Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would have gotten into TJ probably, but had no interest in going (white girl). I have my friends at my school, I'm comfortable moving on with them, and I am as interested in non-STEM subjects as STEM. Also, I have a friend who left TJ after the first year because she said there was no social life.
Anyway, that was a few years ago. I got into Harvard, so clearly wasn't slacking at my home school. Calling people lazy because they don't think TJ is the best school for everyone is silly.

Just because you got into Harvard that doesn't mean you would have probably gotten into TJ. Maybe you were a legacy, development case, recruited athlete or lucky. TJ grads that move onto Harvard say Harvard is academically easier than TJ.

TJ apparently does not have a cap on Asians but Harvard does. Asians are capped at about 16 to 18% year after year even though the number of Asian applicants probably doubled in the last 10 years. Harvard would be 60% Asians if it did not have quotas on Asians. Also, your friend saying there is no social life at TJ doesn't mean there is no social life for others. Maybe she thought the academics were too rigorous and wanted less challenging environment. I am sure she didn't say on the application her main priority was an active "social life" but to challenge her self with rigorous STEM courses and participate in scientific discovery. You know, the usual stuff that goes on the application and the SIS. So, for her to say she left because of no social life is disingenuous.

No one is saying people who do not think TJ is the best school are lazy. We are all entitled to our opinions. However, it is a fact that less whites are applying and this has been significant for the last 5 or 6 years. The likely reasons were put forth as : 1) I do not want to go to school with bunch of Asians where Asians are the majority (racist attitude), 2) I do not want to study too hard and still only manage to be above average or average in all likelihood (Not very capable/lazy or both).

It's not racist if white students don't like or particularly admire certain kids gunning for or attending TJ, and the latter mostly happen to be Asian. And applications to TJ are down across all ethnic groups, including Asians. TJ simply is not as coveted as it used to be.

By way of comparison, the percentage of students now admitted to TJ has increased to about the same admission rate as, for example, Washington U or Vanderbilt. It's selective, but it's certainly much harder to get into Stanford or an Ivy than TJ.

I wish people would do a little fact checking before they post.

2017

http://www.fcps.edu/cco/pr/tj/tjadmissions0413.pdf

2018

http://www.fcps.edu/cco/pr/tj/tjadmissions0412.pdf

Number of Asian applicants have INCREASED

Indeed. Perhaps next time you won't try to pass off Class of 2016 information as relating to the Class of 2018. Applications from Asian students are down.

http://www.fcps.edu/cco/pr/tj/tjadmissions0414.pdf

With 25% accepted to Ivies that's pretty strong.

Anonymous wrote:And educate yourself about the many ways TJ parents, teachers, and students participate in outreach to schools to inspire kids on a track that might get them on an advanced academic track, including TJ. This isn't discrimination by people at TJ.

6.

Anonymous wrote:or 3) students have found that they do not need to go to TJ in order to be successfully challenged at their neighborhood high school AND to be accepted by nationally recognized elite universities.

Bingo. With 50% going in-Commonwealth from TJ, the competitive advantage is smaller than one might think.

Are you saying every family that isn't FARMS can afford Ivy tuition? Get real. And educate yourself about the many ways TJ parents, teachers, and students participate in outreach to schools to inspire kids on a track that might get them on an advanced academic track, including TJ. This isn't discrimination by people at TJ.

Anonymous wrote:So what? That proves nothing. This thread is really insulting to a lot of kids -- like my own white male -- who have always worked hard, from K through 8th grade ... not because of TJ or Langley or a Big 3 (another option we had because of DS's hard work) and defeated 90% odds against him to get into TJ. Did you go to the new admission orientation tonight? No, I suppose not. Nor did I. Trusted my son to go and make his own decisions. And he came home totally excited about TJ learning, sports, clubs, languages, teachers, and his peers. Including the Asian students. Don't some of the parental units on this thread realize we have (thank goodness and despite parental phobias) raised a generation that is largely color and race blind?

Congratulations for your son getting in. Also, thanks for your voice of reason. Regardless of the demographics and TJ haters, few things are clear about TJ: 1) They have great teachers. Not all of them obviously but most are competent and many gave up lucrative private sector careers to become teachers there and many stay for decades and retire at TJ, 2) Most of the students are very bright. Not all of them are brilliant in all things but most students are brilliant in 1 or 2 areas (e.g. latin, programming, instrument, writing, poetry, Rubik's cube, chess etc.), 3) They have more than 170 academic teams and clubs and they are all open to all of the students, 4) Very active sport teams and teams are not centered around few "superstars" like some other schools, 5) Soon, they will have the state of the art research labs which were funded separately and newly renovated building for all of the class rooms, library, computer lab etc., 6)Graduates come out with confidence knowing they survived a very rigorous academic program and usually end up in the top 10% of the colleges thy attend whether HYPSM or UVA (which helps with getting into Graduate School or Professional School) and finally, 7) There is a trust between the students and the administrators/teachers (e.g. no bells, lunch anytime, anywhere, no hall passes, no harassment for being few minutes late to class etc.) which is rare.

There should be more schools like this for the good of the region/state and for good of the country.

Anonymous wrote:Oh and BTW, TJ is very transparent about Ivy acceptance rates. It's roughly 25%. But only about 11% accept the invitation. They are also transparent about why - $$$. About half of TJ goes in-Commonwealth. So think about the real economics these families face before you go insulting these kids as if they've all spent tons of money to get into TJ.

Yes, the real economics for the 6 FARMs kids who made it are tough.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For me, the commute is devastating. Traffic has become so much worse. The other schools offer so many options for advanced classes, it just seems a waste to spend all that time on the bus.

There is the lazy entitled attitude

Agreed. For a similar STEM magnet school in NYC, "Stuyvesant High School', kids have to take the NY city subway for long commutes (not on a safe school bus but the real NYC subway) changing trains just to get to the school in the morning from areas outside of Manhattan and do the same to get back home as well. The trip is typically longer than a typical TJ student's commute. Thousands of kids do it everyday not complaining but grateful they have an opportunity to attend one of the best high schools in the country and actually learning.

Try doing that for a month and you will be begging for a nice school bus transportation. Lazy spoiled brats.

The cluelessness and vitriol on this board is ridiculous. To call someone lazy and entitled because they don't want to drive themselves crazy with a long driving commute each morning in an area where traffic congestion gets worse by the day is just silly. Although it is urbanizing, Northern Virginia is not a city. What many people forget is that some families have lived here for years and can remember when the commute wasn't so bad and everyone didn't act like you were crazy if you had a smart kid who didn't go to TJ. Things have changed quite a bit even in the last 4 years. And some people weighing the options have decided that TJ isn't worth the tradeoffs, or they'd rather go to a neighborhood school. So what? Given it's competitiveness, seems like TJ fans would be happy to have less competition for entrance, not need to attack people for not wanting what they want.

Secondly, I'm very familiar with Stuyvesant since I lived in NYC and a good friend went there. Commuting comparisons with TJ are like comparing apples to oranges. It's a lot easier to take a subway even if you have to switch trains than get in a car and fight traffic. As you said, thousands of kids do it everyday with no problem -- the subways aren't scary and are typically much faster than the driving around here at rush hour. I'd feel much better putting my kid on a subway any day.

The great thing about this county is that there are a lot of great educational options. Why can't we be happy about that instead of putting down anyone who doesn't want the same thing? Life is a long road and high school is just a stop along the way. It can be life-changing for some, a best-forgotten blip for others, but it rarely determines the outcome of a life. It's funny because as smart, geeky kids my friends and I used to make fun of jocks and cool kids who acted like success in high school was the be-all and end-all. And yet, the way some parents talk about TJ, you'd think today's brainiacs had bought into the same BMIHS (big man in high school) mentality. Just stop. Encourage your kids to use their gifts wherever they go and realize that there's enough success to go around.

I've lived and worked all over the world think few things are sadder than a grown-up talking about where he went to college (typically, Harvard) or god forbid, high school. It's usually a sign that that's when their life peaked.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would have gotten into TJ probably, but had no interest in going (white girl). I have my friends at my school, I'm comfortable moving on with them, and I am as interested in non-STEM subjects as STEM. Also, I have a friend who left TJ after the first year because she said there was no social life.
Anyway, that was a few years ago. I got into Harvard, so clearly wasn't slacking at my home school. Calling people lazy because they don't think TJ is the best school for everyone is silly.

Just because you got into Harvard that doesn't mean you would have probably gotten into TJ. Maybe you were a legacy, development case, recruited athlete or lucky. TJ grads that move onto Harvard say Harvard is academically easier than TJ.

TJ apparently does not have a cap on Asians but Harvard does. Asians are capped at about 16 to 18% year after year even though the number of Asian applicants probably doubled in the last 10 years. Harvard would be 60% Asians if it did not have quotas on Asians. Also, your friend saying there is no social life at TJ doesn't mean there is no social life for others. Maybe she thought the academics were too rigorous and wanted less challenging environment. I am sure she didn't say on the application her main priority was an active "social life" but to challenge her self with rigorous STEM courses and participate in scientific discovery. You know, the usual stuff that goes on the application and the SIS. So, for her to say she left because of no social life is disingenuous.

No one is saying people who do not think TJ is the best school are lazy. We are all entitled to our opinions. However, it is a fact that less whites are applying and this has been significant for the last 5 or 6 years. The likely reasons were put forth as : 1) I do not want to go to school with bunch of Asians where Asians are the majority (racist attitude), 2) I do not want to study too hard and still only manage to be above average or average in all likelihood (Not very capable/lazy or both).

It's not racist if white students don't like or particularly admire certain kids gunning for or attending TJ, and the latter mostly happen to be Asian. And applications to TJ are down across all ethnic groups, including Asians. TJ simply is not as coveted as it used to be.

By way of comparison, the percentage of students now admitted to TJ has increased to about the same admission rate as, for example, Washington U or Vanderbilt. It's selective, but it's certainly much harder to get into Stanford or an Ivy than TJ.

I wish people would do a little fact checking before they post.

2017

http://www.fcps.edu/cco/pr/tj/tjadmissions0413.pdf

2018

http://www.fcps.edu/cco/pr/tj/tjadmissions0412.pdf

Number of Asian applicants have INCREASED

Oh and BTW, TJ is very transparent about Ivy acceptance rates. It's roughly 25%. But only about 11% accept the invitation. They are also transparent about why - $$$. About half of TJ goes in-Commonwealth. So think about the real economics these families face before you go insulting these kids as if they've all spent tons of money to get into TJ.

Frankly, the insults work both ways on this thread.

Oh and BTW, TJ is very transparent about Ivy acceptance rates. It's roughly 25%. But only about 11% accept the invitation. They are also transparent about why - $$$. About half of TJ goes in-Commonwealth. So think about the real economics these families face before you go insulting these kids as if they've all spent tons of money to get into TJ.

So what? That proves nothing. This thread is really insulting to a lot of kids -- like my own white male -- who have always worked hard, from K through 8th grade ... not because of TJ or Langley or a Big 3 (another option we had because of DS's hard work) and defeated 90% odds against him to get into TJ. Did you go to the new admission orientation tonight? No, I suppose not. Nor did I. Trusted my son to go and make his own decisions. And he came home totally excited about TJ learning, sports, clubs, languages, teachers, and his peers. Including the Asian students. Don't some of the parental units on this thread realize we have (thank goodness and despite parental phobias) raised a generation that is largely color and race blind?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would have gotten into TJ probably, but had no interest in going (white girl). I have my friends at my school, I'm comfortable moving on with them, and I am as interested in non-STEM subjects as STEM. Also, I have a friend who left TJ after the first year because she said there was no social life.
Anyway, that was a few years ago. I got into Harvard, so clearly wasn't slacking at my home school. Calling people lazy because they don't think TJ is the best school for everyone is silly.

Just because you got into Harvard that doesn't mean you would have probably gotten into TJ. Maybe you were a legacy, development case, recruited athlete or lucky. TJ grads that move onto Harvard say Harvard is academically easier than TJ.

TJ apparently does not have a cap on Asians but Harvard does. Asians are capped at about 16 to 18% year after year even though the number of Asian applicants probably doubled in the last 10 years. Harvard would be 60% Asians if it did not have quotas on Asians. Also, your friend saying there is no social life at TJ doesn't mean there is no social life for others. Maybe she thought the academics were too rigorous and wanted less challenging environment. I am sure she didn't say on the application her main priority was an active "social life" but to challenge her self with rigorous STEM courses and participate in scientific discovery. You know, the usual stuff that goes on the application and the SIS. So, for her to say she left because of no social life is disingenuous.

No one is saying people who do not think TJ is the best school are lazy. We are all entitled to our opinions. However, it is a fact that less whites are applying and this has been significant for the last 5 or 6 years. The likely reasons were put forth as : 1) I do not want to go to school with bunch of Asians where Asians are the majority (racist attitude), 2) I do not want to study too hard and still only manage to be above average or average in all likelihood (Not very capable/lazy or both).

It's not racist if white students don't like or particularly admire certain kids gunning for or attending TJ, and the latter mostly happen to be Asian. And applications to TJ are down across all ethnic groups, including Asians. TJ simply is not as coveted as it used to be.

By way of comparison, the percentage of students now admitted to TJ has increased to about the same admission rate as, for example, Washington U or Vanderbilt. It's selective, but it's certainly much harder to get into Stanford or an Ivy than TJ.

Anonymous wrote:

There is the lazy entitled attitude

My kids were hardworking and smart in school. They did not need TJ to boost their self-esteem.

TJ kids do not attend TJ to boost their self esteem. They attend TJ to take advantage of the advanced classes, outstanding teachers, intellectually engaged peers and facilities. They attend school to actually learn for a change. Is that so hard to understand?

There is the lazy entitled attitude

My kids were hardworking and smart in school. They did not need TJ to boost their self-esteem.