Considering Gainesville...Chances Of Getting Into TJ? (high schools, best)

[jbroo2]

Originally Posted by Caladium

Is there a particular program at TJ that you were interested in? I'll bet we can find a school closer to you that has something similar.

If there is another school that offers opportunities for the academically/Intellectually advance I would love to hear about them.

She has been in general public schools, while participating in their ACE/TAG programs, and has to put forth minimal to no effort in order to maintain all A's /99th percentile on all Terranova exams.

While I do my best to keep her challenged, she needs an environment that is going to consistently stimulate her.

I have considered advancing her grade level, but socially/emotionally I would rather she stay with her peers.

Again, if there are other schools with opportunities similar to TJ I would love to hear about them.

[jbroo2]

Thank you for all of the insight. I do believe she would do well anywhere, but I want more for her then just easy A's. We will have to see how it goes. Thanks again.

[EMTnest]

There is a governor's school at Innovation Park in Manassas. It is a half-day program concentrating on STEM courses. Students spend the morning there and then go back to their base high school. It doesn't provide the "same" type of experience that TJ will provide. I wondered why they didn't make it an all-day school similar to TJ. Many (if not all) of the top students at our base high school are passing on it preferring to stay with their IB program classes.

[Caladium]

I'd really like to see more of our Gainesville experts chime in on the schools. I'm not that familiar with their schools, but I can't believe they're so bad.

TJ's a nice enough place, but I've never been convinced that it's THAT much better than other schools. Just because a lot of other students do well on tests there doesn't automatically mean your child will be more challenged at that school than at another school. IMO, your child is going to do just about as well at an A+ level school as at an A level school. And he/she might be more likely to get into the college of his choice, since colleges prefer students from a variety of schools, and TJ grads applying to Stanford or Harvard are a dime a dozen.

OTOH, to be fair I don't know much about the Gainesville schools. Any locals from that area want to voice an opinion?

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by EMTnest

There is a governor's school at Innovation Park in Manassas. It is a half-day program concentrating on STEM courses. Students spend the morning there and then go back to their base high school. It doesn't provide the "same" type of experience that TJ will provide. I wondered why they didn't make it an all-day school similar to TJ. Many (if not all) of the top students at our base high school are passing on it preferring to stay with their IB program classes.

OK, good point. A full day program beats a half day program, I suppose. If the OP is determined to send his child to TJ, I suppose a silver lining to taking a long bus rise between TJ and Gainesville could be that your child will have plenty of time for reading on the bus.

[brooklynborndad]

Originally Posted by Caladium

I'd really like to see more of our Gainesville experts chime in on the schools. I'm not that familiar with their schools, but I can't believe they're so bad.

TJ's a nice enough place, but I've never been convinced that it's THAT much better than other schools. Just because a lot of other students do well on tests there doesn't automatically mean your child will be more challenged at that school than at another school. IMO, your child is going to do just about as well at an A+ level school as at an A level school. And he/she might be more likely to get into the college of his choice, since colleges prefer students from a variety of schools, and TJ grads applying to Stanford or Harvard are a dime a dozen.

OTOH, to be fair I don't know much about the Gainesville schools. Any locals from that area want to voice an opinion?

All core courses at TJ are honors courses. Per our daughter (who of course had friends at other FCPS HS', those honor courses were about as hard as AP courses elsewhere. Quite a few TJ kids took the AP physics test after taking honors (not AP) physics at TJ. DD regrets she did not do that. It is VERY challenging, to a fault in my opinion.

There is a wide range of special offerings. All students must take a year long senior year tech lab, in which they do either do a year long tech project, or a science research project. This involves taking tech lab prereqs as well.

There are a variety of unique offerings, including many specialized tech courses, post AP courses, etc.

The social environment is unique around here, AFAICT. This is a school without cliques, without "alphas vs emos", without class vs class bitterness (to my surprise a real issue at many high schools, per me DD) It is a school with a high level of trust and respect between students, faculty and administration (new admins usually start with a different "FCPS" view, but after some time, adjust to the TJ way)


TJ is NOT for everyone. There is way too much homework, and lack of sleep is too much part of the school culture. The quality of the faculty is far more uneven than one might expect. And the physical plant leaves much to be desired. But it is far more than a regular school with students with slightly higher test scores.


As for colleges, thats probably a mixed bag. Almost all colleges CLAIM to know high schools, and to adjust for difficulty. The top 5 schools in the country (including Harvard and Stanford) are stretches for EVERYONE, whereever you go. There is NO formula to get into them. They get way more TJs than they can admit. They ALSO get more than they can admit from "regular suburban highs". You have to set yourself apart, but unless you went to HS in the north slope of Alaska, or in Rwanda, or wherever, its going to be hard to do that by your HS.

Its a tad easier to get into the next 20 or so colleges. TJ gets do quite well there. If TJ is a neg for those, its a small one.

TJ is almost certainly a positive at the private schools from number 20 on down (wake forest, brandeis, Lehigh, RPI, etc, etc) which get few TJ kids and love to get them when they do.

The only school where TJ is probably a neg is Univ of Virginia, which uses class rank as well as GPA, and which looks for some degree of geo distribution across the state. This has created some debate at college confidential. The admin from UVa points to the large number of TJ kids who go to and are admitted to UVa, (over half each grad class is admitted) and says "whats your whining - most schools you have to be in the top 10% of the class" The response (well my response) is that there are kids in the bottom quartile at TJ who cannot get into UVa, and whom,if they went to base school, would be accepted. UVa simply says they cannot do "what ifs". Which is true, but not of much use to a parent of an 8th grader.


It seems unlike to me that an A student at TJ would be disfavored over an A student at any other NoVa HS, at any university. OTOH its clear to ME (if the UVa folks wont speculate) that lots of B students at TJ would be A students at base schools.

[stpickrell]

Can someone tell me what that sculpture in front of the TJ building is?

[brooklynborndad]

a triangle inside a circle or something (we have a mini version in DD's room)

Is that not the answer you are looking for?

[stpickrell]

Originally Posted by brooklynborndad

a triangle inside a circle or something (we have a mini version in DD's room)

Is that not the answer you are looking for?

Yeah -- is it meant to have some sort of special meaning?

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by stpickrell

Yeah -- is it meant to have some sort of special meaning?

I googled it and came up with this:

It is a symbol used by Alcoholic's Anonymous, but it precedes AA.

"The triangle represent the union of body, mind, and spirit, the circle stands for the Divine. In ceremonial magick the spirit summoned by the magician is contained within this symbol so that it cannot escape Thus this symbol is one of protection and power that long preceded it's use by Alcoholic's Anonymous. For AA it stands for the integration of personality."



Read more: What is the sign with a triangle in a circle? | Answerbag What is the sign with a triangle in a circle? | Answerbag