Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technhology (TJHSST) is currently ranked as the # 1 High School in Virginia and the #2 High School in the Nation.

How to have the best chance to get into Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST)

Amy worked hard in school

A few years ago, I remember my young neighbor Amy coming back from middle school later than most middle school kids in the neighborhood.  I asked her if she was in after-school programs and she said that she came home later because she attended Carson MS instead of our neighborhood-assigned middle school.

A few years later, she had to get up even earlier and come home even later than her High School friends in the neighborhood because she was attending Thomas Jefferson High School.   Now I realize that she was following in her brother’s footsteps and pursuing a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) path toward college.

What is TJHSST?

TJHSST is a Governor’s School, which means that it’s not part of any specific school district, and as such, it has a highly selective admissions process.

This past year, of the 3,121 students who applied to TJHSST only 480 (or 15.3%) were admitted onto the new freshman class.

Of the 480 students who were accepted, 365 are Fairfax County Middle School students, with a great majority of them (over 47%) who came from 3 Middle Schools:

 The Top 3 Middle Schools for getting into Thomas Jefferson High School (TJHSST)

To have a better chance to get into TJHSST

If you have a child who would like to attend TJHHST, you might want to look into these top 3 middle schools as they seem to have a heavy focus toward getting their students ready for TJ.  (Since, on average, 29% of their applicants got into Thomas Jefferson High School).

But it’s not as simple as enrolling kids in those top middle schools

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST) is # 1 in Virginia

In order for children to attend any of those middle schools with 100% certainty, you’d have to live within their attendance boundaries.

Another way to have children attend one of those middle schools is to have the child admitted onto the Advanced Placement (AP) Level IV center located in each of those schools.  To attend an AP Level IV center, the child would have to live within the boundary of a Middle School served by one of those Level IV AP Centers.  They would also have to apply and be admitted to those academically rigorous Level IV AP programs.

Summary

• Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST) is one of the top 2 high schools in the Nation
• Attending one of the top middle schools in Fairfax County seems to be a student a better chance to be admitted onto TJHSST
• The top 3 middle schools with student admittance onto TJHSST are: Carson, Longfellow, and Rocky Run Middle Schools

Learn more about the boundaries where these top middle schools are:
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Where’s Amy now?

If you’re wondering about Amy, she’s still working as hard as always; this year she’s finishing up an Engineering degree at an Ivy-League college and is looking forward to starting a Master’s Degree this fall.  She attributes her current success to her great experience at Carson Middle School and at Thomas Jefferson High School (TJHSST).

Related Posts

Top High Schools in Fairfax County VA Fairfax County Schools: The VIP awards 2013 Fairfax County High School Rankings: IB vs AP Fairfax County Schools (FCPS) Boundary Changes in 2014