Hi, I am currently a freshman at a highly competitive and top-ranked school. It is a lot of work and extremely difficult to get good grades there, so I am considering switching to my local public school. I think my current education has prepared me to do very well in their honors classes (a regular class at my school is equivalent to an honors class at a public school). The only extracurricular that would significantly be affected is fencing (my local school doesn’t have a team), but I can also run track, so I’m not that worried. The public school is pretty good and in a safe neighborhood, but not nearly as difficult. Would it be better to stay at my school and get okay grades, or would excellent public school grades be better for college? I just don’t want colleges to think I am lazy or underachieving. Thanks!
Public high schools are not inferior and often are even more respectable … of course depending on the locality!
This is probably one of the most naive things I’ve read on here. The straight answer is: no. I go to a public school, we’re nationally recognized, and we send 5-15 people to Ivies and the like every year.
It’s clear you’re offended… Maybe it wasn’t clear in the original post, but my private school is one of the best in the country. It’s great that your public school is good, but mine only sent one kid to an Ivy last year. Every year, my current school sends over 30% of its students to Ivies/Stanford/MIT.
Top private schools often have relationships with specific private colleges which may appear to help them in terms of a pipeline. But admissions patterns are not just about private schools always providing an edge. Many private schools have very tough admissions standards. So they admit students who would be at the top of the distribution in a large public school. Then they spend 4 years ensuring these students with potential are confronted with a very rigorous curriculum-often far more rigorous than the local public school. So it is no wonder that the result is a student body that is attractive to the most competitive colleges. This is not true of all private schools though. They are true of the ones that are often mentioned on this site. But there are tons of really terrible private schools and tons that are designed to restrict student exposure to diverse viewpoints. And the student body of those types of schools are often filled with students who would be near that bottom of a distribution of a good sized public school. Those students tend not to go on to competitive colleges. They often go on to colleges with similar missions as the high school-schools most people on CC have never heard of.
You should attend the school you think you will be most apt to thrive in.
“Every year, my current school sends over 30% of its students to Ivies/Stanford/MIT.”
Keep in mind that top private high schools are also filled with high-achieving legacies, URMs, athletes, and children of wealthy donors, celebrities, etc. So it can actually be harder for talented but unhooked students to stand out at such schools.
@lostaccount Thanks for the (non-judgmental) reply! I think you are right. Being in private school my whole life has set the foundation for me to thrive in public school. Along with my public school being much (much) closer, I look forward to the reduced stress.
@goldenbear2020 I am both a URM and a double-legacy (Stanford). Would that influence your decision if you were in my position?
HYPS are looking for students who academically excel, are intellectually curious, and passionate, regardless of what school they attend. I bet that your desire to move to a public school because it is less difficult and less work to get good grades there will come across in other parts of your high school experience, and will not make you an attractive candidate to HYPS.
@purpleacorn I don’t want to switch simply because I want to get easy grades. The extreme and unnecessary stress/sleep deprivation that comes with attending this school has already taken a toll on me. Of course I want to make my transcript better (which is the aspect that this question is about), but that is only part of it. However, it seems like my decision may appear to colleges in the same way it appears to you (which is what I want to avoid).
I agree that you should go to wherever you will thrive, which sounds to me like the public school. I don’t think colleges will think you’re lazy or underachieving as long as you take the most rigorous curriculum at the public school. They aren’t going to speculate as to why you transferred. For all they know it could be for financial reasons. My D attended a competitive public high school that every year sends maybe 5-8 kids to HYPSM plus usually there’s one student going to each of several other top tier schools like Penn, Duke, Northwestern, some top LAC’s etc. As a percent of the total senior class size (about 600) it’s small. But the public school exists to serve a much greater cross section of the student population, including students who go to state universities, community colleges, etc. Our public high school has some great career and technical offerings that I assume no elite private school would ever offer. It also has a great program for developmentally disabled students. The adcoms know that and therefore know that a good public school can have some very competitive applicants even though the percent of the student body that goes to HYPSM may be small.
I do think that the guidance department at the public high school is probably more overworked than that at an elite private, so you may get less individualized attention there.
I completely understand that you want to avoid unnecessary stress, but honestly the first thing I thought about when I read your post was “well, if he can’t succeed in a good high school, then there is no way that he will succeed at HYP”. This might NOT be the case at all, but it is honestly what crossed my mind. I wouldn’t change schools if I were you, because I would not want to take the risk of the admissions officers thinking that about me. Plus, going to such a competitive school will prepare you extremely well for the much heavier workload you will face at college. I know, it can be unbearable sometimes, but it honestly does make a difference, if not for the colleges, for YOU.
If you want reduced stress and don’t want to handle the high stress environment of your high school, please reconsider what colleges you want to go to
OP, I see both sides of it. I would tend to agree with other posters that if you find an environment where it is “extremely difficult to get good grades” too stressful and/or demoralizing… you might want to rethink some of your college aims. Ivies and many other top elites are pressure cookers where it is very difficult to get good grades. Is that type of educational environment ideal for you? On the other hand, you are only a freshman, and that educational environment may not be ideal for you at your age; it may change later.
But your mental and physical health is important too. If you’re in a pressure cooker environment that’s causing you high levels of stress/anxiety and losing you sleep… that is not good for you long term. If transferring to your local public is about not so much looking for easier work/better ease of good grades and more about attaining some balance in your life, then I think it may be a good idea. You can get an excellent education at many public schools and you may find that easing off the pressure-cooker for sophomore year and then ramping back up junior and senior year will work better for you developmentally–as a senior you may be better equipped to perform in the academic and social environment you’ll find at top tier schools. OR, if you find you’re not, that’s the time to consider different types of schools that still have stellar academics but perhaps different philosophies/approaches where you may better thrive. But that comes later.
If your parents are supportive and you are unhappy at your private school, transfer to public. That said, freshman year can be rough for a lot of people–at private or public. You may want to evaluate at the end of this year where you simply needed the year to get your footing.
@mischiefmaker I don’t think so because the ivies are known for grade inflation.
Anyways, if you can handle the course load at your current school then stay. Colleges will not really care why you wen’t to a public school. Make sure that you are one of the best students and you actually have a chance. You shouldn’t have a problem at Stanford since you are a legacy. Do what you want to do because private vs. public is not really relevant.
I would suggest calling your public school and asking for a guest id to their Naviance site which will show you exactly how many of students (for the past 5 years) got into higher level schools. Public schools are ranked by universities and there can be a real difference from one town to another on where students get accepted.
I do know someone who transferred from a very top private boarding school to her local high school. Her reason was a good one with a close grandmother diagnosed with a serous illness. She did get accepted to Princeton but she was a legacy, a real go getter (very high energy intelligent person) and our local high school is ranked top 5-10 in the state. So it can be done and there is risk in both staying or transferring. It’s a huge decision so take your time weighing all the factors. Talk it over with your parents and a councilor at your school, it can’t hurt to get a few educated opinions.
Both my kids went to a pressure cooker private school so I understand your stress level (sleep deprived kids are no fun for anyone). But my kids needed to be in smaller classes with smart kids because one didn’t advocate for himself and the other needed to be challenged in super high level math courses. The private school courses were way harder than public (according to my kids who had been at a top ranked public school) but colleges know that and adjust expectations accordingly. The upside was they were very prepared for college with improved time management. Good luck with your decision!
I think these schools put everything in context. I don’t think the public school itself would hurt your admission.
From our perspective and experience, you will have better chance of getting in as top student at a public school as you would being not at the top of your strong private school. At the end of the day, many adcoms will admit they rely on the sending school’s grades to tell them about a student-that they cant second guess how a course at one school compares to a course at another.If a college is choosing between admitting two absolutely identical applicants (same course load, extracurriculars, under represented status, other hooks) whose only difference is having differing GPAs because of the competition and grading policies (7 point scale? 10 point scale? weighting or not of courses? How much weighting-.33 for honors? .50 for honors? .5 for AP? 1.0 for AP? or none for AP or honors?), The college will go for the kid who falls in the top handful at his school or who has the highest GPA. (You can take for example AP Physics-fairly standard curriculum. One school weights AP grades. The other school does not weight. School A has only a few kids in AP Physics. School B nearly everyone takes AP Physics. The applicants from School A is going to be taken over the applicant from School 2.
So my two cents is go where you will be a star. If you are committed to your education, you are going to do well at any school. Our D has chosen to attend a highly competitive private school over the local public school and we see her having gone from the shining star to one in the crowd. She may be being pushed farther and will ultimately do well in college, but she has probably sacrificed getting in to a top tier college.
I know this will spark some controversy. Please don’t jump on me. This is just my opinion based on having gone through a few rounds of college applications and with kids who have gone to different types of schools.
^^ Agree with!
Going to a public school actually helps you as their is more expectation that you will get higher Sat/ACT scores as well as have the money to afford tutors so you would do better on those tests.