Transferring to a Less Prestigious High School??

<p>Hi, this is my first time posting.. I have been at a school in California for 3 years, so I am going into Junior year. I have been very unhappy socially at this school. I have applied, and have been accepted to transfer into another high school in the county. It is not as academically rigorous of a high school, but I think that I will be happier for my senior year. It is lower ranked in California. My fear is that this interdistrict transfer would affect me adversely in the college admissions process or that it may raise a red flag to an admissions officer? I have a 4.04 GPA and 2000 SAT and I am scared of my class rank dropping since the worse school offers more Honors/AP classes in sophomore year, and many students have very high gpas. On the other hand, I would be able to enroll in more AP/Honors classes because they are not as rigorous at this school. </p>

<p>Please help me make this very difficult decision. Will this hurt or maybe even help my college chances?</p>

<p>I don't think it'll be that big of a deal but I would just stick it our for senior year (EC reasons) unless there is a REALLY big reason why you want to transfer out.</p>

<p>By the way, both of these are public high schools.</p>

<p>Also, there are no school related extra curriculars which I would have to stay for for leadership positions or anything. If that changes anything. </p>

<p>Please ask me questions about this if you feel that you can help if you have more information because i have a gigantic decision to make.
Thanks for your response Jakor.</p>

<p>I know that not many have responded to this topic. I just wanted to put it back at the top of the forum because it is a critical question in my life right now and I really need help. If you guys have any thoughts on this AT ALL. any would be greatly appreciated. </p>

<p>Sorry about this, I know it must be really annoying when people do this.</p>

<p>I would advise you to transfer if you are truly as unhappy as you appear to be. However, the only thing is that you mention being unhappy "socially", and while I can see why that would be a problem in high school, would the transition, which would probably be stressful and make it probably more difficult to make friends early on in such a new environment, really be worth it to you? If it's worth that much to you, by all means, transfer. You could write about it in a college essay, if you wanted to; depending on how you showed yourself adapting to a new environment, I think it could make for a strong essay. I don't think it'll matter too much in college admissions, though, so I wouldn't really think and worry about that. Just think about whether it all would be worth the potential stress of a new environment.</p>

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[quote]
My fear is that this interdistrict transfer would affect me adversely in the college admissions process or that it may raise a red flag to an admissions officer? I have a 4.04 GPA and 2000 SAT and I am scared of my class rank dropping since the worse school offers more Honors/AP classes in sophomore year, and many students have very high gpas. On the other hand, I would be able to enroll in more AP/Honors classes because they are not as rigorous at this school.

[/quote]
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<p>One thing to keep in mind....
You will probably be unranked if you transfer your new school (especially as a senior) because you will not have been there in attendance and you will not have a GPA at this school until the end of the term (this is not an unusal practice as many schools will not rank a new student entering the school at the expense of the current student body).</p>

<p>I'm actually in a somewhat similiar situation. I spent two years in a very competitive California high school and after 2 years my rank was 30/576. My dad had to transfer to Honolulu Hawaii and now my rank is 1/340. </p>

<p>I looked at it as a good thing when I moved. I figured that this less competitive school meant that I would be able to go from a less appealing rank to valedictorian.</p>

<p>One factor is to think about whether you have teachers at your current school who would write strong recommendations for you. It may be hard to get to know your new teachers in the relatively brief time between when you arrive at the second school and when it's time to get letters.</p>

<p>sybbie719 that was a really interesting point. ill keep that in mind and ask about it. Thanks.</p>