My husband is relocating during the summer (June) to the Midwest. I would prefer to join him but don’t necessarily have to.
Our daughter (originally HS class of 2019) has 2 options:
I-Graduating a semester early in December 2018 by taking CE English and Calculus I during the summer at the community college (that provides a full year of school credit for each), Fall 2018 semester taking a few elective semestral classes at the current high school and graduating.Then taking a semester off (Spring 2019) until Fall 2019 that College starts.
II - Moving this summer out of state and taking a full year of English and Math at the new neighborhood High School plus a few elective classes graduating at the new Highschool Spring 2019.
The College of her choosing is not a part of this election. The only missing piece for graduating is that she will end junior year in a month with 3 credits ( full years) of English , and needs one more English credit ( for both the School graduation requirement and colleges 4 years of English requirements). All other requirements would have been met at the end of Junior year-other than English- with the exception of her own decision of taking Calculus I either a year long in HighSchool , or could be taken in the summer at the community college for full credit.
Major in college would be probably Business. She really wants to graduate at her current high school, but I don’t know how Community college credits are looked at by admissions officers.
Possible schools: University of Minnesota, University of Virginia, UC Berkeley, Case Western, University of Illinois…
What option do you think is better and why?
Other info: Currently NHS , possibly NHRP because of Junior year GPA and PSAT NMSQT score ( notifications in September 2018).
From my understanding, your daughter is a high school junior.
Some questions: Has she taken the SAT yet? ACT?
I think option II is better. Here is why:
She won't have to take a semester off, a semester that could be spent at the out of state high school strengthening her college applications with awards/honors/good SAT scores/ etc.
Having 4 credits of English under your belt is looked upon more favorably then having 3 credits of English and graduating early.
Something else to consider: colleges generally consider community college credits as less in rigor compared to AP or IB classes, but that won't be a deciding factor for college applications.
Talk to your daughter and ask her why she wants to graduate early. What is her motivation, her end goal?
Hope this helped
My guess is that graduating a semester early and taking some classes at a community college will not hurt her chances of admission anywhere, especially if she explains why she made that choice in her essays. It may even help her, because she will show the ability to succeed at college-level course work and it will be “something different” that could help her standout from the sea of applicants. That said, you can call the admission offices at the schools you listed and ask for their feedback. A professional opinion will help reassure you more than a fellow parent’s opinion would.
Socially, it’s a much tougher decision – I sympathize with her not wanting to leave her friends a year early. If you can afford to keep two households going for the extra year, it would certainly be nice for her to not have to transition twice in a row (this year, then again next year for college.) But if she’s an outgoing person, she might be able to make a few friends at her the new local high school by transferring and expand her social circle even further before everyone heads off to college (since I’m sure she’d be keeping in touch with her old friends, too). It would also be easier to make friends in the new city by attending high school than it would be working or just sitting home from January-August. (I’m an extrovert, so sitting at home for 8-9 months in a new city with only my parents around would have depressed the heck out of me, but you know your kid.)
How far away are you moving? Is it drivable so that your husband could come back every other weekend or so for the school year, then you move the rest of the household next summer? My husband is a college professor and goes on sabbatical every seven years, so I have recent experience with this. Nine years ago, he went far enough away that we all moved for a year, putting the kids in the local schools. But two years ago, with our youngest in high school, we decided to have him go alone while my son and I stayed home. We saw him every other weekend or so for 6-8 months, and it worked out fine. (We’d email, text, FaceTime, etc.) We joked that he was living like a grad student again in his sparse apartment, but the bonus ended up being that any duplicate housewares he ended up with helped furnish our older daughter’s apartment when he was done with them.
She will have 4 credits in English with the forth credit either thru summers community college or thru a full 4th year of Highschool. Reasons for not moving are friends and the unknown. Early because December is the maximum I’ll stay until moving
@Just If she will have 4 credits in English, then I will agree with what @kab2kab said. That said, there are lot of different factors that go into consideration when making this choice, so choose carefully. Have a nice day
Thank you all for the replies. She has taken ACT by choice and last week SAT due to state’s requirement. Kinda in the shy side and therefore not thrilled by the thought in of making new friends for just an year. My main concern is how the community college will be considered and if not looked down upon, I guess we’ll stay put until December like she prefers and not moving soon like I do.
Community college classes are well considered since the students must show autonomy and college-level time management.
An issue is cost and perhaps emission to her flagship (she won’t be instate anywhere) whereas if she graduates from her HS many states would consider her in-state for your current flagship .
The reason for taking CE classes at the Community College during June/July 2018 is only for graduation and college entrance requirements. No interest in getting credit for those classes at the college ( but of course at the HS)
If she takes CC classes during HS, that is considered dual enrollment.
if she takes them after she graduates, then will colleges still consider her a freshman (and get merit scholarships) or a transfer (where you are generally not considered for scholarships?)
I would finish HS at the the new school and try to take AP classes…then she will have guidance counselor support.
She is taking English summer at the community college thru concurrent enrollment , or AP during the full HS year. Not interested in Community College classes after graduating HS or obtaining College credit for that. The question is if colleges accept a semester of CE English ( at the Community College) as equivalent to a non AP full HS year of English, since they all require 4 years of Hs English. This is for choosing option I or II. Perhaps somebody reading entered college taking a semester of CE English at the community college (instead of a full HS year) and could comment on their experience.
If you’re talking solely about what will be better for college admissions I think it’s better to have her finish at her old school so she can have teacher and guidance counselor recommendations from people who know her well. For the more competitive schools strong recommendations are important. But, besides college admissions, you need to think how you’d like your D’s last year before college to look, and what feels right for all of you.
My D has all requirements met except for the 4 years of English by the end of HS junior year. She doesn’t want to move before May 2019, I want to more July 2018 and I might be able to meet in the middle: Dec 2018 by her taking cc CE in the summer and HS fillers ( electives)
Dual enrollment cc classes are considered equivalent to honors/ap classes at the HS level.
Meeting HS graduation requirements s different from meeting selective college admission requirements: 4 units each of English and social science/history, bio+chem+physics+one more science, foreign language through level 4 or AP, math through precalculus or calculus, and since you have California colleges on the list , a unit in art/art history/music.
She should NOT be taking “HS fillers” but either continue with dual enrollment, pushing to the highest level offered at the cc + core classes at the HS. Indeed most universities evaluate senior rigor (some won’t even evaluate grades as long as they’re not D nor F) but the senior year must indicate the student’s academic strong points and interests as well as ability to handle college (so, 3 cc or AP classes would be expected and at least five academic classes.)
The issue is that if you move and she doesn’t graduate from her current high school she’ll be considered out of state for admissions, tuition, and state financial aid at all public universities, even your current flagship. If you have 260k saved or can afford that from income and savings no big deal (and since UCs are in he listbtim thinking it’s likely our situation, but just in case it’s not…)
For students whose parents move during their senior year it’s typically better to graduate from the school where they started unless the school was unsatisfactory.
I looked at the requirements and one parent living for over a year in state ( by the time college starts) is enough for in state tuition, this talking about Midwest . Currently we are in Colorado and not interested in WUE or instate. Thanks for your advice regarding HS fillers, I thought that it could be explained at the College entrance time , but maybe having the 2 rigorous classes at the Community College in the summer and then fillers like business, art, etc in the fall semester would not have been enough . H ( her dad) is moving June 2018 and college starts August 2019. Her current school is excellent. Just maxed out in challenging courses other than Calculus and English.
Just another option, does she have a good friend she could stay with the last semester and finish up at her original hs? For recommendations and possible transcript issues etc it would be easier to stay where she is. If you could stay with her until December it would be for just a few months. I know several kids that have done that around here and it has worked out fine.
@just: I did this, albeit years ago and for different reasons, but maybe some of them are not that different. We moved between my sophomore and junior years. I hated new school. All I needed to graduate was two summer school English courses so that I could have the four years required by new state. I did not need to worry about how colleges would view community college courses, because I had been accepted as an Rotary Club exchange student, so what would have been my senior year was basically a gap year, since my grades in the foreign country did not matter. Best year of my life. I do not think it had any effect on college decisions, but it was some 50 years ago, so take my opinion with many grains of salt. I would go with your daughter’s wishes. My plan B was to return to former school, since I could have lived with relatives, but that would have reflected badly on parents in new state, so an amicable treaty was arrived at.
Thanks everyone for your advice. So it looks like we will stay until December 2018 and graduate HS a semester early, taking a total of 4 CE classes at the Community College: 2 summer 2018 and 2 fall 2018, along with a couple of High School fillers. Since summer classes end in August, they will be considered part of senior year. Is there anything I should be considering and that I may have missed?
As a person who has moved high schools and gone cross country during the move, I would normally say go ahead and move and have them adapt to their new school. HOWEVER, because you’d be moving before her senior year, this means she’d have a couple months to alter her college choices. Also, as stated above by someone else, she’d be getting recommendation letters from teachers that have just started getting to know her, which doesn’t help. Therefore, I recommend you actually stay for a year and have your daughter finish her high school experience at her current school and then move when she graduates. That way, she’ll get the letters of recommendation she needs, she won’t have to panic about changing college choices, and let’s not forget that one school’s academic plan could be much different than another’s, and your daughter’s plan could be altered. When I moved schools, I was planning on taking two honors and an AP. However, I ended up getting stuck with all normal classes, which slowed down where I wanted to go. This messed up my plan and didn’t put me where I wanted to be by senior year. That’s just my advice being someone that has moved before, but the choice is up to you.
