Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 11:34     Subject: Re:TJ - got accepted but still undecided
Anonymous wrote:For those deciding between TJ and their base school, keep in mind that peer influence is a significant factor during the teen years. It can greatly impact your child’s future. At TJ, students are surrounded by high achievers, which can reduce distractions and encourage academic focus. Just my two cents.


Also while many post on here that if stay at base will be too and do much better at colleges, take that with grain of salt. At TJ, there are consistently 30-40 go to ivys, MIT CalTech, 30-40 go to Tech for engineering, another 30 or more to uva, and more to William and Mary— so that’s beyond top 100 getting into TOP schools. Most other HS (with few exceptions) you see 1 to an Ivy-maybe- few if any to MIT and handfuls to rest. Which odds sound better to you if you know your kid?
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 10:23     Subject: TJ - got accepted but still undecided
Anonymous wrote:We went to preview night and were so surprised by the LACK of solid afterschool and in school EC activities. No choir. Only Varsity football. Limited theatre program. Not everyone wants to do Science Olympiad all the time.

If TJ wants to focus on bringing in well rounded kids then it needs to provided these kids more opportunities besides just academics. How is there no choir at TJ?


Maybe because TJHSST is supposed to be a STEM focused school and students admitted are supposed to like activities such as Science Olympiad, math competition, science bowl,.......
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 09:44     Subject: TJ - got accepted but still undecided
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Stay at base school.
If 50 minutes from TJ, it’s not Langley or
Mclean so your kid is going to be one of the high performers at base school and will have a better shot of being admitted to UMD or UVA with stellar grades from base school.


50 minutes actually not that bad. We live in McLean pyramid and the commute is about 35-40 minutes from depot to the door.
Can you imagine kids from Loudoun or Prince William county, there are plenty of them, majority are survive and graduate. It trains their resilience.


PP who lived in western PWC and loved TJ - it does, but I refuse to commute over 30 minutes now. It's totally due to those 4 years of living on I-66.


I heard a story that a family rented out their western fairfax home, and they rent near TJ as exchange. Some does above and beyond.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 09:43     Subject: Re:TJ - got accepted but still undecided
For those deciding between TJ and their base school, keep in mind that peer influence is a significant factor during the teen years. It can greatly impact your child’s future. At TJ, students are surrounded by high achievers, which can reduce distractions and encourage academic focus. Just my two cents.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 09:42     Subject: TJ - got accepted but still undecided
Anonymous wrote:We went to preview night and were so surprised by the LACK of solid afterschool and in school EC activities. No choir. Only Varsity football. Limited theatre program. Not everyone wants to do Science Olympiad all the time.

If TJ wants to focus on bringing in well rounded kids then it needs to provided these kids more opportunities besides just academics. How is there no choir at TJ?


Sports and classes are offered based on student interest, so if there aren't enough kids to have JV and Varsity teams or hire a teacher for choir, they won't do it. This is how it is in every school--these just happen to be the programs impacted by TJ student preference.

The theatre program is actually quite robust and popular. There are a number of elective courses, including dual enrollment options at higher levels, and they've put on the same schedule of shows as every other area high school--a play, one acts, and a musical. The current theatre teacher was a long-time professor at GMU and a playwright, so I'd say they're in good hands there.

RE: clubs - TJ has a gazillion. There are plenty of choices for students who don't want to do academic activities. They're just run only during 8th period, not after school, to ensure every kid can participate. Sports are the only activities that require consistent after school time.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 09:14     Subject: TJ - got accepted but still undecided
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Stay at base school.
If 50 minutes from TJ, it’s not Langley or
Mclean so your kid is going to be one of the high performers at base school and will have a better shot of being admitted to UMD or UVA with stellar grades from base school.


Not really. The belief from TJ parents is that TJ students would be 1 or 2 at their base school. This kid will never have gone to TJ so she’s not included in that.


🙄
You seek to be shopping for offense. It’s not a slight against the base school to say the kid would “be one of the high performers” at their base school. That doesn’t necessarily have to mean valedictorian or salutorian - just means they will more likely be in the top percentage layer at a non-TJ school. That’s just due to the fact that it is a magnet for high academic performers vs other schools have a more mixed set of kids, even very good schools.


+1,000,000
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 09:00     Subject: TJ - got accepted but still undecided
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Stay at base school.
If 50 minutes from TJ, it’s not Langley or
Mclean so your kid is going to be one of the high performers at base school and will have a better shot of being admitted to UMD or UVA with stellar grades from base school.


50 minutes actually not that bad. We live in McLean pyramid and the commute is about 35-40 minutes from depot to the door.
Can you imagine kids from Loudoun or Prince William county, there are plenty of them, majority are survive and graduate. It trains their resilience.


PP who lived in western PWC and loved TJ - it does, but I refuse to commute over 30 minutes now. It's totally due to those 4 years of living on I-66.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 09:00     Subject: TJ - got accepted but still undecided
Anonymous wrote:If you're concerned about your child's mental health, TJ may not be the right fit.
Otherwise, know that over 2,200 students attend TJ year-round and enjoy a strong, enriching STEM education.



Agree with this. I went to TJ and I had an hour+ commute (closer to 2 hours in the morning) from western Prince William. It was an amazing experience.

DD is in 7th and we a relatively easy commute to TJ. Will not apply next year because DD would not do well with the pressure, even though academically it would be really enriching and she could keep up.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 08:58     Subject: TJ - got accepted but still undecided
Anonymous wrote:We went to preview night and were so surprised by the LACK of solid afterschool and in school EC activities. No choir. Only Varsity football. Limited theatre program. Not everyone wants to do Science Olympiad all the time.

If TJ wants to focus on bringing in well rounded kids then it needs to provided these kids more opportunities besides just academics. How is there no choir at TJ?


Man, sad to hear about choir. It used to be such a wonderful program!
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 08:33     Subject: TJ - got accepted but still undecided
Anonymous wrote:Hello, my DS got accepted to TJ and we live in Fairfax county. The commute is easily 50 min to 1 hour from our depot.

Talking to other parents I have heard about the difficulties of being in TJ.

Can any TJ parent info on the following please that can help us decide what works best for our family?

1. I have heard that if kids stay for after school club, parents have to pick up? It is going to be a 1 hour drive for either me or my husband and we have 3 other kids and their activities during the evening.

2. DS has his cousins in UVA and UMD and has visited those colleges and loves to join one of them. He would surely get better GPA in his base school compared to the GPA in TJ and he is concerned. Would ED application help on this case?

3. I am more sure how things have changed post the new way of admission/selection of students into TJ, my hope is TJ is not as stressful as it used to be before and slightly better. We are also concerned about stress/mental health/not having enough sleep/constant struggle.

Can you share your exp?


Buses come after the eighth period clubs. Sports/band are a different matter.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 08:27     Subject: Re:TJ - got accepted but still undecided
OP: Let your child guide the choice. They can choose to attend and if the commute is really hard on them, they can transfer to their base school.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 06:54     Subject: TJ - got accepted but still undecided
Anonymous wrote:Stay at base school.
If 50 minutes from TJ, it’s not Langley or
Mclean so your kid is going to be one of the high performers at base school and will have a better shot of being admitted to UMD or UVA with stellar grades from base school.


50 minutes actually not that bad. We live in McLean pyramid and the commute is about 35-40 minutes from depot to the door.
Can you imagine kids from Loudoun or Prince William county, there are plenty of them, majority are survive and graduate. It trains their resilience.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 06:48     Subject: TJ - got accepted but still undecided
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Stay at base school.
If 50 minutes from TJ, it’s not Langley or
Mclean so your kid is going to be one of the high performers at base school and will have a better shot of being admitted to UMD or UVA with stellar grades from base school.


Not really. The belief from TJ parents is that TJ students would be 1 or 2 at their base school. This kid will never have gone to TJ so she’s not included in that.


🙄
You seek to be shopping for offense. It’s not a slight against the base school to say the kid would “be one of the high performers” at their base school. That doesn’t necessarily have to mean valedictorian or salutorian - just means they will more likely be in the top percentage layer at a non-TJ school. That’s just due to the fact that it is a magnet for high academic performers vs other schools have a more mixed set of kids, even very good schools.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 06:45     Subject: TJ - got accepted but still undecided
50 minutes commute is a good time to sleep in the bus. The bus nap is become my kid routine (about 40 minutes) 😀, he said almost all kid sleep in the bus.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2025 06:42     Subject: TJ - got accepted but still undecided
Anonymous wrote:Stay at base school.
If 50 minutes from TJ, it’s not Langley or
Mclean so your kid is going to be one of the high performers at base school and will have a better shot of being admitted to UMD or UVA with stellar grades from base school.


Not really. The belief from TJ parents is that TJ students would be 1 or 2 at their base school. This kid will never have gone to TJ so she’s not included in that.