Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If a TJ kid goes to VT and a non TJ kid goes to MIT, is the latter more prepared for grad school?

MIT and Caltech have always been the lone two exceptions to the fairly ironclad rule that "TJ is *way* easier than undergrad".

Substitute Princeton for MIT and the answer is almost definitely "the TJ kid is more prepared".

Princeton is also considered pretty high rigor without grade inflation.

Fine, but TJ students report that TJ is more challenging than Princeton, or any other Ivy for that matter. The two exceptions are MIT and Caltech and that's it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If a TJ kid goes to VT and a non TJ kid goes to MIT, is the latter more prepared for grad school?

MIT and Caltech have always been the lone two exceptions to the fairly ironclad rule that "TJ is *way* easier than undergrad".

Substitute Princeton for MIT and the answer is almost definitely "the TJ kid is more prepared".

Princeton is also considered pretty high rigor without grade inflation.

Fine, but TJ students report that TJ is more challenging than Princeton, or any other Ivy for that matter. The two exceptions are MIT and Caltech and that's it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If a TJ kid goes to VT and a non TJ kid goes to MIT, is the latter more prepared for grad school?

MIT and Caltech have always been the lone two exceptions to the fairly ironclad rule that "TJ is *way* easier than undergrad".

Substitute Princeton for MIT and the answer is almost definitely "the TJ kid is more prepared".

Princeton is also considered pretty high rigor without grade inflation.

Fine, but TJ students report that TJ is more challenging than Princeton, or any other Ivy for that matter. The two exceptions are MIT and Caltech and that's it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ being sports focused is a total joke. TJ sports is mostly recreational, more about fitness and team building than any sort of competition. Only kids good with academics can afford to allocate time for sports. It is hard to enjoy sports when sitting on a ton of Cs and Ds.

Man, you're all over the place here...

1) No one is arguing that it's "sports-focused", and yet the sports experience there is pretty damn solid and they usually win more championships than just about anyone else in the area.

2) It's not mostly recreational unless you're talking about the running sports, and even those win district titles with regularity.

3) Turns out the vast majority of TJ kids are "good with academics".

4) There aren't many TJ students sitting on a ton of Cs and Ds.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At TJ, plenty of good athletes have good grades. Actually it is possible to be the top athlete of the country and have top grade, see Brandon Kim. But that requires A LOT of talent and dedication, each student and each family is different. What I have seen at TJ, a lot of academically strong kids are also do well in extracurricular activities. It is very hard with TJ's rigor, but those kids are willing to work hard and give it all.

There are a few. There is a recruitable fencer that is a junior this year. A recruitable soccer player. A recruitable tennis player. And I am sure there are a bunch more that I am not aware of.

Anonymous wrote:TJ being sports focused is a total joke. TJ sports is mostly recreational, more about fitness and team building than any sort of competition. Only kids good with academics can afford to allocate time for sports. It is hard to enjoy sports when sitting on a ton of Cs and Ds.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If a TJ kid goes to VT and a non TJ kid goes to MIT, is the latter more prepared for grad school?

MIT and Caltech have always been the lone two exceptions to the fairly ironclad rule that "TJ is *way* easier than undergrad".

Substitute Princeton for MIT and the answer is almost definitely "the TJ kid is more prepared".

Princeton is also considered pretty high rigor without grade inflation.

Anonymous wrote:At TJ, plenty of good athletes have good grades. Actually it is possible to be the top athlete of the country and have top grade, see Brandon Kim. But that requires A LOT of talent and dedication, each student and each family is different. What I have seen at TJ, a lot of academically strong kids are also do well in extracurricular activities. It is very hard with TJ's rigor, but those kids are willing to work hard and give it all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ being sports focused is a total joke. TJ sports is mostly recreational, more about fitness and team building than any sort of competition. Only kids good with academics can afford to allocate time for sports. It is hard to enjoy sports when sitting on a ton of Cs and Ds.

?
By this do you mean it's not cut-throat to get onto the teams like it is in some of the other FCPS HSs? Yeah, I'd agree that's true - and a great thing. DD is a year-round swimmer and has been since 8. She still may not have made the cut at our base school. But she's been a strong swimmer for TJ all 4 years and gotten to enjoy the fun of being on a HS team. I think it's way too hard to make the team at most HSs since our HSs are gigantic. TJ offers a lot more opportunities for "normal" athletes to participate and for kids to even try new things, rather than all the team slots goign to people who are the best of the best & have been doing that sport since ES.

And yes, sure, you won't have time for sports if you have a lot of Cs and Ds. If that's the case though, TJ's not really working out for you.

How many kids do you have? inventing new ones for different posts

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ being sports focused is a total joke. TJ sports is mostly recreational, more about fitness and team building than any sort of competition. Only kids good with academics can afford to allocate time for sports. It is hard to enjoy sports when sitting on a ton of Cs and Ds.

?
By this do you mean it's not cut-throat to get onto the teams like it is in some of the other FCPS HSs? Yeah, I'd agree that's true - and a great thing. DD is a year-round swimmer and has been since 8. She still may not have made the cut at our base school. But she's been a strong swimmer for TJ all 4 years and gotten to enjoy the fun of being on a HS team. I think it's way too hard to make the team at most HSs since our HSs are gigantic. TJ offers a lot more opportunities for "normal" athletes to participate and for kids to even try new things, rather than all the team slots goign to people who are the best of the best & have been doing that sport since ES.

And yes, sure, you won't have time for sports if you have a lot of Cs and Ds. If that's the case though, TJ's not really working out for you.

How many kids do you have? inventing new ones for different posts

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Students who entered TJ with a sports-first mindset realize by the end of freshman year or at the latest by mid sophomore, that they can’t continue to allocate prime evening hours to sports if they start out with a shakey standing in academically. Especially true for team sports.

In fact, more students involved in sports have transferred back to their base school than those from any other extracurricular activity. TJ academic demands don’t offer the same flexibility that base school gen ed provides for competitive sports participation. Coaches reiterate as well - take care of academics first.

My kid is a 3 season athlete and I don't think he knows a single kid on one of his teams that transferred back. So not sure that your logic here stands.

This is the same person who posts TJ statements as if they are factual but they are absolutely not.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ being sports focused is a total joke. TJ sports is mostly recreational, more about fitness and team building than any sort of competition. Only kids good with academics can afford to allocate time for sports. It is hard to enjoy sports when sitting on a ton of Cs and Ds.

?
By this do you mean it's not cut-throat to get onto the teams like it is in some of the other FCPS HSs? Yeah, I'd agree that's true - and a great thing. DD is a year-round swimmer and has been since 8. She still may not have made the cut at our base school. But she's been a strong swimmer for TJ all 4 years and gotten to enjoy the fun of being on a HS team. I think it's way too hard to make the team at most HSs since our HSs are gigantic. TJ offers a lot more opportunities for "normal" athletes to participate and for kids to even try new things, rather than all the team slots goign to people who are the best of the best & have been doing that sport since ES.

And yes, sure, you won't have time for sports if you have a lot of Cs and Ds. If that's the case though, TJ's not really working out for you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Students who entered TJ with a sports-first mindset realize by the end of freshman year or at the latest by mid sophomore, that they can’t continue to allocate prime evening hours to sports if they start out with a shakey standing in academically. Especially true for team sports.

In fact, more students involved in sports have transferred back to their base school than those from any other extracurricular activity. TJ academic demands don’t offer the same flexibility that base school gen ed provides for competitive sports participation. Coaches reiterate as well - take care of academics first.

My kid is a 3 season athlete and I don't think he knows a single kid on one of his teams that transferred back. So not sure that your logic here stands.

Anonymous wrote:TJ being sports focused is a total joke. TJ sports is mostly recreational, more about fitness and team building than any sort of competition. Only kids good with academics can afford to allocate time for sports. It is hard to enjoy sports when sitting on a ton of Cs and Ds.