Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS saying he would like to apply to TJ. Grades are good.
I am hesitant due to my perception that students are expected to self learn and due to a high pressure environment. What has been your child’s experience with this?

There's ~3000 applicants for 550 spots. It's not super selective.

The pressure is real. They need to be a more mature student that learns the material at home and goes to classes for review is real (at least in some of the stem classes, they go a mile a minute and if you are relying on classroom instruction for learning, you will drown).

I think my kid would have been marginally happier at his base school, he world have had a better gpa at his base school, he would have an easier time with the Virginia State colleges from his base school... but he is MUCH better prepared for college, he got to stay on the varsity team in his sport as a freshman, he is making friends and his peers are all pretty motivated.

No! Not at all!!

There is absolutely no need to learn the material beforehand at home. This is the most unambiguous indication that the child is not a good fit for TJ.

And this is exactly what Curie encourages and that is how it hinders the child. By exposing the material beforehand, you are short-circuiting the discovery process, which is very important for the student to retain and understand the material in depth.

WTF are you talking about? Going into math class cold and expecting the teacher to spoon feed you everything is a recipe for failure at TJ. This was true in 2015 and it's true in 2025.

You should do the reading ahead of class so you are prepared to understand the lecture and then practice. A lot of teachers are skipping the lecture bit and just giving kids work to do and making themselves available to answer questions. They need to do the lecture bit.

Ideally, this is how it works work.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS saying he would like to apply to TJ. Grades are good.
I am hesitant due to my perception that students are expected to self learn and due to a high pressure environment. What has been your child’s experience with this?

There's ~3000 applicants for 550 spots. It's not super selective.

The pressure is real. They need to be a more mature student that learns the material at home and goes to classes for review is real (at least in some of the stem classes, they go a mile a minute and if you are relying on classroom instruction for learning, you will drown).

I think my kid would have been marginally happier at his base school, he world have had a better gpa at his base school, he would have an easier time with the Virginia State colleges from his base school... but he is MUCH better prepared for college, he got to stay on the varsity team in his sport as a freshman, he is making friends and his peers are all pretty motivated.

No! Not at all!!

There is absolutely no need to learn the material beforehand at home. This is the most unambiguous indication that the child is not a good fit for TJ.

And this is exactly what Curie encourages and that is how it hinders the child. By exposing the material beforehand, you are short-circuiting the discovery process, which is very important for the student to retain and understand the material in depth.

WTF are you talking about? Going into math class cold and expecting the teacher to spoon feed you everything is a recipe for failure at TJ. This was true in 2015 and it's true in 2025.

I graduated more than a decade before 2015, but I never prepped for my math classes before the school year started at TJ. The only prep I had was prior year math classes. I survived Multivar and Linear.

NP. Same. I went to math class and learned stuff there, I didn't learn it before class and then just practice during class.

Modern teaching pedagogy is baffling to me. I feel so sorry for all of these kids - and to their future society of a lot of kids who don't know much or even how to do anything.

+1

It is not modern teaching, just that some students were just told again and again by their parents that if they see new material in class for the first time, they are going to find it hard. That they need to take coaching classes in advance to avoid seeing new material for the first time in class. This is the whole premise of Curie.

So when students see some material for the first time in class, they freak out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS saying he would like to apply to TJ. Grades are good.
I am hesitant due to my perception that students are expected to self learn and due to a high pressure environment. What has been your child’s experience with this?

There's ~3000 applicants for 550 spots. It's not super selective.

The pressure is real. They need to be a more mature student that learns the material at home and goes to classes for review is real (at least in some of the stem classes, they go a mile a minute and if you are relying on classroom instruction for learning, you will drown).

I think my kid would have been marginally happier at his base school, he world have had a better gpa at his base school, he would have an easier time with the Virginia State colleges from his base school... but he is MUCH better prepared for college, he got to stay on the varsity team in his sport as a freshman, he is making friends and his peers are all pretty motivated.

No! Not at all!!

There is absolutely no need to learn the material beforehand at home. This is the most unambiguous indication that the child is not a good fit for TJ.

And this is exactly what Curie encourages and that is how it hinders the child. By exposing the material beforehand, you are short-circuiting the discovery process, which is very important for the student to retain and understand the material in depth.

WTF are you talking about? Going into math class cold and expecting the teacher to spoon feed you everything is a recipe for failure at TJ. This was true in 2015 and it's true in 2025.

There is no need to study in advance. Just follow what the teacher tells you. Some classes ask you to read some material in advance, if so, do that. But in math, that is not the case. Students are not expected to study in advance. All the material is taught in the class. The important thing is to do all the homework problems.

Students who are not able to follow in class because "they are drinking from a firehose" are either not paying attention in class or just not a good fit for TJ.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS saying he would like to apply to TJ. Grades are good.
I am hesitant due to my perception that students are expected to self learn and due to a high pressure environment. What has been your child’s experience with this?

There's ~3000 applicants for 550 spots. It's not super selective.

The pressure is real. They need to be a more mature student that learns the material at home and goes to classes for review is real (at least in some of the stem classes, they go a mile a minute and if you are relying on classroom instruction for learning, you will drown).

I think my kid would have been marginally happier at his base school, he world have had a better gpa at his base school, he would have an easier time with the Virginia State colleges from his base school... but he is MUCH better prepared for college, he got to stay on the varsity team in his sport as a freshman, he is making friends and his peers are all pretty motivated.

No! Not at all!!

There is absolutely no need to learn the material beforehand at home. This is the most unambiguous indication that the child is not a good fit for TJ.

And this is exactly what Curie encourages and that is how it hinders the child. By exposing the material beforehand, you are short-circuiting the discovery process, which is very important for the student to retain and understand the material in depth.

WTF are you talking about? Going into math class cold and expecting the teacher to spoon feed you everything is a recipe for failure at TJ. This was true in 2015 and it's true in 2025.

I graduated more than a decade before 2015, but I never prepped for my math classes before the school year started at TJ. The only prep I had was prior year math classes. I survived Multivar and Linear.

NP. Same. I went to math class and learned stuff there, I didn't learn it before class and then just practice during class.

Modern teaching pedagogy is baffling to me. I feel so sorry for all of these kids - and to their future society of a lot of kids who don't know much or even how to do anything.

By good grades you mean a 4.0?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS saying he would like to apply to TJ. Grades are good.
I am hesitant due to my perception that students are expected to self learn and due to a high pressure environment. What has been your child’s experience with this?

There's ~3000 applicants for 550 spots. It's not super selective.

The pressure is real. They need to be a more mature student that learns the material at home and goes to classes for review is real (at least in some of the stem classes, they go a mile a minute and if you are relying on classroom instruction for learning, you will drown).

I think my kid would have been marginally happier at his base school, he world have had a better gpa at his base school, he would have an easier time with the Virginia State colleges from his base school... but he is MUCH better prepared for college, he got to stay on the varsity team in his sport as a freshman, he is making friends and his peers are all pretty motivated.

No! Not at all!!

There is absolutely no need to learn the material beforehand at home. This is the most unambiguous indication that the child is not a good fit for TJ.

And this is exactly what Curie encourages and that is how it hinders the child. By exposing the material beforehand, you are short-circuiting the discovery process, which is very important for the student to retain and understand the material in depth.

WTF are you talking about? Going into math class cold and expecting the teacher to spoon feed you everything is a recipe for failure at TJ. This was true in 2015 and it's true in 2025.

You should do the reading ahead of class so you are prepared to understand the lecture and then practice. A lot of teachers are skipping the lecture bit and just giving kids work to do and making themselves available to answer questions. They need to do the lecture bit.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS saying he would like to apply to TJ. Grades are good.
I am hesitant due to my perception that students are expected to self learn and due to a high pressure environment. What has been your child’s experience with this?

There's ~3000 applicants for 550 spots. It's not super selective.

The pressure is real. They need to be a more mature student that learns the material at home and goes to classes for review is real (at least in some of the stem classes, they go a mile a minute and if you are relying on classroom instruction for learning, you will drown).

I think my kid would have been marginally happier at his base school, he world have had a better gpa at his base school, he would have an easier time with the Virginia State colleges from his base school... but he is MUCH better prepared for college, he got to stay on the varsity team in his sport as a freshman, he is making friends and his peers are all pretty motivated.

No! Not at all!!

There is absolutely no need to learn the material beforehand at home. This is the most unambiguous indication that the child is not a good fit for TJ.

And this is exactly what Curie encourages and that is how it hinders the child. By exposing the material beforehand, you are short-circuiting the discovery process, which is very important for the student to retain and understand the material in depth.

WTF are you talking about? Going into math class cold and expecting the teacher to spoon feed you everything is a recipe for failure at TJ. This was true in 2015 and it's true in 2025.

I graduated more than a decade before 2015, but I never prepped for my math classes before the school year started at TJ. The only prep I had was prior year math classes. I survived Multivar and Linear.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS saying he would like to apply to TJ. Grades are good.
I am hesitant due to my perception that students are expected to self learn and due to a high pressure environment. What has been your child’s experience with this?

There's ~3000 applicants for 550 spots. It's not super selective.

The pressure is real. They need to be a more mature student that learns the material at home and goes to classes for review is real (at least in some of the stem classes, they go a mile a minute and if you are relying on classroom instruction for learning, you will drown).

I think my kid would have been marginally happier at his base school, he world have had a better gpa at his base school, he would have an easier time with the Virginia State colleges from his base school... but he is MUCH better prepared for college, he got to stay on the varsity team in his sport as a freshman, he is making friends and his peers are all pretty motivated.

No! Not at all!!

There is absolutely no need to learn the material beforehand at home. This is the most unambiguous indication that the child is not a good fit for TJ.

And this is exactly what Curie encourages and that is how it hinders the child. By exposing the material beforehand, you are short-circuiting the discovery process, which is very important for the student to retain and understand the material in depth.

WTF are you talking about? Going into math class cold and expecting the teacher to spoon feed you everything is a recipe for failure at TJ. This was true in 2015 and it's true in 2025.

Yes everyone knows that avoiding learning is the best way to learn!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS saying he would like to apply to TJ. Grades are good.
I am hesitant due to my perception that students are expected to self learn and due to a high pressure environment. What has been your child’s experience with this?

There's ~3000 applicants for 550 spots. It's not super selective.

The pressure is real. They need to be a more mature student that learns the material at home and goes to classes for review is real (at least in some of the stem classes, they go a mile a minute and if you are relying on classroom instruction for learning, you will drown).

I think my kid would have been marginally happier at his base school, he world have had a better gpa at his base school, he would have an easier time with the Virginia State colleges from his base school... but he is MUCH better prepared for college, he got to stay on the varsity team in his sport as a freshman, he is making friends and his peers are all pretty motivated.

No! Not at all!!

There is absolutely no need to learn the material beforehand at home. This is the most unambiguous indication that the child is not a good fit for TJ.

And this is exactly what Curie encourages and that is how it hinders the child. By exposing the material beforehand, you are short-circuiting the discovery process, which is very important for the student to retain and understand the material in depth.

Ds was the same in 8th. She was really interested in it and I was really hesitant. We figured we would decide after we knew if she got in.

She went to the open house after being admitted and was completely sold. Has said it was the best decision she has made.

There were a lot of very good TJ threads a few weeks ago when admission offers went out. You could look at those to get more info. Just ignore the handful of posters that like to turn TJ threads into debates about the admission process - there was still a lot of good content form TJ parents on those threads.

All great advice so far.

I’ve posted before: send your child to TJ only if they are self-motivated to go. I have a child at TJ and another child at our base HS. The decisions were theirs. Both are thriving.

Good luck to you and your child on the application process, OP!

Anonymous wrote:DS saying he would like to apply to TJ. Grades are good.
I am hesitant due to my perception that students are expected to self learn and due to a high pressure environment. What has been your child’s experience with this?

There's ~3000 applicants for 550 spots. It's not super selective.

The pressure is real. They need to be a more mature student that learns the material at home and goes to classes for review is real (at least in some of the stem classes, they go a mile a minute and if you are relying on classroom instruction for learning, you will drown).

I think my kid would have been marginally happier at his base school, he world have had a better gpa at his base school, he would have an easier time with the Virginia State colleges from his base school... but he is MUCH better prepared for college, he got to stay on the varsity team in his sport as a freshman, he is making friends and his peers are all pretty motivated.

You let him apply and then worry about making a decision if he is accepted. At the very least, it is good practice at filling out an application properly and then writing some timed essays. It is very competitive, 2,000 or so kids apply for 50 spots, so it is kind of low risk. You know that you are applying against the top students in the county and you can attend your base school if you are not selected.

DS saying he would like to apply to TJ. Grades are good.
I am hesitant due to my perception that students are expected to self learn and due to a high pressure environment. What has been your child’s experience with this?