Advantages/disadvantages of transferring high schools junior year?

<p>I am currently sophomore at a large, public high school. It's a decent school with a diverse student body and a respectable academic program. However, I began considering a small, Catholic high school freshman year and, for some reason, have been unable to drive these thoughts from my mind. I love the idea of attending a Catholic school because it seems to me that there would be a stronger community and because of the religious background that I would receive that public schools cannot provide.</p>

<p>I know that transferring at the beginning of junior year would be difficult. Although I cannot be certain, I do believe that I would make friends at the new school (eventually), so I'm not really concerned with the social aspects of transferring. However, I know that junior year is the most important academic year of high school. Right now, I am secretary of my class and am at the top of my class. I also participate in the school orchestra, student council, literary magazine, and Model U.N. I know that if I were to transfer, I would be giving up a lot of leadership opportunities because I would not know anyone at the new school. Academically, I believe that I would do well at the new school, and I don't believe that I would have any problem transferring credits, but I worry that my lack of leadership opportunities at the new school would negatively affect my overall high school success and my college applications.</p>

<p>Logically, it seems to me that I shouldn't transfer, yet I've been considering it for more than a year and a half and my desire to go to the other school hasn't diminished. Truthfully, I'm not looking for a perfect record or acceptance to all of the most prestigious schools (though wouldn't that be nice!), but I also don't want to seriously weaken my record.
Thank you!</p>

<p>If I were in your situation, I wouldn’t transfer. You seem content at your current school so there isn’t a real need for you to transfer anyway. And if you do transfer, there’s a high probability that it won’t work out, so you shouldn’t risk it.</p>