Transferring HS: Decrease Chances?

<p>So I am currently a junior at a selective private High School that is pretty highly regarded. It is very small. So far, I have earned all A's, with a few A-'s and one B+ in my first semester of freshman year in World History. I have taken the hardest course load possible each year, and I have a strong emphasis on science and math. I recently scored a 120 on the AMC 12b, and advanced to the AIME after which I received a commendation for my achievements or something like that. I have founded two of my own companies and I act as an independent tutor for low income families in a poor neighborhood near me. I also teach science and math at a low income summer school, and have done so for the past 3 years. I have good E.C's</p>

<p>So, the past year has been very stressful for me both academically and socially. For personal reasons (nothing to do with grades, I have straight A's currently and 4 AP's) I have made the decision that I really really want to transfer schools for Senior year. Socially, this school has been degrading for me over the past year and it has been pretty traumatic. The reason that I cannot escape this is because the school is sooo tiny. the main thing that gets to me is the competitive nature that you simply cannot escape on campus. I have decided that I want to transfer to my local public High School, which is much much larger.</p>

<p>My questions is, would this negatively affect my college applications in any way? Would I need to explain myself in an essay? So far, my favorite schools are Duke, Princeton, MIT, Cornell, U Chicago and Harvard. Obviously those are all hard to get into, but I want to make sure that transferring does not hurt my application. The public high school has a much easier curriculum than my current school, so I would be able to pull off all A's with much less stress and even more AP courses. I have close friends at the school already, whereas I look around at my current school and I cannot stand most of the people there.</p>

<p>Also, I have established some great relationships with teachers at my current school over the past 3 years - namely math and science teachers, with one great English teacher. I would plan on asking these teachers for letters of rec when application time comes around. Would I still be able to do this next year if I transferred? Would I have to ask new teachers at the new school? Same goes for my college counselor.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>