small high school vs large high school

<p>i'd love to hear your opinions on my dilemma! my 8th grade son needs to choose a high school. He is presently at a charter school that has recently grown to include a 9th (and next year a 10th) grade. The class size is 44 students/grade. they will offer 9 AP courses over the 4 year high school period. They have the best math team in the county and second best in the state. they offer turkish language. His other option is the large (1300 student ) high school with a new (2 years old) Science /technology/engineering/math magnet program. Not too rigorous admission reqs: 2.5-3.0 to get into lottery. they offer lots of AP's but kids rarely get above a 3, if that. They have lots of clubs,sports etc.my son is not into sprots at all and would for sure not be a 'helmet' sport participant.</p>

<p>His dream school is caltech.,etc. do colleges like to see a lot of kids under you gpa -wise ? (lots of cannon fodder at the big school). or are they more interested in rigor and intellectual curiosity. he is state ranked in math and internationally/nationally/state and regioanlly ranked in science competitions.</p>

<p>advice?</p>

<p>Definitely go for the small school. It is more rigorous and would prepare him better for college.</p>

<p>Not at all sure what you meant here:

But, in answer to your question, colleges like to accept kids who choose rigorous courses and have intellectual curiosity.</p>

<p>For what it’s worth, from your description the small school is ideal and the larger school has nothing going for it for your son. Given that, I can’t understand why you are conflicted. It seems like you’ve already made up your mind and the answer is clear.</p>

<p>My vote for your son’s situation is the small school, hands down.</p>

<p>Are you comfortable with what they are or might be about at this charter school? I don’t think I’d be too keen on this.</p>

<p>I’d go where there is a track record of success as compared to other schools in the state.</p>

<p>“They offer lots of AP’s but kids rarely get above a 3, if that.”
This would be a big flag to me- if kids can’t master the standardized tests, it may say the quality of the classes is questionable.
Adcoms are usually savvy about various school districts- based on your location, I’d expect them to know quite a bit about both schools. At the bigger school, your son would need to do a lot more than have “a lot of kids under (him) gpa -wise.” He’d need to rank pretty high if the competition is “cannon fodder” who only need a 2.5-3 for the lottery.</p>

<p>I’m going to offer a slightly different opinion here, but I’ll make it very clear where I’m coming from…a big school. </p>

<p>The small school has a lot to offer, no doubt. The nine APs only matter in context of what your son eventually plans to take. For instance, our high school offers 17. There is no way with prereq’s, schedule conflicts, etc., that a student can take close to that. Our kids can only take APs in their Jr/Sr years making those 17 classes even more restrictive. Turkish language is great IF your student is interested. Otherwise it’s meaningless.</p>

<p>We actually have 3,000 students in our large school that is also STEM based. These students tend to rise to the top, receive professional accreditations, participate in dual enrollment, have professional mentors, as well as a world championship academic competition program. They participate in paid internships with major corporations. Commitment to community service is also very strong. The program has 100% placement in four year university math & science curriculum, regularly sending students to tier one schools every year. This is in contrast to the school as a whole at 55% 4yr university/25% 2yr programs.</p>

<p>IF your son is interested in the STEM program I would suggest you try to meet with the program director and ask about the statistics for their program (ie test scores & college placement), extracurriculars available, etc. I wouldn’t worry too much about class size. My 2011 son has had on average 26 students in his classes, however he takes AP/honors classes. He’s never had a problem feeling like the classes are too big. Then it is a matter of ‘fit’. The smaller school may offer more AP classes, however the STEM based school may offer some Dual Enrollment, or program specific classes that really interest your son. Your son may simply be more comfortable at the smaller school, which is a valid consideration.</p>

<p>Good luck in your decision! Many people would love to have the choice between two schools that offer interesting programs.</p>

<p>I routinely see kids with 9-10 AP’s with all 5’s getting into school like Caltech, HPMYS.</p>

<p>I would look at where you child would be happiest socially . If he has a group of classmates he likes at the small school, stick with it. If not, go for the big school. A motivated child will do well in both environments, academically speaking. Where would he be happiest?</p>

<p>All else being equal I lean towards bigger high schools with the greater diversity and choice they usually offer. But all else is not equal here. Unless your child is feeling stifled by the smaller school I can’t imagine why you are even considering the bigger one. As for whether it’s easier to get into Caltech from the bigger school - not necessarily. At least in 2007 my son with great scores and grades (including all 5s on 9 APs), in the top 1% of his class and professional level experience in computer science still didn’t get into Caltech although he got into institutions of equal caliber. I agree with others the AP scores are a red flag. Turkish doesn’t seem like a very useful language to offer - and it’s one that not all colleges are going to offer if he wants to continue with it.</p>

<p>A child who is going to get into Caltech, is going to get into Caltech from either environment. It’s more about where your child is going to be happy and flourish. If the academic standard at the 1300 HS is not high in the AP and Honors level, then I would be concerned. If it is high, then let your son choose. IMHO HS is more than just about academics. Developing life skills is important too. Two of my children were athletic, but not into sports. At our 900ish HS they have both flourished in cross country and track. Not high power sports, but they have been given the opportunity to be coached by high caliber athletes and have the whole “sports” experience. It’s been awesome for them and they will take those lessons into their adult lives. Additionally, because they are high achieving students, both of them have been given intern opportunities at the local university that will benefit them and their college apps. </p>

<p>Where does your son want to go? Is this a financial question too? Having money to pay for Caltech would be pretty critical too.</p>

<p>If your son is happy where he is, then I think he should stay there. The social drama involved in moving isn’t worth it unless the alternative is clearly superior.</p>

<p>I went to a small school, and my kids attend a large one. The large school definitely offers far more varied opportunities, at least on paper: loads of APs and clubs of every description. However–and it’s a big BUT–it’s very hard for a kid to pursue a casual extracurricular interest there. For instance, because there are so many kids who are super-committed to and experienced in, say, drama, it’s hard for somebody who might want to try being in a play for the first time. And because the teams and clubs attract the very committed, they tend to be quite time-consuming, sucking focus away from academic and other pursuits. My son was on a varsity sports team his freshman and sophomore year, but had to give it up after that because it wasn’t compatible with maintaining a high GPA in a demanding set of AP courses. My daughter would like to try out for the musical but worries because she has heard that the rehearsals take huge amounts of time and energy, and she doesn’t want her grades to drop. On the other hand, the quality of the performance is fabulous, the varsity sports teams are among the best in the state, and so on.</p>

<p>At our local (private) school, which is much smaller, the sports teams are no-cut and everybody gets a chance to perform in the school play. The product isn’t that great, but kids get more exposure to the various options. My kids and their large-school friends are much more focused and specialized in the activities they choose to participate in.</p>

<p>Posters need to do some Googling. OP has not provided a complete picture of the charter school, and this decision is a little more complicated than it looks.</p>

<p>It depends on a child. My D. was coming from very small private middle school - they had 4 kids in her 8th grade. One of the reasons we picked up her HS was the size (also the most rigorous program). It was a size jump in D’s case, 33 kids in her HS class, but it was the smallest in our area and most classes were about 15 kids. Decision was not complicated in D’s case, I could not see her in huge public and even large private could have been overhelming. She ended up being very happy with her pick of HS. Huge benefit of smaller school is close relationships with teachers, which is very benefitting especially in preparation to college. It was k-12 school. Couple of kids left school before HS started. They were back, they were missing cozy family type environment, small classes, awesome teachers.</p>

<p>sylvan, I’m familiar with the school. What in your opinion would be helpful to cc members to know to help offer suggestions? Perhaps I’m just dense…</p>

<p>We had a similar choice to yours, and have been very happy with the small school choice. It sounds like you are also already doing something else that is very important, which is thinking about summer programs and extracurriculars in his area of interest (math competitions, science or math camps, resarch opportunities, science olympiads, etc.). You can definitely increase his odds of admission to Caltech and similar schools with these activities.</p>

<p>thanks so much for your insightful comments! neither program has been around long enough to have a graduating class whcih makes it so difficult. the bd of ed put the stem magnet in the big school to attract higher performing kids there since its sat scores/graduation rate etc were very very low .They are still refining their curriculum and so is the charter school. From reading so many cc posts i had the impression that kids recieved more credit for ranking highly in a big class than in a small one. I was also reading about the importance of sports but my son will never be a sports recruit (although he will be on any varisty math team!!). NSA says that turkish is one of the important languages to know and my son enjoys learning it and going to turkey to learn math and practice his language skills. i think he can get AP’s and college course/dual enrollment at both, i just needed to know if you guys thought he would be at an admissions disadvantage because of not having so many kids below him in rank…</p>

<p>and finances are not a consideration for college…we bought land when it was inexpensive and the boys helped design and build some houses. some are sold and the money put away for them and some are still available for them to work on and develop project management and construction skills.</p>