<p>Not that you asked…but is there any chance you son can stay behind with a relative or close friend to finish out his senior year? There are so many issues here–fitting in at a new school where everyone has known one another for years (especially a concern in senior year where it seems to me social life hits a peak–sharing the trials and tribulations of the college application process, dating, prom, graduation parties), being the low man on the totem pole in all the EC’s, navigating the college process with a new GC who doesn’t know him at all, and all this while getting used to a new city and climate. Maybe your kid is made of very stern stuff, but it sounds overwhelming to me. Senior year is complicated enough–I’d look for a way to finesse the whole situation.</p>
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<p>With all due respect, you’ve just been a student, not an adcom. Moreover, I really do not think your experience of joining in 11th year can be necessarily translated to that of someone coming into fall of 12th. </p>
<p>I might be totally off base too, but I trust that adcoms can read and judge a student in light of their unique circumstances and his will be quite unique. Any mature adult who, for a living, evaluates thousands of young people yearly is not going to expect a kid who just moved to a new part of the country, into a new school system and keep his grades up, during the frenzy of college admissions period, to also obtain good leadership positions in ECs, make the team, and be well known to GCs in a few months. And if he already has a good relationship with teachers and GCs elsewhere, and a good tack record to date at his prior school, he need not make a big deal about bonding quickly with influential others who are movers and shakers. They will get two transcripts. They can read. I just trust adcoms to use better judgment than that.</p>
<p>Also, just to add to starbright’s very valid points, the top schools are all very familiar with these schools. THAT is not going to be an issue.</p>
<p>Okay, so I thought about this for a minute, and the more I think about it the more I thinkk you need a college counselor in this type of situation. There are just wayyyy too many moving parts in this scenario for an outcome like UChicago without some expert advice and guidance.</p>
<p>You’ll have a daughter who is a freshman in a new town. Egad, that alone is going to be emotionally draining. YOU will be in your first year in a new town, which takes up more energy than the 10th year in a new town, or even the 2nd year, and you will have a son who has moved his senior year of highschool. (I wouldn’t want to do this with a daughter. :eek: ) So, this is the kind of time to bring in an expert, if only for organizational and logistical issues.</p>
<p>In the area OP mentioned, people hire Ed cons, and I’m sure it won’t be frowned on by the GC in the slightest.</p>
<p>End of opinion piece. ;)</p>
<p>If the son applies to UofC early action (or any other school), how important will senior year be for the application? It would be a drag to be penalized for moving. (I’m with MommaJ–don’t do it). At any competitive high school it will be almost impossible for newcomers to break into the elite.</p>
<p>Holy Cow, Starbright. I am an adult. I work for an Ivy. 'nuff said.</p>
<p>I don’t know these specific schools, but it might be worthwhile to find out how grades will transfer. At my D’s very competitive high school, they don’t accept any classes from schools outside our district as honors classes for weighted grades, which really hammers anyone who transfers in. There are also differences in graduation requirements that can throw a loop into a schedule plan – we’re required to have a semester of geography, which kids usually take in 9th grade – but if you transfer in as a senior, you’re still required to take it.</p>
<p>btw: As long as you say you’re trying not to obsess: any of the schools discussed above will be fine. Really.</p>
<p>Dreamcollege4aa,</p>
<p>Sorry. When I wrote the sentence above, I was confusing you with “LookingForward,” who said something about not obsessing. Regardless, the sentiment still stands: any of those schools are fine.</p>
<p>Further: plenty of kids start new schools in senior year because of family moves. Your son can fill out all his apps early in the fall and include a statement about how his transition is going and what activities he’s trying out at the new school. The colleges will understand and will be fine with letters from his former school.</p>
<p>No reason to leave him behind! </p>
<p>Good luck. Tell your son to buy a snow shovel. I would have hired him today!</p>
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<p>Oops, sorry. I should not have called you a student then. But my point has not changed: you were basing it on, according to you, your experience as a student getting into college. </p>
<p>“'nuff said” ? How does working at an Ivy add to your expertise here? Now if you want to tell me you have been working in admissions at an Ivy, that would shut me up :)</p>
<p>My own hs transfer experience was secondary, anecdotal. My advice was based on reviewing apps.
There is a lot we don’t know about OP’s son- he may be a top performer now or a mid-range kid. The current hs may be rigorous or so-so. We don’t know if he wants to attend a top college or just a happy LAC. But, if he’s aiming high, he needs to be able to show that the transfer worked for him.</p>
<p>@ all:
Thanks all for your responses. Though worried, am looking forward to this transition. ; )
Astonished :-
He needs to sign up for shoveling class before you hire him! Remember we are from Phoenix! We never had a snow fall in our yards! LoR is what I have been thinking too!
@ Kathyc: You are right! I have my doubts about breaking into the elite.
@ JHS, if I leave my son behind to complete his HS in Phoenix, what are his opportunities for getting accepted into University of Chicago? Will he be considered as in-state student @ AZ or in IL?
@ poetgrl: education counselors, way too expensive!
@arabrab: Geography in his senior year for a boy who has three AP s in Histories!
I hope there will be another option for him!
@ starbright & lookingforward: He is giving AP Cal, Chem, US His, and Lang in May
2011 . At his school, they offer internship on his third trimester senior year. When he graduates from his school, he will have 28 credits plus internship and capstone courses in his senior year.
Let us see:
What if I :----Set up a meeting with his college counselor @ his current school and talk to her of our position! And visit Chicago HS in spring and find out what will be my son’s course work at his senior year! May be call them ahead and have a talk with them!
The irony of the situation is my son is just worried about his band activities.
He has his own band group set up. They have been giving out performances since their freshman year! He is@ school JAZZ band too! How can he rebuild everything that he has been building it from his middle school years in just a few months in senior year!
OMG! How are we going to pull this thro!</p>
<p>University of Chicago is not a public university. It is a private one, so residency does not effect tuition nor should it impact admissions very much.</p>
<p>Are you confusing the University of Illinois with the University of Chicago? U of I is the state university with a cost of attendance (COA) of $25-30,000 for in-state students.</p>
<p>University of Chicago is a private school. Your son may well be unique (which they love!) in applying there with his Arizona experience. However, check the COA: it’s over $52,000 a year.</p>
<p>I’m mentioning this because I know the University of Arizona in-state fees are a real bargain. Once you give up that residency, you are in for a severe sticker shock. You’ll want to weigh the financial benefit of your son staying in AZ and attending school there.</p>
<p>Good idea to talk to your son’s present guidance counselor. Maybe she can contact the guidance department at the new school to find out the best course of action. Many classes fill up and are “closed” by spring of the year before. It’s possible they make allowances for move-ins, but it would be good to find out the timetable.</p>
<p>Regarding band: maybe your son could email the band teacher/director at the new school, describe his interests and experience, and ask for advice. Some schools have band as a regular daily class; others have a not-for-credit extra-curricular band. At my kids’ high school, you have to be enrolled in regular band class to be eligible to participate in the extra-curricular jazz band. (Clear as mud?) If the school has a marching band, they often start practicing in the summer because the football season starts right away.</p>
<p>Nah, it’s not hard to learn to shovel snow. He’ll be a pro within five minutes and can hire himself out to jaded middle-aged types like me. The hardest part of shoveling is figuring out where to put all the snow!!</p>
<p>“He’ll be a pro within five minutes and can hire himself out to jaded middle-aged types like me.” - My son would like it as it promises him part-time jobs!
I think I have this University of Chicago "UChicago’ in my mind. I have evaluated UofA fees to that of university of Chicago and found AZ offers better deal! But this has been his dream school for a long time! I find it will be ok to let him give it a try!
My concern here is that he wants to go out-of-state (UoC) anyway and by moving out in his senior year, "Will it help him or jeopardize his chances?.</p>
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<p>what do you mean by this? U of Chicago is a private school. In-state vs. out-of-state is not an issue for them. U Chicago is a USNWR top 10 school with an alarmingly rapidly decreasing acceptance rate (last few years) with an admitted student stats to match (last time I checked, their mid 50% stats (SAT C, M: 700-780, 700-780) were about the same as Harvard (SAT C, M: 690-780, 690-790)</p>
<p>Recent admissions policies at U of Chicago seem to indicate a push for geographical diversity into the Southern region. If I got this right, then your son’s current location (AZ) might give him some advantage. In a hyper competitive school like U Chicago, every bit of advantage counts. </p>
<p>Nobody admits this, but… I have a friend who is a Harvard alum interviewer and he told me flat out that Harvard has an unwritten, unspoken, and unacknowledged preference for students coming from geographically under represented states, if the applicants’ qualifications are otherwise comparable. I won’t be surprised at all if this is a very prevalent reality in other top schools. </p>
<p>Combined this with the disruption for the move in the 12th grade… Truthfully, doesn’t sound like a winning combination. Is there a possibility that he can stay at least through the fall semester in AZ to complete all the application stuff? Are both of you relocating your jobs? Or, is it just one of you? If it’s the latter, can the relocating spouse rent a place in Chicago for the fall or a whole year so that your son can at least apply to colleges in AZ or finish his whole senior year in AZ? Have you thought about the possibility that even if both of you are relocating, you T</p>
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<p>what do you mean by this? U of Chicago is a private school. In-state vs. out-of-state is not an issue for them. U Chicago is a USNWR top 10 school with an alarmingly rapidly decreasing acceptance rate (last few years) with an admitted student stats to match (last time I checked, their mid 50% stats (SAT C, M: 700-780, 700-780) were about the same as Harvard (SAT C, M: 690-780, 690-790)</p>
<p>Recent admissions policies at U of Chicago seem to indicate a push for geographical diversity into the Southern region. If I got this right, then your son’s current location (AZ) might give him some advantage. In a hyper competitive school like U Chicago, every bit of advantage counts. </p>
<p>Nobody admits this, but… I have a friend who is a Harvard alum interviewer and he told me flat out that Harvard has an unwritten, unspoken, and unacknowledged preference for students coming from geographically under represented states, if the applicants’ qualifications are otherwise comparable. I won’t be surprised at all if this is a very prevalent reality in other top schools. </p>
<p>Combined this with the disruption for the move in the 12th grade… Truthfully, doesn’t sound like a winning combination. Is there a possibility that he can stay at least through the fall semester in AZ to complete all the application stuff? Are both of you relocating your jobs? Or, is it just one of you? If it’s the latter, can the relocating spouse rent a place in Chicago for the fall or a whole year so that your son can at least apply to colleges in AZ or finish his whole senior year in AZ? </p>
<p>Have you thought about the possibility that even if both of you are relocating, you TWO can commute on a weekly basis, while “importing” a relative (grand parents etc) to AZ for a few months to be with your kids. Yes, it costs money, but it can be done (I used to commute between NJ and Asia on a monthly basis: OK the company paid for everything, but still…). If it’s only for four month (from Sept through Dec, until the college application season is over), it may be be worth for you to explore this option. </p>
<p>All in all, taking your son to a whole different place just when the college application season kicks in seems A LOT of disruption.</p>
<p>PS. S1 is a second year at U Chicago. the other day he said, he should write a letter to Harvard to thank them for having rejected him. Not a sour grape. He just loves, loves, and loves his school. It’s great place for many students. It’s a perfect school for him. that said, I am sure it’s a hell hole for some.</p>
<p>Recent admissions policies at U of Chicago seem to indicate a push for geographical diversity into the Southern region.
That is a little comfort in times of stress.
We have been thinking thro all the options. If I decide stay behind with kids, it will result in having two mortgages and or rent in Chicago and other expenses incur with two kids college expenses coming up in a few years! My daughter will then have to start her sophomore year in Chicago! (She is in 8th grade now).
It is good to know that your S1 in at U of C and loves it too! My son thinks that it be perfect fit for him too! We really want this transition as smooth as possible!</p>
<p>My parents moved the summer before my senior year. I stayed behind to finish at my high school. I lived with a friend’s family for a while, and later moved in with friends of my family from our church who had a daughter my age, but who wasn’t one of my closest friends. Staying behind was difficult, but better than moving. Based on my younger sister’s experience at the new high school, it would have been a wasted year for me academically, socially, and EC-wise if I had transferred for my senior year. In retrospect, I think the best solution would have been to skip my senior year altogether and just go to college early, even if it were just the community college where my parents moved. This never occurred to us at the time, so I didn’t try it. Getting my own apartment might have been a better idea than living with families, too, although I was young–turned 17 during the year–so I don’t know if that would have been possible either.</p>
<p>the expense of having a place in Chicago for your husband while you keep the household in AZ does not have to be huge. A tiny studio apartment for a few months is not going to kill him and the expense can be easily managed if it is confined to 4-5 months until the college application season is over.</p>
<p>Every family has to do what’s comfortable. However, if it were my family, there is NO way I will ask ONE member of the family to sacrifice so that the rest of the family can have a smooth transition. Your husband’s career. Your desire to have a manageable financial situation for future. Your daughter’s need to start fresh in HS freshman rather than sophomore. Meanwhile, you are putting the burden of this whole change squarely and SOLELY on the shoulder of your son. He has to pay for all this. He has most to lose with move, with potentially really no good payoff for him. </p>
<p>Have you thought about this angle? That, one member of your family is in a position to pay for everybody else’s smooth transition? Yet, he is the one who needs most support because the fall semester of the HS senior year is SO CRITICAL for the college application and potentially for more years to come. </p>
<p>I am so sorry to be so blunt, but it seems like he is not advocating for himself, and I felt that somebody has to spell it out for you.</p>
<p>My son is 16 now. He is a November born child. Can’t leave him either on his own or with friends though he thinks otherwise. Hopefully meeting with his college counselor tomorrow with open up a few more options.</p>