd1394&hpid=z10

I think TJ is doomed now; it's only a matter of time. It's no longer synonymous with academic excellence or achievement, just stress and status-chasing. None of us need to subsidize this nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if the bottom of the TJ class (bottom 25%?) does better or worse than the top 25% at Regular Fairfax High School.

I think the bottom 25% of TJ graduates end up about the same as the top 25% of regular high schools. I saw bottom 25% go off to Wellesley, UIUC, VaTech and comparable schools.

I thought Wellesley was a pretty good and selective school...

Bottom 25% probably have their pick between Virginia Tech, JMU, Mason, and 2nd tier private colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting article about the TJ culture:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/genius-girl-a-harvard-stanford-admissions-hoax-and-elite-college-mania/2015/06/22/e955be78-1907-11e5-bd7f-4611a60dd8e5_story.html?tid=hpModule_99d5f542-86a2-11e2-9d71-f0feafdd1394&hpid=z10

I think TJ is doomed now; it's only a matter of time. It's no longer synonymous with academic excellence or achievement, just stress and status-chasing. None of us need to subsidize this nonsense.

Do you ignore all the positive stories about the school and focus on the occasional negative one?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

PP asked which school is "better" not ranked "higher". Unless you are a rank crazed idiot, they are two different things.

Yes, your entirely subjective view should carry more weight. Well-argued.

Neither PP--but the selection of the criteria on which to rank the schools is subjective. Example: Is a school better because it is more selective on the students admitted? Or, is it better because more go to graduate school? Is it better because it has more Nobel Prize winners, Pulitzer winners, etc? Is a school better if it has more elected officials as alumni? Because it has more endowments?

# of Nobel laureates:
Michigan 22
UVA 7

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:19 TJ kids headed to Michigan and 14 to Cornell.

Michigan viewed better than UVA? Enough to compensate for the cost difference between two?

Michigan is viewed better than UVA and Michigan offers good amount of merit based aid.

wait - but I thought there was a previous poster that said their state funding is decreasing. How can they off more merit aid if that's the case?

Michigan offers merit based aid to top students.