Moving out of state during high school

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Hello, I am an incoming freshman in high school this fall, and I am also new to College Confidential. I live in a rural Midwest, and due to my parents’ job, I might be moving out of state either before my sophomore year or my junior year. We are not quite sure where yet though.

I heard that it could be very hard to build your high school resume if you transfer high schools in between-and I am wondering if the curriculum will be harder in more competitive states (i.e. California, Virginia) so whether I would be able to keep up academically, and also in terms of extracurricular activities where I have to start all over again from scratch.

I am more than willing to accept the bitter truth that it is not going to be easy :slight_smile:
For those of you who have experienced this, what would be your advice for me?

Thank you everyone!!! (I am not sure how to use the tags yet)

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Do you have an idea of what possible destination states there can be?

If a move has to occur during high school, it is probably better for it to happen earlier than later:

  1. Less likelihood of need to “catch up” on graduation requirements in the new high school that could displace other courses that are desired to take.
  2. More time to get to know teachers and counselors for recommendations before they are needed for college applications.
  3. More time to get involved in and achieve in extracurricular activities that are school based or local area based.
  4. For some (not all) states, graduating high school in the state after three years of attendance ensures in-state status or equivalent at state universities even if your parents move out of the state later.
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The variance between High Schools in a state is likely higher than between states.

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I 100% agree with this, speaking as someone who attended public schools is some states that are fairly low on state educational “rankings” as well as at some top public schools in “high ranking” states.

If you’re on a particular track (gifted, honors, regular, etc) at a school, that can make a HUGE difference in the quality of your education. If you’ve taken any nationally normed tests (including CAT, ITBS, or even something like iReady or a diagnostic that might give you a Lexile reading level), that can help to see how you compare. For instance, there is often a percentile mentioned (98th percentile, 74th percentile, 35th percentile, etc). That means that in comparison with a national group of test-takers of your age, you would perform higher than 98 others, 74 others, 35 others, etc. In some schools, someone at the 74th percentile might be one of the top students. At other schools, they might be within the top 25%-50% of the class.

If you’re already thinking about how your educational preparation might serve you in another state and asking about it here on CC, I think you’re going to be fine, wherever you land. Wishing you the best!

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Thank you everyone for your encouragement!

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It is not ideal, but it happens all the time. My kids went to 3 different high schools. First was a private hs in California and they were new to that system too, so they had a big adjustment. Then went to the public school in that city, but we moved in February to Florida. Hardest thing was that they basically missed the entire third quarter so were catching up all the time. Also, one kid took French and the new school didn’t have that so she had to take it online which was really hard.

Try to take a full year of the classes you need, or take standard classes like AP or math classes that may be out of the same book. The second school they went to was near a military base so there were a lot of kids moving in and out, and the third school was also heavily military, but some were children of retired military so not as many moving in and out.

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Be yourself. BE YOURSELF and you will be fine.

If you are an athlete, see if you can find the info for the coaches, online.

If you want to try a sport, or club, ask. (We had a pizza club whose primary focus was to order or make pizza, for lunch, twice a month and rate the temperatures, mixed toppings, speed of delivery, etc.) Once a month they went to local pizza places and shadowed the work teams and helped out by making boxes, cleaning, learning about the ovens, noting how supplies were ordered, etc. The sponsoring teacher’s family owned a pizza place back East; he loved pizza, so it was an approved club.
(We used to have a Procrastinators Club but no one knows who is in it or if it still exists because no one has shown up. They never asked for a teacher advisor.)

We had 28 athletic teams at our high school and it’s one of the best ways to acclimate to the school. The school had an assembly during the first month of school, to promote the teams, with representatives from each of the teams. They handed out Athletic packets with required forms for physicians’ approvals, parent permissions, health concerns etc.

At our local high school in Southern California, they assign an upperclassman to be a buddy for the week (or more if the new student desires it). They are part of the “Link Crews” and have to be interviewed by the staff. They are generally well-liked by teachers and students, are down-to-earth, kind, and are chosen because of their good communication skills. These kids have to be selected. There is a wait-list for these positions.

The Link Crew member has been “trained” to guide the “newcomers” to the school and answer questions about the school, teams, social groups, ID cards, off campus and parking passes, and introduce you to students in your grade. They eat lunch with the new student for the week and Uber-in some foods for lunch.

Students in your grade level sign up to eat lunch with you and your Link Buddy because the Brown Bag, Uber eats, and Jamba Juice/Starbucks Frappuccino’s are very good lunches. (There are three local Starbucks very close to the school -if that’s your thing.)

I know that our local HS is unique because it has a plethora of cultures, so they try really hard to assimilate students to school/ student life.

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Thank you everyone for your support and your responses! I really appreciate it :slight_smile:

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