<p>Ok--you made me curious--I'm from D.C. area--went to Immaculata in the dark ages--where did your sons go?</p>
<p>Swimmom from K-town</p>
<p>Why such a discrepancy between the number attending UVA vs William and Mary? Does that make a statement about what kind of student each college attracts or suggest something about the student body from TJHSST? Or both.</p>
<p>Without looking up exact enrollments, those numbers appear to be consistent with the relative undergrad sizes of W&M and UVa. </p>
<p>After visiting both schools with my D, I can't say that I could come up with a clear-cut winner between those two.</p>
<p>Here's the list by most students attending:</p>
<p>University of Virginia (116)
William & Mary (34)
Virginia Tech (27)
Duke (25)
Princeton (14)
Carnegie-Mellon (11)
MIT (10)
Cornell (8)
Dartmouth (8)
Nortre Dame (8)
Stanford U (7)
University of Southern California (5)
Johns Hopkins U (4)
NYU (4)
University of California-Berkeley (4)
University of North Carolina (4)
University of Pennsylvania (4)
Boston University (3)
Brown University (3)
George Mason U (3)
Harvard (3)
James Madison U (3)
Oberlin College (3)
Olin COllege of Engineering (3)
Rice U (3)
Swarthmore (3)
University of Chicago (3)
Yale University (3)
Cal Tech (2)
Case Western Reserve (2)
Columbia (2)
Emory (2)
Florida Tech (2)
George Washington U (2)
Georgia Tech (2)
Hope College (2)
McGill U (2)
Montreal U (2)
Northwestern (2)
Penn State (2)
University of Delaware (2)
University of Michigan (2)
Virginia Commonwealth University (2)
Wake Forest U (2)
Washington University of St Louis (2)
Wellesley (2)
American University (1)
Arizona State University (1)
Baylor Univeristy (1)
Brandeis University (1)
Brigham Young University (1)
Calvin College (1)
Cambridge University (1)
Carleton College (1)
Christopher Newport U (1)
Clemson U (1)
Colby College (1)
Davidson College (1)
Drexel U (1)
Emerson College (1)
Georgetown (1)
Haverford College (1)
Lehigh U (1)
Lenoir-Rhyne College (1)
Loyola U/New Orleans (1)
Mary Washington (1)
Northern VA Community College (1)
Ohio U (1)
Oxford U (1)
Rensselear (RPI) (1)
Saint Andrews U (1)
SouthernMethodist U (1)
Texas A&M (1)
Tulane (1)
University of Arizona (1)
UCLA (1)
University of Florida (1)
University of Georgia (1)
University of Illinois (1)
University of Kentucky (1)
University of Pittsburgh (1)
University of Rochester (1)
University of Texas-Austin (1)
University of Waterloo (1)
University of Washington (1)
Vanderbilt University (1)
West Virginia University (1)
Wheaton College (1)</p>
<p>
[quote]
Why such a discrepancy between the number attending UVA vs William and Mary?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>If you can get into W&M from TJ, you can get into UVA, and UVA is the more prestigious of the two.</p>
<p>I thought it odd that there was only one who went to Georgetown. While there were two who went to University of Delaware. Also that nobody went to Maryland which has some very good science and computer science departments. Maybe it is too close.</p>
<p>As for William and Mary versus UVa I don't know that UVa is more prestigious but it does have ACC sports.</p>
<p>
[quote]
If you can get into W&M from TJ, you can get into UVA, and UVA is the more prestigious of the two.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>That's wrong. They are esentially different types of schools, which attract different types of students. UVA is a major comprehensive research university. CWM is like a lac with some professional schools. Plus UVA is huge compared to CWM so statistically more students will go to UVA than William and Mary. And btw, in 2003 my son got into UVA, UNC, (out of state), FSU and USC film schools, and Toronto. He was wl at CWM.</p>
<p>I know the differences between them, but notice I said "from TJ". The school is in a unique situation when it comes to UVA and W&M. If you have a certain GPA, you're essentially in. That GPA is lower for W&M then it is for UVA. UVA is already thought of as a safety school, and many that apply to W&M do so as a second, even more assured, safety. </p>
<p>That's not to say I agree with that mentality. W&M is definitely a better match than UVA in some cases. But the same mentality that taints a UVA acceptance at TJ spills over to W&M.</p>
<p>Are the ones that will be attending JMU, GMU, UMW, VCU and NOVA CC also tainted acceptances?</p>
<p><em>shrugs</em> If I'm being honest the people going there tend to be weaker students. I think they're good schools (my dad even teaches at one - Go Patriots! :) ) but people at TJ don't pay much mind to them, with the exception of VCU and its guaranteed med program.</p>
<p>And just to clarify, when I'm talking about a TJ-mentality "tainting" a UVA acceptance, I mean that it doesn't get nearly as much respect as it deserves. Yes it is fairly easy to get in from TJ, but people seem to forget that outside the TJ bubble, getting into UVA (and W&M for that matter) is a big deal. Quite a few TJ kids feel very disappointed at being "stuck" with UVA/W&M, not realizing that there are so many people who would love to be in their position.</p>
<p>It appears to me that the vast majority are going to places UVa quality or less with only a small group going to H,MIT, S and the like. Must be lots of depressed little pasty faces around campus.</p>
<p>Whatever. I can see having a student actually be honest about the negative aspects of the school isn't exactly welcome here. The pasty faces comment makes me tempted to just ignore you, but I can tell you a UVA acceptance does not carry nearly as much weight at TJ as it would anywhere else. Students will say congratulations (some are sincere, some aren't), but the big admissions surprises come from people not getting in. That's not to say everyone going to UVA is depressed about it. That applies to a minority of that 118. But people don't really seem to be that proud of it either.</p>
<p>Maybe those kids going to UVA and W&M are indeed smart enough to make a smart economical decision? Or their parents are nudging them into it? Either way, I bet by next November all are pretty happy and their wallets are still pretty full.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Maybe those kids going to UVA and W&M are indeed smart enough to make a smart economical decision?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Exactly what I said to an earlier poster who called students loony for turning down the likes of Dartmouth in favor of UVA/W&M/VT, lol. But the point I'm trying to make has nothing to do with reasoning behind people's college decisions. I'm talking about the general perception. The UVA "wow" factor at TJ is pretty much nonexistant, which is a stark contrast to how top students at other area high schools are practically down on their knees praying that they'll be accepted. As a result, a good number of TJ students don't quite grasp what an honor it is to attend.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Either way, I bet by next November all are pretty happy and their wallets are still pretty full.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Of course they'll be happy by next November. I have faith that my even my friends who were sobbing over having to go to UVA will adore it by this time next year. </p>
<p>On the flip side, it's funny when you step out of the TJ bubble and things seem to completely turn around. I've gotten my fair share of "You got into UVA and you're going to Duke instead?? Do you have any idea how much money you would've saved??" My dad certainly liked to remind me of that fact while I was making my decision, lol. If Duke did not sweep me off my feet when I visited I would be a future Cavalier. I liked NYU more, but it was not enough to justify spending 4x the cash for a school of similar quality.</p>
<p>"Must be lots of depressed little pasty faces around campus."</p>
<p>You have no idea.</p>
<p>If I recall correctly, TJ gets in the beighborhood of 250++ acceptances to UVA every year. For most, it's a safety school. I know plenty of people upset that they're going to UVA.</p>
<p>Of course they WILL be happy, and they know it's irrational, but the fact remains: We have way more kids aiming high than can possibly make it.</p>
<p>Here's a graphic demonstration: (warning, contains foul language)</p>
<p>(If you didn't click it, it's a photo of some college information we received stating that TJ had 93 applications and 12 acceptances to Harvad in the 04-05 year)</p>
<p>So yes, I guess you could say that's a lot of "depressed little pasty faces"</p>
<p>"Um, as a TJ student, I can tell you it doesn't heavily weight GPAs (weighting is minimal compared to many schools - APs give you .5, post-APs are .25, everything else gets nothing) and there really isn't a lot of grade inflation. Teachers don't just hand out As here. You have to work for them. Would you find it odd that the top 10% of every high school in a specific county has a GPA above 3.6, or 3.7 (TJ's average)? TJ takes the best and brightest from area middle schools. It should be no surprise that most do well in high school."</p>
<ol>
<li><p>So a B in an AP course is reported not as a 3.0 but as a 3.5? That's a HUGE weighting.</p></li>
<li><p>3.7 is the average GPA? That's HUGE grade inflation if you're speaking of unweighted grades (which you must, because the list shows that the weighted GPA average is way higher than that).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I'm sure it's a great school. Congrats on going there. I'm not trying to bring it down. But please don't tell me there is light weighting and little grade inflation when practically every kid has 3.7+.</p>
<p>You have to realize that all these students are well within top 10% in county. Most classes have medians of a B+, and I think the 3.7 average is weighted. The scale is 94 A, 90 B+, 84 B. You have to realize that this isn't college. Everyone does there homework thoroughly(some classes it counts for points, some don't) and everyone does decently well on tests. Most people don't get straight A's as they might have difficulty in a couple of classes. Teachers obviously are not going to curve down students if everyone knows the material well. I mean there are classes where students may end up knowing more than the teacher. Is it fair to force B+/B's on students just because their peers got one more question right on that history test. </p>
<p>Grades are earned here not freely given, but what you have are a group of students that want to learn and want to study and want to get A's. For the majority, there scores are comparable. I think the grading here is actually more difficult than base schools, but thats because all of our classes are honors/more than honors. We learn a lot, most ppl work hard, so I think theres nothing wrong with the grading system and their is no inflation here. Also forcing the average to a 3.0 would be detrimental to the school because it would hurt come college admissions time because colleges won't understand that 3.0's here know much much more than 3.8's at normal high schools.</p>
<p>If a B+ is a 90, grades in AP classes get a .5 boost, and the average student has a 3.7 (actually even higher according to the linked data), that's grade inflation. What you seem to be saying is that students at this school deserve to have inflated GPAs because they deserve it: they do their homework, want to learn, work hard, and often know more than the teacher (!!). I don't know the school or the kids, so I'll swallow my skepticism and take your word for it.</p>
<p>When the students have a higher SAT average(1482) than some IVYs, I think a 3.7 average GPA is not inflated,but earned. And just to let you know, UVA takes TJ kids down to about 3.6 and then it gets wish/washy after that. So its not like all 412 can get into UVA. If you believe SAT has any significance in determining academic potential, every TJ kid should be able to get into UVA since its average of 1482 is much higher than UVAs average of 1350s i think?</p>
<p>Disturbing to me that not one Thomas Jefferson graduate is attending a Service Academy. Disturbing because of how close the Naval Academy is to the school, disturbing because of how close the Pentagon and the lives lost there are to Thomas Jefferson, disturbing because of how many residents of Fairfax County are active duty military. I wonder how many have ROTC scholarships.</p>