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<p>@actingmt haha, this sounds exactly like my school! (are we neighbors? 
) except that mine is in the suburbs in the middle of nowhere, and most of the very small student population has a 30 - 90 minute drive.</p>
<p>Yale paying lots of $$$??? Hmmmmm…that’s news to me. It’s still an ongoing argument and one that many residents take issue with. That’s why they have really upped their game so to speak with the after school programs. But could they do more? Yes, but they are really trying to help poor NHV kids, by giving them a world class education. Almost for FREE!!! It’s incumbent upon the city dwellers to take advantage of the goodies that Yale offers as my own dd has done.</p>
<p>I was born at the tail end of the 60’s. I have my own views on the Panthers movement.</p>
<p>At my daughter’s high school in New Haven, there were some that transferred from private schools in 10th grade, some 11th. Most of them did okay, but few got into the schools they thought they would. It does help at times, if you aren’t top at your private school to be at the top of your class elsewhere, but colleges can see your transcripts and might wonder why. I knew a judge and doctor that thought transferring their children would help…it did with one,
Many students traveled quite a distance for 4 years to be “out of their bubble” and one told me she learned more being in New Haven outside the classroom as in. She felt more ready for college and less sheltered.
My daughter was the only one her year to get into Yale from her school, the year after 5 did.
New Haven schools, magnet schools lack in some areas for sure, but for my daughters, they had the opportunity to take free college classes, including Yale if grades fit the criteria, My daughter also worked for Yale and took a summer program with her sister there that was not very expensive.
There are perks to being in an expensive school for sure, but New Haven offered my girls many opportunities my friends children living in expensive suburbs could only dream of.</p>
<p>Call me naive, but what about the kid’s feelings about the school? Friends, sports teams, clubs that they’ve become a part of. I could not imagine pulling D out of her school, where she has found her place and her voice, for the slight possibility of gaining some intangible advantage when some adcom reviews her application. </p>
<p>I haven’t met many that didn’t want to go…the one that were pouting, usually left. I don’t think you should do something like that as a strategy, it should be everyone thinks the plus’s outweigh the minus’s.</p>
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<p>You’re not naive. I couldn’t do it to my kids either.</p>
<p>Is there anything people won’t do to “game” the system these days?</p>
<p>I know of a young woman who went from Hopkins IS grades 7-9. Then a magnet for 10th and then a bigger “neighborhood” school for 11th & 12th…were her parents trying to game the system? I sure hope to hell not! That game planned stunk! I can’t imagine what her transcript & LORs looked like! </p>
<p>I am astounded that anyone would consider making their kid do this in an attempt to game college admissions.</p>
<p>In the totally byzantine NYC high school admissions process, my daughter was offered a seat at a gigantic test-in school and and at a small school with a focus on marine biology careers located on an uninhabited island in NY Harbor with a diverse, academically mixed student body. For sure she would have had a more interesting college application and for sure, for sure she would have had higher grades at the smaller school. But I was concerned that she would not have been as prepared for college.</p>
<p>When we first looked at the results, I said we could go and talk to the principal at the smaller school, since we had only attended one open house there, to see what kind of coursework they might offer her if she ran out of science and math classes that they regularly offer. She said: “Are you kidding Mom? I’m going to [gigantic test-in school]!” And that was that.</p>
<p>Our city of 80,000 people has ONE high school for the entire city. There are some beautiful neighborhoods where the upper level professionals live and also neighborhoods where row houses sell for less than 20,000. Because of that disparity, there is usually at least one kid from the city school heading to an Ivy League school. With a 50+ per cent drop out rate, there is also plenty of opportunity for those who stay in school to take AP and honors classes.</p>
<p>@KKmama one school? Wow! NHV is roughly 150,000 and we have 12 high schools. Talk about overcrowding!</p>
<p>@NewHavenCTmom,</p>
<p>Re: “Yale paying $$$ (to New Haven)”</p>
<p>It does pay (more than other Ivies.) But some think it should pay more. (But it appears none of nonprofits do.)</p>
<p><a href=“yaleherald.com”>yaleherald.com;
<p>Thanks for your explanations about North/East/West Haven and Milford.</p>
<p>Around here it is not uncommon for kids to attend a school much further from home to get a better education. Our school district is one of the largest in the country and many parents opt into the magnet programs to get a better education for their kids. All of my kids attended magnet programs. The high school they attended was in an urban area that had many challenges. Kids spent a lot of time on busses to get to the school and home. They did it because that school had more to offer than their home school. Our home school, while in a more suburban area, did not go as far in math, did not have the same range of AP courses and simply was not as rigorous. The college admit rate was higher at the high school they attended, at least among the magnet students, but I don’t think it was because of the zip code. I think it was because the kids took tons of AP courses and were very strong applicants. Did the zip code help? I don’t really think so since other strong schools in the same district, some of which are in more middle-class areas, send about equivalent numbers of kids to “reach” colleges. And, in fact, it was a far more competitive environment, which probably made it harder for students to stand out since colleges do see the other applicants from the same high school. </p>
<p>"one school? Wow! NHV is roughly 150,000 and we have 12 high schools. Talk about overcrowding! </p>
<p>The city near where I live has a population of 98K and only one high school (2300 students.) It has an IB program where the kids of high SES overwhelming are enrolled in. Those kids get into all the top schools. The rest of the high school is like being in a war zone. Supposedly there are changes being made - more schools within the school type of thing. </p>
<p>You cannot live outside a district and go to another district’s school where I live. </p>
<p>I am glad to hear New Haven’s public schools are improving. I grew up in NH in the 60’s and after elementary school was sent to Day Prospect Hill until we moved out of state. Most of my friend’s parents moved to Woodbridge/Orange in the late 60’s. There was a lot of white flight from NH in the late 60’s/70’s. </p>
<p>There were only two high schools when I lived in NH - Lee and Hillhouse. </p>
<p>As to the Panthers - I remember going to rally’s on the Green in support when I was only 13. It was a very volatile time but exciting, too. </p>
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<p>Because their last name was “Jackson” or because their last name was “Goldberg?” If you understand the question?</p>
<p>@emilybee What city? Parents feel safe sending their kids to a “war zone”?</p>
<p>The city near where I live has a population of 98K and only one high school (2300 students.) It has an IB program where the kids of high SES overwhelming are enrolled in. Those kids get into all the top schools. The rest of the high school is like being in a war zone.</p>
<p>re: Transferring from high school to enter UT Austin
I have seen this first-hand. Girl from my class at a competitive (GPA-wise) high school got so mad that she couldn’t enter the top 10%, so she transferred to a ‘worse’ high school and is now headed to UT Austin by the top 7% law.</p>
<p>Our city school trumps emilybee’s. There are three police officers assigned to the high school, and it has a juvenile court room so that students don’t need to leave school for court appointments.</p>
<p>From the district website:</p>
<p>"The District proudly serves the diverse communities of the City of Reading, the fifth largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. </p>
<p>Approximately 2,000 dedicated staff members serve the educational needs of more than 17,600 students. Enrollment levels are as follows: high school - 3,395; intermediate high school - 2,464; middle schools - 2,640; and elementary schools - 9,149.</p>
<p>Learning takes place in 19 different school buildings throughout the District, including 13 elementary schools (grades Pre-K–5), four middle schools (grades 6–7), one intermediate high school (grades 8–9), and one high school (10–12)."</p>
<p>And this is why they might wait until high school to attend city schools, at least in Reading:</p>
<p><a href=“http://neatoday.org/2013/03/13/aging-schools-create-dangerous-and-fragile-learning-environments/”>http://neatoday.org/2013/03/13/aging-schools-create-dangerous-and-fragile-learning-environments/</a></p>
<p>The local newspaper publishes the top awards for area high schools, so it’s not hard to see what it takes to enter the top 10 overall. For the two IB magnets you need a 3.88-3.75 for top 10 overall, and anywhere from as low as a 3.75-3.25 puts you in the top 10 overall at the none-IB schools. </p>
<p>I think at my daughter’s school top 10 <em>percent</em> is a 3.88.</p>
<p>@emilybee </p>
<p>You forgot about Wilbur Cross HIgh School. </p>
<p>Each NHPS has an SRO(School Resource Officer/police officer). He is there to be a mentor and to be a presence in the schools. DDs school is on the smaller side and has very few issues as far as fights etc. </p>
<p>I think each school, no matter the location, should have an in-house SRO. </p>