College Admission Hoax at TJ (Thomas Jefferson High School)

[2018dad]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/harvard-stanford-admissions-hoax-becomes-international-scandal/2015/06/18/4abac970-156a-11e5-89f3-61410da94eb1_story.html

The Korean math prodigy at one of the nation’s top high schools had Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg on the phone, personally encouraging the teenager to attend Harvard University. She received letters from Harvard professors, encouraging her to bring her brilliant abilities to Cambridge next fall instead of accepting her admission to Stanford University on the opposite coast.

As she struggled to decide between five-figure scholarship promises from both schools, she got a novel offer: She could spend two years at each elite school as part of an arrangement just for her. The exciting dual-enrollment opportunity garnered starstruck coverage from Korean media outlets, which dubbed her the “Genius Girl.”

But none of it was true.

The baffling hoax has stunned the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County, the top-ranked magnet program known as an intellectual proving ground for science wunderkinds, technology gurus, engineering buffs and math wizards — many of whom earn their way to the nation’s most prestigious colleges.

The senior’s tale of academic conquest of admission into what turned out to be a bogus program apparently was designed to impress her parents, peers and teachers as part of the annual cutthroat competition for the relatively tiny number of spots at the nation’s top schools. The faked admission story went much further than most teen fantasies because it made its way to the international media, where her parents ultimately admitted it was false and publicly shamed themselves before the Korean community.

I don’t even know where to start.

[MDdad2012]

Crazy story. TJ has jumped the shark, LOL. At least make the lies believable.

My nephew didn’t get admitted to TJ, but he’s at Cornell right now.

[mjrube94]

Wow, that’s stunning. Thanks for posting!

[Consolation]

How very sad.

[CheddarcheeseMN]

It is too bad, This must have given the rest of the students a lot to talk about, especially the letter to the entire class from Harvard.

[guineagirl96]

TJ '14 here. Please don’t blame this on the school. The student in question came up with the ruse herself. Other students from TJ are disgusted at what she did.

[NoVADad99]

I haven’t heard this through the TJ parent grapevine yet. But I’m not surprised. It’s gotten so cutthroat even before the kids get into TJ with the admissions process from middle school, and then the crazy competition to out do each other for college admissions. I do blame the parents of these kids pushing them so hard on everything. In many ways, TJ is turning into a version of a Korean cram school all for the parents’ bragging rights about their kids going to top schools. It’s really sad in a way.

[GMTplus7]

Now I’m wondering where did this girl get admitted?

[SlackerMomMD]

I haven’t heard this through the TJ parent grapevine yet. But I’m not surprised. It’s gotten so cutthroat even before the kids get into TJ with the admissions process from middle school, and then the crazy competition to out do each other for college admissions. I do blame the parents of these kids pushing them so hard on everything. In many ways, TJ is turning into a version of a Korean cram school all for the parents’ bragging rights about their kids going to top schools.

Is it the Korean community that creating the pressure? I just don’t remember this type of crazy from the 2000s (through 2010).

It can be an intense school but looking at the profile, it’s not like dozens upon dozens get into HYPSM. The top five schools in admittances are William & Mary, UVa, Virgina Tech and VCU and George Mason. It doesn’t look like it’s the school; rather, the girl is under some intense pressure coming from somewhere else.

Likely the girl got admitted to one of those five Virginia schools, along with everyone else in her class.

[NoVADad99]

From the Class of 2014 profile:

W&M - 170
UVA - 168
VT - 161
Carnegie Mellon - 54
UIUC - 52
Cornell - 46
UM - 43
GT - 43
UNC - 30
Purdue - 25
RPI - 25
UCB - 22
Duke - 19
MIT - 16
Rice - 14
Brown - 12
Vanderbilt - 11
Princeton - 11
JHU - 11
UT - 11
UPenn - 10
Stanford - 10
Georgetown - 10

https://www.tjhsst.edu/abouttj/schoolprofile/docs/2014-15TJHSST%20Profile.pdf

[SlackerMomMD]

Virginia Commonwealth University - 106
George Mason - 62
Case Western - 61
University of Pittsburgh - 56

The point is, there are many mortal colleges with large numbers attached to them. It’s not just the big names.

[2018dad]

@SlackerMomMD
These are acceptances not list of colleges that graduates are attending. It could be that the colleges that you have listed are their safeties. My co-worker’s niece is TJ '15, rejected from all Ivies/Stanford, attending UVA, also accepted to some of those colleges above.

[guineagirl96]

@2018dad If you want to know where the students from my class attended, then its on page 14-15 of of the senior issue of the school newspaper. It gets published every year. I don’t really know if this is appropriate to post, since it includes all students’ names, but it is available for anyone on the web to read. I’ll compile a list of attending numbers when I have a chance, but for now i’ve posted a couple.

Attending numbers:
VCU- 11
Mason- 6
UPitt- 5
CWRU- 9

[raclut]

The senior issue for the class of 2015 should be out.

[oldfort]

So the school’s college counselor knew nothing about this fabulous offer?! My kid’s school counselor would have been on the phone with the adcoms.

[Pizzagirl]

What a gullible community. Like the notion that she had some special program set up where she could attend both Harvard and Stanford for 2 years apiece didn’t raise any suspicion. Gullible prestige-whores. What jokes.

[sabaray]

The Post article further states:

But students at TJ grew suspicious and began questioning the story. That skepticism made its way into online listservs in the Washington region. Then earlier this month, the entire senior class at TJ received an e-mail from a person claiming to be Harvard mathematics professor Joseph Daniel Harris.

I’m not sure what “gullible community” you are referring to, but several of D’s closest friends attended TJ - they are the furthest thing from a prestige whore you could ever encounter. I find this to be a very sad story.

[2018dad]

^^
I don’t think PG is referring to the TJ students/community. I could be be wrong. I don’t want to put words into somebody else’s mouth.

[sabaray]

Personally I find that to be a very broad brush to be using, no matter what the community.

[guineagirl96]

Let me clarify, no one at TJ believed her story. Everyone there knows how admissions works and that that would never happen. It was the Korean community, especially overseas that believed it because they didn’t know any better.