We are Australian and having US Green Card. Our daughter is attending grade 10 in Australia at the moment. In preparation for her best chance to apply to UC, we are considering moving her to the American school in Australia to restart grade 10 (which starts 1 semester after the Australian year 10). Then after that we plan to move to CA for her to attend grade 11 there. We can’t move in this year due to my job requirements. What I want to know is if it is worth changing her to the international school to redo the 10th grade ? We think that she can take AP subjects and US history and other mandatory subject for graduating CA high school. I wonder how UC converts her GPA if she attended grade 10 in Australian system without any AP’s. Thanks in advance.
You are Australian citizens, living and working in Australia indefinitely, while holding a US green card. That can be considered to be “intentionally abandoning” your green card. Be prepared to defend your continued green card status. Being outside the US repeatedly or for long intervals can lead to challenges when trying to re-enter the US. Been there/done that.
(ps, make sure to keep your US taxes are up to date- failure to file is also considered “intentional abandonement”)
I don’t understand why you think repeating a grade will give your D a better chance at UC admission?
The admissions officers are used to reading applications from international students. Switching between US and international formats is done fairly commonly. But I don’t really see why repeating grade 10 will help you.
Is it because of the start/stop dates of the Australian school system (Feb-Dec) vs the Northern Hemisphere (Sep-Jun)?? Does the international school in Australia use the north american calendar or the Australian one? Reason is that switching between grade levels between the two hemispheres will cause a hiccup. She’ll either be behind or ahead for half of a year due to the incongruent schedules.
Yes, for continuity of curriculum, have her attend grade 10 pre IB before she starts in an IB program in California. Hopefully you’ve learned the process for the IB program you have in mind?
Also, check your green card’s requirements to make sure ojre within the allowed timeline.
You need to understand that CA students have a very difficult time getting accepted into the UC’s. Attending high school here, getting good grades and test scores, does not guarantee admission. I have a very good friend who’s S applied to 5 of the UC’s from a CA hs with a 4.0 and 32 ACT - he was denied by all. Sometimes the process feels much more like a lottery as they all receive way more applications than space available.
I’m not trying to discourage you but hope you have more reasons (than your D attending a UC) before disrupting her educational path and your life.
Good luck with whatever you decide.
To follow up what gratefulmama said: it’s HARD to get into the UCs straight out of high school. A huge percentage of UC students started out in a California community college and transfered to the UC for their junior and senior year. Unless your daughter has superb grades, stats and accomplishments and is in the top percentiles of her class, it’s likely she won’t get into one of the better known UCs.
So if you all want to move to California - great. If she wants to go to an American high school - great. Just don’t make this big decision solely on her chances of getting into a UC. Because it could be that her college options won’t include a single one, and she’ll be choosing between Cal State Universities, a community college w/ transfer, or private schools.
The only way you can increase your daughter’s odds of getting into a UC – especially some of the lesser known UCs – is to be a full pay out-of-state student.
- It really depends on the major.
- Get a high enough school rank and you are guaranteed a UC, if not the most highly ranked (or even mid-range) UC's.
- In CA, the CC system is another major pathway to a UC (as well as USC). Through TAG, you would be guaranteed a UC if you reach a certain CC GPA (though again, not UCB, UCLA, or UCSD).
It really depends on where the kid wants to start their career. If in the US, then it makes sense to move to the US.
@chinhnguyen:
The OOS acceptance rate as noted above is higher for the UC’s than the in-state acceptance rate and the International acceptance rate at some campuses is also higher. See 2019 data below:
Admission Rates for Out-of-State Applicants (Domestic):
UCLA: 16.5%
UC Berkeley: 17.1%
UC Santa Barbara: 38.7%
UC Irvine: 44.2%
UC San Diego: 59.6%
UC Davis: 62.8%
UC Merced: 72.4%
UC Riverside: 73.9%
UC Santa Cruz: 85.5%
Admission Rates for International Applicants:
UCLA: 8.49%
UC Berkeley: 9.16%
UC San Diego: 29.7%
UC Santa Barbara: 34.6%
UC Irvine: 40.5%
UC Davis: 42.1%
UC Merced: 50.3%
UC Riverside: 69.5%
UC Santa Cruz: 74.5%
Admission Rates for California Applicants:
UCLA: 11.8%
UC Berkeley: 19.2%
UC Irvine: 21.3%
UC Santa Barbara: 26.9%
UC San Diego: 27.6%
UC Davis: 35.5%
UC Santa Cruz: 42.5%
UC Riverside: 55.8%
UC Merced: 77%
ELC or top 9% of HS class for in-state students only guarantees UC Merced currently.
I agree that if you have to interrupt her studies by moving to CA to give her a so called edge in UC’s admissions, definitely not worth it.
What you must also consider that your daughter belongs to the cohort based on the year she started 9th grade anywhere in the world.
When you come her for you D’s “junior year” her cohort will actually be the seniors class.
For the high school it may be problematic because she will be a drag on the schools graduation rate. The school may look to try to program her to graduate “on-time”, even if it means finishing in the summer or January 2023 Vs being a 5th year senior (which is what she would be).
“I’m not trying to discourage you but hope you have more reasons (than your D attending a UC) before disrupting her educational path and your life.”
That is almost exactly what I was thinking.
The other thing that occurred to me is that Australia has multiple very good universities. Admissions is very competitive and quite hard to predict in the US. I would hope that it is less bad in Australia.
Is this some California rule? In the state where I live, they’re definitely not so inflexible.
@Gumbymom, an American permanent resident graduating from a CA HS means in-state rates, which is no small matter.
An Aussie uni is a great idea for someone intent on starting their career in Oz. Not so much for an American permanent resident who wants to start their career in the US.
@PurpleTitan: Posted too soon since I misread the information about the Green Card. True as an in-state applicant, tuition rates are affordable but I still agree that having to repeat 10th grade or disrupting someone’s education in the hopes of getting into any specific UC seems a bit much. If the family needs to move to CA for other reasons, then it makes better sense.
it is not some “California rule” every state is responsible for collecting and reporting graduation cohort data. Most people don’t even realize these conversations exist but they are definitely happening all through senior year with your head of counseling, your data person and your administration.
@sybbie719, I was referring to this part:
“What you must also consider that your daughter belongs to the cohort based on the year she started 9th grade anywhere in the world.”
Like I said, in the state where I live, they’re fairly flexible. If you start with a public school system and stay in publics in the state the whole time, then yes, it is based on birthday. But kids switching in from privates or a different state (or abroad, likely) are slotted in to the next grade after the one they completed, regardless of age. Then the graduation rate is based off of what percentage in the class graduates. I have never heard of state statistics that base graduation rate off of age.
So do you know the particulars for California?
I could understand repeating a grade if the applicant was guaranteed admissions, unfortunately that will not be the case. My incoming freshman, who was selected as an ELC applicant, was waitlisted this year from her top 3 UCs (accepted off the waitlist for 2/3) and rejected from a 4th UC. It’s true attending a cc for two years and transferring if not accepted is a great alternative but that option may be extremely disappointing if expectations were too high and unrealistic from the start.
With that being said, I personally would not uproot to attend but that is a personal choice.
I just want to make sure:
Does everyone on this thread understand that the Aussie school calendar is offset from the American school calendar?
So if someone wants to switch from the Aussie system to the American system, at some point along the way, they will have to either “repeat” half a grade or “skip” half a grade.
[quote=NYC DOE Academic Policy Page 32]
Graduation Cohort Policy
Students’ graduation accountability for New York State and New York City reporting is determined by three factors:
• Cohortyear
• Accountability status (“report status”)
• Accountable DBN (“grad cohort DBN”)
These variables are displayed in the ATS HEOY function and are determined as described below. The Graduation Accountability FAQ describes each of these factors and how they are reported in greater detail.
a. Cohort year
A student’s cohort year corresponds to the year in which a student enters grade 9 for the first time, anywhere in the country or world. A student’s cohort year is not based on credit accumulation or progress toward graduation.
Because cohort year reflects the year in which a student first entered ninth grade, it may determine which graduation requirements apply to the student. For this reason, schools must ensure that the student’s cohort year accurately reflects the year in which the student first entered ninth grade.