Switching High Schools Senior Year

Parents Forum
1

<p>Hi, I'm a student and I have a relatively unusual situation and I'm not quite sure how it's going to affect me in college admissions and such. </p>

<p>I'm going to be a senior in high school next year. I have gone to the same school (a small, very challenging private school in which basically every student goes on to a four-year college, at least half to Ivys or top LACs), for the past three years. My older sister just graduated (class of '09), and is now heading to a top 10 LAC. </p>

<p>Due to the economy, the school has had to make severe budget cuts, not the least of which were in the financial aid department. My sister and I had been on financial aid for all of our years at this school, and they had always made it possible for us to attend. However this year, they tripled the tuition we had been paying, and made it virtually impossible for me to come back. </p>

<p>While my mom, many of my teachers and I all tried incredibly hard to figure something out with the school, they weren't willing to give us any more money, and my parents had absolutely no way to come up with the thousands of dollars. </p>

<p>After a few difficult months, I have eventually come to terms with the fact that I will be heading to my local public school in the fall. I have no problems with public school, in fact, I didn't go to a private school until my freshman year. However, I am worried about how this will affect my transcript, my extra-curriculars, my college counseling, and how colleges will view me in the admissions process.
I've taken a very rigorous course load thus far in high school, but the private school doesn't have honors classes, because it assumes that every class that is not AP is an honors curriculum. This was fine when I was going to be attending the same school all four years, but now that I am switching to a school where there is a big difference in GPA between an honors and a regular class, I am worried how that will look. My 3.6 UW 4.1 W GPA is very high (top 10%) at the private school, but it is going to look ridiculous compared with the public school kids who have been taking full honors course loads all through high school.
Also, I'm extremely worried how my extra-cirriculars are going to look. I was selected as an editor for my school paper, as president of the environmental club, and as vice president of the Gay Straight Alliance at my school. Not to mention, I am very involved in theatre, and was looking forward to large parts in the school plays my senior year. While I still plan on being involved, I know that students who have been attending this public school for years will have priority when it comes to leadership roles within the school. </p>

<p>Basically, have any of you (or your kids), gone through anything like this? Do you have any idea how this will play out in college admissions? I'm aiming pretty high for college; my dream schools are Brown and Pomona, but I'm worried this will be viewed negatively, even though it is not my fault. Also, if you have had some experience with this sort of situation, how did your child adjust socially to a brand new school? </p>

<p>Sorry that was so long, thank you so much for reading, I really appreciate it. :)</p>

2

<p>Fruitloops- I’m so sorry to hear that the economy has disrupted your schooling to this extent. I wonder if there is a way that your college counselor at the private school would be still willing to help you? It sounds like the school feels badly about the situation, so maybe they would be willing to continue to help you with the college process?</p>

3

<p>I don’t think this will be viewed negatively by colleges, as long as it is clearly explained in your applications. One thing you might consider is lining up a couple of the teachers from your junior year in the private school to write recommendations for you–that would help explain the situation. As to the public school, you will have to make the best of it and be as active as you can.</p>

4

<p>I agree with the others that this should not have a negative impact on your applications. I also agree you should contact your junior year teachers and your private school counselor to get recommendations to go along with those from your new high school. The private school guidance counselor should also be able to explain the grading situation and maybe would speak to the public school counselor to help come up with some sort of combined GPA.</p>

<p>You can certainly put in your application that you were selected as editor and all the other honors from the private school, but that you had to then leave. Hopefully, there will be some opportunities at the public high school as well.</p>

<p>I am sorry you have to go through this and good luck for a great senior year.</p>

5

<p>fruitloops26, I am very sorry for your situation. It is so sad to hear that.
I agree with above three advices. For a different reason, my S came to US when he was 10. He had no choice but had to change schools and adjust to a new language world. I wrote about his transition process as parent’s rec when he applied to the current school which is very similar to the school you have attended. The current school was his dream school when he was going to a public middle school. I also explained about his challenging situation at parents interview. I think it has something to do with his acceptance.<br>
Brown and Pomona must know your private school well because the school constantly sends 5-6 to Brown and 1-2 to Pomona every year, right? So adcom there will figure out your situation. If your counselor, I mean not GC but your class teacher counselor, writes a rec for you, I think it will be a great help. I believe you are able to turn your crisis to success. Good Luck!</p>

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<p>My daughter changed schools between 10th and 11th grade, going from a private school where 40-50% of the class went to Ivies, Ivy-equivalents, or top-10 LACs, to a public school five times the size where 7-8% of the class went to those colleges. Her situation was somewhat less sympathetic than yours (it was her parents’ fault).</p>

<p>There was no question that the change weakened some aspects of her college applications, in ways we had not fully anticipated. However, at the end of the day she wound up attending one of the colleges that was high on her list, and that she knew would have been the place her private-school counselors considered perfect for her. Had she stayed at the private school, maybe she would have been accepted at one of her two big reach colleges . . . but maybe not. Impossible to tell, and six years after the fact no one really cares any more.</p>

<p>She faced three big issues: (1) Going from a school where there were no APs, class ranks, grade inflation, or weighted GPAs, to one where everything was ranked and weighted and 4.0 unweighted averages were fairly common, she went from being clearly in the top quintile of a strong class to being ranked around bottom of the second quintile of a much weaker class. (By the time she graduated, her class rank had changed by 100 places, but it didn’t matter anymore.) (2) Because she wasn’t in the queue at her new school early enough, she couldn’t take the most challenging (AP-dominated) curriculum in 11th grade, and her GC refused to say that she had taken the most challenging curriculum available. She clearly had at the private school, and in 12th grade, but he wouldn’t express an opinion on her private-school curriculum. Supposedly, the principal ordered him to include an explanation in his recommendation, but we never confirmed that he did, and I suspect he didn’t. (3) She lost her place in the EC-leadership queue, too. Unlike you, she could not say definitively, “I was selected editor-in-chief of this or that.” But, unlike you, she had an extra year to curry favor at the new school, and by 12th grade everyone (except the GC) was feeling pretty bad about how they had treated her at the outset of 11th grade, and so the school did some things to help her that you might not get (basically, manufactured leadership roles and honors).</p>

<p>A few specific recommendations:</p>

<p>– Make the old school send official transcripts to the colleges. That will help them focus on the change (which will be entirely to your benefit). If the colleges you like regularly take people from your old school, they won’t need a GC letter to understand the old transcript, and they will have an accurate idea of where you stood in that school. (Several adcoms told us this.)</p>

<p>– Ask one (or more) of your old teachers to write a recommendation for you. They certainly don’t have to, but they are likely to be pretty sympathetic to your situation and I bet they will do it. (Ask now, if you can, so that they have time to do it outside of the crunch at their school.) Maybe you can even get a counselor at the old school to write a letter to the counselor at the new school about your curriculum there, that he or she could attach to the GC letter for the new school.</p>

<p>– Agitate for the best 12th grade curriculum you can. Figure out who can help you (administration? department head? individual teacher?) and plead your case, nicely. Use this as an opportunity to get to know the faculty and administration at your new school.</p>

<p>– Start addressing things like the counselor’s recommendation on Day 1. Make certain that it is absolutely, unambiguously clear that there was no disciplinary or academic issue in the school change. The old school ought to be willing to provide written confirmation of that. (It may be obvious to everyone involved, but it’s not obvious at all. In my experience, 100% of 12th-grade school-changes are related to disciplinary issues or academic marginality. In the old world, i.e., until now, it was pretty much unheard-of for an established private school to kick a senior out on economic grounds, and colleges will NOT assume that is what happened unless you tell them.)</p>

<p>Everything is unlikely to work out perfectly for your benefit, but you don’t need everything to be perfect, you just need to do the best you can. The colleges you care about WILL understand your situation and WILL be sympathetic.</p>

<p>A few personal things: </p>

<p>It took my daughter the better part of her first year to really fit into the new school, although ultimately her #1 best high school friend came from the new school. You won’t have that long. Try to connect with people early and often – you will be much happier if you do. But it was also the case that she lost none of her friends at her old school. You won’t, either. (You will also get solicited for alumni contributions to the old school, which will infuriate you.)</p>

<p>My daughter wasn’t terribly thrilled with the whole experience, but there were definitely aspects of changing schools that she valued. She met a lot of interesting people that she wouldn’t have met otherwise, and was exposed to a much wider spectrum of beliefs, lifestyles, etc. It made her a lot less narrow (which was part of the point), and she was happy about that.</p>

7

<p>I transferred from a private (with about 50% going to to top schools) to a public school. In order to preserve my class rank I asked my guidance counselor to seperate my lower private school gpa (because the school was wayy harder than the public) from the public school gpa. Also, beware that you may have to take your local state exams in order to meet graduation requirements from your high school (if they didn’t make you take those in your private school). And to answer your question about how it will affect your college admissions, I honestly don’t think in current times that colleges will scrutinize you based of your financial situation, so you will be fine.</p>

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<p>I would expect that the level of guidance counselor involvement in your college application process will be much less at the public school than at the private. I have criticized our school’s GCs in the past, but in reality they just don’t have the time; each GC is responsible for about 550 kids. So for college info, post often on CC and you’ll be a step ahead of the game.</p>

<p>Talk to the theatre directors as soon as you can. Explain your situation. You still may not get parts if the teacher passes them out as rewards for being loyal, but lots of teachers are thrilled to have talent. Pay as many dues as you can as fast as you can…sell tickets, pass out programs, work on the homecoming float. Show that you aren’t just swooping in expecting to be the star.</p>

9

<p>Also, get online asap and see if your state requires any classes (e.g. Health, Speech) that you may not have had.</p>

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<p>I think most states have the same graduation standards for private schools as for public schools, so that shouldn’t be a problem (unless your old school has 12th graders taking some required course that most public school students take in 9th or 10th grade). In some places, however, the particular school district may have idiosyncratic graduation requirements that would not apply to local private schools. If that is the case, you may actually want to think about whether it is better to take some required course with 9th or 10th graders, or simply take the position that you will not bother graduating from high school. Brown and Pomona probably won’t care either way, but lots of other colleges might.</p>

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<p>My experience was that my private high school did not require the state exams to be taken for their diploma (I know many private high schools that set their own individualized diploma requirements), so when I transferred into the public school, my GC told me that I needed to pass certain state tests (from classes I already did in the past) in order to get my state-approved diploma.</p>

12

<p>I did the same – changed schools in my senior year. And while it wasn’t fun, it didn’t hurt me in terms of college. In fact, it helped because I went from a highly competitive/academic school to one that was less so. I had very good grades in my senior year :slight_smile: and it certainly boosted my overall GPA. In my college essay, one of the thigns I wrote about how my father’s job – which moved us often – shaped me and my outlook on life. You too could use this experience as a touchstone in your essays, and turn what is I’m sure a major disappointment into a point of advantage come college-application time. I wish you good luck, kiddo, though I think you’ll be just fine.</p>

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<p>In our state (AZ), private schools do not have to follow the same requirements as public schools, and that applies to curriculum as well as standardized testing. There may well be some small “gotcha” that would jeopardize your graduation next spring, so be sure to check on the graduation requirements for your new high school as soon as possible. Get them in writing and make sure you understand how they match up with the classes you have already taken at your private school, so that you can fill in any gaps during your senior year. </p>

<p>A friend’s son was almost tripped up that way when he transferred from a private school to a public school. He was missing a required class in AZ History that was normally taken by freshmen at the public school. His private school did not offer any such class, so he didn’t know that he needed it to graduate from the public school.</p>

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<p>The wonderful thing about doing theater is that group is generaly really welcoming. Have you done anything in your community outside of school? </p>

<p>Kids move, life changes, families have divorces, financial dramas, and all kinds of stuff. This isn’t the worst thing to happen, and you are lucky you have a family that is behind you and will do all they can. And that you are leaving your old school with good relationships. Focus on that. If kids from much worse schools, and much worse circumstances can get into great schools, so can you. Colleges admission people are smart and will see the differences in the two schools, and I would bet that in the next few years will see a lot more kids who went to more than one highschool.</p>

<p>You will gbe fine and just take care of business. Most colleges are interested in your first three years and what you will do POTENTIALLY as a senior. When you apply ED or EA they don’t even see much of your senior year activities, just what you say you will do, and if some shifts because you moved schools, it is okay. If you can’t work on schools paper, find a local neighborhood paper and ask if you can help. A slightly upward/lateral move!! If oyu did theater, do it for new school. You may not be leadership, but you can still have fun and contribute and the colleges will “get it”</p>

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<p>Thanks everyone sooo much! I’m really not looking forward to having to do this, but I appreciate all your advice and its really comforting to know that there actually are other students who have to go through this. :slight_smile: </p>

<p>I’ve met with my new guidance counselor, and unfortunately, in order to fill all the graduation requirements I’m going to have to take nine courses next year. I’m a little scared that trying to juggle all of this, while still attempting to find SOMEWHERE in this school that I can become a leader in the areas that I’m interested (theatre, newspaper, environmental club), will just prove to be too much for me to handle. Have any of you that have changed schools like this or had kids that have had to do this found that they just didn’t have enough to time to do it all? </p>

<p>My old school did send a large amount of kids to top schools, but it was also a pretty new school, and therefore didn’t really have the history to be well known by adcoms. I’m worried that if I’m not able to become an active member of my new schools community in just one year, schools are just going to assume it was due to a lack of initiative, or a reaction to the sudden change of environment. My old college counselor assured me that if I’m able to just keep my grades up, it will be viewed positively because the bar is usually set pretty low in this sort of situation. But still, I’m nervous that when viewed side by side someone who steadily gained leadership throughout high school, it’s not going to look too positive…</p>

<p>Not to mention the social adjustment… at least I’ll have enough homework to keep me busy if I don’t make any friends! :)</p>

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<p>Don’t get so worried about “leadership”. Just do the work, even if its behind the scenes. College admins are smart enoough to know the leadership track in highschools, and that the new kids won’t suddenly become president of clubs, get starring roles, be voted captain. If you show consistentcy as best you can, that’s all you can do. </p>

<p>What colleges will see is this</p>

<p>A great student who had to switch schools at a tough time who did well in their classes, took a really full load, joined clubs, got involved behind the scenes, got some great recommendations and in a difficult situation did the best she could.</p>

<p>Whether you were president of three clubs and editor in cheif iis something you can’t help. The admins will see two transcripts and you can even write about your experience in an essay, without being too whiney.</p>

<p>Life is messy, but you shouldn’t get to focused on what you can’t fix, but stay on what you can. That is why I suggest going outside of the school for opportunities.</p>

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<p>What I was saying above is that perhaps you shouldn’t take for granted that you HAVE to meet the graduation requirements for your high school. Most colleges of the caliber you are looking at do not require a high school diploma as a prerequisite to enrollment. This is something to discuss (delicately) with the GC. See if you can avoid compromising your core academic senior grades (and your ability to fit in at the new school by participating in ECs) in order to fulfill requirements that actually have no bearing on your life. </p>

<p>The school may see things differently, though. They probably will not want to have you on their books as a student who failed to graduate. Not so great on the NCLB front. They may just say no. But if the choice is 9 courses, including Arizona History, and no life, vs. six courses, satisfying ECs, and no graduation, you may be better off with the latter.</p>

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<p>JHS, I don’t think I ever would have thought of that, and I’ll definitely talk to be counselor, but for me, I think it could be a problem because I actually applied for an intradistrict transfer to go to a public school that is actually closer to my house, while not actually my home school. I think that maybe my transfer would become void if I tried not to graduate? I’ll definitely check it out though. </p>

<p>Andi ilovetoquilt, reading over my post, I realize how i came off a little obsessed with leadership roles… honestly, that’s not it at all. Discovering that I was basically getting kicked out of my school was really hard for me, ESPECIALLY because I had just found out that I was going to have some of these positions my senior year. I keep on bringing it up because that’s the part of this whole situation that hurts me the most. It’s not that I want those positions to fill in boxes on my apps, its because these were all ecs that I feel really passionate about, and I’m having a lot of trouble cutting through all the red tape at my new school to even become somewhat involved in the things I really care about. I’m definitely still going to do whatever I can, but I couldn’t help but take it personally when my private school couldn’t afford to keep me there, and now my new school seems to be doing its best to make sure the new kid is always at the bottom of the list when it comes to assigning responsibility. But again, thank you for your advice, because I definitely need as much as I can get right now!</p>

19

<p>How about Individually paced courses of CTY at JHU?
[What</a> CTYOnline Offers Gifted Students](<a href=“http://cty.jhu.edu/ctyonline/why-distance-education.html]What”>http://cty.jhu.edu/ctyonline/why-distance-education.html)
I assume you have elegible PSAT scores and they say Fin Aid is available.</p>

20

<p>Another approach: GED diploma
My D was faced with the prospect of transferring from her elite competitive private HS to the local public HS for her senior year. With our encouragement, she opted to study for & take the GED exam, which she passed & was allowed to start the local community college, which she did instead of having a senior year. She applied to transfer to the college she wanted to attend & was accepted & transferred there after 3 semesters of CC. She’s had one semester of her private U & is taking summer school at the local flagship U to meet more of her private U requirements. It has worked well for her & saved us some money.</p>

<p>She didn’t want to deal with being a senior in a new school & felt ready to take on CC; it worked out just fine for her.</p>