Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess no one else’s TJ kid wants to go back to base?

As a Mom of a Senior I would say pls do transfer. Its a nightmarish life and the workload is unbelievably difficult, grading very difficult, and teachers with no consideration for a kid's mental health. DC is graduating, but in retrospect if we had to choose between base school and TJ, would choose base school hands down. And just before the haters start, DD is in top 25% of TJ.

Why would you let your kid stay if it was a nightmare for them? My kids loved their time there but if they struggled like yours did, they would have switched to base.

I’m not the poster, but in my case, my child may not want to go back even if things do not go well. We cannot just force them to go back to base. Every child, every experience is different, so please be kind when writing comments.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess no one else’s TJ kid wants to go back to base?

As a Mom of a Senior I would say pls do transfer. Its a nightmarish life and the workload is unbelievably difficult, grading very difficult, and teachers with no consideration for a kid's mental health. DC is graduating, but in retrospect if we had to choose between base school and TJ, would choose base school hands down. And just before the haters start, DD is in top 25% of TJ.

Why would you let your kid stay if it was a nightmare for them? My kids loved their time there but if they struggled like yours did, they would have switched to base.

Anonymous wrote:Switch at semester.
And talk to your DD about how she’s doing just fine but the commute and “fit” are not compatible. Sew this in her mind as the dominate narrative so that she internalizes it.

Then when she is applying to colleges, she will
have something brief and innocuous to write in the section that asks to explain why you transferred schools if you did not attend the same school for all 4 years of high school. (Yes—there is an open-ended response for this.)
She can write a brief 2-3 sentences that explains that she was honored to be selected to attend, but the time commitment of the commute interfered with her ability to participate fully in her beloved after-school passion or treacle sport or volunteering at her local elementary school. Or she discovered that she could take XX course at her base school with a certain teacher whom students rave about, or or or….

Whatever the reason, make it a positive one about how she pivoted direction because she realized the advantages of attending home base school rather than staying at TJ for four years.

So…brainwash your child into believing a lie that can then be presented on college apps.

Switch at semester.
And talk to your DD about how she’s doing just fine but the commute and “fit” are not compatible. Sew this in her mind as the dominate narrative so that she internalizes it.

Then when she is applying to colleges, she will
have something brief and innocuous to write in the section that asks to explain why you transferred schools if you did not attend the same school for all 4 years of high school. (Yes—there is an open-ended response for this.)
She can write a brief 2-3 sentences that explains that she was honored to be selected to attend, but the time commitment of the commute interfered with her ability to participate fully in her beloved after-school passion or treacle sport or volunteering at her local elementary school. Or she discovered that she could take XX course at her base school with a certain teacher whom students rave about, or or or….

Whatever the reason, make it a positive one about how she pivoted direction because she realized the advantages of attending home base school rather than staying at TJ for four years.

In addition to stress of grades and workload, there is this: kids in TJ are quite competitive and do notice and talk about who “are actually smart” and who are the rest. I heard freshmen commented “oh I thought in this class everyone was actually smart.. I mean I was told that is why we were grouped together..”. Make sure your kid is where they feel smart for the next 3-4 years and not looked down at by their peers. Challenged, yes, but not struggling. And it is easy to find challenging classes in a base school for most kids.
https://youtu.be/7J-wCHDJYmo?si=37kaGuLEmZ5w7T6O

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess no one else’s TJ kid wants to go back to base?

As a Mom of a Senior I would say pls do transfer. Its a nightmarish life and the workload is unbelievably difficult, grading very difficult, and teachers with no consideration for a kid's mental health. DC is graduating, but in retrospect if we had to choose between base school and TJ, would choose base school hands down. And just before the haters start, DD is in top 25% of TJ.

Wow. This sounds so awful.

Nightmare situation. If you talk to your TJ counselor or anyone there, they’ll downplay your student’s feelings and insist that getting Cs and Ds is normal at TJ. However, low grades aren’t typical for an average-performing student, even with extracurricular involvement. The administration is now dealing with a significant number of low-performing students especially after admissions change, and your child is just another statistic to them. With pressure to retain the class as a whole and minimize dropouts, they would never suggest that even the poorest performers leave TJ. They seem indifferent to your struggling student’s self-esteem or future college prospects. All you hear is to stay put, with no guidance on how to help your student rise from the bottom to the top of the class.

The end of the year is the best time to consider making a switch. Start a confidential discussion with your base school counselor in the spring, around the time course selections for the following year are made. If the switch needs at beginning or mid-year, the classes available will depend on enrollment levels, which may limit your course options, but the nightmare will be over.

Anonymous wrote:I guess no one else’s TJ kid wants to go back to base?

As a Mom of a Senior I would say pls do transfer. Its a nightmarish life and the workload is unbelievably difficult, grading very difficult, and teachers with no consideration for a kid's mental health. DC is graduating, but in retrospect if we had to choose between base school and TJ, would choose base school hands down. And just before the haters start, DD is in top 25% of TJ.

Anonymous wrote:I guess no one else’s TJ kid wants to go back to base?

Less than 2 hrs had passed since your orig post.

Definitely leave if your child is already struggling. The work hasn’t even really begun yet.

DC is in 11th there. She knows a few kids that went back to base after 9th but none that left mid way through 9th.

That said, it seems to ramp up from the first semester so if your child is already drowning I would also cut losses.

Anonymous wrote:Hi All,

Wondering how it works if you want to transfer back to base school from TJ. Do grades follow you and impact final grade? When is the ideal time to make the switch? DC is absolutely drowning in work and not doing well on assessments. It’s very defeating.

I believe if you transfer back now, your grades will not follow you, but at some point they cannot ignore your performance at TJ. If you transfer back after the semester or year is over, I think your grades follow you. One bad semester can be explained away, 4 bad years cannot.
I think the principal requests to counsel you and your child before you decide to return.
She will likely suggest using the 8th period to take advantage of tutoring that is available for students.

I would at least to what she has to say but she has her own agenda and that isn't necessarily in the best interests of your child.
She's not a monster but the number of students that returned to their base schools jumped from like 4-5 a year to as high as 40 when they started the new admissions process and she implemented all sorts of ways to reduce that number. One of the ways was requesting to counsel your family on other options.
These remedial measures have helped a lot of kids keep their head above water and get on track to graduate with a respectable GPA. If you are poor then there is some value to graduating from TJ with a decent GPA. If you are UMC and drowning at TJ, take your child and leave, you aren't helping them by keeping them there.

My neighbor switched back to her base school after freshman year. It wasn't the workload that was drowning her; it was the commute. I am not sure if grades transferred or not.

I guess no one else’s TJ kid wants to go back to base?

Hi All,

Wondering how it works if you want to transfer back to base school from TJ. Do grades follow you and impact final grade? When is the ideal time to make the switch? DC is absolutely drowning in work and not doing well on assessments. It’s very defeating.