Hi there,
I was wondering if it’s an advantage or disadvantage to re-apply from a boarding school (in the top 30) to a boarding school in the top ten? I got accepted at a great boarding school but throughout the application process I have really looked forward to going to my dream school (in which I’ve been waitlisted at).
Should I re-apply (Even after seeing the community and the entire school as a whole once I get there during September)? And is it a disadvantage considering I will not be able to commit to the one I am at right now.
We might need more information to give a fully accurate opinion.
Based on what you have told us, my recommendation would be to attend the boarding school that you got accepted to, with the intention of staying there until they hand you a high school diploma. Keep ahead in your classes. Get to know your teachers and your fellow students. Participate in ECs that make sense for you. If you get into a leadership position, remember that “leadership” is not about getting your way – instead it is about making the activity better for everyone who participates.
One advantage of staying at one school for a full four years is that you will get to know your teachers and get to know your fellow students. This is likely to open up some opportunities that would be more difficult to obtain if you transfer between schools.
If you want to apply to highly ranked universities when the time comes, it is not going to matter whether you are applying from a “top 30” or “top 10” boarding school. If you do get accepted to MIT or Stanford out of high school, when you run into students who attended a very normal public high school, be aware that many (if not all) of them will be very, very smart and very strong students.
Having a “dream school” is usually a bad idea. Top schools (whether high schools or universities) are looking for students who are a good fit for them. Very often they get this right.
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Great advice above.
Students do transfer from one BS to another, so if your current school turns out to be a bad fit, that is an option. With that said, you will need to demonstrate a good reason for the transfer and show that you made the best of your current situation.
Please start this fall with the intention of staying 4 years.
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There are some others who have posted about this very question and I think it’s worth trying to search for the robust conversation around this. I’ll add some points here.
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As many will point out – It is very hard to be one-foot-in-one-foot out.
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Keep in mind you would need recommendations from your school teachers – where you would have been for a month or two – and it will truly be a tough sell because they don’t know you well, and it’s really hard for those teachers to sell the reason why you want to transfer other than “we aren’t highly ranked enough for this brilliant kid who always dreamt of something better than us” (which of course is clearly not a reasonable answer).
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This brings me to what are YOUR reasons for thinking this other school is a better fit? I mean this kindly, fully supporting you as a dreamer: is there truly something that is making that school a better fit for you, BESIDES it just being a “dream school” or being “higher ranked?” If those are the reasons, then not only are they not compelling for an application, but they are not a good reason to transfer in the first place. Why? Because the difference between at “top 10” and a “top 30” school is WAY smaller than you are thinking. I pinky promise. And I am saying this as someone who has a kid who attended both a “tippy top” school and a “top 30” school. I 100% promise you they are both challenging and amazing and offer so many great opportunities.
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If the school isn’t a fit for you, then great…transferring is an option! I have a daughter who realized a school wasn’t a fit for her and she transferred and couldn’t be happier with that choice, 3 years later. But there was a very clear reason for her transferring…one that made complete sense to the admissions team at the new school: School A offers XYZ culture, and I’m looking for ABC culture. Ok, makes sense. But again – so far, I’m just hearing “but my dream is a name that people will recognize and that will impress them!”
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Note that when my daughter reached out to a small handful of schools as she considered where to apply to transfer — she reached out only to the schools where she had offers the year before – the general gist of the response from schools was wanting a very clear reason what problem school A had that School B would solve. So be prepared for any admissions department to be a little bit on their guard – they are not interested in students just seeking prestige, even if in your mind, you think they should take it as a compliment that you find their school better than the “top 30” school.
If you were my kid, my suggested options would be:
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go to school A and give it your all, and trust that by thanksgiving it will become clear if there is truly an identifiable reason why this school isn’t a fit. (Leave “dream school” thinking where it belongs – as a fantasy not based in any concrete reality).
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OR – if school B really truly isn’t just a better fit in fantasyland, but truly because of XYZ reasons – AND if School A truly does NOT have the elements that make it a good fit for you, then I would consider not going to School A at all and re-applying next year to School B, as well as some others.
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if you go and give it your all and realize by Thanksgiving that School A is NOT a fit, of course you can apply to School B (and others), assuming your parents are fine with that. But I would ONLY go this route if you are super clear about what it is you would be hoping to get from School B. And remember: there is NOT ONE SCHOOL that has the monopoly on being an amazing place to be. So if there is a part of you that is thinking “but School B is my only dream” then I would suggest very gently that you haven’t done your research. I promise that there are many places that could be totally awesome for you.
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Finally, I will offer a totally different perspective which is: sometimes in life we just have to do the thing that everyone tries to talk us out of. So if going to School A with the plan to apply to School B is 100% what you want to do, then I would say: if your parents are on board with that plan, know that I support you too. It’s not the choice I would make given my experience base, but I also know it’s not my choice to make. :). Cheering you on no matter where you end up!!
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Great advice above. I would add in summary that…
…this is the exact thing you need to do in order to make yourself an attractive transfer applicant to the other school.
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As a current student, my advice is - Spend a full year at your next school, unless you don’t feel comfortable there after multiple months. Enjoy the summer, and don’t bog down your freshman fall and winter with applications. It takes only a day or even less for you to forget all about the schools that didn’t accept you.
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