Anonymous wrote:I think it really depends on what your alternatives are. I live in Maryland, so I'm not very familiar with high schools in Virginia. But if your alternatives are the equivalent of something like Whitman or one of the magnet programs like Poolesville, I would never in a million years send a kid to TJ expecting some kind of college boost. At the good publics, you will have an exceptional peer group, all the advanced classes, and the opportunity to participate in a huge variety of ECs.

TJ seems like a 100 percent grind, where even the brightest students are working 24/7 to simply stay afloat, much less graduate near the top of their class. College outcomes at Whitman and Poolesville are extremely good, not least because they have the opportunity to distinguish themselves beyond taking a dozen APs and scoring high on test scores. But if the alternative is a high school with lesser opportunities and difficulties finding high achieving peers, I'd reconsider if my kid was inclined to go to a school like TJ.

Anonymous wrote:OP none of the parents that expressed interest in TJ in elementary school ended up with kids capable of it. I was strongly against TJ and my child got in and chose to go.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello,

Planning ahead for DS. We understand that a big advantage of TJ is simply the peer group and great teachers. However, for college admissions we are wondering if sticking out and graduating high in the base HS is better than going to TJ and risking being in the middle of the pack. I recognize admissions for TJ are also different now and getting in is never guaranteed anyways.

Much, much harder to stand out from TJ than base school. This is a well known fact. You have the top 1.5% of students in various counties at one high school and then of those 400+ you take the top 2% at elite universities. So you need to be at the top of the top to get in coming out if TJ. Look at UVA, where the average TJ SAT for admission is 1562 and 4.4 wGPA. So a 1550 and 4.3 doesn’t get you in out of TJ, but certainly would out of a base school and give you a shot at Duke, etc. coming out of your base school.

I agree there seems to be a higher hurdle for TJ students getting into UVA, but that seems to mostly stem from the focus on GPA more than anything else.
4.3 at TJ has trouble getting in, 4.4 has much less trouble getting in, the SAT scores don't seem to matter much as after high 1400s.

There are more than 11 kids getting into HYPSM+ from TJ.
Probably more than the next 10 virginia high schools combined.
TJ is on the radar for all these schools,
They aren't treating TJ grads the same as base school grads.

About 100+ of last year's TJ class received UVA offers, of which 40+ accepted, and the other 60+ passed them on to accept better ranked universities. How is it a higher bar when over 20% of TJ class are presented with UVA offers? Any other HS school that can beat that?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello,

Planning ahead for DS. We understand that a big advantage of TJ is simply the peer group and great teachers. However, for college admissions we are wondering if sticking out and graduating high in the base HS is better than going to TJ and risking being in the middle of the pack. I recognize admissions for TJ are also different now and getting in is never guaranteed anyways.

Much, much harder to stand out from TJ than base school. This is a well known fact. You have the top 1.5% of students in various counties at one high school and then of those 400+ you take the top 2% at elite universities. So you need to be at the top of the top to get in coming out if TJ. Look at UVA, where the average TJ SAT for admission is 1562 and 4.4 wGPA. So a 1550 and 4.3 doesn’t get you in out of TJ, but certainly would out of a base school and give you a shot at Duke, etc. coming out of your base school.

I agree there seems to be a higher hurdle for TJ students getting into UVA, but that seems to mostly stem from the focus on GPA more than anything else.
4.3 at TJ has trouble getting in, 4.4 has much less trouble getting in, the SAT scores don't seem to matter much as after high 1400s.

There are more than 11 kids getting into HYPSM+ from TJ.
Probably more than the next 10 virginia high schools combined.
TJ is on the radar for all these schools,
They aren't treating TJ grads the same as base school grads.

TJ averaged 22 in recent years. McLean averaged 4. Don't know about Langley but would guess same or a bit more than McLean (more hooked). Potomac averaged 7 (but has smaller class size, so ratio is comparable).

Anonymous wrote:I think it really depends on what your alternatives are. I live in Maryland, so I'm not very familiar with high schools in Virginia. But if your alternatives are the equivalent of something like Whitman or one of the magnet programs like Poolesville, I would never in a million years send a kid to TJ expecting some kind of college boost. At the good publics, you will have an exceptional peer group, all the advanced classes, and the opportunity to participate in a huge variety of ECs.

TJ seems like a 100 percent grind, where even the brightest students are working 24/7 to simply stay afloat, much less graduate near the top of their class. College outcomes at Whitman and Poolesville are extremely good, not least because they have the opportunity to distinguish themselves beyond taking a dozen APs and scoring high on test scores. But if the alternative is a high school with lesser opportunities and difficulties finding high achieving peers, I'd reconsider if my kid was inclined to go to a school like TJ.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello,

Planning ahead for DS. We understand that a big advantage of TJ is simply the peer group and great teachers. However, for college admissions we are wondering if sticking out and graduating high in the base HS is better than going to TJ and risking being in the middle of the pack. I recognize admissions for TJ are also different now and getting in is never guaranteed anyways.

Much, much harder to stand out from TJ than base school. This is a well known fact. You have the top 1.5% of students in various counties at one high school and then of those 400+ you take the top 2% at elite universities. So you need to be at the top of the top to get in coming out if TJ. Look at UVA, where the average TJ SAT for admission is 1562 and 4.4 wGPA. So a 1550 and 4.3 doesn’t get you in out of TJ, but certainly would out of a base school and give you a shot at Duke, etc. coming out of your base school.

I agree there seems to be a higher hurdle for TJ students getting into UVA, but that seems to mostly stem from the focus on GPA more than anything else.
4.3 at TJ has trouble getting in, 4.4 has much less trouble getting in, the SAT scores don't seem to matter much as after high 1400s.

There are more than 11 kids getting into HYPSM+ from TJ.
Probably more than the next 10 virginia high schools combined.
TJ is on the radar for all these schools,
They aren't treating TJ grads the same as base school grads.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello,

Planning ahead for DS. We understand that a big advantage of TJ is simply the peer group and great teachers. However, for college admissions we are wondering if sticking out and graduating high in the base HS is better than going to TJ and risking being in the middle of the pack. I recognize admissions for TJ are also different now and getting in is never guaranteed anyways.

Much, much harder to stand out from TJ than base school. This is a well known fact. You have the top 1.5% of students in various counties at one high school and then of those 400+ you take the top 2% at elite universities. So you need to be at the top of the top to get in coming out if TJ. Look at UVA, where the average TJ SAT for admission is 1562 and 4.4 wGPA. So a 1550 and 4.3 doesn’t get you in out of TJ, but certainly would out of a base school and give you a shot at Duke, etc. coming out of your base school.

I agree there seems to be a higher hurdle for TJ students getting into UVA, but that seems to mostly stem from the focus on GPA more than anything else.
4.3 at TJ has trouble getting in, 4.4 has much less trouble getting in, the SAT scores don't seem to matter much as after high 1400s.

There are more than 11 kids getting into HYPSM+ from TJ.
Probably more than the next 10 virginia high schools combined.
TJ is on the radar for all these schools,
They aren't treating TJ grads the same as base school grads.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello,

Planning ahead for DS. We understand that a big advantage of TJ is simply the peer group and great teachers. However, for college admissions we are wondering if sticking out and graduating high in the base HS is better than going to TJ and risking being in the middle of the pack. I recognize admissions for TJ are also different now and getting in is never guaranteed anyways.

Much, much harder to stand out from TJ than base school. This is a well known fact. You have the top 1.5% of students in various counties at one high school and then of those 400+ you take the top 2% at elite universities. So you need to be at the top of the top to get in coming out if TJ. Look at UVA, where the average TJ SAT for admission is 1562 and 4.4 wGPA. So a 1550 and 4.3 doesn’t get you in out of TJ, but certainly would out of a base school and give you a shot at Duke, etc. coming out of your base school.

Anonymous wrote:Hello,

Planning ahead for DS. We understand that a big advantage of TJ is simply the peer group and great teachers. However, for college admissions we are wondering if sticking out and graduating high in the base HS is better than going to TJ and risking being in the middle of the pack. I recognize admissions for TJ are also different now and getting in is never guaranteed anyways.