bluegene

Junior year at school year abroad or (return back to) boarding school.
Can parents ( or students ) contribute their experiences , advantage and drawback ?

Thanks!

Linda S

No experience but one comment. My daughter would LOVE it, but can't due to sports. As a varsity athlete, it is impossible for her.

PelicanDad

I felt like it was a LONG...time to be away during BS, and opted for a term off-campus program instead (of which there are now droves....Milton's Mountain School, Chewonski in Maine, Colorado Mountain School, Island School, D.C. semester...). This might solve conflict with varsity athletics, too, unless we're talking multiple sports.

OTOH, I did the full year abroad in college and think at that stage of the game, it's the only way to go. A term goes by in a flash.

laidbackrider61

It is a long time away. However, the benefits are worthwhile. My D is truly amazing me with her fluency. This article helps articulate the benefits.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/op...ualism.html?hp

mhmm

Junior year, for most kids the year of the dreaded US History AP, sat and sat 2. Unless your kid is a super kid who can be so disciplined as to do work on their own, or is not on a competitive academic track, not recommended. As someone else had said, not for varsity athletes. PelicanDads suggestions would work though.

ExieMITAlum

Hmm. I have a student who is enrolled in SYA. I really worry - as a college interviewer - how often I meet parents who stress AP courses as the requirement for college entrance. Why are parents so worried about that instead of strong diverse experiences that might make a student more interesting.

But I do have some concern with saying foreign exchange is only for kids Honestly, looking at this year's admit roster - those are the kids most likely to wonder why they weren't selected out of a "competitive" applicant pool filled with kids showing the same ubiquitous credentials. The same goes for my husband's Admissions council (med school)

When you consider how few students are in the SYA program (or other exchange programs) the SYA matriculation list stacks up pretty well against the student's sponsoring boarding schools:

School Year Abroad - Colleges and SYA

I got a lot of PM's from CC parents telling me not to allow my D to do it because she would sacrifice Junior year AP courses. The only thing she's sacrificing is science which she'll pick up senior year when she returns. Otherwise, from an interviewer point of view, she'll be one of few US students in the college applicant pool with a year of immersive foreign experience credentials. Kids taking AP course are not rare anymore. If anything they define the majority of the kids I see and therefore there's no "wow" factor to it. What D is gaining through the foreign language acquisition, the cultural knowledge, and the global experience more than compensates for the loss of US campus experience.

Choose what is right for your specific student. It's hard, it's not a vacation, it requires a student who is self managing and is proactive enough to find his/her own EC's in the town so they can continue their skills (sports, music, etc.) and can handle some degree of independent study. Thank goodness one parent on CC wrote to tell us WHY we should let her go - and according to her it's the best decision she's ever made (and we agree).

But again - SYA is not for everyone.

mhmm

@Exie
Experience abroad will never replace AP level courses. I hate the USNWR, but, I will use it as an example. For Liberal Arts Collleges (LACs) they used to have 1st Tier (the first 50) 2nd Tier, etc. They got rid of it in the past 2 years b/c some colleges complained. Well, traditionally the BS used a formula of the first 10 on the first tier was as competitive as Ivys, the next 10 very difficult, the bottom 30-50 were for kids not so academically inclined, but still great colleges that kids in the rest of the country would be happy to make as their top choice. These colleges will most likely go with the idea of JR year abroad trumps APs. None other will. Yes it makes a kid stand out. However go into any college forum and look at the Accepted Early stats - you will quickly see what matters to colleges.

dodgersmom

And yet I suspect that ExieMITAlum's experience as an interviewer for one of the not quite "bottom 30-50" schools has taught her otherwise. (Hint: Look at her username to figure out what school it is!)

mhmm

As every parent whose kid went through college admissions process knows,( and from my experience as a head of a parent committee at a college), alumni interviews don't count for much in college admissions. They are there for pr/informational purposes. They do weed out the "truly bizarre" or the outright liers on the applications, but do not influence decisions at all. Especially in the colleges of the "hinted" caliber.

123mama

I have no inside info, but from browsing the accepted/deferred/denied threads in the college section, it seems to me admissions at the top fill-in-the-number-or-acronym-of-your-choice is much like admissions to the most known schools here in the Prep forum. Top grades, test scores, rigor, ECs are a given, but there are way more qualified applicants than seats, leading the schools to look for things/experiences that make a kid stand out as someone who will both benefit from and contribute to their community.

mhmm

^^ Absolutely, which is why that is hard to achieve while being away from school for that most important Junior year.

Quenn

Not my experience. D1, an Exeter student, did SYA her junior year. She got into Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, NYU and others. SYA students as a group do VERY well in the college admissions process. D2 is going to SYA next year with no hesitation on our part.

ExieMITAlum

Thanks Quenn and Dodgersmom

It's a little bothersome when some adults make assumptions about someone else's role in admissions and dismiss based on their limited individual experience or second hand observations. I've only been involved with admissions for 30 years. What do I know? Or my husband who posts here occasionally and who currently sits on a competitive university Admissions committee whose average ACT score for admitted students is 99th percentile holds the same opinion and has said so on other threads.

I'll repeat - the admit rate for competitive colleges (not small liberal arts colleges) out of SYA is the same or better compared to the same pool at the student's competitive "sponsoring" school. While some students in SYA may be considered not as academically competitive, I can point to a number of full-pay kids on several campuses who also fit that description but come with a lot of dollars and matriculate to IVYS (which is also why I tell parents to stop assuming top boarding school equals better chance at one of those.) I can also point to student who load up on AP courses who present with lower college entrance scores.

The poster asked a question and I spoke from first hand experience - both from an admissions point of view and as a parent. It's not for everyone - but yes - okay - if your kid has nothing else going for them and needs to load up on AP's to be competitive - then yes, if those AP's aren't available at the specific SYA location, then stay at your high school.

Otherwise, a U.S. born citizen with immersive international experience stands out in a competitive application pool and when all other things are equal (or not) may have the advantage.

MamaBug

Is Junior year the best time to participate in this program, and if so, why? I see it's offered for Seniors but mostly hear about people doing it during the Junior year.

ExieMITAlum

#13 was a rough draft on a slow internet signal overseas that timed out but "sent" and was not what I intended to write - especially about families choosing AP courses over international exposure. Choosing to spend junior year taking APs is a valid and good personal choice for those students.

For me the bottom line is - at most competitive colleges almost every student in the applicant pool is loaded with AP's. It's ubiquitous - especially at MIT. It's like looking at a student who has done everything the adults told them to do (Science Olympiad, Scholar Bowl, lots of math and science APs) and is excited that they are now at the head of the line and doesn't realize that they now just blend in with the other 13,000 in the pile. Those accomplishments no longer stand out.

Again, for some students AP's are important and that student's best shot at a good college barring other dynamic options. But for many students - going international is not considered a sign of a weaker, less academically competitive student. It's a sign of risk taking, self management, and ability to navigate in an increasingly globally competitive world and population with changing demographics.

Certainly my D and her classmates are doing AP while abroad - one classmate is carrying a hefty load. And they're having to do it in classrooms where the classes are taught in the local language. What IS clear over the last 30 years (and no - at my school off-campus interviews are not considered window dressing, and yes we do have influence) is that students with with broader experiences on their resume do better in admissions because they are more memorable and bring something to the table the vast majority of the other applicants will not.