Anonymous wrote:And for the parents at TJ (or any other NoVA HS) who had the foresight to buy the prepaid tuition 529 plan from VA early in their child's life, UVA (or WM or VA Tech) is basically paid for - at cents on the dollar compared to current in State tuition rates, let alone private college rates.

Sure the balance could be used elsewhere. But it will buy DC 4 years at a VA school versus about 0.5 years at any expensive private. We aren't poor and could afford full tuition anywhere, but being realistic, it's really tempting to save all that money for grad school.

Plus, it's a great benefit for your child to graduate with no debt and money available for grad school.

And for the parents at TJ (or any other NoVA HS) who had the foresight to buy the prepaid tuition 529 plan from VA early in their child's life, UVA (or WM or VA Tech) is basically paid for - at cents on the dollar compared to current in State tuition rates, let alone private college rates.

Sure the balance could be used elsewhere. But it will buy DC 4 years at a VA school versus about 0.5 years at any expensive private. We aren't poor and could afford full tuition anywhere, but being realistic, it's really tempting to save all that money for grad school.

Anonymous wrote:I don't think you necessarily need to go to a school that is known for STEM graduate programs and high profile labs to get a good STEM training in undergrad. When I was in a STEM PhD program, a lot of the best students came from liberal arts schools. A really strong student in our program did her undergrad at William and Mary. A lot of the time students from liberal arts schools came in with better writing skills, closer mentorship from faculty (at larger schools, often times faculty are too invested in their graduate students/postdocs to really mentor undergrads), and more research autonomy from working in smaller labs with more of a focus on undergraduate research.

Lots of good points here. Graduate school rankings do not necessarily relate to the undergrad departments.

You really can't go wrong with UVa, if accepted. I grew up in a state with a state school that was not in the same league with UVa and went to an expensive private school (with lots of scholarship money) to get the challenge I needed. It would have been great to have had UVa as an option.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VA has a mis-match -- very good STEM magnet HS but the only credible instate college is VTech. UVa is not known for STEM at all. Actually, I don't know what UVa is known for other than USNews ranking.

An amazing combination of academics and athletics?

in what?

NP here. "What?" is the wrong question here for most UGs. The comparison should be with liberal arts colleges like Harvey Mudd, Swarthmore (which has engineering), Williams, Hamilton, Reed etc. For some students who may need a relatively low key environment to develop UVa may be an excellent choice. Plenty of other TJ students who are up for a more immediate challenge will end up at MIT, Duke, Princeton, Chicago, etc. or should consider state schools with great science/engineering such as Cal, Michigan, or UMD for that matter.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VA has a mis-match -- very good STEM magnet HS but the only credible instate college is VTech. UVa is not known for STEM at all. Actually, I don't know what UVa is known for other than USNews ranking.

An amazing combination of academics and athletics?

in what?

I don't think you necessarily need to go to a school that is known for STEM graduate programs and high profile labs to get a good STEM training in undergrad. When I was in a STEM PhD program, a lot of the best students came from liberal arts schools. A really strong student in our program did her undergrad at William and Mary. A lot of the time students from liberal arts schools came in with better writing skills, closer mentorship from faculty (at larger schools, often times faculty are too invested in their graduate students/postdocs to really mentor undergrads), and more research autonomy from working in smaller labs with more of a focus on undergraduate research.

Anonymous wrote:VA has a mis-match -- very good STEM magnet HS but the only credible instate college is VTech. UVa is not known for STEM at all. Actually, I don't know what UVa is known for other than USNews ranking.

Thank you for the laugh-out-loud post of the day.

Anonymous wrote:VA has a mis-match -- very good STEM magnet HS but the only credible instate college is VTech. UVa is not known for STEM at all. Actually, I don't know what UVa is known for other than USNews ranking.

An amazing combination of academics and athletics?

Anonymous wrote:The Lawn and being founded/designed by TJ!

Haha!

The Lawn and being founded/designed by TJ!

VA has a mis-match -- very good STEM magnet HS but the only credible instate college is VTech. UVa is not known for STEM at all. Actually, I don't know what UVa is known for other than USNews ranking.

Kids deciding to go to TJ are in eighth grade, 13 or 14 years old. I'd be surprised if their interests didn't change between eighth grade and college. Their high school and then college years are when they are growing and changing and when they are exposed to many different fields and possibilities.

These are bright kids who have the potential to excel in any field they choose. The world can be changed and improved by people working in both STEM and humanitarian fields.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

TJ failed its mission by sending these many students to a non-STEM school.

What do you consider a STEM school? Only MIT and Caltech?

You are nuts, lady. A school "failed its mission" because students graduated and chose "non-STEM" colleges? That doesn't even make sense.

NP. Yes it does, even though one can very well get a respectable STEM degree from a non-STEM university: I have worked with UVA and Va Tech CS grads and both cohorts were great.
Kids go into TJ claiming passion for STEM and so many do a 180 four years later. The school is publicly funded and I have a feeling that science ROI is not that great. Indeed, I'd like to know how many, or what % of TJ alumni went into graduate and post-grad STEM programs, including med schools and science/math teaching programs. The school has been around long enough to collect plenty of data.

Is that going to be the next requirement for TJ? Make the kids sign a notarized oath that they promise to pursue a STEM career.

I'm thinking of the kids that I know who graduated from TJ. Off the top of my head, I can think of about ten --not one of them is pursuing a STEM career. In fact, they didn't even major in STEM fields in college. They are all very bright, but their careers run the gamut from Business to the ARTS.