Reply to TJ admissions now verifying free and reduced price meal status for successful 2026 applicants

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Does anyone know many points was saying yes to FARMS worth? [/quote]

90 points [/quote]

How many total possible points?[/quote]

Not sure what it means? I think they just added 90 points to total[/quote]

How many points were the other components worth? GPA. Essays etc [/quote]
300 GPA, 300 SPS, 300 Math/Science test. up to 225 additional experience points of which meals was 90.[/quote]
Stop lying on these threads.  GPA is only worth 37.5 points, with a minimum possible value of 262.5 through a maximum of 300.  The meals bonus was worth over twice as many points as the entire span from a 3.5 GPA through a 4.0.  [/quote]

Huh?[/quote]

According to the rubric that was made public as part of discovery during the ongoing lawsuit, the score for GPA is 75 * GPA.

Since there is a 3.5 minimum GPA required to be eligible to apply and a 4.0 maximum GPA based on how it was calculated for the purposes of the application, every student will have. GPA score between 362.5 and 400.

As such, the maximum difference in terms of GPA between any two applicants is 400 - 362.5 = 37.5.

To say that GPA is worth 300 points, while strictly true, is misleading, since every applicant earns at least 362.5 of those points.

Since the experience factors are worth either 45 or 90 points each, that means that a 3.5 GPA combined with any experience factor outweighs a 4.0 GPA with no experience factors. In other words, the experience factors are extremely valuable.[/quote]

Not that valuable. Only 12% of total possible score.

Almost irrelevant since almost everyone accepted had 4.0.

The high-point components of the application are:
300 for the SPS 
300 for the math/science essay

They comprise the vast majority of the applicant’s score. If a kid didn’t get in, they probably didn’t write an exceptional essay or portrait. 
[/quote]

The essay was apparently very easy and most of the portrait has nothing to do with STEM

The whole thing was/is a disaster.
[/quote]

According to my kid, very few of the students who were expected to get in actually got in i.e., majority of the kids who are generally known to be smart, stood out in the class, perfect or almost perfect GPA, took advantage (and did well) of STEM electives offered by the school, participated in school offered STEM after-school activities etc didn't get admission, but some random and unexpected kids, few of them even had B's got admissions, which surprised many of his peers. He was initially disappointed to be wait listed, but after learning who else got wait listed (and who actually got admissions..lol), he felt TJ doesn't really matter anymore. Well, my kid isn't good at creative writing, which he knows, so its not totally unexpected and as we know GPA doesn't really carry that much weightage compared to portrait sheet and science essay. He was hoping TJ will look into his electives and how well he did in all the courses (as FCPS has whole course work in hand) and consider the after school activities (even if only school based activities are considered), but it didn't really matter at the end (TJ probably didn't look into any of this). Anyways.. this is is how the TJ cohort is going to look like going forward and I doubt anyone realizes a drop in standards and competitiveness any time soon.

[/quote]

There was no reason to think that anyone would look at anything other then what the application called for. Your child should have been able to write a solid essay. It was a part of the application. [/quote]

Yes, I am not denying what you said. If TJ is not a STEM focussed school, but a general selective school, then I agree that creating writing is very important. But do you think creating writing should be more important for STEM magnet school like TJ than actual activities that demonstrates the the interest in STEM? As many others have noted earlier in this thread there is only 37.5 points diff for min GPA of 3.5 and 4.0. Where as portrait sheet carries 300 points (or 60 points for each question) and 300 points for a single science/math essay (note: this is not really math, but just an essay explaining your point). Nothing else is taked into consideration and no input from teachers. If you are convinced that this is an ideal process to screen the kids for school like TJ, then you will be happy. Those of who think grades and STEM needs to have more weight will be unhappy. Thats all I am trying to convey here. My kid is done here and any changes in future will not help my kid. I am just concerned about future direction of TJ. 
[/quote]

It is not ideal but I don't know what ideal looks like. I do think that there should be a requirement that kids complete Geometry and Algebra by the end of 8th grade. But I don't think that they can include after school activities unless those are available to students at each of the MS. And I have no problem with the 1.5% coming from each MS because I do think that there needs to be an effort to have slots available for all the MS and not just the ones were there are extra programs and parents can afford extra activities. This does mean that there are going to be fewer kids from the AAP Centers.

TJ is a high school that focuses on STEM. The kids need to be able to do more then just STEM. Your child has great grades, he should have been able to write a solid essay. I don't know what the topics were but I imagine they required kids to discuss why they like STEM, that should not have been a tall order. People consistently post about how active the kids are in drama and music and debate and other activities that are not STEM based, which is great.

[/quote]

Well, every school offers after school activities. Though you can't compare kid from one school against other, you should absolutely use them to compare the kids from the same school. Also, pretty much all the MS offer similar elective with few differences and every kid has an equal opportunity to enroll in them and you can at least use them to compare kids with in same middle school.

You are basically assuming that every kid who is good at STEM should be able to write well. This is not necessarily true. Not everyone can write effectively. For example, growing up, I have always struggled with writing, didn't score well in languages, but more than made up with stem courses and eventually did phd in engineering. Fortunately my college admission(s) weren't denied based on my poor essays. To give an another example, my older kid is really good with math/science/computers etc. and often surprises me with the thought process, but is kind of shy and not really great at putting thoughts into a well organized essay. My younger kid, who has always been good with languages and loves writing, but not really good/interested in math or science, can produce a much better science essay with little research, which is so well organized that is easy to read.

Anyways, I don't mind essays if GPA carries (and other academics) 80% weight and essays carry something like 20% weight. But in this case its quite the opposite. Essays essentially determine if your kid goes into TJ or not. This is more obvious AAP center schools. In my opinion, schools like TJ shouldn't rely so much on how well some can write. 
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