Does it look bad to colleges if you change school into your senior year? What would they think of it?
My daughter wants to change schools in order to live a better high school experience. The school she currently goes to only has 20 kids per grade, she would change into a 150 students per grade and would join sports and clubs.
What kind of impact would that make to the eyes of colleges? Does it look bad? Or does it look good since she will be into a lot of more things?
It’s fine as long as you are willing to ‘do the work’ to get recommendations form current teachers, gather any forms, work with the new GC. Many kids have no choice because of parental job change, military relocation, death of parent, etc.
Many years ago, I had to do it. It was awful for me. My brother did it 3 years later and he was fine with it, but he also transferred to a private school, played football, had a lot of friends immediately.
I would not base this decision on what colleges want. Base it on what your daughter wants for a “better high school experience.” But also make sure this change will, in fact, deliver that. If she is unhappy socially, where she is, is there a way to improve that? If she has interests that are not addressed by the school, can she start something, or pursue the interest outside of school? It may or may not be a wonderful experience entering a much larger school, where social groups and club leadership positions are already established.
You and your daughter have no doubt thought of these things. At 16 or 17, a year is a long time. Senior year should still be mainly about high school, not college applications, if at all possible. I hope she has a good year regardless of the decisions made.
I would think it is very hard to join sports teams senior year unless one is already an accomplished athlete. Clubs may allow new senior members but may be hard to break into socially, as seniors often are very busy with college apps and classes and leadership in extracurriculars and don’t have a lot of time or interest in forming new friendships. I would think about whether this is really likely to be an improvement if it is a voluntary move.
It’s very rare in my school to have a Senior transfer in. And, the few times that it has happened (almost always a case of mom/dad being transferred into the area), the kid has my sympathies.
He/she doesn’t know the school culture. All those jokes about Mr.B or MrsH, about the fire alarm freshman year, about the time a bird flew into the cafeteria-- she’s an outsider. All the tables in the cafeteria-- who sits with who-- all set. The traditions-- how does our crowd celebrate birthdays? Christmas? All set.
Teams? Not unless she’s an amazing athlete-- and then, is there a red shirt rule? Clubs? Well, she won’t be leadership.
Let’s talk letters of recommendation for college-- does she have them already from Junior year? They’ll be due in the fall, and her Senior teachers won’t know her well enough to write a strong one. Likewise with the one from her guidance counselor.
If there’s more to the story-- if she’s being bullied or you’ve been transferred or something along those lines-- then I can see you making a case for changing schools. If not, then I would really reconsider.
I agree…make sure she would have a more realistic idea of what she can get involved in before she transfers.
It depends on the kid and on the new school. If it’s something like an international school where students move in and out all the time, at odd times of the school year, then it’s generally pretty easy for a new student to acclimate quickly. If it’s a school with few transfers and the majority of students have known each other since childhood it’s going to be much harder to get involved and make friends. Our family has moved a lot, including overseas to American international schools and within the US to both private and public schools. We worried over the first international move, which was mid-year in second grade, but the students and teachers were incredibly welcoming and S had no trouble making friends and trying all kinds of sports and clubs. If that’s the culture of the new school, and there are lots of senior transfers and the clubs and sports are welcoming of new seniors then it should be fine. On the other hand, a school like my son’s current high school (large public with few transfers) would definitely not be good for most seniors transferring in. Band, most sports, most clubs…all will have well-established hierarchies and even a very talented senior would likely not be able to break in, or if given a spot would likely remain on the fringes, Not that a new student wouldn’t be able to do anything, but the opportunities would be limited.
A friend of mine just had to move away from our area due to a job change, and her daughter will have to do her senior year in a new school. They luckily found a nice private school, and the staff and students are so welcoming that the girl was immediately included in a friend group and school social media groups during junior year spring semester right after she visited the school. All sports and clubs are truly open to anyone at the new school, so the girl can actually reconnect with volleyball which she loves but couldn’t make the team at our school. The girl is thrilled with her new situation. She doesn’t care about leadership positions in clubs though, and she isn’t applying to top tier colleges. I should also point out that the public school options in the new location would have been a nightmare for a transferring senior.
If you/she could move to North Dakota, it may actually help. Otherwise, it may hurt more than help at this point.
As someone who lived through changing schools not only senior year, but every year of high school, I can tell you that what everyone here has said is true. Unless your daughter has friends at the other school, it will be very difficult to move in and have a good social experience. If she just wants the experience of attending a larger school, that’s one thing, but don’t go into it expecting to have more opportunities because there are more students as that is usually not the case. Senior year needs to be focused on all those last time moments that happen throughout the year as you prepare to move into the next phase of life. Focus on making senior year memorable for good reasons. She doesn’t need to look back on senior year as not enjoyable or filled with frustration because she spent so much time trying to fit in to a new social scene that was only going to be temporary.