- 1Participating school with 8th graders
- 221Eighth graders, 2024-25
- –Schools with a released offer rate
Falls Church City School
FCPS hasn't broken out offer rates for individual Falls Church City schools in any of the records we've received, so the table shows each school's estimated seats instead. Across all applicants, 21.1% got offers for the Class of 2029. Seats are estimated from each school's 2024-25 eighth grade.
| School | 8th graders | Seats, est. | Latest rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School | 221 | 3 | – |
How Applying From Falls Church City Works
Falls Church City students apply through the same FCPS process as everyone else. Public middle school applicants compete first with classmates from their own school for that school's share of seats, which is 1.5% of its eighth-grade class. Anyone who doesn't get one of those seats is considered again for the remaining seats, alongside private-school and homeschooled applicants from all five divisions.
So where your child goes to school decides who they're compared with first. It doesn't decide the outcome. More on how the 1.5% rule works.
Who Can Apply
Any student who lives in Fairfax, Loudoun, Arlington, Prince William, or Falls Church can apply, whether they go to a public, private, or home school. To be eligible, your child needs to:
- Have completed Algebra 1, or be taking Algebra 1 Honors, in eighth grade.
- Be taking honors science, plus honors social studies or honors English.
- Have at least a 3.5 unweighted GPA in core classes, counting seventh-grade final marks and the first quarter of eighth grade.
FCPS spells out the exact course rules on its eligibility page. For the dates in this year's cycle, see our 2026-27 TJ admissions calendar.
What Separates Applicants
Everyone in the pool has at least a 3.5 GPA, and the spread at the top is small. For the Class of 2029, students who got offers averaged a 3.96. Students who didn't averaged a 3.88. More on what the GPA data shows.
With grades that close, a lot rides on what your child writes on test day: the Student Portrait Sheet and the Problem-Solving Essay. Students get noticeably better at both with practice and good feedback, and that's the part of this you can actually work on.
Questions Parents Ask
Can Falls Church City students apply to TJ?
Yes. Falls Church City is one of the five school divisions that take part in TJ admissions, along with Fairfax County, Loudoun County, Arlington, and Prince William County. Students who live in Falls Church City and meet the eligibility requirements can apply from a public, private, or home school.
How many TJ seats go to Falls Church City middle schools?
FCPS doesn't publish a total for each division. Instead, every participating public middle school has seats set aside equal to 1.5% of its eighth-grade class, and the rest of the seats are open to applicants from everywhere. The estimate for each Falls Church City school is in the table on this page.
Can private-school students in Falls Church City get into TJ?
Yes. Private-school and homeschooled applicants compete for the seats that aren't set aside for a particular public school, under the same GPA, course, and essay requirements as everyone else.
Where These Numbers Come From
Eighth-grade enrollment comes from the Virginia Department of Education's fall membership count for the 2024-25 school year. Seat estimates are 1.5% of that number, rounded. FCPS describes the process itself on its freshman application page, which is the final word if anything here differs.
TJTestPrep by EduAvenues is independent and is not endorsed or sponsored by Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology or Fairfax County Public Schools.