Was residential HS a good thing?

Parents Forum
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<p>My 10th grade daughter was recently accepted into a highly competitive (to get into) public residential HS in our state. It is a school for the academically gifted in math and science and offers honors, and college level classes in those subjects as well as humanities. This school was started in 1980 by our government to attract bright students so they may become leaders, scientists. researchers, etc. in our state. It is free room and board, meals, and offers a top notch education. In 2003, a law was passed that for any student that graduates from there can get free tuition to any state university in this state.</p>

<p>My daughter gained acceptance into this school as she has met all the qualifications. She wanted nothing more than to go to this school. And we, as her parents, want this for her as well. It's a wonderful opportunity.</p>

<p>Now we hear that they are trying to pass a bill to eliminate the tuition grant to the state's universities for all graduates of this school. However, the grant was not a determining factor for her wanting to go there, it was the chance to study at an accelerated level and be in a very good learning environment.</p>

<p>However, I'm starting to wonder. Does the fact that she is going to a school that has the very brightest and best around the state, and the fact that they do not rank, mean that it's going to hurt her chances of being able to gain a scholarship to a university? I mean, she is #2 in her HS class now, she makes all As in the hardest courses available at her current school, 2160 on the SAT this year, extracurriculars, NHS, and the list goes on. Very driven, ambitious young lady. She would surely have good chances at a scholarship if she remained there. But to be one of the best, in a school where they are all the best, and there is no rank because they are all great, will this hurt her chances for a scholarship at a great college?</p>

<p>She WANTS to be in the environment that this math and science school has to offer, to study courses that she would NEVER have a chance to study in her regular HS......but how will this affect possible college scholarships?</p>

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<p>If she is that stellar, she should go to the residential school. She will benefit and grow, and her strengths will lead to scholarship opportunities. A lot is based on her scores and the scholarship interviews. Many (possibly most) top prep schools do not rank, so that won't hurt her at all.</p>

3

<p>I had this concern myself, two years ago, and was really worried we were doing the wrong thing. Based on the experiences of students at D's school (and conversations with the gcs there), I wouldn't worry about the lack of class rank. </p>

<p>The 113 graduates of D's high school this year were awarded $7.4 million in scholarships/merit aid. This figure is even more impressive when you consider that some of the students are attending schools that only give need-based aid (MIT, Stanford, etc.)*, so their grants from their colleges aren't figured into the scholarship total. At Senior Recognition, they announced the name of the college each student would be attending and what scholarships were awarded; many were getting what appeared to the top scholarships at the U. (President's or Regents' awards).</p>

<p>From what I have seen elsewhere on this board, HS reputation is very important in college admissions, especially for students from public high schools, so going to a school with an outstanding national reputation will likely help more than being the valedictorian at a HS the adcoms never heard of. The colleges your daughter will apply to will be familiar with your residential HS and will understand why it would be highly unfair to report class rank for that outstanding group. They will be favorably impressed by the rigor of the work and by the fact that your D. has shown she can handle living and studying away from home. </p>

<p>What D's gcs told me is that some colleges automatically award a high class rank to our HS students. Others will ask for a general picture of the grade distribution in various courses, so they can get a fix on where your D. stands. Other schools use a combination of GPA and SAT and have their own weighting system that will probably favor the courses she will be taking at the residential HS. My D's GPA and SAT weren't perfect, but because of the weighting, she was offered the top scholarship at schools that use this method. </p>

<p>In addition, I have heard of at least two colleges that have a special scholarship for graduates of the "alphabet" schools (that is, the schools in the National Consortium for Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science, and Technology, NCSSMST for short). Also, kids from residential high schools often end up getting picked for resident advisor jobs as sophomores (because they have so much more dorm experience), so that's a help from year two on. Your D. also sounds like she would be a good candidate for departmental scholarships that normally are awarded starting in year two as well.</p>

<p>The only way this could be the wrong choice for your D. would be if she weren't going to do well at the residential school. From what you have said, I don't think you have anything to worry about, because in our experience with residential math and science school, a student's motivation, organization, and coping skills are crucial (probably more important than prior SAT, for example) and it sounds like your D. has all these, and the SAT/GPA to boot. </p>

<p>*We also have kids going to Columbia, UPenn, Case Western, Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern, Rice, Baylor, Notre Dame, and a bunch going to LACS on the 40 colleges that make a difference list. When you compare this to what the top students, even the valedictorians, from our hometown high school are doing, it's apples and oranges, except for one hometown recruited athlete going to Cornell. Our hometown high school is actually a pretty well regarded school in the highest ranked district in our state--D's residential school not being ranked--but I doubt many gcs have heard of it the way they have the top "alphabet" schools.</p>

<p>PS, if the school your D. is going to has a parents' forum, you might ask the parents of recent graduates what their experience has been getting scholarships without class rank to schools that don't have the special program for D's HS; you might also check with the gcs and the alumni association.</p>

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<p>I forgot to mention that D's classmates did well in outside scholarships too, including NM awards, Gates Millenium, ISEF, the Junior Science and Humanities thingy, D's money from Intel, and scholarships from corporations and professional organizations. Also, some schools that use a combo of GPA/Class rank/SAT for scholarship awards will just assume class rank if the GPA and SAT fit. </p>

<p>(Looking at the USNW rankings again, a good-sized handful of the other universities D's classmates are attending are on the top tier national list, including Emory and Ga. Tech.)</p>

5

<p>The resedential does sound perfect for your D. However, there are some larger universities, including state schools, that base their merit awards on GPA with no corrections for the difficulty of the curriculum. getting perfect grades at a less competitive high school would set her up better for these. All things considered, it sounds like she is better off at the boarding school anyway.</p>

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<p>Our son went to the school you are speaking of, or one just like it, and he considered it the best thing he ever did. Our small-town high school didn't offer the types of courses that he had access to there. He often said that he felt like he was only working at "half-speed" before he went there, and that he hadn't realized what he was capable of. That's what the residential school offers for these kids - it gives them a venue in which they can discover what they are truly capable of. His SAT score went up about 150 points (and it was pretty good to begin with). As for scholarships, I don't think it hurt him at all. Many of his friends went to UNC because of the tuition waiver, but he got excellent scholarship offers from some private schools he liked better, so he's at one of those now.</p>