My son (7th grade) just got his acceptance letter for OHS. To be honest, we applied on a lark, and didn’t really think too deeply about it, because we thought chances of admission were slim, but took a shot anyway.
Now we’re a bit in a phase best described by Groucho Marx:
“I don’t want to be part of any club that would have me as a member”
…if that makes sense.
Looking more deeply, it seems as if it is not really a very selective school, with admission rates as high as 40%. We didn’t apply for financial aid, and while we can afford the fees if we really want to, it’s still rather high.
For comparison, his current school is a public school in one of the top districts in WA state, and he has been in the EAP (G&T/advanced) program in his district since 2nd grade (the earliest year possible to qualify) - they have them at 3 grade levels ahead for math and English at school. We are in a quandary now, wondering if Stanford OHS will give him much more than his current school to make it worth the cost. We don’t want him to go just for “name-dropping” purposes but only if he can derive more value from it compared to his current school.
We are completely new to this, and this is my first post here, would appreciate any feedback/experiences about the school that can inform us as we make a decision.
I don’t know too much about Stanford OHS other than hearing about it around here, but I think it would be all about fit. Do you think your son can thrive in an online setting? Would your son like the more personalized type of education offered at Stanford OHS?
What about his social life? would he be ok with all his friends from school not living in the same town as him? What about his current friends at school? He would probably not have as many chances to spend time with them if he switches to Stanford OHS
Personally, I wouldn’t do too well with online style classes. Not seeing my teachers and classmates in real life IMO kind of disconnects me from them. Just my preferences tho, it depends on the person.
I looked at Stanford online for S23. We moved to a very rural area in 6th grade. Although he’s in an excellent school, it doesn’t have many academic peers. Each year, we’ve looked at SOHS and each year, DS has said he doesn’t want to apply. Online school is not for most kids, imo. I would only choose it if there were no adequate in-person alternatives. It sounds like your child has a more than adequate alternative. Unless he was complaining about school or acting out, my opinion would be to stay with his current school
It really depends on what you want from school and the other activities in your life. A family member opted out of traditional schooling for all her kids because they were all involved quite seriously in two sports that required a lot of practice time (outdoors in daylight) and travel, neither of which was compatible with a “regular” school day schedule. For them, the flexibility in an option like this made it worth every penny.
I know kids now who are loving their online experience. They find it more "efficient " than a regular classroom. Others are struggling to learn and to engage without the in-person experience.
I think you need to look at the academics as well as everything else - social life, physical activity, ECs, etc. to decide if it’s right for you.
From what I’ve seen, there seems to be a bunch of mixed reviews. Some people say that the rigor and curriculum of OHS is good for college, while others say that the lack of connection in a strictly online classroom can harm the student. I personally have not been there so I wouldn’t know the exact environment atmosphere.
The value of any school depends on the student. Some students need more time and/or flexibility for an EC. (A serious ski racer who was traveling on the racing circuit or a dancer who had to attend classes and rehearsals, for example.) Some students want/need content that’s not available locally or they strongly prefer to learn at their own pace. For them, an online experience may be perfect.
This really depends on what you want from your high school experience. If you were my kid and you were interested in online high school, I would want to be sure you had other ways to connect socially with peers. If you are social by nature, you might find it isolating.
I suspect that the reason you are seeing different reviews is because people have had different levels of need for personal connection, either because of who they are or because of the other ways in their lives that those needs are being met.
This, so much this ^^. The fact that they let in 40% of applicants and so you are worried that it isn’t selective enough tells me you probably don’t need to send your kid there. It is very possible that they let in 40% of applicants because online school is not for everyone and most of the kids who apply to SOH are exceptional.
ALL the kids I know who went to SOH are exceptional and went on to the “most selective” colleges (top ten type, <10% admit rate schools). BUT they all had a reason to go to SOH that was something other than academics. For most it was ECs that were super important to them and that they were unable to do while attending a traditional school.
Yes, exactly. The families we know that sent kids to SOH are serious tennis players or ski racers or have other ECs that require a lot of time and frequent travel so aren’t a good fit for traditional school. They all found the academics challenging enough but did not choose it for academics rather the flexibility.
Now remote school is all rage so SOH is no longer even close to the only game in town. Presumably your child has experienced remote learning in the spring so you have some idea whether it is a good fit or not. Like others said, I have noticed the kids who seem to thrive on remote school are generally the ones that have a lot of other things going on that provide the socialization and in person contact. Most of the SOH kids have some serious extracurriculars from what I heard from my friend whose kids are there, and so are not lacking in socialization. But if your child would have few social outlets outside of SOH it may be lonely and not so amazing.