Learnation

The 5 Best Schools in America

The Top 5 High Schools

Rank #5: Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology

TJ logo

6560 Braddock Road
Alexandria, Virginia, 22312
(703) 750-8300
www.tjhsst.edu

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology is a school located within Fairfax County, Virginia. This magnet school has very selective admissions and is open to students in six local jurisdictions based on prior academic achievements, recommendations, essays and an admissions test. The school is currently under major renovations as it has not been updated since 1964.

Academics

The school maintains a schedule of eight class periods on Monday and block classes the rest of the week. There are no formal classes offered during eighth period, but it is a required part of a school day.On Wednesday and Friday’s eighth period students can participate in clubs and teams, and other extracurricular activities. This eighth period can also be used for study hall or to complete homework.

Students

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology admissions accepts freshmen admissions from eight graders who live in the eligible areas of Northern Virginia. All applicants take screening test in order to be admitted. This test  consists of mathematics, reasoning and an essay portion. Approximately 3000 freshman apply each year and 480 of those are admitted. A GPA of at least 3.0 is required for students to maintain their enrollment at the school. The school attracts very high talent and helps to hone the students’ academic abilities for the future.

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology sign

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology sign – Photo by Daniel Odio (Source)

Campus

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology has a greatly equipped school grounds in order to make students flourish and learn. The school has a wonderful computer systems lab with a supercomputer. The supercomputers are used for research projects and in the class Parallel Computing. Student involvement is very important at the school so at the computer labs there are designated student system administrators that maintain the school’s email, website and intranet. The computer lab currently runs on Gentoo Linux and is constantly improving workstations and computer resources.

Student Life

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology allows students to participate in many extracurricular activities during school time because the school day does not end until 3:50 pm. The eighth period allows students to participate in many different activities that students may have a special interest in. These activities include but are not limited to performing arts, choir, and TJ’s band. Academic teams compete at state, national and international levels. These academic teams include chess, math competitions and science bowls. The school also has the Model United Nations club which is the largest regularly meeting at the school with over 150 regular participants. The second largest club at the school is the Future Business Leaders of America. Unfortunately due to stringent state rules the school cannot compete in state competitions, but has had some very compelling student debates.

Sports

The mascot is the Colonial at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Teams currently play in the AAA Liberty District. Thomas Jefferson high school’s sports teams are referred to as the Colonials. The Colonials are known for their strong athletics including: cross country, track and field, swim and dive teams. The schools bumper sticker states “We came for the sports.”

Alumni

Every year over a quarter of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology’s graduating class accepts admission to the University of Virginia. Other schools that many graduates of Thomas Jefferson School for Science and Technology attend include Duke University, Princeton and the College of William and Mary. Some notable graduates include screenwriter Ehren Kruger whose films include Arlington Road and The Skeleton Key. Another former student of Thomas Jefferson School of Science and Technology who went on to be very successful if Greg Tseng, the Founder and CEO of Tagged.