Seeking TJHSST moms' advice

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the last time. There is no advantage of going to TJ for college admissions. Let me break it down

You stay at base school you are in the top 10% = UVA and crapshoot for Ivies/elite schools
You go to TJ now you are not a big fish in a small pond anymore. what happens how "good" is your child really..... And even if you make top 10% TJ Ivies are still a crapshoot

Bottom Line go to TJ if you actually care about STEM and you are willing to have 4+ hours of hw a night and many times much more

Agreed. In fact, TJ students not in the top 20% are probably at a disadvantage wrt elite schools. As mentioned on Stanford's admissions page, "We expect that these students have taken high school course loads of reasonable and appropriate challenge in the context of their schools." Since TJ kids have more opportunities in terms of labs, a strong academic culture, internships, etc, they are held to a higher standard than most applicants. Can most TJ students say that they took full advantage of the STEM courses and opportunities made available to them?

Surely it is not the last time, it's debatable and it depends. My DC graduated last year from TJ, with a 800 math SAT and 2340 SAT. GPA was very low for TJ, 3.95. Never had a B before TJ, but had one c and several Bs at TJ. Did not go to summer school or take BC. DC was not outstanding for TJ. Was not accepted at any IL, waitlisted at Cornell. Everyone is an individual so blanket statements don't apply. Maybe with that SAT at base school and higher GPA, Ivy League would have accepted, but IL was not affordable for DC anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the last time. There is no advantage of going to TJ for college admissions. Let me break it down

You stay at base school you are in the top 10% = UVA and crapshoot for Ivies/elite schools
You go to TJ now you are not a big fish in a small pond anymore. what happens how "good" is your child really..... And even if you make top 10% TJ Ivies are still a crapshoot

Bottom Line go to TJ if you actually care about STEM and you are willing to have 4+ hours of hw a night and many times much more

Agreed. In fact, TJ students not in the top 20% are probably at a disadvantage wrt elite schools. As mentioned on Stanford's admissions page, "We expect that these students have taken high school course loads of reasonable and appropriate challenge in the context of their schools." Since TJ kids have more opportunities in terms of labs, a strong academic culture, internships, etc, they are held to a higher standard than most applicants. Can most TJ students say that they took full advantage of the STEM courses and opportunities made available to them?

Surely it is not the last time, it's debatable and it depends. My DC graduated last year from TJ, with a 800 math SAT and 2340 SAT. GPA was very low for TJ, 3.95. Never had a B before TJ, but had one c and several Bs at TJ. Did not go to summer school or take BC. DC was not outstanding for TJ. Was not accepted at any IL, waitlisted at Cornell. Everyone is an individual so blanket statements don't apply. Maybe with that SAT at base school and higher GPA, Ivy League would have accepted, but IL was not affordable for DC anyway.

In retrospect, would you or DC have chosen the base school instead, knowing what you know now?

[Anonymous]

No. Definitely would choose TJ given choice, third/last DC just accepted and couldn't be happier about it. The renovations look amazing. Fantastic environment at TJ.

[Anonymous]

A lot of good info in this post so far

DC was accepted and is thinking about attending in the fall. I am curious as to the level of parent involvement requested/required. A previous poster mentioned "$" requests, but what about time? For current and past TJ parents - do you find there was a general willingness to step up? Or did distance from school, cultural differences, etc make it hard to find volunteers for sporting events and everything else?

[Anonymous]

No. Definitely would choose TJ given choice, third/last DC just accepted and couldn't be happier about it. The renovations look amazing. Fantastic environment at TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the last time. There is no advantage of going to TJ for college admissions. Let me break it down

You stay at base school you are in the top 10% = UVA and crapshoot for Ivies/elite schools
You go to TJ now you are not a big fish in a small pond anymore. what happens how "good" is your child really..... And even if you make top 10% TJ Ivies are still a crapshoot

Bottom Line go to TJ if you actually care about STEM and you are willing to have 4+ hours of hw a night and many times much more

Agreed. In fact, TJ students not in the top 20% are probably at a disadvantage wrt elite schools. As mentioned on Stanford's admissions page, "We expect that these students have taken high school course loads of reasonable and appropriate challenge in the context of their schools." Since TJ kids have more opportunities in terms of labs, a strong academic culture, internships, etc, they are held to a higher standard than most applicants. Can most TJ students say that they took full advantage of the STEM courses and opportunities made available to them?

Surely it is not the last time, it's debatable and it depends. My DC graduated last year from TJ, with a 800 math SAT and 2340 SAT. GPA was very low for TJ, 3.95. Never had a B before TJ, but had one c and several Bs at TJ. Did not go to summer school or take BC. DC was not outstanding for TJ. Was not accepted at any IL, waitlisted at Cornell. Everyone is an individual so blanket statements don't apply. Maybe with that SAT at base school and higher GPA, Ivy League would have accepted, but IL was not affordable for DC anyway.

PP, the SAT score is really high!! I hope your DC go to a top school with that scores!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of good info in this post so far

DC was accepted and is thinking about attending in the fall. I am curious as to the level of parent involvement requested/required. A previous poster mentioned "$" requests, but what about time? For current and past TJ parents - do you find there was a general willingness to step up? Or did distance from school, cultural differences, etc make it hard to find volunteers for sporting events and everything else?

Parent of TJ class of 2015 here.

There is no pressure to volunteer but many parents do volunteer willingly and there is no shortage of volunteers. I think many parents are appreciative of the education/experience their kids receive at TJ without paying private school level tuition so many of them volunteer and help out. There were many Indian/Chinese parent volunteers more than I had expected.

[Anonymous]

PP, the SAT score is really high!! I hope your DC go to a top school with that scores!!

Thanks. VT Engineering, which was top choice for quality, affordability, location, etc.
Hoped for $cholarship$ but did not get except to schools that were not attractive.
If you want to be outstanding at TJ, you probably need to take summer school
and take the most technical and challenging electives, and BC Calc, and get As,
and lots of APs, and 5s on AP exams. If you don't do that you will be more average,
but average is pretty good with me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of good info in this post so far

DC was accepted and is thinking about attending in the fall. I am curious as to the level of parent involvement requested/required. A previous poster mentioned "$" requests, but what about time? For current and past TJ parents - do you find there was a general willingness to step up? Or did distance from school, cultural differences, etc make it hard to find volunteers for sporting events and everything else?

Parent of TJ class of 2015 here.

There is no pressure to volunteer but many parents do volunteer willingly and there is no shortage of volunteers. I think many parents are appreciative of the education/experience their kids receive at TJ without paying private school level tuition so many of them volunteer and help out. There were many Indian/Chinese parent volunteers more than I had expected.

2019 parent here. Agree with above. There are plenty of opportunities to volunteer if you want, but I wouldn't say pressure. You'll see information in the weekly newsletter and usually once in advance of an event. Same thing with clubs/sports. If you want to you can (and I have), but I've never felt pressured. Also, the volunteers often seem to be the same folks but it's a diverse mix reflecting the make up of the student body. Agree that I think parents, who want to, are happy to be engaged.

[Anonymous]

I disagree with the folks who keep saying that TJ isn't a good fit if your kid has an enormous workload and struggles with that aspect of school. It is possible to be smart enough to hack TJ but just not like it. DS is doing well academically, has a TJ girlfriend, has participated in sports every season, and yes, has a ton of work. TJ isn't a bad fit for him because he isn't capable or somehow isn't organized enough or because we -- his parents -- aren't willing to teach him the value of hard work. It's a bad fit because despite being able to handle it, he doesn't enjoy it.

It's the "best" school because amazingly bright students attend and get amazingly high test scores but it's still an FCPS school with so-so communication sometimes, grouchy counselors, bad school lunches, and some teachers who, while very well educated, just aren't that great at teaching. Those of you who are contemplating having your kids attend, go in with your eyes open and with a hold on reality. TJ is a mixture of the fabulous and the disappointing, in our experience.

[Anonymous]

What isn't, pp? Nothing is perfect and I doubt anyone expects it to be.

[Anonymous]

I don't think people expect disappointment when they see that TJ is the number 1 rated school in the country, just as most freshmen wouldn't approach their first year at a top-ranked public university thinking, "I wonder how UVA will disappoint me." It's natural to expect something better based on rankings, evaluations, reviews, etc.; otherwise, why all of the hullaballoo over admissions in the first place?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think people expect disappointment when they see that TJ is the number 1 rated school in the country, just as most freshmen wouldn't approach their first year at a top-ranked public university thinking, "I wonder how UVA will disappoint me." It's natural to expect something better based on rankings, evaluations, reviews, etc.; otherwise, why all of the hullaballoo over admissions in the first place?

Disappointment in a sense that it still run by teachers, and administrators and students who are only human. Its better than the base schools in many things, but only if those things are what you value most with regards to your kids experience in school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think people expect disappointment when they see that TJ is the number 1 rated school in the country, just as most freshmen wouldn't approach their first year at a top-ranked public university thinking, "I wonder how UVA will disappoint me." It's natural to expect something better based on rankings, evaluations, reviews, etc.; otherwise, why all of the hullaballoo over admissions in the first place?

I went to UVA. It was a wonderful place, but not #1 school in the nation. And even if it was, I wouldn't expect it to be a perfect education/social experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think people expect disappointment when they see that TJ is the number 1 rated school in the country, just as most freshmen wouldn't approach their first year at a top-ranked public university thinking, "I wonder how UVA will disappoint me." It's natural to expect something better based on rankings, evaluations, reviews, etc.; otherwise, why all of the hullaballoo over admissions in the first place?

Disappointment is a strong word. I don't think people expect Princeton to be perfect just because it's #1 in many polls. I would expect to be HARD.