I am wondering
For state universities, check in-state residency rules, since they may require a minimum waiting period and evidence of permanent intent to stay in the state, for both student and parents.
For high PSAT scorers, the NM threshold may differ.
Different high school graduation requirements may require taking catch up courses for those not taken in the previous state. Same with different state university admission requirements.
What state is the target?
What tilted the decision was eating - we needed to move for a job.
We moved to California about a month before my kids started high school, and I had very little time to find a place to live and a high school. I found a catholic high school and that gave me a few more options for a living situation, but still had to be close enough to drive them to school and get to work. It worked out really well, but then the job was scheduled to end so I couldn’t afford the catholic school for the second year. They transferred to the public high school for sophomore year (and they both liked it), but in January I was transferred to Florida. The catholic school there wouldn’t take them as transfer students, the city schools weren’t very good, so we went to the suburbs. Again, very short time table to find an apartment and get started in school. I now think a different school would have been better but at the time did the best I could.
Bad? They switched midyear and lost about a month of school as it took a week to move, and the schedules were just different. That causes sophomore grades to be lower. They had fewer options registering for junior year as the new school had already registered and we got what was left. They had to learn new teachers. One wasn’t able to participate in drama for the spring as that had already happened. The athlete was able to jump into a starting position for the team as someone had just broken her arm, but there were hard feelings from other teammates who wanted to start. Another ‘bad’ thing was that they weren’t able to apply to any magnet or charter high schools. Those applications are often due long before the school year starts, so they couldn’t apply to School of the Arts or even a limited enrollment school. We had to go to the burbs.
The Good? My kids adjust very well to new situations and know that things aren’t always fair. One daughter is at a college she would never have even known about if we hadn’t move and it is a good fit for her. Both schools they transferred into had large numbers of military kids, so both schools were used to dealing with transcripts from other states (or countries) and most of the kids seemed friendly.
As for college, we did it all ourselves. No help from GC, we didn’t know the local or state schools, we didn’t know the local groups that offered scholarships, some of the awards my kids had as freshmen and sophomores didn’t hold as much weight as those the teachers and administrators ‘knew’ when giving out senior awards (like honor roll, athletic awards, clubs, or community service). We had to do some calling and letter writing to get credit for community service down in another area. We did not have to get transcripts from the original schools for college admissions, but did for NCAA clearinghouse (and that was a pain).
As noted:
My husband was offered the opportunity it to relocate when DS was a college freshman, and DD was a HS sophomore. We declined the offer…and have no regrets. And yes…this meant DH had to look for a job locally. But I was also employed…and mo one would have meant me giving up my job. We like where we live, and our neighbors, and friends…and our house. And we really liked our High school. So…we would not have changed a thing.
We are potentially in this situation now. Our son is just finishing junior year. So, if anyone moves, it will be DH on his own for the next year; year and a half-ish with trips home. I wouldn’t move an HS senior unless I absolutely had to. Our daughter is already in college, so no other kids to disrupt.
It’s Pennsylvania. I found the residency rules to be ambiguous.
We have moved multiple times in the past. It is always due to H’s job. I work on and off due to moving.
The kids adjust in the new environment easily. They make friends, get involved with whatever they can find interesting. This time I thought that many things come into play as they become highschoolers. D19 is a sophomore currently. She is very involved in her school and ECs. She is in the top 10% of a fairly competitive HS with 3.9 UW, 4.2 WGPA with 2 H, 2 APs. She is targeting Engineering programs (CSE, EECS primarily) in the first 50 Universities if we can afford it. I am wondering if this move will cause a major set back to her in the admissions process.
I contacted the destination HSs. The counselors have confirmed that she will have 2 different transcripts. How will the colleges interpret it? I guess the Adcoms are used to it. But I am not sure how they interpret it as most public Us weigh GPA heavily.
Colleges deal just fine with multiple transcripts…because kids move. It happens. They understand that.
Many colleges recompute GPA themselves anyway.
If you are moving NOW, your DD will be a PA resident when she applies for admission fall 2019.
For private schools, your state of residency won’t matter…at all.
@thumper1, I wish I can afford the privates! We can afford to pay 30-33k per year only. The UCs were in that range. I have not yet started the PA search yet…
So…what top 50 schools are you talking about? I do not think ANY of the top 50 public universities are in Pennsylvania…so you would be paying OOS costs.
If you are in CA now…and she is a competitive applicant for th UCs…yes…some of them ARE in the top 50…and would be affordable public universities. So would Cal Poly SLO.
If you move OOS, she will be an OOS candidate for these CA schools…and will pay OOS costs.
Penn State lists residency rules at http://admissions.psu.edu/costs-aid/residency/ .
For moving from California to Pennsylvania, some state-specific aspects of the public universities you may want to be aware of:
a. Financial aid at both the flagship-level and non-flagship-level state universities in California tends to be significantly better, although if you can afford $33k per year, even paying list price would likely be affordable (possibly with some small student loan or work earnings contribution from the student). Check the net price calculators.
b. The non-flagship-level state universities in California (i.e. the CSUs) tend to have a much better reputation and breadth of academic offerings than those in Pennsylvania (the PASSHE schools).
c. California offers a strong transfer pathway from its inexpensive community colleges to the UCs and CSUs. Pennsylvania’s transfer pathway to the state-related flagship (Penn State) starts mainly at relatively expensive branch campuses.
d. Most engineering programs at California public universities admit directly to the major, but changing major may be more difficult. Penn State admits to frosh pre-engineering, then requires earning a college GPA which may be significantly higher than 2.0 to enter the major (recent thresholds were 2.6 for computer and electrical engineering). See http://www.engr.psu.edu/AdvisingCenter/ETM/ .
Temple and Pitt would come in around your $33,000 price point. Penn State is $38,000 a year. Those are the instate coats to attend these PA public universities…all fine schools.
@twoinanddone, that is a lot…can’t imagine how the kids took it knowing that they were eligible for so many awards and were not really considered…that is a bad part of moving…
The college search without GC’s help is not easy either. I can see all the hours it takes to search, read through the fine prints and then decide for so many colleges. I am reading and re-reading your post.
How did you handle recommendation letters? How did you find about the colleges?
She wanted to attend those UCs in that cost. Though PA has many fine engineering colleges, they are expensive. So far, I had always explained it to her that we may not qualify for the need based aid, but considering everything, we can afford 30-33k per year. She might qualify for NM as her PSAT score this year was coming close to last year’s CA cut off. But I do not want to count might chickens yet.
Having NMF status isn’t likely to bring her costs down to $30,000 or so at the CA schools IF you move to Pennsylvania. She will be an OOS student if you move soon to PA.
PItt, Temple and Penn State all have fine ABET accredited engineering schools. There would be nothing wrong in attending any of these as an instate student if you move to PA.
PItt and Temple are within your price point…and Penn State would be as well if your kiddo took the $5500 federally funded loan.
That takes some pressure off to know that she has some decent options around the budget, @thumper1! Thank you for suggesting those names. I will research further…
If she really does get NM status, and you really do move to PA, she should apply to Pitt early in their admission cycle. She might get some of their limited merit aid.
Pennsylvania publics with EE are PSU University Park, PSU Erie, PSU Harrisburg, Temple, and Pittsburgh.
For comparison, in California, 12 CSUs and 8 UCs offer EE.
@ucbalumnus, thank you so much for bringing up the finer details. I would have missed them very easily…
In this competitive environment, I want to keep some plan B colleges. CSUs, Calpolys were excellent options as you have pointed out. It is discouraging to know about the PASSHE situation.
There are more colleges in CA…but there are also MORE people.
Are PA colleges very competitive to get into Engineering? When I visited the common data set, I did not get the Engineering specific stats