Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dont colleges know that a 4.0 (w) from TJ is equivalent to a 4.5 or so from a non -TJ HS?

I've yet to meet a college that cares about anything except your unweighted GPA.

Much of the TJ class manages to keep the unweighted GPA above 3.0, there may be fewer than 5 to 10% that go below that. college admissions dont compare TJ to non-TJ, instead they compare one TJ applicant to another TJ applicant. So it is better to be in the top half of the class to begin with and stay there.

Honestly, I don't know that this is true. Maybe. MIT's admission process felt very check-the-box when the Tech did a deep dove into the process. How could it not be? 10K applications to sort through? It was a scoring rubric of test scores and GPA and either you were competitive or you weren't. If you weren't they didnt look at your application and it was discarded. These days the average MIT GPA is 3.97? SAT math 800? 1590 average? Very little margin for less than perfect.

DC is half way through and I’m positive if they had the choice to make again they would still decide to go. Much better “fit” than our base school was vibe-wise and in terms of the intensity of academics. Plus DC likely would not have made the HS team for their sport whereas at TJ they are a varsity team member so that’s been a fun experience.

Tips - get involved in a more time intensive EC right away fall semester. Band, sport, one of the academic ECs that meets more often - anything to see the same group of people multiple times a week for a bit. It will help with the friendship jump.

For Math (Research statistics at first) it is not uncommon to have teachers that don’t really teach it directly. Anticipate this and plan to find other kids to work with for problem solving.

For the love of all things holy do not take Spanish at TJ. It is very hard.

Knock out a class the summer before freshman year such as PE. If your kid wants to do band or orchestra it will make it a lot easier to fit things in.

Can someone please tell me what are teh GRades of a TJ kid in top 25% - All straight A or some lesser grades allowed

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dont colleges know that a 4.0 (w) from TJ is equivalent to a 4.5 or so from a non -TJ HS?

I've yet to meet a college that cares about anything except your unweighted GPA.

Much of the TJ class manages to keep the unweighted GPA above 3.0, there may be fewer than 5 to 10% that go below that. college admissions dont compare TJ to non-TJ, instead they compare one TJ applicant to another TJ applicant. So it is better to be in the top half of the class to begin with and stay there.

Anonymous wrote:Dont colleges know that a 4.0 (w) from TJ is equivalent to a 4.5 or so from a non -TJ HS?

My point exactly - such a skewed college admission process. Making admission tougher for the academically stronger kids.

Anonymous wrote:Dont colleges know that a 4.0 (w) from TJ is equivalent to a 4.5 or so from a non -TJ HS?

I've yet to meet a college that cares about anything except your unweighted GPA.

Sports, extracurriculars, and fun stuff are the nice part, but GPA does matter in the end. As long as the student manages to maintain above average GPA (above 4.3 weighted) that would take care of college admissions aspect somewhat. If it drops below 4.0 weighted which it does for bottom couple of hundred kids, the competitive college prospects are miserable.

Dont colleges know that a 4.0 (w) from TJ is equivalent to a 4.5 or so from a non -TJ HS?

I didn't go to TJ but I went to MIT (my kid was admitted to TJ this year). Most of my friends at MIT that went on to medical school regretted going to MIT because of the grade deflation. It's hard to compete with the 4.0s from Harvard especially when admissions have cut offs.

I also struggled with grad school admission even though my grades weren't that bad and I was a published author, had a patent, extensive research experience.

I would choose MIT again in a heartbeat, though. I miss many parts of being there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish they just had higher grading. Like you could get a 0.75 or a 1.25 for the classes there.

They do. All classes at TJ are honors meaning they are weighted .5

for rigor and effort it takes, should be 1 for honors, and 1.5 for advanced honors

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish they just had higher grading. Like you could get a 0.75 or a 1.25 for the classes there.

They do. All classes at TJ are honors meaning they are weighted .5

Not true

Anonymous wrote:I wish they just had higher grading. Like you could get a 0.75 or a 1.25 for the classes there.

They do. All classes at TJ are honors meaning they are weighted .5

I wish they just had higher grading. Like you could get a 0.75 or a 1.25 for the classes there.

The experience is amazing but the grading is extremely tough and inspite of being the brightest kids, unfortunately it puts them at a disadvantage during Grading and then college admissions. Its a little unfair that students of regular High schools get higher grades due to relatively easier course material and grading, while the brighters ones at TJ struggle . So yes if experience is all you are looking for, its amazing. But if we had to do it all over again, no we wound not. The pressue on the kids and the impact during the college application process is not worth it

TJ Parents - if your kid had a chance to go back and do it all again, would they? If yes, what was one of their favorite parts about TJ?

Any tips or hints for success -- not just academically, but to have a positive experience there?