And, yes, it is racist to say "white people are lazy". As well as all the other groups whose applications have declined.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would have gotten into TJ probably, but had no interest in going (white girl). I have my friends at my school, I'm comfortable moving on with them, and I am as interested in non-STEM subjects as STEM. Also, I have a friend who left TJ after the first year because she said there was no social life.
Anyway, that was a few years ago. I got into Harvard, so clearly wasn't slacking at my home school. Calling people lazy because they don't think TJ is the best school for everyone is silly.

Don't be so cocky and think that you would have gotten into TJ because you got into Harvard since it's likely that Asians with higher SAT scores, higher GPAs, stronger teacher recommendations, stronger essays, stronger ECs, more officer positions, more national awards and more volunteer/community service hours compared to you were rejected by Harvard.

Well, i doubt they had higher SAT scores since i had perfect scores. And no prep course (not how my parents rolled). And not URM, so don't bother with that tired old argument.

Many applicants with perfect SAT scores get rejected by Harvard, many of them Asians. And the rejected Asians did not only have perfect SAT scores and perfect GPAs so don't bother with that tired old argument they lacked in other areas.

You have a disproportionate chance of being admitted to TJ if you're Asian, so stop whining just because fewer kids want to go there now.

TJ has changed significantly in the past 5 years, and has become much more intense and limited in its ability to produce well-rounded students. Chorus, theater and some of the other non-academic programs are struggling to keep up their memberships. To participate in music (band, chorus, orchestra) all 4 years, kids must take at least one class in the summer. Many of the kids also take multiple summer classes so that they can pursue even higher level classes during the academic year, making those who choose to do something else with their summers feel like slackers. If you are willing to do all academics, all the time, then maybe it is a good place for you. But if you seek any kind of balance in your life at all, it may be completely rational to look elsewhere.

Anonymous wrote:So what? That proves nothing. This thread is really insulting to a lot of kids -- like my own white male -- who have always worked hard, from K through 8th grade ... not because of TJ or Langley or a Big 3 (another option we had because of DS's hard work) and defeated 90% odds against him to get into TJ. Did you go to the new admission orientation tonight? No, I suppose not. Nor did I. Trusted my son to go and make his own decisions. And he came home totally excited about TJ learning, sports, clubs, languages, teachers, and his peers. Including the Asian students. Don't some of the parental units on this thread realize we have (thank goodness and despite parental phobias) raised a generation that is largely color and race blind?

Telling it like it is.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would have gotten into TJ probably, but had no interest in going (white girl). I have my friends at my school, I'm comfortable moving on with them, and I am as interested in non-STEM subjects as STEM. Also, I have a friend who left TJ after the first year because she said there was no social life.
Anyway, that was a few years ago. I got into Harvard, so clearly wasn't slacking at my home school. Calling people lazy because they don't think TJ is the best school for everyone is silly.

Don't be so cocky and think that you would have gotten into TJ because you got into Harvard since it's likely that Asians with higher SAT scores, higher GPAs, stronger teacher recommendations, stronger essays, stronger ECs, more officer positions, more national awards and more volunteer/community service hours compared to you were rejected by Harvard.

Well, i doubt they had higher SAT scores since i had perfect scores. And no prep course (not how my parents rolled). And not URM, so don't bother with that tired old argument.

Many applicants with perfect SAT scores get rejected by Harvard, many of them Asians. And the rejected Asians did not only have perfect SAT scores and perfect GPAs so don't bother with that tired old argument they lacked in other areas.

Never said they lacked in other areas. You're making up arguments to tear them down. I simply said I was qualified, chose not to go, and wasn't lazy. Pretty sure no one (without a hook, that is) who is lazy gets into Harvard. Then people made up facts about me so they could try to dispute that example. No, it's a good example. I am SURE that many bright, hardworking TJ kids do not get into Harvard, and many of them are just as bright as I was. Not my argument. My argument is contra the posters who say that it's laziness that's causing declining applications by white students. That's not supportable based on the evidence, and my example (just one data point, but more than you've offered) disputes it.

Anonymous wrote:Find a Harvard grad who actually reads the applications for admission and they will tell you TJ is legendary for having a crazy high level of admits compared to any other school in the country.

+1000

Anonymous wrote:Do we think it's just one White Supremicist posting repeatedly here? I hope so. Gross to think there would be more than one paranoid racist.

You haven't seen that. You've seen people saying it doesn't make someone lazy to not be interested in TJ, and that TJ isn't the best school in the world without exception. That's not racist.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would have gotten into TJ probably, but had no interest in going (white girl). I have my friends at my school, I'm comfortable moving on with them, and I am as interested in non-STEM subjects as STEM. Also, I have a friend who left TJ after the first year because she said there was no social life.
Anyway, that was a few years ago. I got into Harvard, so clearly wasn't slacking at my home school. Calling people lazy because they don't think TJ is the best school for everyone is silly.

Don't be so cocky and think that you would have gotten into TJ because you got into Harvard since it's likely that Asians with higher SAT scores, higher GPAs, stronger teacher recommendations, stronger essays, stronger ECs, more officer positions, more national awards and more volunteer/community service hours compared to you were rejected by Harvard.

Well, i doubt they had higher SAT scores since i had perfect scores. And no prep course (not how my parents rolled). And not URM, so don't bother with that tired old argument.

Many applicants with perfect SAT scores get rejected by Harvard, many of them Asians. And the rejected Asians did not only have perfect SAT scores and perfect GPAs so don't bother with that tired old argument they lacked in other areas.

Anonymous wrote:If you go to Harvard and study medieval arts history you are an idiot.

Nice try, but I'm the Harvard poster and studied economics.

Why can't the Ivys show any longterm superiority?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP you don't even know what TJ kids bring to the table so don't pretend to. That's insulting and ignorant. Why don't you start by comparing graduation requirements from TJ with any other HS in the county. Yep, they are really different - and it's not that theTJ kids are taking less classes. Then look at club participation and awards, not just in math or science, but things like Model UN and community service. And then figure out percentage of school that participates on an athletic team. They may not beat Langley every year but they play as hard as they study. Let's add to that the Senior projects, performed in labs that have equipment no other HS in the country has. And all the internships available.

You are a sputtering bore, and nothing you've said changes the fact that the Ivies aren't particularly interested in most TJ students.

TJ sends about 25% of the graduating class to Ivys and another about 7% to Stanford and MIT. That seems like Ivys are interested in TJ students not to mention Stanford and MIT. How many kids does your kid's school send to Ivys?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

There is the lazy entitled attitude

My kids were hardworking and smart in school. They did not need TJ to boost their self-esteem.

TJ kids do not attend TJ to boost their self esteem. They attend TJ to take advantage of the advanced classes, outstanding teachers, intellectually engaged peers and facilities. They attend school to actually learn for a change. Is that so hard to understand?

No. Sadly some do it to boost the self esteem of their parents.

And sadly, some participate in sports to boost the self esteem of their parents. So what? Don't be so selective in your sadness.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it were such a BFD, you'd think it might spur an increase in applications, rather than a steady decline in the number of students interested in TJ.

simple anecdotal reality - whites are increasingly saying fuck it, let the Asians have it. TJ is too much of a grind; they really want to have a life as well as a good education

Hence the lazy accusations. I thought America was all about the strong "work ethics", work 80 hours a week, workaholics, work work work. I guess that only applies to money but not education. Hypocrites. Obsessed only with money but Asians do fine with both the education and the family values. The school's main purpose is education, then comes sports and other activities including social activities. The screwed up priority is what led to the sad state of education in U.S. U.S. even behind third world countries in reading and math. Be grateful for schools like TJ.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really is a mindset and in saying this it is not intended as a value judgement.

My son went to TJ. It was a long trek for him and on top of this the rigorous academic requirements at TJ had him working some long hours especially in his junior year.

He went on to medical school and is currently doing his residency at one of the most prestigious programs in the country and will be done soon.

He says that TJ was the best thing that happened to him. He literally breezed through his undergrad. He said it was a lot easier than TJ from an academic standpoint in terms of the pressure .... and he completed his undergrad in three years!

Given where he is today, ask him whether he has any regrets about the long commute and the academic demands that TJ made on him and he would give an unqualified response that TJ was a huge help to him in getting where he is today. Could he have done it in a different academic environment? More than likely he could have. But that does not take anything away from the role TJ played in getting him to where he is today.

None of the above is meant as a brag ..... after all, I am posting anonymously. It is merely intended as a perspective on how some parents and their children view the downsides (commuting, new friends, academic pressures) of going to TJ.

Thank you for your post. But for every experience like this, there is another for someone who commuted just as long and worked just as hard, but ended up in the bottom half of their TJ class. For that kid, was being in the bottom half (or, gasp, quarter) of their TJ class worth it? Could they have graduated at the top of their base school, had a more well-rounded high school experience, and perhaps gotten into a more prestigious college than their less-than-average TJ rank earned them?

I am not surprised that your son found undergrad less challenging (and perhaps less competitive) than TJ. I don't doubt for a minute that TJ provides the most rigorous academic program in the county. But I think FCPS does a pretty good job of preparing kids for college, and the kid who opts to remain at his base school could just as easily end up at the same place as your son, with perhaps a more difficult transition to undergrad, but with a better non-academic high-school experience.

You are quite right. TJ and other magnet programs will curve the grades. Which means that the top guys can be on the bottom at TJ.

So, it really depends what the end goal is?

If you want to get into Ivy college - you could be better off in a home school
If you want to do well in a Ivy college - go to TJ


This is a dilemma. Being in a program like TJ means that you are jeopardizing your chance to get into an Ivy League college, so why do kids try and get into it?

I can talk about my kid. She wants to get into medicine. Her aim is to get in in-state to a public university for undergrad and get into a prestigious medical school after that. We have seen a lot of kids drop out of pre-med in undergrad because they are not well prepared during HS to take on any course where any sort of rigor is required. She will be not dropping out of science/engineering in undergrad because she has already had her baptism by fire in HS.

Most of these kids who are in TJ are going to be smart about their education dollars. Their aim is to start their work life with no or little student debt. Their parents make too much for them to qualify for need-based aid, but not that much that college expense is a trivial matter.

If you are very wealthy, are legacy, have been able to afford private schools etc., can afford to pay for Harvard - skip TJ

If your child is not decided what field they want to go to or you will borrow heavily to pay for college - skip TJ

TJ is mainly for super smart middle class kids, who have a very long term view of their education. Getting into the top college is not the aim, the aim is to be able to handle the course in any college.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP I bet if you pull the records of hearings about starting STEM academies at other schools before the school board and such there are references to TJ, along the lines that it is successful, providing good services that should be available to more students throughout the county, etc. That's what is supposed to happen when you have a good formula for success ...

It is NOT "those TJ kids just dragged all of Fairfax County schools up a notch" but it is an overall strategy to challenge ALL students, provide good services, etc.

Maybe it's both!