HS Transfer Junior Year?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Hi, so I’m a rising Junior, but I’m thinking about transferring to a new school. I’m not super unhappy at the school, but as of right now, I’d rather be somewhere else than at this school.

Why I want to transfer:

  1. Academics suck at my school, though there is a couple of AP courses (12), these classes are either overstacked or they have teachers who aren’t trained to teach these type of courses. They were built to send students to CSUs rather of UCs.

  2. School culture is toxic. Tons of kids aren’t even focused on academics; they just want clout. Clout is like popularity basically. This causes a toxic environment as everyone is trying to one-up each other and fight with each other so they could be well known at school. Some look down at people focused on academics but that’s common throughout every highschool.

  3. Funding at our school is at an all-time low. We are the least funded school in our district and our district is considered really poor compared to other districts in our region. This caused many teachers getting cut and our programs and class offered are not the greatest. We don’t have many sports teams, many popular APs such as Calc BC or Environmental Science are not an option, teachers are lowly paid, and our school looks so torn.

  4. College readiness is pretty low. I got the info from a website, but I see it as true because atleast half of our seniors go to CC or a high AR% CSU.

  5. District doesn’t get too many opportunities to do stuff outside of school. For example, SFUSD (San Francisco School District) or Los Angeles Unified School District has many extracurricular activities such as UCSF Summer Program, UCLA programs, etc.

Why I don’t want to transfer:

  1. Some of my friends here are long time friends. Our community is pretty tight-knit so we know everyone pretty well.

  2. Close to my house. Its like a 5 minute walking distance so it’s really convenient to do after-school activities and I don’t need to rely on my parents to pick me up.

  3. I have established big roles here that I may have to give up if I transfer. I’m president of 2 clubs, one of them I actually created, and they’ve been doing pretty good. I am members of many clubs.

  4. It’s a familiar place so it makes me feel pretty safe. I would like to get out of my comfort zone though.

Thoughts? I’d say if I was a freshman I’d definitely transfer, but right now it’s more of abandon everything and shoot an arrow in the dark hoping you fit in a new school or just keep pushing and maybe you’ll luck out. And btw, the schools I’m eyeing out (3) are better than my school by a mile. Like my school looks like an elementary school academically and physically compared to the other schools. It’s a risky move, being I’m a Junior next year and I am in pretty good leadership roles.

Also, I’m enrolled in 4 AP classes for next year. If I do transfer, will I still be able to take AP classes for Junior year?

2

as a rising senior, I’d honestly suggest you stay. I’m also in CA. this sounds unethical but if you excel at a “lower tier” school you’d stand out more. rigor is subjective; if you challenge yourself based on your school’s standards, you’ll do just fine and you could apply for UCs if CSUs aren’t your thing. i’m not in a big school district either so it’s really up to the students to find exterior programs that demonstrate a passion for learning. if you put some time into looking at those external programs like Yale Young Global Scholars for example, it might make up for the lack of programs that SFUSD or LAUSD have built into the school.

if the APs REALLY bother you, maybe you could self study? or you don’t necessarily have to take APs, find out if your school offers dual enrollment classes with a local CC which can also demonstrate rigor if that’s what you’re worried about. if you think the benefits outweigh the costs, I can’t stop you from transferring. i think you may be better off excelling at a “lower” school than being mediocre at a “better” school, and risking losing your APs and extracurricular positions.