Need Advice: Switching Schools Senior Year?

Question

I'm going to be a high school senior this year and i'm considering switching from a smaller, private school(class size about 80) to a larger public school(class size about 250) for financial and social reasons. What i'm wondering is how this will affect how my college applications look. I'm planning on applying to Ivy League and other highly selective schools(which i have reasonable chances of getting into). At my private school, i'm ranked #3 of 80. I would be lower at the public school because they have had more opportunities to take classes w/ a higher credit(they have more AP's and honors classes, for example, my school did not have honors english 9, but the public school did). I'm not sure what my rank would be at the public school, but I know it would be at least top 50, probably top 25. so what would admissions councilors think of top 25 of 250 vs. top 3 of 80?

Answer 1

If you need to switch, you need to switch, and admissions people will understand that. They'll also understand that smaller schools offer fewer opportunities for advanced classes, because they simply don't have enough students qualified or interested in taking them. I wouldn't recommend switching schools senior year, but if you have to, that's that.

And you'll probably find that you're better off than you expect. Students at your new school may have taken more APs than you, but that doesn't necessarily mean they know more. Because your old school has limited advanced classes, the regular-level classes there were probably a lot harder to make up for it. So you've most likely learned as much as they have- you just don't have the benefit of "Honors" or "AP" in the title of most of the classes you've taken. In any case, as long as you do your best and work hard this year, there's no reason why switching to a public school would negatively affect your chances of getting in to an Ivy League.

Plus, it's grades from junior year that matter most, so you've already got the most important ones behind you. The grades you make this year will just confirm what they already know, unless you stop doing classwork and suddenly fail everything.

Answer 2

I don't think you should change now. Why are you considering this, after having spent 3 years at the private high school? I'd just like to point out, I wonder why private schools are considered better when, as you indicate, they do not offer as many (or, sometimes, any) AP and honors courses.
BTW, some public schools do not rank anymore. The high school where my sons went stopped doing that. Most college admissions people will tell you that they look at the overall picture: did you take challenging courses, what about extracurricular activities, etc. If you're only worried about rank, you should do what you think is best. Rank itself isn't going to count that much. You are taking SATs, right? That's important and gives them a standardized way to assess you.

Answer 3

This late in the game I would not change schools. It's a good bet you would end up repeating some classes you took because the credit structure is different or the class was not identical. Also, changing schools without a really good reason (like moved to a different state) is bound to cause some suspicion.