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Anonymous wrote:I understand every middle school will be given a few seats, but last year no one at our middle school accepted the offer. I could be mistaken, as I also heard one kid attended for a year, and returned to base high school. DC took the admissions test this month, and we think there is a good chance we will be made an offer. What I want to understand is why would one not accept a TJ offer? I hear everyone saying how much harder one has to study, but is it significantly more than what a student at base high school enrolled in all honors courses would need to study? How much time would be available to do sports? Trying to figure out if DC would be better off going to our high school with known friends and teammates, or tryout TJ, but definitely want to avoid the hassle of transferring if TJ isnt the right fit.

The lack of diversity is why my nephew declined.

feel sorry for your "nephew"
Diversity is why we accepted the offer. DC has made friends with kids with ethinic backgrounds from at least a dozen different countries - saudi arabia, china, sri lanka, south korea, india, philippines, bangladesh, afghanistan, malaysia, japan turkey, etc. In fact the principal at the orientation, made the crowd repeat "hello" in 15+ languages. Apparently, this year's class has kids speaking 40+ languages at home. wow!

We were present at the event and were surprised when the Principal came prepared to lead the crowd in saying "hello" in so many languages spoken by student families. Despite the stereotype that the school was predominantly American Asian, she employed a simple technique to ensure everyone recognized the diverse range of ethnic backgrounds represented in the recent class.

Next year maybe she can say hello in Greek, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Galic, Swedish, French, German, Croation, Serbian, Russian, . . .

I'm not sure Europe needs so much representation.
Europe is a different continent and the countries there have very different cultures than the culture here in this country. When the culture of this country is not predominant, then people in this country, whether their parents were born here or came here, there's an obvious mismatch.

It appears you are not familiar with the current diversity at TJ. We are first-generation German immigrants, and our DD interacts with peers of various ethnic backgrounds, including Russian, Chinese, Indian, and West Indies, in a multifaceted manner reminiscent of the cultural exchange experiences one might hope for in college with international students. Her circle of close friends, which began with TJ freshman projects like iBET, 8th-period clubs, and lacrosse team, has flourished with mutual cultural learning and collective participation in monthly cultural festival celebrations. Just this month, we all volunteered and celebrated the Chinese Lunar New Year, and we are now preparing for the Indian festival of colors, among others.

I get that there are celebrations for Asian cultures, but is there anything comparable for Hispanics or children of African descent?

Yes, they had very large events for Hispanic Heritage Month and Black History Month. You do not see this in most high schools.

Maybe they should celebrate American culture too, here and there. Especially for a school with so many immigrants - they want to learn about the US too, not just other countries.

You don't seem to know anything about the school culture so perhaps your ideas are not that relevant. It doesn't feel like you're going to school in a foreign country . Of course there are US-related things too.

Do all these immigrants even pay taxes or are they just milking FCPS?

Wait, do you think immigrants don't pay taxes?

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Anonymous wrote:Reasons to not accept:
1. Commute
2. Friends live far away on weekends
3. Too Asian (if you’re white)
4. Sports teams suck

If being around asians bothers your kid, then your kid is going to bothered a lot if they go into STEM.

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Anonymous wrote:Why are so few girls being accepted now?

What is the evidence for this? I read that the number of girls went up, which is expected with an admissions process that prioritizes essay writing.

From the link above. Female students represent 43.4%. - class of 2027

I believe females were 55% of the class of 2026. It was the first class I can remember, and I've been paying attention for over a decade now, that a class was majority female.

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Anonymous wrote:Wierd they couldn’t figure out new questions every year?

Learn more about the test, then you will understand.

It's the SHSAT, it was the same test used by NYC (where they call it the stuyvesant exam) and other jurisdictions. It wasn't a test made just for TJ. They weren't recycling questions. Looking at previous SHSAT exams to pr3ep for the SHSAT is like looking at pervious SATs to prep for the SATs.

Face it, your kid is just mediocre. Just because they got into AAP along with half the school doesn't actually make them gifted (to be fairthe current TJ test does not really select for giftedness either so if your child was rejected over the last few years it says little about your child.)

Anonymous wrote:Reasons to not accept:
1. Commute
2. Friends live far away on weekends
3. Too Asian (if you’re white)
4. Sports teams suck

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Anonymous wrote:Wierd they couldn’t figure out new questions every year?

Learn more about the test, then you will understand.

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Anonymous wrote:Real Curie Owner,
If you’re legit, I feel bad for you that your company has some a negative stigma by most of the community. You seem well intentioned.

I don’t have a problem with the type of work you mention in your example of helping a kid pre-learn the material before a class. But many many people thought that prepping for a test meant to find intrinsic scholastic aptitude was gaming the system. That’s what the test was scrapped and it’s never getting brought back.

Prepping for a test is not gaming, it's called studying. I've never heard of curie but doing some googling, it looks like it's run by indians. They are kicking our ass because they want it more than we do. They are willing to watch their children struggle and cry and do hard things in the hopes their children can realize the american dream ... and so the baton for immigrant model minority is being passed from east asian to south asian just as it was passed from jew to east asian decades ago. Sure there will still be east asians populating top programs for a while but you can see the tide changing.

Anonymous wrote:Wierd they couldn’t figure out new questions every year?

Anonymous wrote:Real Curie Owner,
If you’re legit, I feel bad for you that your company has some a negative stigma by most of the community. You seem well intentioned.

I don’t have a problem with the type of work you mention in your example of helping a kid pre-learn the material before a class. But many many people thought that prepping for a test meant to find intrinsic scholastic aptitude was gaming the system. That’s what the test was scrapped and it’s never getting brought back.

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Anonymous wrote:I support equity but not equity politics. In the realm of equity politics, political gains are often achieved at the expense of the suffering of the target segment that they claim to uplift. The callous school board members are gambling with the lives of innocent students from poorly equipped middle schools and their less informed parents.

So you feel things were better when only kids who could afford to buy the test answers got in?

No one bought test answers, but I agree that many kids got in due to extensive prep rather than talent. At least the heavily prepped kids are used to working their tails off, should already have some idea that they're still going to end up in the bottom half of TJ, and accept the fact that they will have worse college admissions than they would have at their base schools. That's better than blindsiding a bunch of kids who thought they were well prepared for TJ.

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Anonymous wrote:Not wanting to be surrounded by myopic students solely focused on grades. I’ve heard some white students say it’s too Asian.

TJ students as a whole have much more in the way of extracurricular activities than the kids at base schools.
It's not even close.

If being a racial minority is a white student's biggest problem, then they got no problems.

Anonymous wrote:Not wanting to be surrounded by myopic students solely focused on grades. I’ve heard some white students say it’s too Asian.

TJ students as a whole have much more in the way of extracurricular activities than the kids at base schools.
It's not even close.

If being a racial minority is a white student's biggest problem, then they got no problems.

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1. There may be sour grapes but that rejection says nothing about their kid. The process of using an essay on why you want to go to TJ is like picking a baskebtall team based on an interview of the tallest kids in your school instead of a tryout. And interview where they are sitting down so you can't even tell who is the tallest.

2. There are like 1000 kids on the waitlist. The chances of getting off that list are slim to none.

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Anonymous wrote:I think the kids are more well-rounded coming out of our local base HS, and I care about social things - wanted my kid to be with friends from the neighborhood and at a school closer to our house more than I care about prestige. He never applied in the first place because he agreed with me on these things. He's in 9th grade now and trust me - my husband and I don't use this loosely - but we think one of his friends is an actual genius. We've only said that about one other kid - a third grader who pushed up to our middle son's 5th grade AAP math class, and I think still knows more than the 5th graders. Anyway, this friend is applying to TJ for 10th grade, and they are idiots if they don't accept him. That said - I don't know if it wouldn't behoove him to stay at the base and be #1 there for college admissions. I hear the kids from TJ have a harder time getting into UVA because they think it's their safety school. ANYWAY - not my circus, not my monkey - so I'll mind my own business.

Very good points.

My child was at base in 9th grade and at TJ afterwards. The primary reason is social for the move.

My child cared very much about 2 activities. A sport that would be too competitive for child to be able to be on the team at base. Child likes it very much but weak in that sport. Child was able to play at TJ. Another activity had literally one other child who is interested in at base. Child had (well I had to remind child) to remind teachers about due dates to apply to that activity. It was lonely. At TJ, it is tough to get into the top 30 in that activity and there are nearly 100 who are interested. This is a fantastic social experience and the one of the most enjoyable parts of TJ for child.

Anyway went to TJ for the social aspects and HS experience in our case, but not due to prestige or college admissions perspective.

I really don’t see the justification to maintain a magnet school and provide transportation if one of the main remaining benefits is that it allows some kids to make sports teams they couldn’t make at their base schools.

There is also the fact that base was ridiculously easy even while taking the most rigorous course load possible. In all of 9th grade, child probably put maybe 5 hours of effort at home for the entire year on all classes combined. All the home work used to be finished at school itself. In 3 of the courses ended up with over 100% due to bonus points.

So yes there is a need for TJ for some children.

How are the grades at TJ now?

It is an inverted bell or U-shaped curve, with bottom half of class struggling with Cs & Ds requiring math remediation, the distant top half with mostly As, and a nominal number in the middle.

What are benefits of joining TJ if student not expected to be in top half?

You get a phenomenal STEM-focused education that sets you up really well for college and an eventual career in STEM. Even if you don't get into the school you want to right off the bat, you'll probably be prepared to dominate at the school you go to and be well-positioned to transfer to a better school after a year if that's what you want to do. It might be easier to get into a T20 school from, say, Langley or McLean, but you'll be far less prepared and far more likely to drop out after a year and be replaced by a TJ kid who spent a year killing it at Virginia Tech and saving money on in-state tuition.

You get access to facilities, materials, and faculty that are the envy of many college STEM departments. Kids at TJ frequently get early internships and quality employment considerations at major STEM companies because they get experience with this high-end equipment at such an early age.

You get to go school at a place where literally 100% of the kids there care about school. There are virtually zero security concerns or classroom management issues and while not every teacher is perfect, there are none of them who are incompetent.

Because everyone eats lunch at the same time, you're guaranteed to get to eat lunch every day with your friends. That's not the case at most high schools with multiple lunch periods.

Because 8th period exists, you get to participate in tons of clubs and activities without having to stay after school - and because sports take place after school, you can do both clubs and sports with basically no conflict.

I don't see that much benefit attending TJ now coming from Langley, McLean, Chantilly, or Oakton. The main benefit now is if your alternative is a school like Annandale or Mount Vernon. The peer group at the top neighborhood schools is being upgraded, and the peer group at TJ is being downgraded, but of course it's still more academically focused than many high schools in FCPS. The faculty, by most accounts, is no better and in some cases worse (i.e., relies more on students to teach themselves the material) than at other schools.

The access to facilities is nice but the dynamics with more kids who aren't really prepared to take advantage of all that TJ once had to offer aren't great. If they maintain their standards, they will stress out more kids, but the alternative is lowering their standards, in which case there's less reason to put up with the longer commute.

Your assessment isn't far off when viewed from the outside. However, inside, there are clearly two segments within the class that have been admitted randomly from the applicant pool, with equity rather than merit as the objective. As one would expect with a random selection, there is an even distribution of student talent from top to bottom caliber. The difference between the top segment entering with advanced math & science skills and the very bottom struggling with algebra 1 basics is quite stark, from day one.

The irony is that the bottom segment of innocent students is being subjected to a rigor they are not prepared to handle. Most parents of this bottom segment are puzzled, unfortunately too late into the freshman year, as to why their child was even admitted when their middle school preparation was deficient to meet the expected minimum TJ standard. While there are mental health and child psychologist resources available for this segment, it feels like an inhumane experiment being conducted to satisfy a politically motivated diversity composition. Meanwhile, the accomplishments of the top segment are what the TJ administration and FCPS superintendent gladly rely on to report the state of TJ's performance, never highlighting the suffering of the bottom segment.

This is exactly what you’d expect given that all the effort went into changing TJ’s admission policy and very little effort went into anticipating what the needs of a less qualified cohort of students might be.

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Anonymous wrote:I think the kids are more well-rounded coming out of our local base HS, and I care about social things - wanted my kid to be with friends from the neighborhood and at a school closer to our house more than I care about prestige. He never applied in the first place because he agreed with me on these things. He's in 9th grade now and trust me - my husband and I don't use this loosely - but we think one of his friends is an actual genius. We've only said that about one other kid - a third grader who pushed up to our middle son's 5th grade AAP math class, and I think still knows more than the 5th graders. Anyway, this friend is applying to TJ for 10th grade, and they are idiots if they don't accept him. That said - I don't know if it wouldn't behoove him to stay at the base and be #1 there for college admissions. I hear the kids from TJ have a harder time getting into UVA because they think it's their safety school. ANYWAY - not my circus, not my monkey - so I'll mind my own business.

Very good points.

My child was at base in 9th grade and at TJ afterwards. The primary reason is social for the move.

My child cared very much about 2 activities. A sport that would be too competitive for child to be able to be on the team at base. Child likes it very much but weak in that sport. Child was able to play at TJ. Another activity had literally one other child who is interested in at base. Child had (well I had to remind child) to remind teachers about due dates to apply to that activity. It was lonely. At TJ, it is tough to get into the top 30 in that activity and there are nearly 100 who are interested. This is a fantastic social experience and the one of the most enjoyable parts of TJ for child.

Anyway went to TJ for the social aspects and HS experience in our case, but not due to prestige or college admissions perspective.

I really don’t see the justification to maintain a magnet school and provide transportation if one of the main remaining benefits is that it allows some kids to make sports teams they couldn’t make at their base schools.

There is also the fact that base was ridiculously easy even while taking the most rigorous course load possible. In all of 9th grade, child probably put maybe 5 hours of effort at home for the entire year on all classes combined. All the home work used to be finished at school itself. In 3 of the courses ended up with over 100% due to bonus points.

So yes there is a need for TJ for some children.

How are the grades at TJ now?

It is an inverted bell or U-shaped curve, with bottom half of class struggling with Cs & Ds requiring math remediation, the distant top half with mostly As, and a nominal number in the middle.

What are benefits of joining TJ if student not expected to be in top half?

You get a phenomenal STEM-focused education that sets you up really well for college and an eventual career in STEM. Even if you don't get into the school you want to right off the bat, you'll probably be prepared to dominate at the school you go to and be well-positioned to transfer to a better school after a year if that's what you want to do. It might be easier to get into a T20 school from, say, Langley or McLean, but you'll be far less prepared and far more likely to drop out after a year and be replaced by a TJ kid who spent a year killing it at Virginia Tech and saving money on in-state tuition.

You get access to facilities, materials, and faculty that are the envy of many college STEM departments. Kids at TJ frequently get early internships and quality employment considerations at major STEM companies because they get experience with this high-end equipment at such an early age.

You get to go school at a place where literally 100% of the kids there care about school. There are virtually zero security concerns or classroom management issues and while not every teacher is perfect, there are none of them who are incompetent.

Because everyone eats lunch at the same time, you're guaranteed to get to eat lunch every day with your friends. That's not the case at most high schools with multiple lunch periods.

Because 8th period exists, you get to participate in tons of clubs and activities without having to stay after school - and because sports take place after school, you can do both clubs and sports with basically no conflict.

I don't see that much benefit attending TJ now coming from Langley, McLean, Chantilly, or Oakton. The main benefit now is if your alternative is a school like Annandale or Mount Vernon. The peer group at the top neighborhood schools is being upgraded, and the peer group at TJ is being downgraded, but of course it's still more academically focused than many high schools in FCPS. The faculty, by most accounts, is no better and in some cases worse (i.e., relies more on students to teach themselves the material) than at other schools.

The access to facilities is nice but the dynamics with more kids who aren't really prepared to take advantage of all that TJ once had to offer aren't great. If they maintain their standards, they will stress out more kids, but the alternative is lowering their standards, in which case there's less reason to put up with the longer commute.

A person making the above misinformed points almost certainly falls into one of two categories:

1) Their child was not admitted to TJ and is attending one of the schools mentioned above, and is trying to make themselves feel better about their child's rejection;

2) They are desperate to send their child to TJ and is making their best effort to encourage students headed to those base schools to decline their offer in order to improve their child's chances if they end up on the waitlist.