Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dear TJHSST admissions officials and FCPS Board Members,

Sub: Petition to allow TJ semi-finalists to take final test; who missed to provide teacher names by Jan 25th deadline because of short time to react due to school closures and other compelling reasons

BLAH BLAH BLAH DELETED

This letter is WAY too long and WAY too whiny.

They are probably thanking their lucky stars that you missed the deadline.

Absolutely agree with this. I interview kids for my university. when parents hang around the coffee house we are meeting, or a parent comes in and whine about this or that in the application process, I notify the school. I have yet to see one kid with this kind of parent being accepted. Even the brightest kid gets overlooked. Red Flag galore! Who wants these people in the school PTA????

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did go back to look at the presentation that TJ did to all the middle schools.
First thing that was on their list of things to know was to KNOW THE PROCESS.
It also included the list of all the deadlines.

Live and learn. It's life and sometimes you have to accept the sucky and frustrating outcome and try the next time...

So true.

That being said, the admissions committee needs to do a better job, starting next year, with how they communicate deadlines to better avoid this kind of frustrating outcome. Send out a reminder email and don't bury the deadline in a different email. How hard is that? There is an application fee, maybe part of that fee could cover the cost of writing a short email and hitting send????

Anonymous wrote:I did go back to look at the presentation that TJ did to all the middle schools.
First thing that was on their list of things to know was to KNOW THE PROCESS.
It also included the list of all the deadlines.

Live and learn. It's life and sometimes you have to accept the sucky and frustrating outcome and try the next time...

I did go back to look at the presentation that TJ did to all the middle schools.
First thing that was on their list of things to know was to KNOW THE PROCESS.
It also included the list of all the deadlines.

Anonymous wrote:TJ admissions takes from September to April (July for waitlist) and they gave people just a couple days in winter (when there are snow days) to ask teachers for recommendations.

It felt too presumptuous to ask before the semifinal results came out, and then it's total chaos with so many students asking the same math and science teachers.

There must be a better and quicker way for TJ to run their admissions. Preferably in a more holistic manner like college admissions, where everyone puts everything in at the same time and gets their decision quickly and moves on.

I don’t know. They’ve been doing it this way for years and I’ve never before heard of anyone having trouble with it. The year my son and his friends applied was also a very snowy year. They were out of school a lot because of the snow in January and February that year, so they used email to do what they had to do.

The main problem here seems to be that people did not read the directions. I feel sorry for the kids involved, but you can’t change a process just because a few people didn’t read the directions one year.

Anonymous wrote:To the OP and/or the person writing the petition ....did you submit the letter? If so, Any response from the admission office? (Just wondering if you got your closure on this).

You are dealing with bureaucracy here, who do not want to listen to people and think logically. Their response was same in all three emails.

They refused to give chance.

Anonymous wrote:TJ admissions takes from September to April (July for waitlist) and they gave people just a couple days in winter (when there are snow days) to ask teachers for recommendations.

It felt too presumptuous to ask before the semifinal results came out, and then it's total chaos with so many students asking the same math and science teachers.

There must be a better and quicker way for TJ to run their admissions. Preferably in a more holistic manner like college admissions, where everyone puts everything in at the same time and gets their decision quickly and moves on.

Agree

TJ admissions takes from September to April (July for waitlist) and they gave people just a couple days in winter (when there are snow days) to ask teachers for recommendations.

It felt too presumptuous to ask before the semifinal results came out, and then it's total chaos with so many students asking the same math and science teachers.

There must be a better and quicker way for TJ to run their admissions. Preferably in a more holistic manner like college admissions, where everyone puts everything in at the same time and gets their decision quickly and moves on.

To the OP and/or the person writing the petition ....did you submit the letter? If so, Any response from the admission office? (Just wondering if you got your closure on this).

Anonymous wrote:OP, I am sorry this happened to you. While it is an oversight, I can't believe some of the mean comments here. Don't let that get to you. Best wishes to your daughter.

OP, I'm so sorry this happened to you - I can't even imagine what you are going through. Our daughter just missed the cut-off on the first round of testing (by two percentage points on one test) and is actually relieved to be going to her base school. What you are going through with missing the deadline is something that could happen to any of us between work and other kids and other obligations/responsibilities. My daughter knows someone whose parents missed the test registration deadline and he was studying all summer. Again, I'm so sorry and hope that the appeal works in your favor!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The appeal letter states the reason the kids missed the deadline was because there were only 3 days to ask for recommendations, what with snow days, the holiday, and delays. Yet the original poster admitted she didn’t see the deadline in the congratulatory email. So on principal, this poster should not join the appeal and sign the letter because that wasn’t the sole reason her daughter missed the deadline in the first place!

It really doesn't matter. If 1500 or so kids can get their recommendations in on time, the handful that could not speaks for itself.

I agree, I was just pointing out the poster would be lying if she signed that petition.

Anonymous wrote:The appeal letter states the reason the kids missed the deadline was because there were only 3 days to ask for recommendations, what with snow days, the holiday, and delays. Yet the original poster admitted she didn’t see the deadline in the congratulatory email. So on principal, this poster should not join the appeal and sign the letter because that wasn’t the sole reason her daughter missed the deadline in the first place!

It really doesn't matter. If 1500 or so kids can get their recommendations in on time, the handful that could not speaks for itself.

The appeal letter states the reason the kids missed the deadline was because there were only 3 days to ask for recommendations, what with snow days, the holiday, and delays. Yet the original poster admitted she didn’t see the deadline in the congratulatory email. So on principal, this poster should not join the appeal and sign the letter because that wasn’t the sole reason her daughter missed the deadline in the first place!

Anonymous wrote:OP, I am sorry this happened to you. While it is an oversight, I can't believe some of the mean comments here. Don't let that get to you. Best wishes to your daughter.

+1 this is tough crowd that does not hesitate to judge other parents and children, particularly when it comes to TJ. Best wishes to your family - your daughter will thrive.

OP, I am sorry this happened to you. While it is an oversight, I can't believe some of the mean comments here. Don't let that get to you. Best wishes to your daughter.