<p>My son will be starting his sophomore at a brand new high school as a sophomore this fall. It will only be populated with sophs & frosh in its first year and he will be in the first graduating class in 2013. Has anyone else had kids in this position? </p>
<p>As I see it, this can present both obstacles and opportunities in terms of college admission. Colleges & U's will have no track record for this high school. Will that hurt? How much explaining will S need on his application/interviews/visits to make clear his situation? College guidance counselors will probably not even be hired until mid way through his junior year. </p>
<p>As far as opportunities, there are lots of leadership positions open and no srs/jrs to fill them. The sophs will be top dogs for 3 years. How aggressive should S be in starting things, seeking leadership?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for any helpful advice or tips.</p>
<p>It’s an unusual thing to happen but your school is in a community and the admissions reps who are responsible for that area know that community and the schools in it. That means they will extrapolate from what they know and what this school’s standards are proclaimed to be and how kids test.</p>
<p>We live in a neighborhood that was redistricted to a new middle/high school three years ago. We chickened out and sent our son who completed 8th grade in the new school to the local Catholic school. Our main problem was that we had listened to the principal say things that were either untrue or impossible for him to know/predict during that year. We were afraid of the unknowns.</p>
<p>Now, to answer your questions. The disadvantages IMO are the unknowns. You do not know who will be hired to teach. You do not know how well students will do on SAT and AP tests because there is no history. For example, at our new high school last year, nearly 50 kids (25 percent of the class!) took AP Euro, but only 5 got threes or higher on the AP test. The principal brags that his school has the highest average GPA (which is subjectively determined) in the county, but we never hear anything about the AP or SAT scores. As a parent, you will want to stay on top of instruction as much as you can.</p>
<p>Music and sports are very limited the first two years because there are no upperclassmen. It makes it great for the best athletes because they play varsity for three years, maybe four, but it is pretty tough to have a varsity team of freshmen and sophomores. Music has similar obstacles and opportunities.</p>
<p>The guidance counselors who were hired here had limited college admissions experience. So you will want to spend more time on CC, but I am sure that is not a problem.</p>
<p>The things that parents can do is make sure that the school develops a good profile that explains that the school is brand new. You are correct that kids will get to make lots of decisions concerning the new school and its policies and traditions, which will be fun and an opportunity to show leadership. Your son could think about what clubs should be available and get involved in their creation.</p>
<p>There have been many issues with our new school. It was the right move to move our son out although he wanted to stay in public school. The main problem was with the principal who was hired and with any luck, you will get a good one.</p>