Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband went to harvard, and his classmates that went to Exeter or Andover or Saint Paul's claim their high school classmates were smarter on the whole than their college classmates. They remain the only true ivy feeders. And with huge endowments, they can give generous financial aid.

This. I worked harder and was surrounded by smarter and more talented people, overall, at one of the three schools mentioned above than I was at HYPS for UG/Law. I had never heard of TJ before moving to this area. I'm sure it's a fine school, but clearly it does not have the same global alumni network or social/cultural currency that Exeter or Andover has. Honestly the only people I've heard talk about TJ sound very "striverish" (for lack of a better word).

Of course this could just mean that the really smart and talented people at Harvard avoided people like you. Prep school kids who dismiss less affluent but smarter and harder-working kids as "strivers" aren't people who have much intellectual appeal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband went to harvard, and his classmates that went to Exeter or Andover or Saint Paul's claim their high school classmates were smarter on the whole than their college classmates. They remain the only true ivy feeders. And with huge endowments, they can give generous financial aid.

This. I worked harder and was surrounded by smarter and more talented people, overall, at one of the three schools mentioned above than I was at HYPS for UG/Law. I had never heard of TJ before moving to this area. I'm sure it's a fine school, but clearly it does not have the same global alumni network or social/cultural currency that Exeter or Andover has. Honestly the only people I've heard talk about TJ sound very "striverish" (for lack of a better word).

+1 and too emotionally involved.

Here is an example of TJ alums banding together:

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/yext-leaders-give-back-to-thomas-jefferson-high-school-in-support-of-stem-education-300265565.html

The CEO has given other interviews where he talks about his experience at TJ

Newsweek article talks about alumni coming back to help students:

http://www.newsweek.com/2014/09/19/number-1-high-school-america-offers-real-head-start-268693.html

Other stuff is anecdotal -- for example, if you were to post a job search request on an engineering group blog, for example, and you say you are a TJ alum, you are highly likely to get a response and interview somewhere because there are so many TJ alums on this type of media. In fact, if a TJ alum posts a job search request for someone else who is not a TJ alum but vouches for the person, they are likely to get an interview. To see this stuff you would have to log into those sites and troll them, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband went to harvard, and his classmates that went to Exeter or Andover or Saint Paul's claim their high school classmates were smarter on the whole than their college classmates. They remain the only true ivy feeders. And with huge endowments, they can give generous financial aid.

This. I worked harder and was surrounded by smarter and more talented people, overall, at one of the three schools mentioned above than I was at HYPS for UG/Law. I had never heard of TJ before moving to this area. I'm sure it's a fine school, but clearly it does not have the same global alumni network or social/cultural currency that Exeter or Andover has. Honestly the only people I've heard talk about TJ sound very "striverish" (for lack of a better word).

b/c of family connections. most of (if not all) tj families are middle working class with no meaningful connections.

Anonymous wrote:My husband went to harvard, and his classmates that went to Exeter or Andover or Saint Paul's claim their high school classmates were smarter on the whole than their college classmates. They remain the only true ivy feeders. And with huge endowments, they can give generous financial aid.

This. I worked harder and was surrounded by smarter and more talented people, overall, at one of the three schools mentioned above than I was at HYPS for UG/Law. I had never heard of TJ before moving to this area. I'm sure it's a fine school, but clearly it does not have the same global alumni network or social/cultural currency that Exeter or Andover has. Honestly the only people I've heard talk about TJ sound very "striverish" (for lack of a better word).

Anonymous wrote:TJ alumni do band together, so yes, it can contribute to networking - just like Sidwell alums band together, probably to the same effect. (probably other schools too, those are the ones I know about). Presumably Exeter alums do as well. College networks are not the only ones out there (nor do they need to be).

From the perspective of a TJ parent, on the BS issue - I agree with posters that if your child has a STEM passion that TJ can fill with one of its labs, you can't do better than TJ. The BS will not have the level of post-AP classes that TJ has (and TJ's curriculum even in AP classes goes well beyond the usual AP curriculum). TJ's also pretty strong on certain non-STEM things - for example, large and strong Model UN club and other well-recognized clubs if that is your child's passion.

A top BS will have fabulous arts and humanities resources. TJ students are also strong at arts and humanities, but need to patch things together to participate (including making time on the schedule). Given the BS structure, a lot of this time is built into the day already- so possibly less stressful to participate at a BS.

Top BS is likely to have merit aid that they would provide to a student deciding between TJ and BS (this also from experience) so the cost is probably not as much of a factor as others may assume.

Can you provide an example of how?

Anonymous wrote:A quick look online at TJ placements and I can see why it has the reputation in this area.

I think TJ and the top boarding schools do not have much overlap in the type of students, maybe just a few could fit in either. I was an exchange student at Choate for one year and if anyone thinks that everyone there is either smart, or wealthy, they are wrong. They were all kinds! (including extremely gifted, extremely poor, extremely smart, stupid, etc)

This. It's really apples and oranges. Some like apples, some like oranges.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A quick look online at TJ placements and I can see why it has the reputation in this area.

I think TJ and the top boarding schools do not have much overlap in the type of students, maybe just a few could fit in either. I was an exchange student at Choate for one year and if anyone thinks that everyone there is either smart, or wealthy, they are wrong. They were all kinds! (including extremely gifted, extremely poor, extremely smart, stupid, etc)

Choate is not top tier. I went to one of the schools mentioned. There were a few kids with last names you would recognize that weren't always the brightest bulbs, but financial aid at places like Andover and Exeter are unbelievable and a lot of educated but not wealthy people make financial sacrifices to send their kids there. So there are a lot of non wealthy people. The vast majority of my classmates were very bright and talented in lots of different ways, not just academically (theater, art, language, etc). I didn't love it but it offered things no public or even private day school can.

Choate is in top 10 of BS per ranking lists (http://www.businessinsider.com/most-elite-boarding-schools-in-the-us-2014-12?op=1)

OP is not comparing the TJ option to just the top few senior-salute-culture (aka rape) schools

TJ alumni do band together, so yes, it can contribute to networking - just like Sidwell alums band together, probably to the same effect. (probably other schools too, those are the ones I know about). Presumably Exeter alums do as well. College networks are not the only ones out there (nor do they need to be).

From the perspective of a TJ parent, on the BS issue - I agree with posters that if your child has a STEM passion that TJ can fill with one of its labs, you can't do better than TJ. The BS will not have the level of post-AP classes that TJ has (and TJ's curriculum even in AP classes goes well beyond the usual AP curriculum). TJ's also pretty strong on certain non-STEM things - for example, large and strong Model UN club and other well-recognized clubs if that is your child's passion.

A top BS will have fabulous arts and humanities resources. TJ students are also strong at arts and humanities, but need to patch things together to participate (including making time on the schedule). Given the BS structure, a lot of this time is built into the day already- so possibly less stressful to participate at a BS.

Top BS is likely to have merit aid that they would provide to a student deciding between TJ and BS (this also from experience) so the cost is probably not as much of a factor as others may assume.

My husband went to harvard, and his classmates that went to Exeter or Andover or Saint Paul's claim their high school classmates were smarter on the whole than their college classmates. They remain the only true ivy feeders. And with huge endowments, they can give generous financial aid.

Anonymous wrote:A quick look online at TJ placements and I can see why it has the reputation in this area.

I think TJ and the top boarding schools do not have much overlap in the type of students, maybe just a few could fit in either. I was an exchange student at Choate for one year and if anyone thinks that everyone there is either smart, or wealthy, they are wrong. They were all kinds! (including extremely gifted, extremely poor, extremely smart, stupid, etc)

Choate is not top tier. I went to one of the schools mentioned. There were a few kids with last names you would recognize that weren't always the brightest bulbs, but financial aid at places like Andover and Exeter are unbelievable and a lot of educated but not wealthy people make financial sacrifices to send their kids there. So there are a lot of non wealthy people. The vast majority of my classmates were very bright and talented in lots of different ways, not just academically (theater, art, language, etc). I didn't love it but it offered things no public or even private day school can.

A quick look online at TJ placements and I can see why it has the reputation in this area.

I think TJ and the top boarding schools do not have much overlap in the type of students, maybe just a few could fit in either. I was an exchange student at Choate for one year and if anyone thinks that everyone there is either smart, or wealthy, they are wrong. They were all kinds! (including extremely gifted, extremely poor, extremely smart, stupid, etc)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never heard of TJ until I moved to this area. We had our own magnet schools.

It's not even the entire DMV area. I am in MD and no one cares and people don't think much about TJ. Like you said, we have our own magnets in public. It's just NoVa people.

It's incredibly strange. I think they just go on and on about how great the school is to the students. One time I met a guy from Colorado and he was shocked I hadn't heard of his magnet high school. The only schools I'm aware of outside of DC and my hometown are boarding schools, Stuyvesant, and Greenwich country day and high school. That's really it.

Anonymous wrote:I never heard of TJ until I moved to this area. We had our own magnet schools.

It's not even the entire DMV area. I am in MD and no one cares and people don't think much about TJ. Like you said, we have our own magnets in public. It's just NoVa people.

Anonymous wrote:I never heard of TJ until I moved to this area. We had our own magnet schools.

Same. I don't think people outside of this area have heard of TJ.