Convincing parents to transfer to public school

Prep School Admissions Prep School Parents
1

<p>I really need advice from the perspective of a parent, and forgive me for not necessarily discussing prep school related issues but sadly there was no other section in the “pre college issues” that would primarily attract parents.</p>

<p>To summarize the context of this situation, I go to a local private day school, one of the best in the country in terms of matriculation (Currently I reside in asia, and I am saying “matriculation” because I cannot merit our academics, athletics, or extracurriculars to any degree of good quality) and feel that socially, I am not fit for this type of place. I have been here for years and are neither the smartest, the one with the best gpa, etc (with high tuition comes the highest social classes, and our school is one of the most severe cases of this in comparison to other local private schools) and feel the social scene is completely different from what I grew up with (previously I lived in the bay area)</p>

<p>I’m actually a long-time member of CC (or at least I think so) as I joined around march of 2008, and switched to a few different accounts as my fear of being identified increased over time. I applied for the 09-10 schoolyear, and was waitlisted by all my schools. I am not a rising freshman, and I do not believe reapplying would help me get into any of the schools I truly feel a connection for (I am an ORM, and do not have outstanding stats, I admit.) Hence boarding school is out of the picture, and this is where I apologize again for not truly following the topic of prep schools.</p>

<p>Recently I found out that schools where I used to grow up in are some of the best public schools in america, albeit not magnet schools. Palo Alto High School is one of them, with strengths in journalism and debate, two extracurriculars I heavily focus on. As I researched more to argue my case with my parents on why moving to paly would be beneficial to me, the more I fell in love with the school. I casually mentioned Paly stats once in a while (my mother loves matriculation) such as them sending _ students to stanford, _ students to harvard, etc etc. A few days ago my mom casually suggested we should move to palo alto and just have me attend school there next year. I completely agreed and was ecstatic. </p>

<p>Today I mentioned moving to palo alto again and this time she scoffed and laughed at me, insinuating that moving from my current private school to a public school was embarrassing. I mentioned how three kids from my grade (there are less than 100 of us, so this is significant) did just this. She argued they only moved because of work (only one of them did, and we’ve heard he’s doing much, much better socially than he would have here) I understand where she is coming from, I guess, but I feel infuriated that she would so quickly change her mind. My mother cares little for anything except whatever goes on a college application and school matriculation, and occasionally my happiness, which she seems to be disregarding at this point. </p>

<p>Well that was my little history. My initial question was how to convince her that this is a good opportunity for me (by moving to america I can also take community college courses for credit, do summer jobs, volunteer, etc. Additionally, moving to america and attending a public school costs roughly the same as my current private school tuition) I needed a bit of parental perspective on how you would approach this situation. </p>

<p>To anyone that read the entire post or is willing to offer advice, thank you :)</p>

2

<p>Do your parents work? My first thought as a parent would be can I get a job in a different country. If they are independently wealthy or own their own business and can easily move that’s different. I would try to schedule a time to sit down and be truly honest with them about how you feel at your current school. How unhappy you are and give specific examples of the pros/cons of each school and how they compare. Try to avoid the “dropping of facts” which may feel like a drive by attack to your parents. They probably feel they are struggling to pay for the best school for you and you don’t want to appear ungrateful.
Good luck!</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the advice :)</p>

<p>The arrangement many families do is to have the dad in the family, the only one that works in most situations, stay while the mother and student move (this also happens when the dad has a job opportunity in another country and the child does not want to leave) As the only child of an upper-middle class family, my parents have spoiled me too much, and they are not concerned with the financial aspects of education, but I believe my mother IS concerned with the apparent foolishness of moving from a private school to a public one. </p>

<p>I’ll try doing what you advised PA-C (: I think we need a direct conversation solely on the topic of moving instead of just side chatter, thanks.</p>

4

<p>Expecting your family to move just for your school preference is fabulously self centered. There seems to be an excellent school where you are. Don’t even think of uprooting your family, long term, for the short-term remainder of your high school years. </p>

<p>Parents have to look at what is best for the WHOLE family, long and short term. You need to do the same. </p>

<p>There is much to gain through your international experience - perhaps you might want to focus on that, and not just focus on academics.</p>

5

<p>I toured Palo Alto HS a few years ago when it looked as though we might be moving to the area. I was not impressed. The buildings weren’t kept up, and we were told that the AP classes were huge. (The opportunity for students to take advanced math at Stanford was nice, though). So don’t assume that this school would solve your problems, especially with California now in financial crisis.</p>

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<p>Greenblue, Palo Alto HS has a higher matric and SAT than any of the NE boarding schools the last time I saw comparisons. It is in a very wealthy suburb (eg Northbrook outside Chicago) and the California Crisis is irrelevant to it (at least as much as the current crisis is to Exeter, etc).</p>

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<p><a href=“http://www.paly.net/info/profile.pdf[/url]”>http://www.paly.net/info/profile.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>2008 SAT mean: 629/656/629 (V/M/W)
88% of graduating class went to college, 72% directly to 4-year college, 18% to community colleges.</p>

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<p>No, those figures are not comparable to top NE boarding schools, but they are impressive. Of course being located across the street from Stanford’s campus would lead one to believe that the student body and resources at Paly are well above the norms even for one of the wealthiest areas in the country. That said, some believe that the programs and staffing at the other high school in Palo Alto (I don’t remember the name offhand, but that’s why God invented Google) are actually better.</p>