<p>Due to family circumstances and other reasons, I will wind up attending 3 different high schools in 4 years. I spent both my freshman and sophomore years at one school, my junior year at another (my current one), and now it looks like I'll be moving to a different state for senior year. What will colleges make of this? I've found it very hard to acquire leadership positions due to moving around so much. Coupled with the fact that I only have two in-school EC's (literary magazine editing work and serving as a foreign language tutor), and the fact that my next school won't have a literary magazine (although I'm seriously considering starting one there), I'm not sure how everything will be perceived. </p>
<p>Can someone give me some insight as to how my GPA/grades/EC's will be evaluated? My first two schools didn't provide a rank -- the first one had a cumulative weighted GPA distribution on its profile that was calculated after the 6th semester (didn't apply to me, since I left after the 4th), and the second refused to give any sort of rank besides stating the highest GPA in the class. However, it looks like the 3rd school does calculate rank in class. Will colleges just use the rank from my senior year school? I know this situation is really complicated, so I'm trying to make sense of it the best I can... thanks in advance for all your comments and advice! :)</p>
<p>I would say, if you’re worried about leadership opportunities to put on your resume, definitely try to start the literary magazine at your new school. From what I’ve researched, colleges like to see students taking initiative. It’s also an excellent way to make or cement new friendships.</p>
<p>Have you considered joining a foreign language club or honor society? Sometimes just getting involved leads to leadership opportunities you never realized were there.</p>
<p>As for rank, I’m pretty sure that colleges only care about what your final GPA and rank are. So where you end up in the new school’s ranks is what admissions really care about. (I could be wrong about this stuff though, so feel free to correct me.)</p>
<p>Here’s my opinion: You are hardly the first candidate to have gone to multiple high schools, and each college I’m sure has a way to adjust for this. IMO, class rank isn’t a meaningful statistic in these cases. I’m guessing they’re going to evaluate your unweighted grades. Assuming you didn’t have a lot of fluctuation in your grades, ie mostly C’s at one school vs mostly A’s at another, I think they’ll be able to figure out what they need to in terms of your academic record.</p>
<p>What you do have that makes you of potential interest, especially if you’ve been successful at all these schools is a killer essay topic about learning how to fit in, make friends, leave friends etc. etc. I think if you can show them what “passions” you’ve pursued despite all this discontinuity, they’ll cut you some slack on the school leadership stuff. Remember, there are lots of ways to show “leadership” qualities. Moving three different times can tell them a lot about your maturity, resiliancy, adaptability, optimism and focus.</p>
<p>Yes, I have. Unfortunately there aren’t any foreign language clubs/honor societies at my current school (and I doubt there are any at the next one), and although there were quite a few at my first high school, I couldn’t join them since I had to be enrolled in the respective language courses. I was inducted into the Spanish Honor Society my sophomore year, but didn’t run for an officer position since I knew at that point that I’d be moving. </p>
<p>before all of this, i suggest you go look up our very own CC legend, mifune. check out his results posts. i’m sure they’ll be very relevant for you.</p>
<p>as for me, i attended two different high schools–one massive, easy, ranking public, and one tiny, super-competitive private without ranking. colleges are very well aware that grades are different at each school, and if they aren’t sure about the difficulty of one school, they’ll research it or contact them. what i found helps a lot if having your guidance counselor explain your circumstances, particularly adjustment, whether that includes academic adjustment or extracurricular adjustment. i suggest to specifically request your counselor to include moving circumstances to give more of a context to my application.</p>
<p>leadership is definitely a challenge–i arrived at a elementary-12 private school where 95% of the kids had attended it since they were really tiny. while i wasn’t able to acquire any of the top leadership positions for the bigger clubs, i was able to lead many of the smaller clubs and provide supporting roles for the larger ones. basically, force your way into a club, and if they need someone to direct an event, take that opportunity. continuing your literary magazine at your new school will look fabulous, and if you’re in out-of-school activities, try to pursue those too. there’s no shame in nepotism too (i think of it as friendly networking), so if you become friends with a school leader, ask if they can get you involved to a greater extent than just membership.</p>
<p>as a side note, one of my friends was a new 11th grader at this same school, and while she absolutely zero leadership positions, she continued her activities from her old school (theater, literary magazine, writing, music) and was a leader without an official title. there are plenty of ways to show leadership without that line on your resume, such as in the classroom leading discussions to being a volunteer teacher and role model for underprivileged kids.</p>
<p>in general, do your best with what you can–that’s all colleges are asking for. good luck!!</p>
<p>^ Excellent advice right there, too. I’ve just been pursuing my major interests outside of school, since each of my schools has such different offerings (i.e. one school has a certain service club that the others don’t; another school has this academic opportunity while the other doesn’t). I guess the fact that my schools are so geographically distant relative to one another makes the discontinuity even more obvious… (see my location for details, lol)</p>
<p>I am basically in the same situation as you are, so it relieves me when I hear about other CCers going through the same annoying process. I spent my freshman year in a school in CA, my sphomore and junior years in NY and I am going to spend my senior year in CA again in a different school, all because of parents’ jobs. I am totally frightened that colleges will pass on me simply because I will have no leadership EC’s to show them. Most of my ECs were also activities that you had to build up to, like publications [staff writer>editor>EIC] or theater [actor>thespian>leader], but since I am moving, these leadership positions will not be on my resume. </p>
<p>Also, the school I will attend next year will be my 10th school overall from K to 12. I also lived in a different country and didn’t speak English until 5th grade.</p>
<p>So I feel like we’re really similar. </p>
<p>I sent an email to a Cornell admissions person about my situation. Here’s what she had to say: </p>
<p>“We understand your situation and have received many applications in the past of students who have had to endure changing schools a number of times throughout their high school career. That is certainly something that will be taken into account when reviewing your application. You should certainly continue to take a rigorous curriculum in your new high school and continue to be involved in the activities that you have pursued or wish to pursue. Then, I would concentrate on the admission essays and you can always add a supplementary essay describing your situation if you feel better doing that as well. I hope this helps and please let me know if you have any other questions throughout the process.”</p>
<p>I hope that helps you a lot. I’m gonna be checking this thread many times because this really applies to me too, and I also started a thread like this and didn’t get too many responses. </p>
<p>We’re in the same unlucky boat, but I realize that it’s not that bad once you get used to it. I’m actually kind of excited for a new school, although I’m really scared of the implications that it is going to have on my college admission. </p>
<p>^ Hi Gadiii! Nice seeing you again; I recall that we communicated via PM a while back. Just as everyone else in this thread has said, adcoms will definitely look favorably upon your situation, since it provides a unique context to your extracurricular accomplishments. If you can somehow continue to pursue your greatest passions throughout all 4 years despite having to change schooling environments a number of times, that will be a huge plus and it speaks volumes to your level of determination. My next school will be my 8th school from K-12, including a few moves to new houses (albeit within the same city) in between. Apparently from the responses in this thread, leadership positions won’t matter as much in this situation. What is more important is commitment despite a constantly changing social environment. :)</p>
<p>Best of luck! I have a hunch you’ll get in somewhere great. Keep me posted! :D</p>
<p>^ I’m actually going for the REALLY selective ones – my current list includes 5 schools (Harvard, Columbia, Stanford, UC Berkeley, U of Toronto), and it probably won’t be modified much after this point. Since I’d be delighted going to my safety if all else fails, I really don’t see the point in applying to any more schools :D</p>
<p>Wow. That’s exciting! I’m not going for HCS–I know I won’t get in. But I’m considering UCB, which is a match for me. Why UToronto? I have relatives there and I visited it over the summer [parked there, walked across campus–which was beautiful.] </p>
<p>What are you doing in your application to make sure that colleges understand that you went through three different high schools?</p>
<p>U of Toronto, because it’s my safety school (I’m a Canadian citizen). Oh, and I also recently decided I would apply to UChicago in addition to all those. As for your other question, I’m going to give a basic overview of my experiences moving to and living in so many different places, as well as what I learned from them, in one of my college essays.</p>
<p>Hey fledgy I’m not stalking you, I promise ^^</p>
<p>Seems like you’ve gotten enough advice about the leadership thing, so here’s more advice: Calm down!</p>
<p>Don’t underestimate yourself. During my college app process, I realised that I could have probably applied to more “selective” or “prestigious” places and gotten in. CC users’ stats are misleading; they represent the top top population of applicants (and who knows, those stats may be embellished), but there are plenty like relatively average me who make up the rest and are still good enough to get into some pretty nice places. Just trust in your own abilities, do what you love, and you’ll be set. </p>
<p>You’ll end up wherever’s best for you, which may not necessarily be the biggest name college out there. Take me. I’m going to NJIT, lolol. But I’ll be graduating 100% debt free. Sweet deal, I think. And other advantages which I won’t mention here, but it’s not the end of the world attending a “low ranking”/ “no name” college (note my use of quotation marks throughout :P)</p>
<p>Lol Yvonne, you’re hardly “relatively average”! And I guess you’re right – I realize that I’m very, VERY lucky to be able to call a school like U of Toronto my safety, because it’s truly an awesome school. Even if it’s my last choice, it’s not a bad one at all. I’m happy knowing that even in the worst possible circumstances, I’ll still have plenty of options – and that goes for everyone, actually. </p>
<p>Good luck at NJIT! As I wrote to you on FB, I’m sorry I can’t be living at least slightly closer to you for your first year (I’ll be in California); otherwise I would definitely try and visit. :P</p>
Just as everyone else in this thread has said, adcoms will definitely look favorably upon your situation, since it provides a unique context to your extracurricular accomplishments. If you can somehow continue to pursue your greatest passions throughout all 4 years despite having to change schooling environments a number of times, that will be a huge plus and it speaks volumes to your level of determination. My next school will be my 8th school from K-12, including a few moves to new houses (albeit within the same city) in between. Apparently from the responses in this thread, leadership positions won’t matter as much in this situation. What is more important is commitment despite a constantly changing social environment. :)</p>
I’m not stalking you, I promise ^^</p>