<p>The "senior issue" of tjToday, the TJHSST (Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology, in Alexandria, VA, a selective competitive governor's school, and a public school) came out today...it includes a list of where each of the 407 graduating seniors is going next year. Here's the breakdown.</p>
<p>Two say they're "undecided," and six have "other plans." The other 399 are going to these colleges:</p>
<p>American University (1)
Arizona State University (1)
Baylor Univeristy (1)
Boston University (3)
Brandeis University (1)
Brown University (3)
Brigham Young University (1)
Cal Tech (2)
Calvin College (1)
Cambridge University (1)
Carleton College (1)
Carnegie-Mellon (11)
Case Western Reserve (2)
Christopher Newport U (1)
Clemson U (1)
Colby College (1)
Columbia (2)
Cornell (8)
Dartmouth (8)
Davidson College (1)
Drexel U (1)
Duke (25)
Emerson College (1)
Emory (2)
Florida Tech (2)
George Mason U (3)
George Washington U (2)
Georgetown (1)
Georgia Tech (2)
Harvard (3)
Haverford College (1)
Hope College (2)
James Madison U (3)
Johns Hopkins U (4)
Lehigh U (1)
Lenoir-Rhyne College (1)
Loyola U/New Orleans (1)
Mary Washington (1)
McGill U (2)
MIT (10)
Montreal U (2)
NYU (4)
Northern VA Community College (1)
Northwestern (2)
Nortre Dame (8)
Ohio U (1)
Oberlin College (3)
Olin COllege of Engineering (3)
Oxford U (1)
Penn State (2)
Princeton (14)
Rensselear (RPI) (1)
Rice U (3)
Saint Andrews U (1)
SouthernMethodist U (1)
Stanford U (7)
Swarthmore (3)
Texas A&M (1)
Tulane (1)
University of Arizona (1)
University of California-Berkeley (4)
UCLA (1)
University of Chicago (3)
University of Delaware (2)
University of Florida (1)
University of Georgia (1)
University of Illinois (1)
University of Kentucky (1)
University of Michigan (2)
University of North Carolina (4)
University of Pennsylvania (4)
University of Pittsburgh (1)
University of Rochester (1)
University of Southern California (5)
University of Texas-Austin (1)
University of Virginia (116)
University of Waterloo (1)
University of Washington (1)
Vanderbilt University (1)
Virginia Commonwealth University (2)
Virginia Tech (27)
Wake Forest U (2)
Washington University of St Louis (2)
Wellesley (2)
West Virginia University (1)
Wheaton College (1)
William & Mary (34)
Yale University (3)</p>
<p>No clue how many of these kids are in honors programs--but it's a good bet it's a big number...</p>
<p>It's an amazing list, isn't it?...and an amazing bunch of kids...our world will be a better place because of their participation in it...</p>
<p>This is quite an amazing list, but then again it's a very competitive school to get into in the first place. And while I don't know anything about these kids, I'm a little leery of assuming that getting admitted to ultra-competitive schools when 18 years old is a predictor of how much of a contribution to society you'll make.</p>
<p>Hey, Iderochi--I'd agree with you that gaining admission to a good school at age 18 isn't predictive of one's potential for contributing to society...but I do know many (most) of these kids...(my son is one of them and about him I'm concededly biased)...so I stand by my original statement...and I guess we'll see as the future unfolds...</p>
<p>Ain't nothing wrong with being biased about your own kid and their friends. Like I said, I don't know any of these people. But I'd like to think that the world will also be a better place because of the participation of the kids at S' High School (where about 40% go on to college).</p>
<p>I dont have a dog in this hunt, my kid doessn't go there and I don't know any who do. However, living right across the Potomac River in Maryland, I do know the schools reputation and record of student accomplishments. This is a school that produces impact people.</p>
<p>Congratulations to the parents and best wishes to these amazing students!</p>
<p>You have to look at the graduates of previous TJ classes. Many of them are successful and respected doctors,researchers, businessmen, and lawyers. You see em on Wall Street, you saw one on Apprentice.</p>
<p>Previously a list was published of which child, by name, was going where so it should be rather easy to track them! Congratulations to the class, but I would wager that any other group of kids who had the credentials which allowed these students admission to the high school in the first place will fare as well. And congratulations to those students, also.</p>
<p>Any high school with a rigorous admissions policy yields equally great college admissions. I'm kind of curious about what it takes to get into a Thomas Jefferson v. Andover. Anyone knoe average SSAT score and what else it takes?</p>
<p>Andover has a lot going to ivies because besides being a great school there's a lot of wealth so daddy can afford Harvard.</p>
<p>TJ (tj people correct me if I'm wrong) has more diversity racially and socioeconomically. And even in fairly wealth NoVa, $180,000 is a lot of money. Hence 116 to UVa, 27 to VT and 34 to W&M, all great but cheaper in-state alternatives. I'm guessing a lot of those kids were or could have been accepted to prestigious privates but took a sensible less expensive route.</p>
<p>It is truly an amazing school. Two students have been selected to represent the USA at the International Mathematical Olympiad. That is 1/3 of the team. </p>
<p>Isn't the school also known for developing very strong student-athletes? I remember reading that the former Head of Admissions of Princeton was particularly fond of graduates of the school.</p>
<p>TJ is i'm sure, more diverse than the elite private prep schools. However, it is not that diverse. They're actually working on legislation to put an affirmative action policy in place and slightly increase the size of the school. Personally I disagree with this, but they're trying to get it through.</p>
<p>A fairly significant number of those instate students were likely accepted to the NE schools (this is a fact), and chose to stay in VA for one reason or another. Maybe it was money. Maybe it was to stay with friends. Maybe it was "if you go instate for undergrad the parents will help with grad school." Maybe it was "I prefer <em>instate school</em> to HYP."</p>
<p>TJ doesn't use the SSAT. You take a test in 8th grade (if you sign up), and it has math and reading/verbal sections. I don't think it has a science portion... Anyway, like ~2500+ kids take the test, and the top 800 move onto the 2nd round. These 800 fill out stuff basically like a college app. 3 Teacher recs, and an activities/award sheet. The top ~400 (heavily weighted toward the top 400 test scorers) are offered admissions. (I was around 550-600, made the first cut, not the 2nd, was quite bitter for awhile, lol)</p>
<p>The only comparison I could quickly find with Andover is that the average SAT score at TJ is ~1480 (found on the net), compared to 1363 at Andover (according to their website).</p>
<p>TJ turns out some of the strongest college applicants every year. A sizeable portion of them decide to stay in VA.</p>
<p>I'd say this is a less impressive showing than in some recent years. Fewer going out of state and to the Ivies than in the past.</p>
<p>And as others have noted, the exam scholl is not as "diverse" as some feel it should be. </p>
<p>Contrary to the assumptions of the prior poster, there are more blacks, proportionately, at Andover than there are at TJ, despite the much higher black population in northern VA. </p>
<p>45 of 399 (11%) to the Ivies is very good. Not dramatically better than most other selective schools in affluent areas of the east coast, though.</p>
<p>(Yes, I know the Ivies aren't everything. I'm just using them here as a proxy for highly selective and desirable colleges.)</p>
<p>I'm always intrigued by these lists, not for the "usual suspects" but for the info that just intrigues me and makes me think "Mmm. Wonder what's up with that?" A few things that did catch my eye:</p>
<p>I like the kid going to Lenoir-Ryhne! I also wonder what it was that made it the right fit for a kid from TJ. It's a lovely, small, not terribly selective Lutheran LAC in Hickory, NC. I have a relative that attended and loved it, but it was a bit of a surprise to see on this list. </p>
<p>Between HYPS, why is P so much more popular? </p>
<p>The Va schools I can certainly understand. Sometimes money, sometimes proximity, sometimes both. But the Chapel Hill and Georgetown numbers surprise me as being low. </p>
<p>Finally, and speaking as a Duke alumnus (law school, not undergrad), I continue to be amazed at it's drawing power. It's a very good school. It's a wonderful campus (but not such a great city). I loved my time there. I remain a rabid Blue Devil fan in a sea of Carolina Blue in-laws (although K is getting a little too loopy and paranoid even for me). But the obsession I've seen on this board, primarily in the student section, about attending Duke has dumbfounded me. And the TJ list just adds to my bewilderment -- the most popular school after taking the the VA schools off the table?</p>
<p>Just wanted to echo some previous posters' comments about congratulating, being proud of, and being grateful for kids who strive and achieve and contribute, regardless of their HS of origin, their college of choice, or their spot in "stats lists"...I've spent four years as a TJ parent and a TJ volunteer and I am an unabashed cheerleader for the school...(altho I do recognize and complain about its "warts"!)...but that in no way means (to me) that it's "better" or produces "better" kids than other places in the country (or world, for that matter)...to me, the concentration of amazing kids under one roof never ceases to astound me. Knowing as many of them as I do--S's friends and kids I work with in my volunteering jobs--I'm even more amazed. They're terrific human beings (by & large, to a very great extent) as well as smart and motivated and high-achieving.</p>
<p>But so are many, many other kids at other schools...and I admire and respect and am grateful for them, too--I just don't know them.</p>
<p>So now I've "eased my guilt" at thinking I may have been a bit too parochial in my compliments to the TJ kids...</p>
<p>Iderochi, I too find the choices made by the class of 2005 at TJ very interesting. I'm not sure I can find the "meaning" in the choices...but I do find them fascinating...most I can't explain. Some I can. THe one kid going to Ohio U, for example, is one of "my kids"...she's in their highly selective Visual Arts honors program. Other kids I know chose the schools they went to for money reasons--one example that boggles my mind is the one of the kids going to Cal Tech--she chose between it & MIT, but Cal Tech gave her a full ride and MIT didn't...it was a money choice. (Some money choice!!!!)</p>
<p>Another (I think) interesting tidbit: there are 116 kids going to U VA--out of 256 accepted (many, many to the Echols Honors program)...huge numbers who said "no" to U VA did so because they thought it would "a fifth year at TJ"...no convincing them otherwise and many currently at U VA also find it very "TJ - like"...lots of kids went to U VA or Tech or Wm & Mary for money reasons (it's a WHOLE lot less expensive)...</p>
<p>OK...I promise to "shut up now" (for a while at least) on TJ...</p>