Thomas Jefferson School
Overview
Thomas Jefferson School (TJ) offers an unparalleled college-preparatory curriculum in a close-knit, supportive academic community. For over 70 years TJ’s liberal arts approach has been a launching pad for college and professional success. College preparation is our speciality: all of our graduates move on to four-year colleges and universities across the nation and abroad. Average SAT scores consistently position TJ among the world’s top boarding schools. With a daily schedule of concise morning classes and a student teacher ratio of 8:1, students enjoy focused individual attention with faculty, advisors and staff. Students develop their academic talents as well as their autonomy. Most Junior students take two AP courses while Seniors take all AP coursework in their final year. Day students share dorm space on a picturesque 20 acre campus with boarding students from 26 St. Louis area zip codes, eight states and 11 countries. Students live and learn amidst faculty members and resident assistants in cottages throughout the grounds. The Charles Merrill building serves as the hub of activity housing classrooms and the dining room. Additional campus facilities offer access to athletics and the fine arts. Five-day boarding for regional families is a popular option. Nearly 30% of TJ’s families receive financial assistance. As a current TJ student has said “TJ is more than a school. TJ has given me my voice.”
Academics
Summary: A classical education means much more than the study of Greek and Latin. Its object of study is “the best that has been thought and said.” Above all, a classical education will push and keep wide open the two doors of higher learning: numbers and words. At Thomas Jefferson (TJ), you will learn Latin, Greek, and either French or Italian; you will read through and discuss a collection of books that are at once both timeless and timely; and you will write and face scrupulous line-editing almost every day, including while on vacations. On the other hand, you will also take an accelerated math sequence that culminates in AP calculus in either the junior or senior year. AP courses in science and history will also be required and will give you a head start on college. If you think you can’t do all this or if you think you have math anxiety or no imagination in reading, have faith! Practice and guidance will prepare you for pre-law or pre-med, history or computer science. We believe that you can do it, and we will help you through the hard parts. (We don’t pretend it’s not hard; we just think it’s necessary – and completely possible.) We don’t want a previous weak and lopsided background in high school to decide which door in life you choose to open. We want you to be able to choose freely. Liberal education, after all, has as its root and end freedom – freedom of the most important kind, intellectual freedom based on a head well filled and well formed. The job market will always be looking for that, and the world will always be better off for it. Finally, a classical education involves more than just the best books and study materials. It requires the active, patient, inspiring, demanding mentorship of well-educated adults who look for the best version of you. Plato needed Socrates, Alexander the Great Aristotle, and Thoreau Emerson. It requires a community of lively, motivated peers similarly engaged in the pursuit of the best and highest things. And it requires lofty goals to keep everyone looking up and ahead.
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Student/Teacher Ratio: 6:1
Average Class Size: 12
Summer Programs: Offered
Full Time Teachers: 13
Number of AP Courses Offered: 12
Teachers Holding Advanced Degrees: 93.0%
Number of IB Courses Offered: 0