TJ and High Stat rejections

[Anonymous]

It seems like a lot of TJ and high stat kids are piling into CS and engineering at the same schools. I’m beginning to think that the problem is insufficient seats. Essentially, the college fills their seats with highly qualified students, but there are 5x that number who still want to attend. When posters see that someone with lower stats got accepted, they probably don’t consider that it was for a non-CS/engineering major. Because it’s not reasonable to ask a few colleges to expand their CS/engineering program when there are so many programs across the country, it seems that these local kids need to look at schools more broadly. I know those won’t be as cheap to attend as in-state, but it is an option.

For the sake of comparison and testing of this hypothesis, does anyone know TJ or high-stat kids who want to major in the social sciences or humanities and who are getting accepted to better-ranked national universities and SLACs?

[Anonymous]

Does it really matter so much where to study CS? I know a lot of IT professionals who got their degrees from a no name college overseas and are doing great here in the US. My child is a high stat junior at TJ, wants to study CS and will do great after any college. MIT, Stanford - awesome. UVA, VA Tech, GMU - fine, will be successful too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does it really matter so much where to study CS? I know a lot of IT professionals who got their degrees from a no name college overseas and are doing great here in the US. My child is a high stat junior at TJ, wants to study CS and will do great after any college. MIT, Stanford - awesome. UVA, VA Tech, GMU - fine, will be successful too.

Right! So, why the intense focus on VATech and UVA? Yes, there is in-state tuition, but other options can be great.

[Anonymous]

To do CS anywhere, why do high school at TJ? Why not at local public where no test in is required?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To do CS anywhere, why do high school at TJ? Why not at local public where no test in is required?

Good point. Maybe kids don’t need to go to TJ to get a good education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does it really matter so much where to study CS? I know a lot of IT professionals who got their degrees from a no name college overseas and are doing great here in the US. My child is a high stat junior at TJ, wants to study CS and will do great after any college. MIT, Stanford - awesome. UVA, VA Tech, GMU - fine, will be successful too.

UVA and Va Tech: I would be careful to think it's a sure thing, based on this year's stats from TJ. A lot of rejections. GMU should be fine.

[Anonymous]

I think that's probably part of it, OP.
We have a really high-stat non-TJ kid interested in CS with a mix of acceptances, WL and rejections.

I knew based on an article from a couple of years ago that one of the rejections was struggling at the time with getting its CS students the classes they wanted, so it was a relief when DC got rejected (I tried to warn them about applying but they loved the vibe at the school).

Just discovered a similar article from last year about one of the WL, which was a shocker because the school is known for its terrific CS program.

Now trying to figure out what the deal is with the current acceptances. I can testify that it's not worth going to a T-whatever school if you can't get the classes you want, since I experienced this at a top biz school a couple of decades ago and it sucked.

Also still waiting on Ivy Day. Anyone know how the CS departments at Ivies are faring these days in terms of course availability?

[Anonymous]

The problem IS limited seats. There were something like 20% of most first year classes that deferred until 21-22 last admissions year. Your hook at top schools has to be a Nobel Prize and a Congressional Medal of Honor this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To do CS anywhere, why do high school at TJ? Why not at local public where no test in is required?

Only after taking TJ’s AI class, my child decided to major in CS. Where else would they be able to take AI as a junior?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To do CS anywhere, why do high school at TJ? Why not at local public where no test in is required?

Only after taking TJ’s AI class, my child decided to major in CS. Where else would they be able to take AI as a junior?

Look at all the wildly successful programmers and tech entrepreneurs that didn’t go to TJ. It’s a big world. Find ways to discover it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To do CS anywhere, why do high school at TJ? Why not at local public where no test in is required?

Only after taking TJ’s AI class, my child decided to major in CS. Where else would they be able to take AI as a junior?

Look at all the wildly successful programmers and tech entrepreneurs that didn’t go to TJ. It’s a big world. Find ways to discover it.

I know. My child will probably have a GPA around 4.6 upon graduation from TJ, and I’m totally fine with them going to GMU if rejected by other colleges. They are going to be successful regardless. However, advanced math and CS classes at TJ definitely helped my child to choose the career path.

[Anonymous]

Just wondering how are the acceptances for 4.55 as post first semester senior TJ kids? Have they got acceptances in good colleges?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just wondering how are the acceptances for 4.55 as post first semester senior TJ kids? Have they got acceptances in good colleges?

Sure. Harvard, Yale, MIT, Caltech and more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just wondering how are the acceptances for 4.55 as post first semester senior TJ kids? Have they got acceptances in good colleges?

Sure. Harvard, Yale, MIT, Caltech and more.

Thats really good. Any known number of acceptances in above colleges?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does it really matter so much where to study CS? I know a lot of IT professionals who got their degrees from a no name college overseas and are doing great here in the US. My child is a high stat junior at TJ, wants to study CS and will do great after any college. MIT, Stanford - awesome. UVA, VA Tech, GMU - fine, will be successful too.

Just keep in mind that some "no name colleges overseas" are up with or above the best US state flagships in international rankings.