I can imagine it would be devastating for a kid to hear from his mom (in 11th grade) "we need you to leave your school and your friends because you're not doing well enough academically to get into the level of college which we need you to attend."

Tread lightly OP. Your kid will never forget it if you force a move for this reason.

Don't make this about GPA, make sure this is about his happiness. Happiness in high school. Let him know -he could- move back to his base school. Mention the timeline. When a decision needs to happen. Then, I think he has to want it enough to ask for it.

Let the kid decide. You have no crystal ball -- which is the bigger lesson you need to impart

I have a friend who moved his son from TJ to a base school in 11th. Kid is now at Virginia Tech. I dont know what his grades were at TJ.

Dont take advice from this forum. Talk to a private counselor who knows FCPS. Book a one hour call. Anyone would do.

For what it's worth, one of my friend's kids left a top private school near DC costing at least $50k a year and started at a local FCPS high school and found the high school to be just as hard or harder as the highly regarded private in honors and AP classes. I have no doubt that TJ is harder than all the other FCPS and Falls Church high schools but when people say that they mean it's harder to get an A and to stand out among peers. If your kid isn't getting at least B pluses at TJ they won't stand out at most of the other FCPS schools either. What will make them happiest? Do that. I agree that moving school districts may be the easiest way to justify a move verses just moving out of TJ.

Anonymous wrote:If the goal is to make it to a top school, why would they do any good at one when their peers go to schools like TJ and they did exceptionally well?

I think you're overestimating the intelligence of the average student at a top school and underestimating the intelligence of the average TJ student.

Also, cheating is rampant at TJ.

If the goal is to make it to a top school, why would they do any good at one when their peers go to schools like TJ and they did exceptionally well?

Your kid will not stand out more at the base school.

If they get all As, they will definitely show improvement but also that they couldn’t take tj and it will still not make them stand out against base kids with higher gpas.

At best it will - as someone above said - hopefully help the gpa from going down more the junior year.

If they are struggling at TJ, best to move to your local school. You can always explain the move in the common app (extra info section) so the AO is not guessing. Might be the healthiest option than to continue to paddle upstream. I'm making an assumption here that your child is finding it difficult to keep up with their peers in class leading to the lower gpa

And please tell us, how low is this GPA? Is it a 3.5 or a 2.0?

What does your child want to do? Start there. Does he like TJ and want to stay? If so, stay. If not, transfer.

Do not transfer just to try to bring up grades for one year for college. As you said, then you have the low GPA at another school and all the issues associated with being the new kid junior year.

Anonymous wrote:Should my low GPA TJ kid, rising junior, transfer to a school where they can stand out more? FCCPS. My worry is that their low gpa will considered worse if they go to a school with inflated gpa.

My opinion is to move if your child is ok with it(not worried about making new friends and the transition is easy on them). Low gpa will def effect college admissions.

A low GPA in 9th and 10th beats a low GPA in 9th, 10th, and 11th.

Should my low GPA TJ kid, rising junior, transfer to a school where they can stand out more? FCCPS. My worry is that their low gpa will considered worse if they go to a school with inflated gpa.