Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 8th grader is in Algebra 1 and thinks Math would be tough at TJ, especially since calculus is required. How to convince them to accept the offer? Is it that difficult from base school?

If you want to convince them, you could point out that they would likely take calculus at their base school. If you have the money, you could agree to pay for tutoring/afterschooling in math.

Don't FCPS base schools allow graduation with just Algebra 2? No need for calculus at base school, but TJ requires it?

TJ is a magnate school with different expectations. When you apply to TJ, you apply understanding that you will be taking math and science classes that are more intense and involved. A look at the math catalog shows that the math class are mainly one semester long and are not labeled Geometry, Algebra 2, and the like. Talking to the students at TJ points to math classes that are compacted and intense.

If you want to take the same classes you would take at yoru base school, don't apply to TJ, go to your base school. If you want to be challenged in math and science, apply for TJ knowing that the standards are different.

You would not apply to attend MIT and get there and go "But why do I have to take different classes that are harder then UVA?" Same for TJ. You apply for TJ to attend TJ with compacted math, Calculus as a bse requirement for graduation, and more challenging science offerings.

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Anonymous wrote:Results were a little better this year at out school. They accepted two of the top math students, but the top few students were waitlisted. Last year the top students were all waitlisted or rejected.

I did not know this until my kid got waitlisted, known top students get rejected, known mediocre kids get accepted at our school. Lesson learned. A word to the parents of top students - DO NOT punish your kids if they got rejected. I know some parents of top students are upset - including me. However, once you know the results, you can speculate what's going on. Talk to your kids about it if they are upset too.

Exact thing happened to my kid and my kid's school. I told my kid not to loose the passion for learning and continue all the projects my kid is doing. No matter what happens with TJ and college applications, no one can take away their talents and passion. When they begin their careers, all it matters is what they can do and the products they can build. This disappointment will help them grow.

If you think someone's talents are all that matters in a career, I'd like to move to your world. Because mine doesn't work that way.

"Passion" you left that out of the previous post. And, I would want to hear what you would say to your children. Talents, passion, and hard work don't matter? If that's the case, I truly feel sorry for your children.

I admire the passion of a child who steps onto the court after putting in dedicated effort, prepared to elevate their talents to the next level. Conversely, it saddens me to see a child placed on the same court unprepared and left to struggle, having been misled into believing they were ready for such a challenge. It's upto their parent to decide if their child's misery is worth the participation credential.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Results were a little better this year at out school. They accepted two of the top math students, but the top few students were waitlisted. Last year the top students were all waitlisted or rejected.

I did not know this until my kid got waitlisted, known top students get rejected, known mediocre kids get accepted at our school. Lesson learned. A word to the parents of top students - DO NOT punish your kids if they got rejected. I know some parents of top students are upset - including me. However, once you know the results, you can speculate what's going on. Talk to your kids about it if they are upset too.

Exact thing happened to my kid and my kid's school. I told my kid not to loose the passion for learning and continue all the projects my kid is doing. No matter what happens with TJ and college applications, no one can take away their talents and passion. When they begin their careers, all it matters is what they can do and the products they can build. This disappointment will help them grow.

If you think someone's talents are all that matters in a career, I'd like to move to your world. Because mine doesn't work that way.

"Passion" you left that out of the previous post. And, I would want to hear what you would say to your children. Talents, passion, and hard work don't matter? If that's the case, I truly feel sorry for your children.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Results were a little better this year at out school. They accepted two of the top math students, but the top few students were waitlisted. Last year the top students were all waitlisted or rejected.

I did not know this until my kid got waitlisted, known top students get rejected, known mediocre kids get accepted at our school. Lesson learned. A word to the parents of top students - DO NOT punish your kids if they got rejected. I know some parents of top students are upset - including me. However, once you know the results, you can speculate what's going on. Talk to your kids about it if they are upset too.

Exact thing happened to my kid and my kid's school. I told my kid not to loose the passion for learning and continue all the projects my kid is doing. No matter what happens with TJ and college applications, no one can take away their talents and passion. When they begin their careers, all it matters is what they can do and the products they can build. This disappointment will help them grow.

If you think someone's talents are all that matters in a career, I'd like to move to your world. Because mine doesn't work that way.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 8th grader is in Algebra 1 and thinks Math would be tough at TJ, especially since calculus is required. How to convince them to accept the offer? Is it that difficult from base school?

If you want to convince them, you could point out that they would likely take calculus at their base school. If you have the money, you could agree to pay for tutoring/afterschooling in math.

Don't FCPS base schools allow graduation with just Algebra 2? No need for calculus at base school, but TJ requires it?

If you want only base schools, why don't you stay at base schools. Why blaming admissions and TJ for that?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 8th grader is in Algebra 1 and thinks Math would be tough at TJ, especially since calculus is required. How to convince them to accept the offer? Is it that difficult from base school?

If you want to convince them, you could point out that they would likely take calculus at their base school. If you have the money, you could agree to pay for tutoring/afterschooling in math.

Don't FCPS base schools allow graduation with just Algebra 2? No need for calculus at base school, but TJ requires it?

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Anonymous wrote:DD says last year Math was easier than this year’s question.

Wording on this year’s made it lil more confusing than last year’s question. According to her - once you get thru that then it is a straightforward answer.

DD messed her essays. Waitlisted

Asian, 4.00 GPA, pre-calculus

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS Accepted. pre-calculus, 4.0, Asian

Pre-calculus? What do kids do at TJ if they've already gone this far in math?

DC currently at TJ completed pre-calc in middle school, outside FCPS. past precalc, TJ has four levels: Calc AB, Calc BC, Multi/linear, elementary diff & applied math techniques

Anonymous wrote:DC waitlisted. 4.0. AP Pre-Calculus. Won gold, silver, bronze in different competitions. Volunteered a lot with the community (because DC wanted to do so, not bc of TJ. DC will continue doing so no matter what).

DC’s friends, DC, us and everyone knew DC were shocked with the result.

DC is resilient though. DC started discussing a new plan at base HS with us.

When did they complete alg 1/geo/alg 2?

DC completed Alg 1 in 6th grade, took a test and allowed to skip geo, alg 2 in 7th grade. In 8th grade, math teacher recommended DC to take AP Pre-Calculus rather than Pre-Calculus. DC is doing very well in the course.

AP Pre-Calculus? No such course at FCPS.

Yeah, it's a new course that College Board just came up with. It's pretty a dumb idea - but it would be worse if FCPS didn't offer it than if they do.

Good thing is kids finishing that course in 8th grade can do AP Calculus BC right in their 9th grade.

This is true for any precalculus course.

No, if you have pre-calculus in 8th grade, you can only have Calculus AB in 9th grade.

Where does FCPS say that?

Anonymous wrote:My 8th grader is in Algebra 1 and thinks Math would be tough at TJ, especially since calculus is required. How to convince them to accept the offer? Is it that difficult from base school?

If you want to convince them, you could point out that they would likely take calculus at their base school. If you have the money, you could agree to pay for tutoring/afterschooling in math.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know this kid but he might have bombed the essays.

And it just happens that TJ's attrition rate has increased 10x despite the new Algebra review sessions and new no-fail policy for freshmen.

I heard the attrition rate increased 100 fold. Or was it 1000 fold?

It doesn't really matter what you hear or what you believe in. All matters is your kids' talents and dedication.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know this kid but he might have bombed the essays.

And it just happens that TJ's attrition rate has increased 10x despite the new Algebra review sessions and new no-fail policy for freshmen.

I heard the attrition rate increased 100 fold. Or was it 1000 fold?

Anonymous wrote:I don't know this kid but he might have bombed the essays.

And it just happens that TJ's attrition rate has increased 10x despite the new Algebra review sessions and new no-fail policy for freshmen.

Anonymous wrote:I don't know this kid but he might have bombed the essays.

Always a convenient explanation from the educrats

I don't know this kid but he might have bombed the essays.

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Anonymous wrote:What do you mean when you say top students? All As or something else.

Someone posted on here there were rejections of kids who qualified for USAJMO in 7th grade. This is a contest that takes around the top 100 math students in the country. And that is among 10th graders and below.
7th or 8th grader to make this in Virginia is rare, but they couldn't find room in a class of 500. They also reject5 winners of MathCounts, Science Olympiad, and other contests.
Really anyone who qualifies for the earlier round AIME should be accepted.

Why? What if they wrote "I don't want to go to TJ" for their essay? Or "I want to go to TJ because I'm better than everyone else and if you send me to my base school I'll be bored to tears"?

If you create metrics that deliver automatic acceptances, you will see an insane rush by parents to set their relatively workaday kids up to conform to that metric regardless of the damage done to their child's development. This, more than anything else, is why opaque admissions procedures are an absolute necessity.

It might be possible to push a borderline kid to qualify for AIME, it is unlikely. It is not possible for USAJMO.
To qualify for AIME a student would have to be able to do 15 of these questions in 75 minutes.
https://artofproblemsolving.com/wiki/index.php/2023_AMC_10A_Problems
Possible but unlikely that training would change these results for mediocre students. Prepping for the current essay is more likely to get admission.
USAJMO would probably need half of these questions, in three hours
https://artofproblemsolving.com/wiki/index.php/2024_AIME_I_Problems
.

The Virginia MathCounts National Team this year has one student who not only qualified but won Honorable Mention in USAJMO last year (his 7th grade). This year one more student on the Team also qualified USAJMO (both are 8th graders this year).

Did they apply? Did they get in?

If I am not wrong, he was waitlisted. Anyone confirms?

You seem like you know the family. Check back and let us know. That is odd.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you mean when you say top students? All As or something else.

Someone posted on here there were rejections of kids who qualified for USAJMO in 7th grade. This is a contest that takes around the top 100 math students in the country. And that is among 10th graders and below.
7th or 8th grader to make this in Virginia is rare, but they couldn't find room in a class of 500. They also reject5 winners of MathCounts, Science Olympiad, and other contests.
Really anyone who qualifies for the earlier round AIME should be accepted.

Why? What if they wrote "I don't want to go to TJ" for their essay? Or "I want to go to TJ because I'm better than everyone else and if you send me to my base school I'll be bored to tears"?

If you create metrics that deliver automatic acceptances, you will see an insane rush by parents to set their relatively workaday kids up to conform to that metric regardless of the damage done to their child's development. This, more than anything else, is why opaque admissions procedures are an absolute necessity.

It might be possible to push a borderline kid to qualify for AIME, it is unlikely. It is not possible for USAJMO.
To qualify for AIME a student would have to be able to do 15 of these questions in 75 minutes.
https://artofproblemsolving.com/wiki/index.php/2023_AMC_10A_Problems
Possible but unlikely that training would change these results for mediocre students. Prepping for the current essay is more likely to get admission.
USAJMO would probably need half of these questions, in three hours
https://artofproblemsolving.com/wiki/index.php/2024_AIME_I_Problems
.

The Virginia MathCounts National Team this year has one student who not only qualified but won Honorable Mention in USAJMO last year (his 7th grade). This year one more student on the Team also qualified USAJMO (both are 8th graders this year).

Did they apply? Did they get in?

If I am not wrong, he was waitlisted. Anyone confirms?