Repeating 11th Grade (Cross Posted)

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>I’ve wanted to go to boarding school for years, but it hasn’t happened. Right now, I’m in 11th grade, and I still want to go to boarding school, but I doubt that I would get in as a 1 year senior.</p>

<p>So, I have a couple questions:</p>

<li><p>Would repeating 11th grade really be worth it? I’m taking 5 classes this year (Honors English 11, Honors US History, Honors Physics, Regents Algebra 2 and Theater). I’m confident that I’ll do well (get at least a B or B+) in English,US History, and Theater (I’ll definitely get an A in that one), however, I’m not so sure about Algebra 2 and Physics. I think that in those two classes I’ll probably get between a B- and a B.</p></li>
<li><p>I want to go to Cornell U. What schools (or at least types of schools) should I be looking at? I want to (at the moment) want to be premed.</p></li>
<li><p>Will going to boarding school and repeating 11th grade help me or hurt me in terms of getting into Cornell? The one way I could definitely see it helping is that they are accepting less students from my school/area now, so I might have a better chance getting in if I’m not applying from my current school.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Lets see…More information about me:</p>

<p>Background</p>

<p>I am an African American, adopted, live in a small college town. I go to a good public school, but I hate it. I’ve hated the public schools here since 6th grade, but there are very few private schools, and so most people who want to go away go to a boarding school since otherwise there would be at least 2 hours of travel total to and from school each day. I’ve always taken all Honors level classes, except math, I do Regents level math. I’m a pretty independent person, and actually, I absolutely love being away from home. Not that I don’t like my family or whatever, just that I really like being independent. I’ve tried to convince my parents to let me go to boarding school in the past (I started trying in 8th grade), but they’ve never really been into it. However, my mom did say that if I still wanted to go in 11th or 12th she’d consider it as long as the school was within a reasonable distance and I could a heck of a lot of financial aid. Academics are quite important in my family (well, obviously, both of my parents are lawyers). Both my older brothers attended Cornell, and it’s kind of expected that I’ll do the same, but that’s OK by me since Cornell has one of the best premed programs, and that’s what I’m interested in doing. That being said, I’m obviously quite into science, but I don’t really like math that much.</p>

<p>Classes</p>

<p>8th grade - Honors Earth Science (I put this here because it’s a high school
course that you get high school credit for)</p>

<p>9th grade - Humanities (combined Honors English and Global History 1)

  • Regents Algebra 1
  • Honors Molecular Biology
  • Honors French 2 (French 1 was taken over a 2 year period in 7th
    and 8th)</p>

<p>10th grade - Honors Global History 2

  • Honors English 10
  • Honors French 3
  • Regents Geometry
  • Honors ChemCom</p>

<p>11th grade - Honors US History

  • Honors English 11
  • Honors Physics
  • Regents Algebra 2
  • Theater</p>

<p>Of course, I’ve also taken gym every year.</p>

<p>Stats</p>

<p>Female
African American
From Upstate NY
Have always attended public school
Applying for 11th grade as a repeat student (?)
GPA - Is always in the range of 3.1-3.7 depending on the particular marking period.
PLAN score - 27
PSAT and SSAT scores - unknown, I just took the PSAT on Wednesday and I
haven’t taken the SSAT</p>

<p>I think that’s pretty much all I have for that.</p>

<p>Extra Curriculars</p>

<p>Dance - 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
Choir - 8, 9, 10, 11
Girl Scouts - 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Afro/Latino Club - 9, 10, 11
Drama Club - 6, 7, 8, 10, 11
Link Crew - 10, 11
Key Club - 11
Sister2Sister Mentor (more volunteer, but whatever) - 9, 10, 11 (will do this year)
Track - 7, 8, 9, maybe 11 (it depends on what the spring musical is)</p>

<p>Awards</p>

<p>Back in 2004, I got a local award for community service, and in 2005 I got the Principals Award at school (kind of like student of the quarter).</p>

<p>School information</p>

<p>My school is one of the top public high schools in the US. I think we’re number 131 or something like that…So it’s a good school, and some people consider it a feeder school to Cornell.</p>

<p>What do you think?</p>

<p>I know you might question why I don’t just go to a private day school, and the reason for that is that where I live, there’s only one private high school in my town, and the two next nearest are both a half hour to hour away. So combined with the cost, and the transportation, it’s not really a plausible thing. (And yes, I do know that boarding school costs a lot too, but I’d be likely to get financial aid, and the private schools that I know of around here don’t really give aid, especially to first year students).</p>

2

<p>Any ideas?</p>

3

<p>I can't see repeating 11th grade as being helpful. At all.
I can only see it hurting your chances.</p>

4

<p>Is there reason for that?</p>

5

<p>You don't really need it. It seems to be too much of a hassle.</p>

6

<p>It might be...But, repeating Algebra 2 would definitely be helpful! I know that. I'm terrible at it (well, math in general). No matter what my final grade is, the more practice I get with it, the better I'll do in higher math. Physics probably doesn't matter so much because it's an extra science course already...I mean, I already have Honors credits for Earth Science, Biology, and Chemistry.</p>

7

<p>It's just superfluous. I get that you want to do better in your 11th grade subjects, but I can only see this as hurting you.</p>

<p>...It's hard to explain.</p>

8

<p>Won't bad grades hurt me just as much?</p>

9

<p>Think about it this way- would a college rather have someone who could complete basic material in four or five years? Especially a school like Cornell where they have more than enough qualified applicants applying every year.</p>

<p>But what snoopy said- it's hard to explain.</p>

<p>Besides, who wants to spend 5 years in high school? You'll be headed to "boarding school" with college soon enough.</p>

10

<p>S#1 transferred to a prep school and repeated grade 11. It is actually pretty common at the prep school level and some schools ( Andover in particular)
even designate grade 11 repeats as 11Rs--it is that common.</p>

<p>Repeating this year rather than decreasing his chances--improved them immensely. He went to a prestigious private school with a strong reputation for rigorous academics. Yes, his grades dipped his junior year, but frankly the response he got from admissions at the colleges where he applied was---"we know a B means something coming from your school--no grade inflation"They did not blink an eye at a C in his junior year. His senior grades were stronger as he made the full adjustment to prep school rigor</p>

<p>Admissions counselors felt it made him better prepared for college and willing to take a risk to improve himself. His repeating was never questioned but applauded.....He is now a freshman at a highy selective LAC--this would not have happened without his transfer and repeat year...</p>

<p>Good luck</p>

11

<p>Thanks for the info.</p>

<p>I don't know what I'll do...</p>

12

<p>Think about this as well:</p>

<p>If you really want to go to a "boarding school", go to a college where you have to live in a dorm. Same basic effect.</p>

<p>I can't see a situation (except where Momof2sons pointed out, but even that doesn't seem like it would happen all that commonly outside of LACs) where it would help you..</p>

<p>Also, you need to examine why you want to go to a boarding school that badly. As Johnson said, who WANTS 5 years of high school? (I enjoy HS immensely, and I'm still ready to get out...)</p>

13

<p>See, I want to get out of my house NOW. I also don't actually feel that I'm prepared to go to Cornell. Yeah, I know that I'm a junior this year, but no...I think that if I went to Cornell, I would sink. I'm not even confident that I'll get into Cornell even with my connections.</p>

14

<p>But like I said, WHY?</p>

<p>Unless you decide to repeat 11th grade or you get into boarding school for senior year, you're stuck at home (unless you emancipate yourself, which-trust me-would only make things harder) until you go to college. </p>

<p>You need to figure out what's causing this to make your remaining time at home as pleasant as possible.</p>

15

<p>Well, home just sucks. There's always fighting going on, my parents **** me off, I can't ever get away...</p>

<p>And as I said, I feel that going to boarding school would better prepare me for college.</p>

16

<p>I know many students that have repeated their Junior years or other year in high school at a prep/private/boarding schools. They are now at the following colleges:</p>

<p>Boston College
Brown
Harvard
Trinity College
Colby College
Union College
Connecticut College
Holy Cross
Yale
Hamilton College
Tufts</p>

<p>It is more common than you think and does not hurt chances at any of the top schools in my experience</p>

17

<p>Repeating (or 13th yr as PG) is not at all uncommon among day/prep sch students. Its success, however, depends on the caliber of school and how well the student performs. I know many student who repeated a year and still had no chance at Cornell or any of the schs listed above (and how many of those kids were hooked - - urm, legacy, ahtlete, etc.) </p>

<p>One boy who graduated from a very prestig day sch chose, on advice of his guidance counselor, to do a 13th year prgm a NMH rather than go straight to college. He had struggled in hs and had stronger PG year (Bs) - - but still ended up a a college that had offered him a seat the year before (he was hooked as an athlete - - and red-shirting is most common among male athletes).</p>

<p>OP is already hooked at Cornell (legacy) and she'll also get a boost being urm. I don't see how repeating algebraII and physics w/ grades of C- and B-, respectively (an improvement over OP's current grades) is going to improve your chances significantly.</p>

<p>FYI, D (also hooked as URM and legacy) was admitted to top LAC despite what I consider weak grades (repeated chem and rec'd grade of 75; dropped physics senior yr - - but strong math grades, including in APs and very strong SATs, especially in math). In her case, the extra bump from applying ED (even though she was a finaid applicant) did the trick. OP could do the same w/ Cornell.</p>

18

<p>I'm kind of thinking that I'll just drop physics since I doubt that I'll do well, and just forgetting college, if I stay at my school, I really want to do a program, New Visions that helps you explore health careers, and they won't accept you if you have any grades below a B...</p>