Moving schools in the middle of Junior year?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

I recently moved and might need to switch schools. I’m only moving 15 minutes away, but my current school doesn’t offer transportation to where I’m moving to.

I currently attend a charter school with around 400 students, and I rank 15 out of 104. My school doesn’t offer any honors courses, and most students aren’t allowed to take AP classes until junior year (only 3 in my class took one sophomore year). Even then, only 7 are offered, 2 are art-oriented. My cumulative GPA is 3.6 unweighted, 3.7 weighted. I’m also in Model UN, Key Club, and NHS, and plan to run for leadership positions next year, which would be difficult at a new school.

The public school I’d be assigned to in my new district has around 1,600 students, and has a lot more students taking honors and APs. It would also be harder for me to obtain leadership positions at a new school, since I don’t have 3 years to make an impression like I had at my current school. I’d also really miss the tight-knit feel of my current school.

I’m interested in applying at schools like WashU and Emory, and I realize I need to work on my GPA for a chance of getting in. How much would it hurt my chances of getting in to these kinds of colleges by switching schools either in the middle of junior year or before starting senior year?

2

I understand your concern. Changing schools is always hard and this is a particularly tough rime… If you do well at your new school, you’ll have solid proof that you can adapt to new situations and thrive. One part of your strategy should be figuring out how to do that - getting curriculum from your new school and getting placement advice from your current teachers, meeting with your new teachers, getting involved as quickly as you can. If you can tell this success story on your college app, it’ll impress. Leadership positions aren’t going to matter under those circumstances.

The one other thing you could consider is whether you can come up with a transportation alternative. Uber? Some sort of ride share? Is that the only thing that’s requiring the transfer?

I wish you luck!

3

@papaya12 how has the move gone?

4

@4getit It’s gone well! Sorry for the late response haha. I ended up not having to switch schools, so I’ll be graduating from the school I was originally going to.