Do any parents here have experience with a child or know of someone else’s child studying abroad for their senior year of high school?
How did the experience affect the college application process?
This particular student will not be in a high school setting abroad but will be engaged in an academic activity during the school week. The coursework required to earn a high school diploma in the US will need to be completed online or during the summer before departure. The learning abroad may be worth elective high school credit but will not fulfill core subject requirements like math, English, history, etc…
I would ask the junior year teachers for recommendations now. Will the student still be affiliated with the HS? E.g.,will the guidance counselor help them?
I have a sample of one. A friend did a Rotary year abroad their senior year. She said the timing was awful. First,make missed all the senior year events. She had a lot of difficulty with college application completion, getting LORs and transcripts sent, completing the financial aid applications, etc. there were a couple of schools where interviews were offered, and she couldn’t go.
She got back the week after HS graduation and missed that too.
And because she had been gone, she also could not find a summer job besides babysitting.
She said…senior year was a poor choice to be abroad. The abroad experience was fabulous, and she became fluent in another language.
But her report was that the timing was awful.
ETA…this is a very independent kid. She didn’t think she would miss going to the prom, or being part of senior cut day or going to her last homecoming or graduation…but she missed all of them when it was too late to do anything about it.
Why risk complicating the crucial senior year of college apps for a year abroad which can easily be taken during college? It seems to me you are looking for trouble: the online HS courses might not be well-received by colleges; your child might not have the discipline to complete them with her other program’s duties; she could be distracted by the partying crowd, etc.
A family friend’s D did junior year in S America where her GPA nose-dived, she became a heavy drinker, and was behind academically for senior year. Can’t imagine trying to manage applications from afar as well.
Friends’ daughter did this; she attended an international boarding school. This was a kid who spent a summer abroad as well as transferred from an urban to a suburban high school for her junior year. She managed her college apps on her own and is now attending a school in NYC – on the opposite coast from her family. The high school she attended was pretty elite so she probably has counseling support there. The family took a sabbatical for half of her sixth or maybe seventh grade to travel around the world. This is a unique kid who is quite different from her older sister.
I know 2 kids who did - neither had any terrible repercussions as in fauve’s post. (BTW, many high schools give pass/fail grades to courses taken overseas, precisely so as to not affect GPA.) To make it work, you have to plan in advance - make sure all graduation requirements have been met, take the SATs/ACTs in advance because it’s more of a pain to take it while overseas. Get teacher recs arranged in advance. Get your college list agreed upon in advance to minimize family discussions on the subject - time difference can make that tricky. One of the kids did her college interviews via Skype – one was conducted in Spanish, to the delight of the interviewer. Schools tended to respect the students’ experience - study abroad in many ways is the ultimate EC - particularly since it does entail a lot of advance planning, maturity, problem solving, etc.
It takes planning, but it’s certainly do-able.
The student I know who did this had her teacher and HS counselor recommendations arranged in advance. She was in close contact with the HS counseling center and worked with an independent college counselor remotely. She had done the bulk of her list exploration and some school visits (she was considering an ED application) prior to leaving the country. She seemed to be a fairly well organized person, but I do know that her parents and her teachers in the abroad program she attended assisted her as well.
She is currently finishing her freshman year of college and couldn’t be happier that she spent her senior year abroad, because although very social, she was not one for the proms or other senior activities that some might miss.
I think the best time to do a year abroad is between high school and college as a gap year. Missing junior year of college can bring a whole host of issues too. And a semester is not really long enough if you are trying to achieve competence in a language. And being competent before you get to college opens all kinds of doors.
I spent my senior year abroad 40 years ago in The Netherlands and it was one of the best decisions I made in my entire life, not only because of the enrichment I gained with language and culture, but also because I began to achieve an adult perspective in meaningful ways where I continue to see dividends in thought, reason and analysis today. …I was able to complete my high school requirements before I departed that July in 1975. I also applied early to a liberal arts college in my home state and was fairly certain I would be accepted even though I had not yet taken the SAT. I was admitted to my only choice for college. In college, I was able to “test out” of the Dutch Language and Literature Department at a major university I was NOT attending and have the information informally listed on my college transcript where I was a student.
My son has a friend who is studying abroad next year (her senior year). I know her parents and am worried they believe greatness will be bestowed upon this girl simply BECAUSE she is an exchange student. Colleges are looking for interesting students to balance each class. Any young person who studies in another country will benefit if he/she earnestly wants to grow spiritually, emotionally and educationally. My peers 40 years ago hailed from diverse backgrounds and some liked being away; some did not fair so well. I would have to surmise, however, that two applicants to the same top university with identical applications with be treated differently by the Admissions Officers if one studied abroad a year and learned to speak an unusual language fluently.
By the way, I was active in my high school before traveling abroad. I cannot compare missing homecoming for a school trip to Paris or Switzerland at my “new” school in Holland!
MY ADVICE TO PARENTS: do not cajole any child to study overseas for a year unless the student is highly motivated for his/her own reasons… GOOD LUCK TO ALL!!!