silvstargrl

Hello, i'm an international student and i live outside of US.
I lived in NJ when i was in middle school but then i moved out of the country and started high school in an international school. I'm moving back to US, but not back to jersey but to north california (possibly near sacramento).
Are public high schools in US have good standards?
the school that i'm planning to go to has about 2000 kids in HS, compared to 300 in my international private HS.
It doesnt have to be in cali, but in american public schools, are there lots of opportunities for extracurriculars, and APs, etc?
Do you get to know your counselor well?
(i'm actually considering prep schools like andover, choate etc because i'm somewhat intimidated by american public highs..)

Thanks so much!

spirited away

American high schools are not identical to one another, so of course they will have different standards. Opportunities for AP and ECs vary. Counselor-student relationships depend on how many are available.

"i'm actually considering prep schools like andover, choate etc because i'm somewhat intimidated by american public highs"

Not all of them are terrible...

scarletleavy

That should be exciting. It will be a major transition from international school to American public school. Huge transition. The classes are generally a lot bigger, there are more opportunities for different subjects, there will be more EC opportunities. The biggest difference will be the size and the social aspect. Depending where your international school is you could be in for a big shock when you get to America.