Anonymous wrote:Longfellow is probably the strongest but forget about TJ.

That's weird since Longfellow sends more kids to TJ than any other MS. Going there is a big advantage.

Anonymous wrote:I hear people use this term a lot here but it's never entirely clear to me what these well-regarded centers are. For those of us who are newer to the area--which middle school AAP centers are generally strong and which are not?

No one is going to ask where your child went to Middle School so it is not that important. All MS have Honors classes and a good number have AAP classes. You could look at the class offerings of the MS you are interested in to see what they offer.

Anonymous wrote:Why did Longfellow have more than twice (37) the number of kids admitted to TJ this past year than Cooper (16)?

I know Longfellow is bigger, but it's not that much bigger than Cooper and Cooper is wealthier so it seems more families could afford prep.

Possibilities?

Cheating on the online “exam” by Longfellow kids
Cooper students not qualifying for FRMs

Why did Longfellow have more than twice (37) the number of kids admitted to TJ this past year than Cooper (16)?

I know Longfellow is bigger, but it's not that much bigger than Cooper and Cooper is wealthier so it seems more families could afford prep.

Anonymous wrote:If you want TJ, pick one of the many middle schools with little to almost no interest in TJ. Then supplement, supplement supplement. Enroll in AoPS for both math and LA, find serious summer programs and hire tutors to ensure that there are no gaps.

Can you talk more about "serious summer programs" that you know of? Other than CTY, I don't even know where to start.

Anonymous wrote:If you want TJ, pick one of the many middle schools with little to almost no interest in TJ. Then supplement, supplement supplement. Enroll in AoPS for both math and LA, find serious summer programs and hire tutors to ensure that there are no gaps.

+100

THIS

If you want TJ, pick one of the many middle schools with little to almost no interest in TJ. Then supplement, supplement supplement. Enroll in AoPS for both math and LA, find serious summer programs and hire tutors to ensure that there are no gaps.

Avoid Cooper at all costs! It’s a terrible environment right now with the construction. (If you don’t believe me, just drive by and see it for yourself.). The traffic even worse due to the 495 NEXT project. And the 8th grade science team is very weak. The writing in English has been a bit of a joke.

And there is a high interest in TJ, so your child will be at a disadvantage.

It’s a gross environment, the teaching is nothing special and your child in all likelihood will not be admitted to TJ.

Choosing a top feeder MS to get into TJ is akin to moving to Texas to have a better chance of getting drafted into the NFL. Correlation does not imply causation in MS-to-TJ pipelines.

Rachel Carson is top notch

How about elementary centers? Many good ones I'm sure but any to avoid?

Anonymous wrote:Longfellow is probably the strongest but forget about TJ.

It is still sending the second highest number of kids to TJ after Carson. Carson’s program is bigger and includes kids whose base school may be Chantilly, Oakton, South Lakes, or Westfield. Apart from a handful of transfers, all the kids at Longfellow now live in the McLean pyramid. The Langley AAP kids used to go to Kilmer and Longfellow, but now they go to Cooper.

Some people just use the term when they don’t want to identify their school by name. There is no single meaning.

Prior to the recent change in TJ admissions, there were three middle schools with AAP programs that placed the most kids into TJ: Carson, Longfellow, and Rocky Run. But people could just as readily use the term “well regarded” to refer to the AAP programs at Cooper, Frost, Jackson, Johnson, Kilmer, or Lake Braddock. And maybe some others as well.

Longfellow is probably the strongest but forget about TJ.

I hear people use this term a lot here but it's never entirely clear to me what these well-regarded centers are. For those of us who are newer to the area--which middle school AAP centers are generally strong and which are not?