Anonymous
Post 06/22/2022 09:28     Subject: TJ admissions now verifying free and reduced price meal status for successful 2026 applicants
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If your child is doing college level work in middle school, just skip HS and go to college. Seriously, if they really are that special. But I doubt it. They are probably very smart, but not a genius like Einstein. Smart, very well prepared, with rich parents paying for every afterschool class does not guarantee TJ admissions or a successful scientist.


Students participate STEM ECs may study college level knowledge in middle school. DD studied AP courses in 7th grade for her EC activities and jumped to college textbooks in 8th grade. I didn’t pay any class for her. She studied by herself.


Did she get into TJ?


Yes
Anonymous
Post 06/22/2022 02:44     Subject: Re:TJ admissions now verifying free and reduced price meal status for successful 2026 applicants
From the perspective of a parent living in a school zone where 80% or more of the student are economically disadvantaged, I am happy to know our attendance at crappy schools are a consideration during the TJ admissions process. My kid was identified as gifted in math during the first few weeks of 3rd grade, when we changed to public school. For 3 long years we struggled, without success, to get her school to challenge & nuture her in math. The school failed miserably. I am glad that crappy school is in our review mirror. Sadly, I will never know how badly the school damaged her budding gifted-ness
Anonymous
Post 06/22/2022 01:55     Subject: Re:TJ admissions now verifying free and reduced price meal status for successful 2026 applicants


Incorrect. Some applicants were in school in fall of 2021.


Which NoVA schools were in person in fall 2021?


Loudoun. Fairfax wasn't?


My children were in a special INPERSON SACC class at their school All Day, everyday from Sep 2020 to Feb 2021.

Many schools have so many kids on free lunch that it is easier to give free lunch to all students instead of weeding out the few that should be paying. IMO any child who suffers through those brain-draining schools should get bonus points not just the economicly disadvantaged students.

Anonymous
Post 06/21/2022 19:53     Subject: Re:TJ admissions now verifying free and reduced price meal status for successful 2026 applicants
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Turns out that kid had straight A’s and not a B- ever. They did 4+ hours of community service per week and played competitive piano as well as playing in charity concerts and doing lots of charity work. Don’t be mad just because your kid didn’t get in. They picked the best candidates. Stop speculating when your child didn’t get in. Maybe if you worked with your kid instead of complaining, they would be in TJ. Instead, you complain on the internet under a screen. They picked, not you.


Competitive piano? As a music major that is like a dagger to my heart. That’s not what music is about. Heartbreaking.

and a charity concert helping middle eastern refugees, which earned over $50,000.


I have no issue with a charity concert. It’s just the idea of making music a competition makes me said. I guess i did some of those state level things where they score you in high school. I always felt like the score was for me. I suppose it was technically a competition. I never considered myself a competitive musician. Music, to me, is expression not competition.
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2022 19:33     Subject: Re:TJ admissions now verifying free and reduced price meal status for successful 2026 applicants
Anonymous wrote:can someone pls post an actual email screen shot asking for verification?


It doesn’t seem that FCPS wants to cooperate. Below is 3rd response/delay tactic per FOIA request for 2026 applicants/ free reduced meal questions.
Will keep at it until truth is revealed.

Based upon reasonable inquiry within the Governor’s Office, "the requested documents could not be found or do not exist."
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2022 19:31     Subject: TJ admissions now verifying free and reduced price meal status for successful 2026 applicants
Anonymous wrote:If your child is doing college level work in middle school, just skip HS and go to college. Seriously, if they really are that special. But I doubt it. They are probably very smart, but not a genius like Einstein. Smart, very well prepared, with rich parents paying for every afterschool class does not guarantee TJ admissions or a successful scientist.

Many kids who are that special have the cognitive ability of a college kid and the maturity of a 14 year old. They belong in gifted or magnet high schools - not college. TJ is a perfect fit.
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2022 18:26     Subject: TJ admissions now verifying free and reduced price meal status for successful 2026 applicants
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If your child is doing college level work in middle school, just skip HS and go to college. Seriously, if they really are that special. But I doubt it. They are probably very smart, but not a genius like Einstein. Smart, very well prepared, with rich parents paying for every afterschool class does not guarantee TJ admissions or a successful scientist.


Students participate STEM ECs may study college level knowledge in middle school. DD studied AP courses in 7th grade for her EC activities and jumped to college textbooks in 8th grade. I didn’t pay any class for her. She studied by herself.


Did she get into TJ?
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2022 14:14     Subject: TJ admissions now verifying free and reduced price meal status for successful 2026 applicants
Anonymous wrote:If your child is doing college level work in middle school, just skip HS and go to college. Seriously, if they really are that special. But I doubt it. They are probably very smart, but not a genius like Einstein. Smart, very well prepared, with rich parents paying for every afterschool class does not guarantee TJ admissions or a successful scientist.


PP and I are talking about a student at our school who does college level math (Calc BC) and has self-studied college level political science, economics, and international relations as well as highly advanced in science.
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2022 11:40     Subject: TJ admissions now verifying free and reduced price meal status for successful 2026 applicants
Anonymous wrote:If your child is doing college level work in middle school, just skip HS and go to college. Seriously, if they really are that special. But I doubt it. They are probably very smart, but not a genius like Einstein. Smart, very well prepared, with rich parents paying for every afterschool class does not guarantee TJ admissions or a successful scientist.


Students participate STEM ECs may study college level knowledge in middle school. DD studied AP courses in 7th grade for her EC activities and jumped to college textbooks in 8th grade. I didn’t pay any class for her. She studied by herself.
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2022 11:27     Subject: TJ admissions now verifying free and reduced price meal status for successful 2026 applicants
If your child is doing college level work in middle school, just skip HS and go to college. Seriously, if they really are that special. But I doubt it. They are probably very smart, but not a genius like Einstein. Smart, very well prepared, with rich parents paying for every afterschool class does not guarantee TJ admissions or a successful scientist.
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2022 11:05     Subject: Re:TJ admissions now verifying free and reduced price meal status for successful 2026 applicants
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Turns out that kid had straight A’s and not a B- ever. They did 4+ hours of community service per week and played competitive piano as well as playing in charity concerts and doing lots of charity work. Don’t be mad just because your kid didn’t get in. They picked the best candidates. Stop speculating when your child didn’t get in. Maybe if you worked with your kid instead of complaining, they would be in TJ. Instead, you complain on the internet under a screen. They picked, not you.


How is any of that STEM related? If this about a student taking Algebra 1, they most likely will not perform well in a STEM environment like TJ, nor will they be able to take most of the high-level STEM courses. TJ is for STEM students and leaders not those who do charity work and piano. They did not pick the best, or even good, candidates by any measure.

are you seriously judging a child based on two sentences a stranger told you about them? everybody has potential. If you knew this kid, you would learn that they got the best science award in school, that they love quantum physics so much they were advised by a nuclear physicist to continue their passions, that their parents probably worked hard to get them in. But you don’t know. And this is a child. So stop criticizing and trying to justify that this kid isn’t smart just because your kid probably didn’t get in, or you hate the school. Don’t make a child an example of how dumb a school is and understand that everyone has potential. And you can’t un-justify this kid’s.


Best science award? You mean the department award? That is hardly a marker of STEM talent. Some of the strongest students in the nation were passed over, students already with college-level knowledge in math and science. This student will not be able to take the Quantum Physics lab because there is a prerequisite of AP Physics C which requires Calculus BC, something this student will have to take in 12th grade, and might not even take at all. Also the fact that their parents worked hard to get them in goes to show that more deserving people would have gotten that spot.
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2022 09:01     Subject: TJ admissions now verifying free and reduced price meal status for successful 2026 applicants
Where is the updated press release?
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2022 08:36     Subject: Re:TJ admissions now verifying free and reduced price meal status for successful 2026 applicants
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Turns out that kid had straight A’s and not a B- ever. They did 4+ hours of community service per week and played competitive piano as well as playing in charity concerts and doing lots of charity work. Don’t be mad just because your kid didn’t get in. They picked the best candidates. Stop speculating when your child didn’t get in. Maybe if you worked with your kid instead of complaining, they would be in TJ. Instead, you complain on the internet under a screen. They picked, not you.


How is any of that STEM related? If this about a student taking Algebra 1, they most likely will not perform well in a STEM environment like TJ, nor will they be able to take most of the high-level STEM courses. TJ is for STEM students and leaders not those who do charity work and piano. They did not pick the best, or even good, candidates by any measure.

are you seriously judging a child based on two sentences a stranger told you about them? everybody has potential. If you knew this kid, you would learn that they got the best science award in school, that they love quantum physics so much they were advised by a nuclear physicist to continue their passions, that their parents probably worked hard to get them in. But you don’t know. And this is a child. So stop criticizing and trying to justify that this kid isn’t smart just because your kid probably didn’t get in, or you hate the school. Don’t make a child an example of how dumb a school is and understand that everyone has potential. And you can’t un-justify this kid’s.
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2022 08:32     Subject: Re:TJ admissions now verifying free and reduced price meal status for successful 2026 applicants
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Turns out that kid had straight A’s and not a B- ever. They did 4+ hours of community service per week and played competitive piano as well as playing in charity concerts and doing lots of charity work. Don’t be mad just because your kid didn’t get in. They picked the best candidates. Stop speculating when your child didn’t get in. Maybe if you worked with your kid instead of complaining, they would be in TJ. Instead, you complain on the internet under a screen. They picked, not you.


Competitive piano? As a music major that is like a dagger to my heart. That’s not what music is about. Heartbreaking.

and a charity concert helping middle eastern refugees, which earned over $50,000.
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2022 08:29     Subject: Re:TJ admissions now verifying free and reduced price meal status for successful 2026 applicants
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Turns out that kid had straight A’s and not a B- ever. They did 4+ hours of community service per week and played competitive piano as well as playing in charity concerts and doing lots of charity work. Don’t be mad just because your kid didn’t get in. They picked the best candidates. Stop speculating when your child didn’t get in. Maybe if you worked with your kid instead of complaining, they would be in TJ. Instead, you complain on the internet under a screen. They picked, not you.


How is any of that STEM related? If this about a student taking Algebra 1, they most likely will not perform well in a STEM environment like TJ, nor will they be able to take most of the high-level STEM courses. TJ is for STEM students and leaders not those who do charity work and piano. They did not pick the best, or even good, candidates by any measure.


This is the kind of stuff used in the portrait of a graduate section. It's laughable that the application has almost nothing to do with actual STEM anymore.