I don't know what it's like now but I can tell you from personal experience that in the 90s, they did not make students leave if they had less than a 3.0. I was one of those smart but totally disorganized kids (I would probably never have gotten in to TJ now) and I had well under a 3.0 during my freshman year there. My guidance counselor worked with me -- plus I got older and slightly less disorganized -- and I got my grades up by junior year. I think it's sad that they'd automatically ask kids to leave now, 14 seems too young for that kind of rule.

130 2011 TJ grads started at UVA in the fall. I'm sure most are very satisfied going to a top ranked university and plan to graduate debt-free. Believe it or not, ivy league is not the ultimate goal for everyone.

Great Point.

I went to UVA and frankly think TJ material kids could do much better than landing up at UVA, W&M, etc.

That's one of the reasons that I will not be a parent who obsesses on getting my DC in TJ.

And then we run into the conundrum of "is it better to graduate 300th from TJ or 15th from Stuart?"

I think it is a small percentage. Most Ivy league bound kids are legacy applicants from prestigious private schools. TJ kids are more likely to have goals like MIT or UVA.

But, overall, what % OF tj students go to an Ivy League school? I remember seeing some stats which seemed rather low.

Anonymous wrote:But in northern VA it is becoming increasingly common to hyper-school kids to get them into TJ, whether they posess the inherent ability to handle the workload or not. The kids who naturally have the internal drive and ability do not need tutors and are happy to have the extra rigor and extra work, the ones who were hothoused into it are the ones who end up miserable and needing tutors.

So does that affect the level of instruction at the school? Don't they have to slow things down for the hyper-schooled kids?