Hi all! If you have seen or look at my past posts, you know that I transferred from public Highschool to private boarding school at the start of my junior year. I had a really tough transition, I was crying, homesick, was having panic attacks and falling behind in classes. I even met with the head of admissions to talk about withdrawing if nothing got better. Luckily, things did change for the better. I made many new friends, fell into a routine, and made friends with my teachers. I still have my bouts of hard times but nothing out of the ordinary. Here is where I am conflicted. Our winter break was very long (20 days). At that time I went home and I was with my family and my boyfriend. I am in a long distance relationship with my boyfriend from home and no doubt he contributed to my hard transition and most of my homesick feelings when I am here. While I was home I was totally okay about me going to boarding school and the fact that I would come back here after break. But towards the end of vacation something just kind of clicked in my mind. I miss the normal. I miss when I had a job and i could expierence working retail but still mess around with co workers my age. I am missing out on getting my license and a car. I miss that when school is over school is pretty much over. No being confined to a campus all the time. I miss driving around with friends and singing silly songs while not having a destination of where we are going. I miss conversations not related to school or homework or college. I miss traditional public schooling and regular high schooler life. Hanging out with my boyfriend and his friends and seeing how carefree they were about the future hit me, I realized me and my friends are constantly wrapped up in school or college or our futures. While that is a good thing it’s this constant in my boarding school life. So now I’m conflicted. I have been back at school for a couple days and while it is super excited to be surrounded by my friends and teachers that i love to death, I have just felt a little disconnnected because even as the teachers said “we are back to the hard reality of school and work.” It may just be a transition back but I find myself missing the carefree ness of my last two years of school more than I have in months. I don’t know what to do about next year. I don’t really have any friends at home except my boyfriend and the school isn’t nearly as good as where I am now and I know my parents would not want me to switch back but I am just craving halving a normal public school less stressed life and the thiught of coming back here next year is kind of scary to me. Any thoughts?
I’m very sorry that you’ve been having all these difficult feelings to work through. One thing I’m wondering about is your future plans. How does either school scenario set you up to reach your goals for after graduation?
Thanks for your reply! Part of the reason I switched to go to boarding school was to help me get ready and get into a better college. As for a career I’m pretty set on being a social worker/counselor for young kids. I feel like if I stay at where I am, I could get into a great school like American University, GW or Bucknell all of which I looked at. One of the reasons I’m hesitant about switching back is how it would affect my college choice. I know explaining to colleges about why I switched back would be a must but I feel like I would have to lower my expectations some if i switch back, which i am okay doing. If I did switch back I works get more involved and join more AP classes sor of to balance everything out. But in all I don’t think switching back would make me change my future decisions after graduation too much, besides knowing hot to explain my choice to colleges and what colleges I can realistically get in to.
Your concerns are legit. It’s natural that some teenagers are more attached to their family and friends back home and are more “home bound” than others. Don’t be too hard on yourself. If it’s that painful, it’s not worth it. As for the impact of this move to your college admission, I think you will be fine. The colleges you are targeting are not super competitive. If you maintain good grades and do what you need to do otherwise, your short tenure at a boarding school shouldn’t be too much of a negative on your application. Good luck!