Who makes up the bottom percentage?

Applying to College
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<p>jthecanadian, yeah i do; what did we get our butts whooped in? (and it was to exeter, so i can't be that sad; any school that is getting 30grand per student better be whooping other schools' behinds some time ;p) </p>

<p>foreverzero, i don't care if you think it's the "sad truth" that standards of admissions is lower for URMs, athletes, and legacies. i just wish you'd back up your statements with facts. generalizations only offend people (i'm not an athlete, legacy, or URM, but i'm also offended b/c i know kids who fall under these categories who probably work ten times harder than some of you ever could/be willing to) because they feel like no matter what they do, it's never going to be good enough. i wouldn't care if you say for instance, that according to blah blah blah, such and such percentage of the bottom 25% of applicants to such and such school are URMs, or legacies, or athletes. but you don't even bother doing that. anyway, for a question that wasn't "meant to be a controversy", it's doing a great job.</p>

<p>btw, completely agree with thethoughtprocess. that's the rationale of affirmative action (yes, any logical person would concede that it's far from a perfect system, but i hope this thread doesn't turn into another AA debate thread). what bugs me is that with this already far from perfect system that is trying to do sincere good, there are always people trying to destroy the good it is already doing by discriminating against those who are being helped by the system. some of these kids fall to the pressure of being looked down upon, and the self-fulfilling prophecy of failures continues.</p>

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<p>hey my man, you guys got beat in the Harvard/MIT Math Tourney. Actually Exeter came in first, and Thomas Jefferson High School for Sci. Tech came in second. I don't know where Stuyvesant was, probably eating some burgers or something. LOL. Second is bad, however, we're talking about Thomas Jefferson here. And I don't think even 30k rich kids could compare to the most attractive magnets of magnet schools working their magic...</p>

<p>Anyways taurustorus, what kind of school is TJHST? Are the facilities nice? I know Exeter has 100 or so buildings with lots of high-end technologies, but is TJHST a single-building high school? Or is it many buildings? I would like to get an idea of what the facilities are like; their website shows no pics.</p>

<p>As well, what're the people like? I keep hearing of TJ kids making it into all sorts of contests, all sorts of colleges. However, what are these people like themselves? Are they studious? Bookworms? Or just plain smart people who live normal lives? Or are they just h@x02s? And hows the education? Would you say it's the students or the teachers? I keep wondering...</p>

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<p>okay, first off, you should know that "my man" is actually a petite 5'2" female, hehehe.</p>

<p>on the facilities, it's a one-building school (with a bunch of trailers) with pretty crappy computers (the middle school i came from had better computers). the main source of this obsoleteness is the crappy funding from the state (we're a governor's school). we are getting better funding 'coz we can't stop whining about it, tho. for example, originally the state provided only enough funding to cover 1,000 out of tj's 1,600 students. they then raised the cap to 1,300. now that we are trying to increase our enrollment to ~1,700 students, we are lobbying for more funding. i don't even know why we have to go through all of this since fairfax county, the county where tj is located, basically supports all of virginia (it's filthy rich). </p>

<p>other that this issue tho, we've been faring pretty well. we have a strong support system from the partnership fund (private corporations and businesses). we requested a co2 incubator for our biotech lab, and we got one. people are also really nice about donating things. cray inc. donated a supercomputer to us. i think we're the only high school in the u.s. to have one (there's another one in australia?). i don't know the specifics of any other tech labs, but in biotech (my tech lab), we have adequate equipments that we can culture and maintain eukaryotic cells (i.e. mouse cancer cells, etc.) on our own campus (and by "campus" i really meant building, heh).</p>

<p>as for the people, yes, they're hardworking and studious. not all are "bookworms" (i would even venture to say "only a few"), though. i would say that these kids are just plain smart kids (or hardworkers) leading pretty normal lives.</p>

<p>the education at tj is pretty amazing. i wouldn't rest it so much on the students, tho. i love most of my teachers (there truly are very few bad teachers at tj) because they're really passionate about being teachers and being approachable. many could have gotten better jobs with their credentials, but chose to teach instead. the guidance department is also phenomenal. ironically, my least favorite aspect of the school is the students. i'm sure they're not worse than kids at regular schools, but a lot of them suck in their own ways. it's nice that there's no fighting or rampant drug problems at my school, but the problems are replaced by the arrogance of some students (and really, they think too much of themselves). teachers sometime have a real hard time dealing with these students 'coz they think they're smarter than the teachers (i mean, sometimes that might be true, but they still need to respect the elders... or at least that's what i was taught). some kids are also surprisingly close-minded and ignorant. plus, college-time always brings out the worst in seniors, and it's pretty cruddy. finally, at times the competition gets too much in the way of real learning. we even have cheating issues we're trying to combat.</p>

<p>overall, though, i can't complain. things would have been much worse at my "base school" (the school i would have attended had i not gone to tj). what school do you go to, jthecanadian? somewhere in canada?</p>

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<p>My friend is 2 sport varsity, not the star, but not a bench warmer either. Maybe he has a chance after all.</p>

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<p>Yeh, Canada. I got friends from Exeter though, and they were all ecstatic when they took down the "technological giant." I go to a Math magnet school; one of the best of its kind in the country. A.B. Lucas. However, even the programs here are cruddy. I'm one worse than you are; at least you have cruddy trailers...I just have a cruddy building. </p>

<p>I'm actually applying to Exeter for next year. Hopefully I'll get in, and if I do, your Physics team better watch out :p.</p>

<p>A supercomputer, and an incubator? All in a crappy building? What is this, clowns in a circus car?</p>

<p>Apologies for my media-oriented sexual preferences; taurustorus just "looks like" a boy's name. </p>

<p>Well, you've presented some interesting outlooks here. TJHST resides in a very wealthy neighbourhood. For some reason, they get like 8 USPhO participants CONSISTENTLY every year, and perform extremely well in Mathematics and Science competitions/fairs. Also, there is like at least 3 kids from TJHST each year who go to Research Science Institute. This is kind of some ub32 coicidence don't you think? I can understand how Exeter gets brain power every year through their ultimate fundings...but how does TJHST do it? </p>

<p>Btw what's your aim name? I know some people you might be interested in. I'll give you a shout.</p>

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<p>I believe that when most people said "athletes" in this thread, they were referring to recruits. </p>

<p>As for legacies, while they do get in edge, in many cases legacies have strong scores in the first place because they typically come from affluent families and are well prepared for college. Which sort of makes you wonder why they need an extra edge, but meh.</p>

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<p>Taurustorus: I think you misunderstood me. I wasn't implying that legacies, URM's, and athletes don't deserve to get into their respective colleges. Most of them certainly do. I was merely stating a well-known fact that admissions standards are lower for these people. Read the book "A is for Admission". It has all the facts you need, with entire sections devoted to URM's, legacy status, and recruited athletes.</p>

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<p>There is also the issue of whether a 1500 SAT means that you are really 'qualified' for college. If the score - and everything else in the the student's life - came easily, college may be a rude awakening. The person in the lowest quartile of standardized tests knows that they will have to work hard, and may do better.</p>

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<p>At least as many students worked hard for that 1500 then breezed through with it. If SAT scores did correlate with effort at all, it would be positive, not negative.</p>

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<p>sorry to whore off this thread, this is the last time!</p>

<p>jthecanadian, my sn is lilmimisiku505, but i am almost always on invisible mode (email, <a href="mailto:pazdecourvoisier@yahoo.com">pazdecourvoisier@yahoo.com</a>, is a better way to reach me). also, you wondered why TJ performs really well in math/science competitions, and sends a decent number of kids to RSI per year... i guess that just shows that money going into the school itself isn't everything. the kids at my school work incredibly hard (yes, even the athletes with 1500 SATs... they're usually also 4.+ GPA kids), and are very goal-oriented. but yes, most of the kids do come from affluent families, so even tho there might not be enough resources at school, they can always turn to family connections for research/internship opportunities, and they can afford outside tutoring or SAT prep if needed. without these things, though, one can still thrive at TJ. i'm one of those kids who aren't financially well-off, well-connected, and have blue-collared parents who don't really think education is all that important (i.e. going to college). yet i still have pretty much been able to utilize equal resources as those who are better off.</p>

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<p>Getting a 1500 for some people just requires looking over a few practice tests</p>

<p>College classes can be a difficult transition, but I'm certain just about anyone who has such a high score is prepared for college level work.</p>

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<p>Legacies at the top schools are a stronger group than the applicant pool in general.</p>

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<p>any $tat$ on that 2331clk or i$ it pure $peculation?</p>

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<p>The SAT is very easy to prep for. Just buy the books and you should get a 1500.</p>

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<p>That's what they said about life, mensa, that's what they said about life.</p>