SAGE program -- semester in India for High School -- anyone heard about it??

Parents Forum
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<p>My son has always planned on studying abroad in high school (and college) and wants to take advantage of a program called SAGE.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.sageprogram.org/index.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.sageprogram.org/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>It looks good, we have contacted the office and it sounds legit -- I just thought I would ask for opinions here.</p>

<p>His plan is to attend the Winter Tour (4 weeks of touring India in January) then attend the Spring Semester at Woodstock (Indian school in the Himilayans). This would be next year -- 10th grade for him.</p>

<p>The school is accredited in the US and offers AP classes with the tests -- so it shouldn't effect him academically. He is homeschooled -- so no worries about graduation requirements -- the timing is flexible. He would take AP US history, AP English Language, Advanced Chemistry, Algebra II and classes on religion and hindi.</p>

<p>He would be recieving financial aid, so it is doable -- price-wise (he works part-time and would be paying for most of the costs involved).</p>

<p>Any thoughts?? -- one concern I had is that he would be giving up his extracurricular activities while out of the country. he would already have his eagle award from boy scouts, but -- since he also is planning on spending 11th grade in China for the full-year, it limits him on developing leadership positions in EC's -- anything to worry about? His interests are philosophy, religion and sociology, so the EC's are non-standard to begin with.</p>

<p>He is planning on applying for competitive colleges (princeton is one) and he has the test grades and GPA for that now -- and should be able to maintain it. He attends college classes this year and would next year and senior year -- plus both the school in india and the program in china are accredited here in the US and offer AP's -- so academically, I think he would be OK.</p>

<p>Right now, I think his plan sounds good for him -- but I wanted some other thoughts on the matter.</p>

<p>thanks!</p>

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<p>I think it sounds really cool and will make him stand out even more as an applicant. One thing I think colleges may worry about with homeschoolers is that they may be out of touch with the real world, due to isolation except for parent-approved activities. This does not sound like the case with your son at all, but I think the stereotype still exists. (I'm not a parent, though)</p>

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<p>I actually graduated from Woodstock School, although since that was in 1978 I am probably not much help in terms of what a day-in-the-life would be like there now.</p>

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<p>I know about the Kodai School (used to live not too far away, and knew a teacher there) and it is topknotch. Lots of rich kids, but they are an international set, and the experience is very broadening for many. </p>

<p>Glad to see Woodstock teaches Hindi. I know Kodai doesn't teach Tamil, which I thought a distinct drawback (since that is the local language.)</p>

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<p>thanks for the replies -- he is so excited about the possibilities!</p>

<p>raindrop -- I know exactly what you are talking about, and to be honest -- I have met plenty of those sheltered, homeschooled kids. I would also be concerned, as a school, that homeschooled kids might have difficulty succeeding.</p>

<p>We actually chose to homeschool my oldest because he simply didn't fit into the mold that was necessary to survive middle and high school. He is definitely a different person and homeschooling has allowed him to really succeed as an individual. My younger son attends an IB middle years program -- so I am certainly not against public schooling.</p>

<p>I am well aware that competitive colleges are really looking for reassurance that homeschool students can succeed and we are doing everything we can to make sure we can show that -- SAT II's, AP classes, college classes, etc. I think this semester in India will also help show his potential.</p>