Anonymous
Post 07/16/2025 14:46     Subject: How's the college admission in Non-TJ FCPS high schools?
Anonymous wrote:I was an alumni interviewer for Stanford for a few years, and a few of the kids I interviewed from other schools were admitted, but the very impressive students from TJ were not.

To be competitive for admissions I think you really need to stand out from your classmates. It's harder to do that at TJ than at a school like Washington-Liberty (from which two were admitted that I know of). In choosing a high school for my kids, I'm looking for a place where they can take a full load of AP courses and where their classmates are well-disciplined and less likely to negatively influence my kids. The average test scores should be high enough that the universities are convinced that the classes are sufficiently rigorous. And there should be a cohort of students who are high-achieving so that the kids can encourage each other, but it doesn't bother me that there are also a large number of "average" students--in fact I want that so my child can stand out more easily. If the school has a few elite college admissions in a single year, then I know it's capable of producing those results.


I would echo this. It’s better to standout, which is harder to do at some schools.
Anonymous
Post 07/16/2025 14:42     Subject: How's the college admission in Non-TJ FCPS high schools?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I was an alumni interviewer for Stanford for a few years, and a few of the kids I interviewed from other schools were admitted, but the very impressive students from TJ were not.

To be competitive for admissions I think you really need to stand out from your classmates. It's harder to do that at TJ than at a school like Washington-Liberty (from which two were admitted that I know of). In choosing a high school for my kids, I'm looking for a place where they can take a full load of AP courses and where their classmates are well-disciplined and less likely to negatively influence my kids. The average test scores should be high enough that the universities are convinced that the classes are sufficiently rigorous. And there should be a cohort of students who are high-achieving so that the kids can encourage each other, but it doesn't bother me that there are also a large number of "average" students--in fact I want that so my child can stand out more easily. If the school has a few elite college admissions in a single year, then I know it's capable of producing those results.


Would high marks on AP exams satisfy the “rigorous class” requirement? I am the PP with kids who attended the low rated high school, but they and their peers got mostly 5s on AP exams. I would think that demonstrates the classes they took were rigorous enough.


I would hope so--I'm not an admissions officer, so I never actually saw the files, but I did get a good feel for the kids. I'd think a college would want to measure your kid against some kind of external standards, and AP exams, the SAT, and the ACT are the best thing to go off of. Btw, one of my classmates at Stanford went to one of the very worst schools in our hometown (while I went to the best public school). So it certainly didn't prevent his admission.
Anonymous
Post 07/16/2025 13:31     Subject: How's the college admission in Non-TJ FCPS high schools?
Anonymous wrote:I was an alumni interviewer for Stanford for a few years, and a few of the kids I interviewed from other schools were admitted, but the very impressive students from TJ were not.

To be competitive for admissions I think you really need to stand out from your classmates. It's harder to do that at TJ than at a school like Washington-Liberty (from which two were admitted that I know of). In choosing a high school for my kids, I'm looking for a place where they can take a full load of AP courses and where their classmates are well-disciplined and less likely to negatively influence my kids. The average test scores should be high enough that the universities are convinced that the classes are sufficiently rigorous. And there should be a cohort of students who are high-achieving so that the kids can encourage each other, but it doesn't bother me that there are also a large number of "average" students--in fact I want that so my child can stand out more easily. If the school has a few elite college admissions in a single year, then I know it's capable of producing those results.


Would high marks on AP exams satisfy the “rigorous class” requirement? I am the PP with kids who attended the low rated high school, but they and their peers got mostly 5s on AP exams. I would think that demonstrates the classes they took were rigorous enough.
Anonymous
Post 07/16/2025 12:08     Subject: How's the college admission in Non-TJ FCPS high schools?
Anonymous wrote:You can look at the scattergrams in Naviance for your own kids’ school.


Your kid has to be enrolled in the school to see it, so this doesn't help for choosing a school.
Anonymous
Post 07/16/2025 11:36     Subject: How's the college admission in Non-TJ FCPS high schools?
I was an alumni interviewer for Stanford for a few years, and a few of the kids I interviewed from other schools were admitted, but the very impressive students from TJ were not.

To be competitive for admissions I think you really need to stand out from your classmates. It's harder to do that at TJ than at a school like Washington-Liberty (from which two were admitted that I know of). In choosing a high school for my kids, I'm looking for a place where they can take a full load of AP courses and where their classmates are well-disciplined and less likely to negatively influence my kids. The average test scores should be high enough that the universities are convinced that the classes are sufficiently rigorous. And there should be a cohort of students who are high-achieving so that the kids can encourage each other, but it doesn't bother me that there are also a large number of "average" students--in fact I want that so my child can stand out more easily. If the school has a few elite college admissions in a single year, then I know it's capable of producing those results.
Anonymous
Post 07/16/2025 09:59     Subject: How's the college admission in Non-TJ FCPS high schools?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Go on IG and start searching for your zoned HS class of whatever admissions. Someone usually starts one. Granted it is self-reported but you can see where the trends are. Honestly no matter what school, a lot of kids are staying in state at GMU, JMU, VT, etc. or the big out of state publics like Penn State, Ole Miss, Alabama.


We see a few going to U of Tenn, Clemson, WVU and U of South Carolina. My kid went to UVA with a cohort of about 14 more kids from a lower ranked (majority minority -high FARMS) FCPS high school. These kids put in the work in and out of the classroom. They were mostly White UMC as well.


Tennessee and WVU are big in this area for sure, my friend’s two kids both went to WVU (one graduated, one still there). It’s not super far away either.

Maybe this is better for the college forum, but I think ECU and Appalachian State are going to be the next big things here. I weirdly keep seeing App State content on IG, so someone is promoting it.
Anonymous
Post 07/16/2025 08:57     Subject: How's the college admission in Non-TJ FCPS high schools?
Anonymous wrote:Go on IG and start searching for your zoned HS class of whatever admissions. Someone usually starts one. Granted it is self-reported but you can see where the trends are. Honestly no matter what school, a lot of kids are staying in state at GMU, JMU, VT, etc. or the big out of state publics like Penn State, Ole Miss, Alabama.


We see a few going to U of Tenn, Clemson, WVU and U of South Carolina. My kid went to UVA with a cohort of about 14 more kids from a lower ranked (majority minority -high FARMS) FCPS high school. These kids put in the work in and out of the classroom. They were mostly White UMC as well.
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2025 09:48     Subject: How's the college admission in Non-TJ FCPS high schools?
Go on IG and start searching for your zoned HS class of whatever admissions. Someone usually starts one. Granted it is self-reported but you can see where the trends are. Honestly no matter what school, a lot of kids are staying in state at GMU, JMU, VT, etc. or the big out of state publics like Penn State, Ole Miss, Alabama.
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2025 08:43     Subject: Re:How's the college admission in Non-TJ FCPS high schools?
College admissiosn are good across the board for kids who are interested in attending college. There are schools were the numbers look low but that is because you have a larger percentage of the population that is not interested in college and are not taking Honors or AP/IB classes. Those same schools have a smaller cohort who are actively taking AP/IB classes and land at UVA, VT, Ivies, Big Ten schools and other strong schools in the region and across the country.

FCPS has a good number of schools with a wide income gap and that is going to be reflected in those schools college placements and desire to attend college. If you have a student who is interested in college and takes the college prep classes, they are likely to end up in a college that is a good fit for them.
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2025 07:13     Subject: How's the college admission in Non-TJ FCPS high schools?
You can look at the scattergrams in Naviance for your own kids’ school.
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2025 05:21     Subject: How's the college admission in Non-TJ FCPS high schools?
Anonymous wrote:Usually kids from wealthier households, with engaged parents, do well in college admissions, no matter the high school.


This is the key. Top students from every FCPS high school have a shoot at getting into great schools. Key is having parents that substitute for FCPS’s weaknesses of which there are many.
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2025 03:51     Subject: How's the college admission in Non-TJ FCPS high schools?
Anonymous wrote:Depends on the school. Many are nowhere near as impressive as Langley or McLean.


Langley is #2 HS in all of Virginia so definitely should be asking except how schools NOT at top do.
Anonymous
Post 07/14/2025 23:36     Subject: How's the college admission in Non-TJ FCPS high schools?
Usually kids from wealthier households, with engaged parents, do well in college admissions, no matter the high school.
Anonymous
Post 07/14/2025 23:33     Subject: How's the college admission in Non-TJ FCPS high schools?
Depends on the school. Many are nowhere near as impressive as Langley or McLean.
Anonymous
Post 07/14/2025 21:58     Subject: How's the college admission in Non-TJ FCPS high schools?
I am curious about the college admission in normal FCPS high schools and found this:

https://patch.com/virginia/mclean/mclean-langley-graduates-excel-in-college-acceptances

Although it contained two schools only, the college admission results seemed pretty impressive. It is pretty old though. Anyone know where to find the information for the recent years?