Hi,
I’m currently in the 7th grade. Over the past few years, my school has deteriorated in both quality of education and student life. The teachers are obviously biased and favor students whose parents have the money to donate to the school. I am also one of the few non-religious people in this religion-based school; I feel as if I am constantly being discriminated against because of this. Our curriculum is extremely behind those of other schools in the area, and most of the teachers seem extremely disinterested in actually teaching. To put it quite frankly, I don’t think I can take another year of this absolute hell before leaving for high school.
I have the opportunity to transfer to a different school next year for 8th grade. To make it clear, I most definitely do not want to attend this particular school for high school. I know that all the transcripts and recommendations can get messy when applying to high school with two different middle schools. Does it look sketchy to admissions people when a student suddenly drops out of a school? Will switching schools affect my chances to get into a good prep school?
Thank you for your input.
No, switching schools is no big deal. Around us, kids sometimes move in 7th and again in 9th. Often a school that was right in lower grades ceases to be a great fit over time for any number of reasons. Just be sure, if it comes up, to characterize it positively. Iow, you wanted what the new school offered rather than had to escape the old school.
You can frame it as a positive - that you moved to a new environment and made a good transition – just like you will in high school.
@mediocrates the only disadvantage i see is the need to develop close relationships with teachers/ counselors pretty quickly in order to get personalized recommendations. We moved the Sumer before ours kids entered 8 & 7th grade and both were admitted to BS (although full transparency, both their older siblings attended the same school). We had not issues with transcripts etc…
I agree that it’s really not a huge deal . You will just want to talk about it in a way that is positive not negative, as was already suggested above. The only small snag in that could be that you might be perceived as schools hopping — going from one “better thing” to the next. But honestly I don’t even know how this is going to come up really? I don’t imagine this will be worthy of an interview, nor is it interesting enough for an essay topic so I think it will be something they glance at when looking at your app and move on.
Regarding the teacher recommendations — at larger school you wouldn’t know your recommenders either until that year so that’s a non issue. The teacher/guidance recommended might be the only one with any sort of drawback perhaps?
Anyway all that to say — I wouldn’t let applications to BS be a reason for holding you back from doing what is best for you.