Go where you think you will thrive for the next few years. Then do the same thing again when it comes to evaluating colleges when the time comes.
Do NOT make the decision just with the intent to angle for better odds at a name-brand school. You might not even want that in a few years.
@Corinthian Thank you for responding! I do plan to take advanced classes.
@seniorburnout My concern is that there won’t be anything to prepare for if I stay. College is more important to me than which high school I attend.
@proudterrier I feel like I will better be able to handle the difficulty to get good grades in college as I won’t constantly be stressed about whether I’m good enough to get in somewhere. I’ll have to think about it more, but my current environment definitely isn’t healthy.
@bksoccer7 I think that I will have a much better likelihood of being a top student at my local school.
@KathleenA Thanks! I’ll check their ranking.
@dowzerw Your daughter is in a very similar situation to mine. I was by far the smartest and best-performing student at my old private school, but at this one, there are a lot more kids like myself. Personally, I would rather give myself a better chance of getting into a great college than stay at this school. Thanks!
@jman457 Makes sense.
@porcupine98 Thanks, I didn’t really consider that what I want may change.
Odds are you wont get into HYPS either way.
So decide what is best for you.
@ClarinetDad16 That is unfortunately true… Good advice.
if your private school sends 30% to ivies/s/m why are u leaving?
Colleges are not going to ask why you went from one school to another. One of my kids attended 3 different high schools and got into his top choice college. Daughter attended two different high schools. The question was never asked. There can be any number of reasons, which you are not obligated to disclose, for having made the change.
And seeking less stress does not mean you are seeking no stress or being lazy. Quite the opposite, you sound thoughtful and deliberate about your decision. Stress is okay; extraordinary or unhealthy stress is not.
FWIW, all of this aside, being a URM is a great hook and adding that to being a double legacy at Stanford and I hope we see you donning red and white when the time comes! (if that’s what you want!)
I would watch out for the idea that switching to a public school will automatically make life easier. If you want to get into an Ivy then you will still have to subject yourself to the same kind of stress that you are experiencing at your private school. My son attends a huge public school in a very large city. There are many tracks and it would be easy to water down his level of rigor with the options they offer, but he is aiming for top schools so he is taking a crazy workload and will end the year with 8 AP tests (some single semester classes) and two duel enrollment classes. The stress level is high. He also is doing ECs. So don’t think that moving over to a public school will make life easier unless you plan to reduce your actual workload and take a less rigorous track.
Like others have said, you may want to think twice about what kind of college you end up in, if you are feeling stressed now. Now you are stressed about getting into college. Once you are there you will be worried about the next step - grad school or internships or whatever. There is always something.