Changing High School for Senior Year?

Hi,

My daughter wants to change school for senior year because she believes her current school doesn’t have many opportunities for her on a social level. Example, there is no club and the guidance counselor does barely anything to help the students.

She started the IB program in her school during junior year and if she changes school she will not be in it since there isn’t the opportunity to do so in her new school but she would do a dual enrollment.

Her old school is really small as there is one class of around 20 students per grade. And teachers stay for more than a year. The majority of her IB teachers have left so for her senior year she will have totally new teachers, some with barely any experience with the IB curriculum.

She was nominated Vice-President of her school for senior year. and in NHS. But if she changes school, could she still say she was nominated in those things? Would that count for anything?

She wonders if she should change school since there is barely anything for her and in her new school, she would want to be involved in sports and clubs. And do dual enrollment.

Can anyone help me in figuring out what would be the best option for her???

Go visit the new school and see what is available. It is unlikely she’d get any leadership positions but it doesn’t sound like she’s giving up much. Talk to the GC about college and letters of recommendation.

I moved my senior year and it was awful. I quickly finished in one semester and started college in my old town in Jan. Best I could do to salvage a bad situation, but I didn’t get to do all the senior things, just watch my friends do them. A friend and her sister moved to my school (original one) when sister was a senior, and she was the star of both the fall play and spring musical, was in the top singing group, and joined a lot of clubs. She had no problems getting into the college she wanted to go to.

If she switches schools, what teachers will she ask for recommendations? Most recommend teachers of classes taken during junior year who have known the student for a full year. Any recommendation written at a new school will be written by someone with less than a semester of experience with your daughter. Such a recommendation will carry very little weight with college admissions officers. This may not be significant at colleges with minimally competitive admissions, but would likely be a major handicap at the most highly competitive schools.

@tdy123 Most of her junior year teachers were her teachers during 10th grade as well. And those teachers all left so she will not have them for her senior year…

If she can get the teacher’s contact information she can ask them for recommendations even though they are no longer at her school.

Be very clear with the new school that she will be able to get the classes needed to graduate in one year before committing.

Your school cannot possibly be doing IBD justice on that teacher turnover and student number. I cannot imagine a school offering the IBD with 20 students in a grade. How are classes available? Is the school fully accredited for that actual diploma?

As far as college applications are concerned, any EA or ED’s will be submitted in Nov/Dec timeframe - only a few months into the school year. Would she be able to jump in and almost immediately get involved in these EC’s to show them on her apps? Even if she does, longevity will be not be shown in the activities. Guess I question whether changing schools for senior year will really benefit her from a college app standpoint. At her old school, it’s possible to explain the lack of these activities since they’re just not available at the HS. Universities understand that, just as they get it that not all schools offer a plethora of AP classes, etc.

That said, it may benefit her from a more personal standpoint. I’d do it for that reason more than for college apps.

Is she set up for an IB Diploma? If so, she can get many credits for that at college, depending on her scores.
…for most kids the GC just does a recommendation after you provide a “brag sheet” of their accomplishments.
Can she do sports or clubs in a community environment?