<p>My child entered a new BS junior year and did well. We also live in a school district that always makes top 100 HS in the US in USNWR. In addition to the schools mentioned you may want to cast your net wider and look at other schools like those on the Hidden Gems thread. I don’t know what the admission rate is for Blair but I know a family that sent their children there and were happy. If your daughter has taken the SSAT/PSAT/SAT then you can go to BS Review to compare her scores to the average at any school you are going to consider. If you are going to look at track you might want to look at the recently completed Penn relays to see the results of the track teams of BS you will consider. Good Luck, I think that the BS experience draws many motivated overachievers and this may be the environment your daughter desires.</p>
<p>If your child do end up going to a new school junior year, make sure you get her transcript transferred properly. I know most private schools do not rank or calculate GPA, but find out how/if they would normalize your kid’s grades from a public school. My kid transferred from an US private to an international school junior year. We had a hard time with her transcript. At the end it was an excellent experience for her, but it did take her few months to get accustom to her new school, and she lived at home. Since she was our second child, we knew the importance of LORs, so both she and I made a point of getting to know her teachers and counselor(s) well. </p>
<p>If your kid is going to a good public in NJ and is doing well, I would not switch her out junior year. My kids went to a very good day school in NJ. They had a lot of new students 9th grade, and it was hard for some of those students to keep up due to rigor of course work, but by 10th grade most of them do catch up. I think it would be very hard for your D to be top at a BS by coming in junior year, and ultimately that may hurt her college application.</p>
<p>@oldfort What is LOR? Did you feel that your child’s transfer held he/she back? Is this something you observed in other kids at your child’s international BS? </p>
<p>LOR - letter of recommendation from teachers. My child went to the same private school from K-10. We moved when she was a junior. She went into the IB program at her new school, but still found her old private school to be more rigorous. Books they were reading in 12th grade English HL were books she already read in 10th grade English H. We thought about keeping her at her old school or go to a BS, like Lawrenceville, but ultimately she decided 2 years in a Spanish speaking country was going to be a great experience for her. The transfer didn’t harm my kid’s college application because she was a big fish in a small pond at her new school (she graduated as Sal), but in OP’s case, the D may graduated below 10% at her new school. Even top BS schools can’t guarantee their top 10% can get into top 20s nowadays.</p>
<p>^^I agree that they can’t guarantee entry into the top schools or Ivies. I hope that it is the learning environment that attracts students. I know this is not the motivation of many students/parents but I think that BS attract more overachievers and motivated students. I am not naive to think this is 100 percent. I just think on average this is truer in BS environment vs a top public HS. Someone needs to start a dictionary explaining all of the abbreviations. Thanks for the information.</p>
<p>Here you go:
<a href=“Abbreviation Thread - Parents Forum - College Confidential Forums”>Abbreviation Thread - Parents Forum - College Confidential Forums;
<p>Think about how she will feel being in the middle of the pack at an academically elite boarding school. She will be more academically challenged, but the whole class is hard working, dedicated and bright. How would some low Bs and Cs feel? They are common, especially first semester, for new students. Don’t anticipate all As because that is how she’s done at local public. What are her college goals, and would average grades in a competitive prep school have an impact on her applications?</p>