<p>D has decided she wants to try public HS with her sibs and old friends for soph year. Not sure she want to go back to original school if she does go back. </p>
<p>Anybody got any experiance with transfer in at Junior Year?</p>
<p>(Not looking forward to doing applications, etc all over)</p>
<p>Would you really want DD to attend 3 high schools? That won’t play well with colleges. You should probably encourage her to make a commitment to one school for the rest of high school so that she can develop teacher relationships, have sustained activities and the opportunity for leadership roles.</p>
<p>Is this something she has thought about for awhile or a recent decision? How has she adjusted to her boarding school?</p>
<p>Wow, Princess’Dad, it sounds like there have been some big discussions going on at home! Is the problem more with boarding school or is she missing the stuff at home?</p>
<p>How about an Early College Program near you? Might work better because she will be entering a group that is starting everything together instead of being the odd Man (Women) out.</p>
<p>Three high schools is not a good idea. </p>
<p>It would be best to get to the bottom of what her concerns are, and then map a strategy to resolve the problems. Going to 3 high schools will most likely create more problems than it will resolve. </p>
<p>It sounds like she misses the life she might have had without going to boarding school. </p>
<p>Anyway, you will have her home soon, and you have some time to figure out a reasonable solution.</p>
<p>I agree that 3 high schools would be a huge mistake and would tell my daughter that her choices are the current bs and the hs back home. I would make sure she is very, very, sure about her decision and that you understand her reasoning. If it is homesickness, she may outgrow it by next year. Is it an academic or social issue. You need to make sure it is not just a grass is always greener on the other side of the fence and that she has reasons for thinking the hs back home will be better for her. Has she done a “revisit” to the hs back home, gone to classes?</p>
<p>I think that many students will have a patchwork high school career by the time she applies to colleges. The economic troubles are changing many families’ plans. I would prefer that my child attend one high school, and in normal times, attending three could be a warning sign. These days are unusual, though, so I don’t think that attending three schools would necessarily be as large a disadvantage as it might be.</p>
<p>Have you spoken with her about finances? She might feel that the expense of boarding school is a heavy burden for your family. She might have friends who won’t return to school next year, which would also influence her thinking.</p>
<p>Students who have a tough time adjusting to their first year of bs and voiced desire to not return are many times surprised that when they return at the beginning of the second year, it feels like coming home. They fit; the bumps are over. They have friends and know their way around.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that this discussion is happening during the run up to exams. D may be figuring out that the exams/demands of the back home school are a cakewalk compared to the curriculum at BS. Are her concerns based on concerns about the upcoming exams?</p>
<p>On the other hand, if a general “i want to not go back” is masking an unspoken problem, then a bit of digging is in order.</p>
<p>Not sure root of cause. $ not cause. Seemed to enjoy it up until 3 weeks ago. Grades As with 1 high B. Attempted suicide by friend did not help. Her sister goes to local HS so she (thinks) knows it. Believe that she has “experianced” BS and wants to try local HS as her old friends love it. Plus at home she will get car, etc. Going out next week to discuss with her in depth.</p>
<p>Believe “3 high schools” not that much of hurdle. Have good colleague friends - IVY (east and west coast) senior admissions who say with explanation not a problem if grades stay good. She makes friends very easy so that also should not be problem.</p>
<p>What explanation is your friend thinking you would give? It’s one thing if the family had no choice but to move and another if the student just wanted to try out different schools. In all honesty, it’s very, very hard for me to see how theis would not hurt her in college admissions. The teachers writing the recs would not know her well and there’s little chance she will have depth of ECs and leadership positions.</p>
<p>Princess’s Dad - it seems your daughter is doing very well academically at school. If she decides to apply to BSs for 11th grade, wouldn’t she have to start all the teacher recs and application almost a month or two after she starts her local school? This just seems very difficult.</p>
<p>If she isn’t miserable, maybe she can try to stick it out one more year, and then make a decision where she wants to spend jr/sr year, whether it be the local highschool or another BS. If it were my S, I think the choice would be either come home, and plan to stay for 3 years, or try one more year. </p>
<p>What is her roommie situation? Perhaps she’d be better of in a single?</p>
<p>Definitely some probing is needed to find out why she wants to come home. Being with old friends doesn’t seem like enough of a reason to me. My guess is there is something else going on. </p>
<p>Was the friend who attempted suicide from BS or from home?</p>
<p>All the best, Princess Dad, with this difficult decision.</p>
<p>creative: from BS.</p>
<p>Ivy Dean of Admission feels simple: I missed home and wanted to try PHS for variety that it provides in students and atmosphere. As PHS has more students (not % - only due to size) go to IVY than Exeter, etc it has good academics. After year, missed class size of 8 and felt better educated at BS. Not the best, but …</p>
<p>Flitting here and there for amusement is a bad habit to get into. Sometimes you need to tell kids to stick. </p>
<p>Do your really want her flitting from major to major or college to college. What about on the job - does she float from job to job.</p>
<p>Without an overwhelming reason to move, perhaps the parent involved need to teach the life lesson to sticking with something until it is done.</p>
<p>Three high schools on a transcript is not a problem. I know this, so trust what I say here. The problem comes more with class sequences- especially with foreign language. Every method of teaching a language (even Latin) is different, and it is hard to jump around from school to school in language classes. There are no bonus points given for sticking it out in one or even two high schools. If the student left a school on bad terms, it will require an explanation, but the mere presence of multiple schools is not a problem.</p>
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<p>What about the lesson to not be satisfied with something that isn’t right for you? Plenty of kids transfer colleges and adults switch jobs.</p>
<p>I have also been an ivy adcom. I have to be honest in that I would perceive a problem where there are 3 high schools based on the reasons given here. Retention is an issue for colleges, 3 high schools by choice tells me there’s a good chance there will be more than one college.</p>
<p>It’s like anything else- if there is a good explanation, it doesn’t matter. I know many, many kids who have attended multiple high schools either by choice or due to disciplinary issues and have been very successful with the college admission process.<br>
Success at the final school is very important.</p>
<p>Toad,
I thought the whole reason of HS and college is to “find yourself”. Some of the worst docs I know are those who decided in HS to become one. The top ranked “kids” in medical school are almost always the late bloomers who REALLY wanted to become a doc. I would rather choose a kid that took a year off from college and bummed around Europe and then came back focused than a kid who is a Doogie Howser.</p>
<p>Explanations are “easy”, It did not fit for me! To believe that a 14 year old girl can pick a BS based on several visits is ludacrous. To force her to “stick it out” is the same. </p>
<p>One of the problems with education is that too many parents and educators forget to listen to the kid. You need to help them make a plan, but it is their plan</p>
<p>Colleges (at least Stanford which I am very familiar with, and some others) are less worried about retention than kids doing well. Alot of faculty (you can google some of the thoughts) are against early “decision making and thus early career focus” and would like to change the first several years of college to a general liberal arts focus. To resurrect the Renaissance Man.</p>