Hey, I’m not a parent but I could not find any other forum to post this on so hopefully you guys would be willing to help
I’m currently a sophomore at a magnet high school which is quite far from my home. I transferred to this school for a sophomore year from a public school. I felt that I would do better with competition and there would be more opportunities at this school, however, the opportunities have not really helped and my grades haven’t changed too much either. The curriculum for Computer Science does not match up very well at my new school with the school I went to in 9th grade, and I realized this when I went to this school. After realizing all of this, I am planning on transferring back to my old high school so that I can complete more computer science courses. I would also like to mention that the new high school is more rigorous than my old one. I would like to transfer back and I was wondering how colleges would look at this? And Whether it will positively, negatively, or not affect me at all? I fear that when colleges see I transferred back from a rigorous school back to my old one they would think that I couldn’t handle the pressure.
It will be fine. Go to the school you want to. Many students find they can’t make a magnet or charter school work because of the transportation issues or cost. Colleges are used to seeing multiple high schools on transcripts. My kids went to 3 different high schools through no fault of their own.
They really won’t care. Focus on the right classes and good grades wherever you are. You will do better if you are where you want to be, and likely be more positive which will come through. You may even get a good essay out of it, but you don’t have to explain it. Lots of kids move around. You just need to be sure you get all the transcripts sent from the schools when the time comes. Also good to make sure they are in order at each school long before you have to send them, in case there are any corrections/adjustments to make.
You should make the choice that’s best for you. My daughter decided to transfer from a private high school to the local public high school after freshman year. She wasn’t worried about college at the time but it was a difficult decision. There is a spot on the common app where you will be required to indicate the reason for the change. She was actually grateful for that because it gave her an opportunity to explain. Her GC reviewed it with her and told her not to worry at all. It’s very common and can often show maturity when making the choice voluntarily.
Choosing to do something that’s more intellectually challenging than your current situation is never a bad thing, provided you rise to the challenge and succeed. If you transfer and your grades tank, not so good.
The magnet school’s courses are considered to be more rigorous but the computer science program doesn’t align very well with my previous public school. Would it be fine to switch back to the public school?
Sounds like a great idea. Closer to home, curriculum you like better. Just needing less transportation time sounds like reason enough to switch.
Don’t worry about the computer science classes. If you choose to go the CS route in college there will be plenty of excellent students who have had few CS courses in HS and will do top work in college. Not having as many CS courses will not hurt you. Doing well in math courses will help, btw. Many cross listed math and CS courses in college- shows overlap in material. A good math foundation will be useful (top tier CS schools get students with HS AP calculus AB, nothing fancy).
You should take the most rigorous HS curriculum you can and get good grades. All of your HS classes count- not just the CS ones. Being well rounded is a good idea- people are multifaceted and have nonSTEM interests even if they are hard core science people. Time enough for the extra CS in college.
I am confused. Is the magnet school a public school?
You may want challenging CS courses because you enjoy them, but it really is true that some CS students in college have never taken much CS in high school, since some schools still don’t offer much in that area. That said, a background in high school might help with admission to the major, which is sometimes part of the general admissions process and can be competitive.
I think you should attend whatever high school you want.
However, I’m not sure I would advocate transferring just because of some very specific classes/“curriculum”. In high school, your job is to get a good well-rounded preparation for college across many areas; hyperspecializing too early isn’t necessarily a good thing. If the computer science offerings at your magnet school are adequate AND the school is overall more rigorous and will better prepare you for college, it may be worth thinking about staying put.
A long stressful commute is a good reason to transfer back.
People are getting really confused, I included. In my world, a "magnet school" is a public school that has some sort of specialty (which can simply be more challenging academics, or can be a focus on some particular academic area) and draws kids from an entire school district or cluster of districts, not just from one town or neighborhood. Some magnets may be charter schools, but usually those are still "public schools."
My kids went to a “magnet” high school which is the largest public high school in our city. It was “magnet” because it drew kids from all over the city (many had commutes well over 90 minutes to get there) and competitive admissions, and it was not the neighborhood high school they had a right to attend just by showing up.
What are you thinking about college admissions, that you are asking this question? Very few colleges care much about how rigorous was the high school you attended. At those colleges -- which get discussed a lot here, but educate only a very small portion of the country's college students -- it is better to have great grades at a super-rigorous high school than it is to have great grades at a non-rigorous high school. But having mediocre grades at a super-rigorous high school will nor help you much. If you are not in the top 10-25% of your class overall, I I doubt you will get much college-admission benefit from being at a more rigorous school. (That's not to say you won't get lots of other benefits.) And many people think you will do better in a number of ways, including college admissions, if you are one of the top students at an OK school instead of a middling student at a great school. Most colleges -- the ones that don't reject 70-95% of their applicants -- mainly care about whether you are adequately prepared academically and in terms of maturity to do the work there. That doesn't depend on going to the best school; good enough is fine.