DO NOT send a not self motivated kid to TJ. You will be dragging them through the school. It's not fun - this is me today.

Anonymous wrote:It's nice to see that folks are already lining up the narratives to get their kids into TJ off the waitlist.

It's almost a comforting rhythm - a flood of TJ sh!tposting right around the application deadlines to depress competition, and another flood gearing up for the admissions notices going out on mid-March to incentivize decline rates.

So much thirst.

The warnings don't come out of nowhere, they are usually responses to questions.
I think most of this is good advice.
TJ academic rigor is no joke. You are likely to get Bs or even Cs at TJ where you might have coasted through your base high school with straight As.
College admissions for maybe 80% of students are NOT better from TJ than base school. Not necessarily worse, but not better.
If UVA is your target, TJ is not the best pathway to get there. But places like purdue, pitt, uiuc stem programs might be easier from TJ because you have more opportunities to show a stem focus.

However, you will get no better preparation for college than TJ if you can handle the rigor.
I would say that a kid that doesn't usually work hard might find themselves forced to work hard.
And THAT might be valuable in itself.
Once again, IF you can handle the rigor.

Anonymous wrote:It's nice to see that folks are already lining up the narratives to get their kids into TJ off the waitlist.

It's almost a comforting rhythm - a flood of TJ sh!tposting right around the application deadlines to depress competition, and another flood gearing up for the admissions notices going out on mid-March to incentivize decline rates.

So much thirst.

Such BS. TJ can absolutely hurt college chances.

Anonymous wrote:It's nice to see that folks are already lining up the narratives to get their kids into TJ off the waitlist.

It's almost a comforting rhythm - a flood of TJ sh!tposting right around the application deadlines to depress competition, and another flood gearing up for the admissions notices going out on mid-March to incentivize decline rates.

So much thirst.

Will kids watch these posts? 99% not.
This is just some parent asking for some ideas from some parents, of course, very diverse opinions.

I believe most parents will respect their kid's dicision.

It's nice to see that folks are already lining up the narratives to get their kids into TJ off the waitlist.

It's almost a comforting rhythm - a flood of TJ sh!tposting right around the application deadlines to depress competition, and another flood gearing up for the admissions notices going out on mid-March to incentivize decline rates.

So much thirst.

Anonymous wrote:It depends on what the goal of TJ is. Better preparation for college, stronger peer group, amazing opportunities that aren’t available at any other high school, senior research project. TJ has a 40% admit rate to UVA, higher than any other FCPS high school.

TJ’s admission rate to UVA is most certainly not 40%. I just logged into Naviance and it says 17%. Average accepted stats are 1550/4.5 GPA.

I went to UVA with an extremely smart girl who had attended TJ. She dropped out of UVA after her first year because she was so burned out from TJ. She did eventually go back to school and get a degree but many years later. So think about if your kid thrived in a very intense, pressure cooker type environment or not. It’s not for everyone and can have adverse effects on kids who don’t thrive under pressure.

Everyone’s experience is different. If he’s interested he should apply, and if he gets in he can decide if he wants to go. It’s a great school for the right kid, and it’s not always easy to predict how you’ll do going in. We weee nervous when my kid applied but three years in he’s found the workload to be manageable and has really enjoyed his experience.

Well it tanks his GPA plus he loses out on 9th grade connections. I agree with PP - kids who are not diligent , hard workers will not do well at TJ. Even if they are super smart at STEM the humanities classes need juggled too.

Sounds like it is better to keep him in local HS. Anyway, I will still ask him to apply to see how well he can do.

Anonymous wrote:

If he is not very hardworking, then TJ will crush him.

If he gets in and then return back to local HS after 1 year, will that have some negative impact on him generally speaking?

Maybe confidence is hurt a little bit? Or on the brighter side, he sees how far he is from top student and can work harder?

Well it tanks his GPA plus he loses out on 9th grade connections. I agree with PP - kids who are not diligent , hard workers will not do well at TJ. Even if they are super smart at STEM the humanities classes need juggled too.

If he is not very hardworking, then TJ will crush him.

If he gets in and then return back to local HS after 1 year, will that have some negative impact on him generally speaking?

Maybe confidence is hurt a little bit? Or on the brighter side, he sees how far he is from top student and can work harder?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:a) Does the kid WANT to go for the challenge and/or peer group, opportunities - or instead for the bragging rights?

b) Is the kid's college goal Ivy or bust? (Yes, generally harder to get to that very top layer from TJ unless a standout since so many other kids at the school are strong candidates too.)

Answers vary about whether they should go depending on the replies.

Good questions, but I don't quite know the answer.
a) He tends to follow the lead of others. He is pretty smart but not very hardworking.
Overall I think sending him to TJ (if he can get in) will do good to him. Who knows, there might be chances he truns out to do very well.
b)Regarding the college, also, he tends to follow the lead of others

If he is not very hardworking, then TJ will crush him.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids from TJ get into the real world and dominate pretty much regardless of where they go to undergrad.

The differences in opportunities as far as course availability, facilities and equipment, and student groups is just so incredibly stark when compared to even the best base schools.

So yeah, it's possible that it might be a little harder to get into the most elite colleges from TJ... but as the years and decades have gone by, the value add from those schools has been depressed significantly AND you're increasing your chances of admission by a relatively small amount - it's by no means a guarantee.

This is ridiculous. Let me guess: you're sending out annual surveys that are answered by professors and employers from senior year of HS onward? No, this is what you're telling yourself. The answer is that very bright kids generally do well no matter where they are.

That's like a base HS kid who goes to an ivy league looking at the TJ kid going to VCU and saying "kids in the top of their HSs who get into the ivies dominate because their colleges are far superior to lower ranked colleges. We have more money from the endowment pouring in!!" The answer is that bright kids are bright and do well no matter where they are, and that includes middle school to base HS OR TJ and then base HS OR TJ on to x college.

- We turned TJ down for base HS and my kid is heading to an ivy next year. It is NOT "a little" harder to getting into elite schools from TJ. It's a lot harder. We strategically picked our local HS.

Andy Bernard has entered the chat

Anonymous wrote:a) Does the kid WANT to go for the challenge and/or peer group, opportunities - or instead for the bragging rights?

b) Is the kid's college goal Ivy or bust? (Yes, generally harder to get to that very top layer from TJ unless a standout since so many other kids at the school are strong candidates too.)

Answers vary about whether they should go depending on the replies.

Good questions, but I don't quite know the answer.
a) He tends to follow the lead of others. He is pretty smart but not very hardworking.
Overall I think sending him to TJ (if he can get in) will do good to him. Who knows, there might be chances he truns out to do very well.
b)Regarding the college, also, he tends to follow the lead of others

You have to decide if high school opportunities are the most important to you or college opportunities are. It's different for everyone. Some like the long view and some perform the short.