Anonymous
12/21/2023 11:23
Subject: Using Noetic Math Contest Results in TJ Application?
Guys. All you who have these award winning kids and you know lots of people like them, you are all talking about each other.
There aren't so many of these kids, and they cluster together. They don't fill a whole TJ.
There aren't so many of these kids, and they cluster together. They don't fill a whole TJ.
Anonymous
12/21/2023 11:20
Subject: Using Noetic Math Contest Results in TJ Application?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:"National Honor Roll Medal: The top 10% of all participants in the nation will receive 'National Honor Roll' medals. "
Not standout for TJ.
AMC 8/10 Honor Roll or Mathcounts Chapter/State would be more TJ level.
This is ridiculous, are you saying 500 students at TJ are all AMC8/10 honor roll in middle school?
They might not be on the honor roll because they didn’t take it but I would think that every kid at TJ should be on the honor roll if they took the exam. DS is in 6th grade and took a practice exam for the AMC 8. He scored 18 out of 25 on it. I have no idea how he will do on the exam when he takes it in a few weeks but I would not be surprised if he does well on it. He is normally in the 95th or 99th percentile of the kids participating in math competitions. The kids who want to go to TJ because they love STEM are likely to be the kids who do well on things like the AMC8. That is kind of who the school is meant to serve.
Simple computation:
TJ accepts about 2% of the catchment, which is far more than 5% of "people who do math competitions"
TJ is almost big enough for everyone who attends Chapter Mathcounts for the entire state of Virginia.
At my local middle school, we have 300 students per grade and under 50 who do open-admisssion math competitions, but they don't all do all them.
TJ is big for a magnet school.
Most of the most amazing NoVa STEM people you've heard of went to TJ, but not most of TJ are the most amazing STEM people. The top few carry the reputation of the whole class.
Anonymous
12/21/2023 11:06
Subject: Using Noetic Math Contest Results in TJ Application?
Anonymous wrote:Your kid can try to weave this in to one of the essays, but the key is not to force it. First and foremost, the kid should make sure that they are actually answering the essay prompt. If the prompt is about being an ethical and global citizen, the answer should not be about doing well in a math competition. If the prompt is about being a goal-directed and resilient individual, the answer still shouldn’t just be that the kid did well in a math competition. But if the kid overcame an obstacle and/or set a goal to do well in the competition, then the accomplishment can be slipped-in on that prompt. But even then, the essay shouldn’t just list this as an accomplishment; instead, it should focus on the kid and say something about the kid’s personality and how it maps on to the attributes they are looking for, perhaps noting that this was the end result of the kid’s overcoming an obstacle or achieving a goal. At the end of the day, the priority should be to write an essay that 1) says something about the kid and why they would fit into TJ; and 2) why TJ would benefit from having them attend (in other words, what would the kid add to the TJ community and its learning environment). The accomplishments can support those themes, but they need to serve the essay’s overall goal of responding to the prompts.
I agree. If a kid were to force it and somewhat clumsily weave a major achievement into the essays, like making USAJMO, Mathcounts nationals, Science Olympiad nationals, or even AMC 10 top 1% honor roll, it still may likely help the kid. For everything else, they really need to answer the portrait of a graduate essay question being asked. They're likely to still be impressed by great results at known math or science competitions if the results are well integrated into an essay that is responsive to the question. I doubt it's worth even trying to insert fringe contest results or somewhat mediocre achievements into the essay, unless they somehow are a perfect illustration of whatever trait the essays is requesting.
If anything, I would think that using Noetic Math contest results in absence of other math competition results would backfire. It's a largely unknown contest that gives out a lot of awards and is relatively easy. If your kid is portraying themselves as a math whiz who is into math contests, but they don't have good results from the two most known and most major middle school contests, it would not speak highly of your kid's abilities.
Anonymous
12/21/2023 10:51
Subject: Using Noetic Math Contest Results in TJ Application?
Your kid can try to weave this in to one of the essays, but the key is not to force it. First and foremost, the kid should make sure that they are actually answering the essay prompt. If the prompt is about being an ethical and global citizen, the answer should not be about doing well in a math competition. If the prompt is about being a goal-directed and resilient individual, the answer still shouldn’t just be that the kid did well in a math competition. But if the kid overcame an obstacle and/or set a goal to do well in the competition, then the accomplishment can be slipped-in on that prompt. But even then, the essay shouldn’t just list this as an accomplishment; instead, it should focus on the kid and say something about the kid’s personality and how it maps on to the attributes they are looking for, perhaps noting that this was the end result of the kid’s overcoming an obstacle or achieving a goal. At the end of the day, the priority should be to write an essay that 1) says something about the kid and why they would fit into TJ; and 2) why TJ would benefit from having them attend (in other words, what would the kid add to the TJ community and its learning environment). The accomplishments can support those themes, but they need to serve the essay’s overall goal of responding to the prompts.
Anonymous
12/20/2023 17:41
Subject: Using Noetic Math Contest Results in TJ Application?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:"National Honor Roll Medal: The top 10% of all participants in the nation will receive 'National Honor Roll' medals. "
Not standout for TJ.
AMC 8/10 Honor Roll or Mathcounts Chapter/State would be more TJ level.
This is ridiculous, are you saying 500 students at TJ are all AMC8/10 honor roll in middle school?
They might not be on the honor roll because they didn’t take it but I would think that every kid at TJ should be on the honor roll if they took the exam. DS is in 6th grade and took a practice exam for the AMC 8. He scored 18 out of 25 on it. I have no idea how he will do on the exam when he takes it in a few weeks but I would not be surprised if he does well on it. He is normally in the 95th or 99th percentile of the kids participating in math competitions. The kids who want to go to TJ because they love STEM are likely to be the kids who do well on things like the AMC8. That is kind of who the school is meant to serve.
Getting honor roll for AMC8 is very hard - there's fewer than 3000 in the entire country. There's no way all 500 kids in NOVA are "good" enough to get it. I believe there are about 20 NOVA kids each year getting on the AMC8 honor roll.
I love my DS and I think he is pretty smart but he is a 6th grader whose score on his first practice test was 1 question away from the honor roll for the test that he took. While I get that is a practice test at home, it does not make me think that the AMC 8 is super challenging for kids who enjoy math and have been taking math competitions for a while. I would not think of enrolling him in the AMC 10 but I know that there are parents of kids his age who do just that. Some of those parents have posted here. Maybe if he does well enough on the AMC 8 this year we will try the AMC 10 next year.
Take a look at the break down of who is taking tests like the Noetic and the like, you will see certain states are well over represented in the honor roll. So yes, I can see that there would be a large number of kids in the NoVA area taking the AMC 8 in ES and earning honor roll.
I don’t think it should be a stretch for kids applying to TJ be able to score high enough to earn honor roll on the AMC 8, especially if they were to take it in 8th grade. If your kid is not able to score on the honor roll on the AMC 8 as an 8th grader, then TJ might not be the best fit.
Anonymous
12/20/2023 17:33
Subject: Using Noetic Math Contest Results in TJ Application?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:"National Honor Roll Medal: The top 10% of all participants in the nation will receive 'National Honor Roll' medals. "
Not standout for TJ.
AMC 8/10 Honor Roll or Mathcounts Chapter/State would be more TJ level.
This is ridiculous, are you saying 500 students at TJ are all AMC8/10 honor roll in middle school?
They might not be on the honor roll because they didn’t take it but I would think that every kid at TJ should be on the honor roll if they took the exam. DS is in 6th grade and took a practice exam for the AMC 8. He scored 18 out of 25 on it. I have no idea how he will do on the exam when he takes it in a few weeks but I would not be surprised if he does well on it. He is normally in the 95th or 99th percentile of the kids participating in math competitions. The kids who want to go to TJ because they love STEM are likely to be the kids who do well on things like the AMC8. That is kind of who the school is meant to serve.
Getting honor roll for AMC8 is very hard - there's fewer than 3000 in the entire country. There's no way all 500 kids in NOVA are "good" enough to get it. I believe there are about 20 NOVA kids each year getting on the AMC8 honor roll.
It really isn't. One of the reasons it's so easy to make honor roll is that a lot of the top kids stop bothering with AMC 8 as soon as they reach AIME levels. My kid made the honor roll in early elementary, but as soon as he started AIME qualifying on the AMC 10 in 6th grade, he didn't see the point of continuing to do the AMC 8. I know a lot of other top kids in the same boat.
Anonymous
12/20/2023 17:28
Subject: Using Noetic Math Contest Results in TJ Application?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:"National Honor Roll Medal: The top 10% of all participants in the nation will receive 'National Honor Roll' medals. "
Not standout for TJ.
AMC 8/10 Honor Roll or Mathcounts Chapter/State would be more TJ level.
This is ridiculous, are you saying 500 students at TJ are all AMC8/10 honor roll in middle school?
DP. No. They're saying that applicants who made AMC 10 honor roll in middle school would stand out in TJ applications. If tons of applicants achieved the AMC honor rolls, it wouldn't stand out. Doing well in a largely unknown, fringe math contest also wouldn't stand out. If the contests are used in a portrait of a graduate essay to show interest, ability to self-study, or developing grit, that could be useful.
AMC 8 Honor roll and math counts chapter would also not stand out. Kids who can achieve decent results on those are a dime a dozen. Qualifying for AIME or Mathcounts state would have stood out in the past. Maybe 20-30 eighth graders in the TJ catchment area would reach this. Nowadays, I don't think they care.
Anonymous
12/20/2023 17:23
Subject: Using Noetic Math Contest Results in TJ Application?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:"National Honor Roll Medal: The top 10% of all participants in the nation will receive 'National Honor Roll' medals. "
Not standout for TJ.
AMC 8/10 Honor Roll or Mathcounts Chapter/State would be more TJ level.
This is ridiculous, are you saying 500 students at TJ are all AMC8/10 honor roll in middle school?
They might not be on the honor roll because they didn’t take it but I would think that every kid at TJ should be on the honor roll if they took the exam. DS is in 6th grade and took a practice exam for the AMC 8. He scored 18 out of 25 on it. I have no idea how he will do on the exam when he takes it in a few weeks but I would not be surprised if he does well on it. He is normally in the 95th or 99th percentile of the kids participating in math competitions. The kids who want to go to TJ because they love STEM are likely to be the kids who do well on things like the AMC8. That is kind of who the school is meant to serve.
Getting honor roll for AMC8 is very hard - there's fewer than 3000 in the entire country. There's no way all 500 kids in NOVA are "good" enough to get it. I believe there are about 20 NOVA kids each year getting on the AMC8 honor roll.
Anonymous
12/20/2023 17:14
Subject: Using Noetic Math Contest Results in TJ Application?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:"National Honor Roll Medal: The top 10% of all participants in the nation will receive 'National Honor Roll' medals. "
Not standout for TJ.
AMC 8/10 Honor Roll or Mathcounts Chapter/State would be more TJ level.
This is ridiculous, are you saying 500 students at TJ are all AMC8/10 honor roll in middle school?
They might not be on the honor roll because they didn’t take it but I would think that every kid at TJ should be on the honor roll if they took the exam. DS is in 6th grade and took a practice exam for the AMC 8. He scored 18 out of 25 on it. I have no idea how he will do on the exam when he takes it in a few weeks but I would not be surprised if he does well on it. He is normally in the 95th or 99th percentile of the kids participating in math competitions. The kids who want to go to TJ because they love STEM are likely to be the kids who do well on things like the AMC8. That is kind of who the school is meant to serve.
Anonymous
12/20/2023 12:48
Subject: Using Noetic Math Contest Results in TJ Application?
Anonymous wrote:"National Honor Roll Medal: The top 10% of all participants in the nation will receive 'National Honor Roll' medals. "
Not standout for TJ.
AMC 8/10 Honor Roll or Mathcounts Chapter/State would be more TJ level.
This is ridiculous, are you saying 500 students at TJ are all AMC8/10 honor roll in middle school?
Anonymous
12/19/2023 07:40
Subject: Using Noetic Math Contest Results in TJ Application?
Anonymous wrote:Does the application form have a field to enter such awards and achievements?
No
Anonymous
12/19/2023 07:34
Subject: Re:Using Noetic Math Contest Results in TJ Application?
My child has done Noetic since fourth grade and has always been on the National Honor Role. Maybe if your kid is one of the 1% to score a perfect score on the test. DS has done well on all of those math competitions, meaning top 5% every year, with the exception of the RSM’s International Math Competition. He has placed every year in the IMC but not in the top category. He is taking the AMC 8 for the first time this year as a 6th grader.
I am happy that my son loves the math competitions and that he does well on the exams. I think it is something to be proud of. I would assume that most kids applying to TJ would score similarly and that the scores he receives are not special in that circle.
I am happy that my son loves the math competitions and that he does well on the exams. I think it is something to be proud of. I would assume that most kids applying to TJ would score similarly and that the scores he receives are not special in that circle.
Anonymous
12/19/2023 01:06
Subject: Using Noetic Math Contest Results in TJ Application?
"National Honor Roll Medal: The top 10% of all participants in the nation will receive 'National Honor Roll' medals. "
Not standout for TJ.
AMC 8/10 Honor Roll or Mathcounts Chapter/State would be more TJ level.
Not standout for TJ.
AMC 8/10 Honor Roll or Mathcounts Chapter/State would be more TJ level.
Anonymous
12/19/2023 00:36
Subject: Using Noetic Math Contest Results in TJ Application?
Does the application form have a field to enter such awards and achievements?
Anonymous
12/19/2023 00:26
Subject: Using Noetic Math Contest Results in TJ Application?
I registered my children as 'individuals' this fall, and they both performed exceptionally well - each earning a place on the National Honor Roll. I am wondering if their results from the individual registration can be used in their TJ application.