Should daughter move with me?

Parents Forum
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<p>Our S did this, although at his h.s. they call it “skipping 11th grade” rather than “graduating after jr. year.” They do it that way to give the student senior status in his final year for prom. We didn’t want him to rush outahere, but S was determined. With a Dec. 31 birthday and 2 older sibs, he actually had the social/emotional maturity to leave home for college a year sooner than we, the parents, wished or planned for. Ah well. </p>

<p>Do you think, with the addition of a few h.s. summer school courses this coming summer, she might be able to be declared a senior in the middle of this year? Maybe if her h.s. saw her dilemma they’d figure out a way.</p>

<p>If interested in the details, PM me. We found the big down-side was it severely rushed the college search process, although he’s happy where he is today anyway.</p>

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<p>D is not ready for graduation at the end of junior. I lean more toward letting her move after she finishes junior, or even after she finishes applying for colleges. She is going to finish all the core courses in junior, and will only take electives in senior if staying with current school (A). If she take courses in senior year at the new school (B), and assume her courses do not meet the graduation requirements at B, will A acknowledges the courses she takes at B, and issues her graduation diploma?<br>
What if B is a local community college at the new place?</p>

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<p>Many colleges will accept a student at the end of junior year even if they do not graduate from high school. If your D has a list of colleges already (some juniors do), she can contact them and ask if they do this.</p>

<p>The only way to determine if your D’s current HS would accept courses from somewhere else would be to ask them. My guess is probably not, unless there’s a state program in place (Washington has a program called Running Start that does exactly what you describe).</p>

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<p>Chances are that the graduation requirements in both districts are very similar, so if your D has fulfilled the core requirements, she should be okay at the new school in senior year. The hitch, as some have pointed out, is the pre-requisite for certain courses. But this is something you could ascertain ahead of time, and explain to colleges should she not be admitted into certain courses. alternatively, she could take those courses at the local community college. S, for example, could not fit AP-Bio in his schedule, so he took college Intro-Bio, which was taught in the evenings.</p>

<p>I think your D would be better off moving after junior year, but not in the middle of senior year. Any move is disruptive and getting ready to move while also completing college applications would be very burdensome.</p>

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<p>School A will only issue a graduation diploma to your D, if she is actually graduating at the end of Junior year. If she is transferring to School B, then School A will send transcripts to School B. At least that’s how it is here.</p>

<p>If your D moves to School B, and takes courses there, won’t School B be the graduating school that issues the final Diploma?</p>

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<p>Not necessarily.</p>

<p>Just out of curiosity, I looked up the graduation requirements for the New Jersey school district where we lived when my kids were little and compared them to the graduation requirements for the district in Maryland where my kids actually graduated.</p>

<p>Only three of the requirements (4 years of English, 1 of World History, 1 of Fine Arts or Performing Arts) were identical. Everything else differed.</p>

<p>The NJ district required 2 years of U.S. History but had no U.S. government requirement; the MD district required 1 year of U.S. History and 1 of U.S. government.</p>

<p>The NJ district required ALL students to have at least two years of foreign language; the MD district allowed several alternatives to foreign language, such as computer programming.</p>

<p>The NJ district required 1 year of humanities, 1/2 year of speech, and 1 year of “career education.” The MD district required none of these things.</p>

<p>The MD district required 4 years of math, which must include algebra and geometry; the NJ district required only 3 years and did not specify any courses.</p>

<p>The MD district required one year of “technical education” (such as computer applications or programming). The NJ district did not have such a requirement.</p>

<p>Both districts required 3 years of science, but the MD district specified that 1 of the years must be Biology and one must be a physical science. The NJ district did not specify the courses.</p>

<p>The NJ district required a full 4 years of physical education/health (the two subjects are taught as a combined course). The MD district required only one year of PE and 1/2 year of health.</p>

<p>The MD district had a substantial community service requirement for graduation (60 hours when my kids were in those schools, but I think it is soon to increase). The NJ district does not require community service.</p>

<p>In general, I think that it would be harder for a student from the MD district to transfer to the NJ district than the other way around, becuase the NJ district seems to have more requirements. However, Maryland has statewide tests in algebra, U.S. government, biology, and English that students must pass in order to graduate. The student from NJ, who would never have taken a U.S. government course, might be at a particular disadvantage when it comes to that test.</p>

<p>It is not unreasonable to think that kids transferring from one district to the other late in high school might face some difficulties.</p>

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<p>That’s why I wrote “chances are…” Sigh. The joys of English. I am not the oracle of Delphi.</p>

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Well, actually you can (but probably not everywhere). Not that it would matter in this case, of course…</p>

<p>And the majority of universities do not require SAT II (public unis do not require, with the exception of UC and UVA?). So, in the case if the graduation requirements at the new school do differ, - early entrance is one of the plausible options, along with cyberschooling and homeschooling. Community college classes and home-made high school diploma is a very viable option in many states, too.</p>

<p>Actually, DD can apply to a public uni near to her new hometown right now; and defer or forfeit the place later if a better option arises. Many public unis don’t even require essays and/or recommendations, so the process may be really easy.</p>

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<p>I wasn’t criticizing you, marite, only trying to point out that</p>

<p>1) Graduation requirements may differ enough between districts that the OP’s daughter might find it necessary to spend much of her senior year taking non-academic courses (such as “career education” or “speech” or “technical education”) or courses ordinarily taken by younger students (such as a very basic government course) to fulfill graduation requirements, rather than the AP or special interest courses she could have taken as a senior in her old school system. If the OP’s daughter has to do this, it is not only personally disappointing. It may also mean that the guidance counselor cannot check off the “most rigorous” box on her college paperwork since she would be taking a lot of Mickey Mouse courses her senior year, instead of the AP or other advanced courses her classmates would be taking.</p>

<p>2) It is possible, if the OP’s daughter has not completed a requirement that takes more than one year to complete, that she might need to complete an extra year of high school in order to graduate from the new school. </p>

<p>I think it is essential for the OP and his daughter to investigate the graduation requirements of the potential new school and meet with someone there to determine exactly what his daughter would have to do to satisfy the requirements. It may be possible to waive or pro-rate some things (I doubt, for example, that the New Jersey school with the four-years-of-PE requirement would require a senior coming from the Maryland school that requires only one year of PE to take three PE courses simultaneously as a senior). But other requirements may be nonnegotiable.</p>

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<p>Was pondering Marite’s point from post #64 about favoring a post-jr. year move rather than mid-sr. year. I agree very much. The dad here also wants to imagine her finished applying for college before she moves. Understandable, because it’s so much work and requires focus and calm from the student to generate the personal essay, especially.
If you had to cut the difference, I’d suggest have her write all the personal essays over the summer, following jr. year, when she’s still on familiar soil. She might even write about that anticipated process, if it’s compelling and productive as an essay topic.
Then maybe save all the anal-retentive stuff about how many hours spent per week on each extra-curricular activity, etc., for when she’s already moved.
One thing is some colleges only release their own new extra (“supplemental”) essay question for that year in September. The Common Application essay topics have been the same menu of 5 choices (including 'topic of your choosing") for many years now, so let’s hope that stays put. She could work on her CA essay at least while she’s still in a “place of power” (city A).
You are an extraordinarily sensitive parent to be thinking of all this ahead.
We had to move our kids often throughout their schooling for H’s work. One kid wrote a winning essay on how he responded to frequent moves (“winning” in that he got accepted to a school that only looks at essays and doesn’t interview). Moving is actually of interest to college admissions process, since the kids all have to leave home and recreate themselves on the college campus. So think of it as an advantage to undergo this in advance. Keep working with it with her and you might end up making lemonade here. Best wishes.</p>

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<p>I agree completely. But I don’t think that not being able to take the most rigorous courses because of the move will be a real detriment in the eyes of adcoms, especially if the D is able to take some college classes.<br>
Much depends on what the OP means by “has fulfilled all the core requirements.” Will she have fulfilled them at a high level, e.g. taken some AP courses if available? If so, her record will look reasonably strong in the eyes of adcoms. If not, it will be important to ascertain that she could take some APs in her senior year in the new school.</p>

<p>From what I understand, the OP’s D is a high achieving student. So, despite the fact that only <em>some</em> colleges require SAT-IIs, these should figure in her plan for the coming spring, as should some college visits. P3t’s plan of action sounds very sensible.</p>

<p>Re: Dmd’s point about not being able to apply early during junior year. Actually, as marmat points out, it is possible (or it was when S applied to H–which no longer has SCEA).</p>

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<p>D currently is ranked #2 (unweighted GPA 4.0) and she took ACT in sophomore and scored 34. She is definitely having top tier colleges in mind. And because of that, I really want to minimize the negative impact to her, even it means I need to sacrifice more.</p>

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<p>HavingTwo:</p>

<p>I can quite see your and your D’s dilemma! Her ACT score is great and so is her class rank. Has she been taking any AP? In that case, she will have some AP scores to submit to colleges. That will help her case greatly.</p>

<p>If she is thinking of applying to top colleges, many do require at least 2 SAT-IIs and some 3 (and some terrific colleges are SAT-optional!). Some require the SAT-IIs to be in specific fields, others merely ask for 2 or 3 in any field. This is something that your D should look into, as she should be taking the SAT-IIs at the completion of the relevant courses (I suggest May and June, with perhaps a retake in October or November).</p>

<p>Some of the top tier schools do not require a HS diploma, so if the new school 's graduation requirements are too difficult to fulfill because of the move, that may not matter. What would matter would be the kind of courses your D took. But it would make things easier if she could have that HS diploma.</p>

<p>I doubt that she could graduate from her present school if she moves away, but she could graduate from a new school, perhaps with some tweaking.
So it is important that you investigate whether all or some of her credits could transfer to the new school. Since she is such a good student, she might also thrive at a community college if one is within easy access. </p>

<p>I know it’s tough to contemplate separating for some length of time. Try to think of it as an extended summer camp!</p>

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<p>LOL maybe both high schools will want her to be their graduate because she’ll help their statistical profile, so they’ll fight over her or be more willing to extend help to meet the graduation requirements. Let the bidding war begin. Sorry, so cheesy I just couldn’t resist.</p>

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<p>Just a caution with community college and top tier schools both being mentioned… Check carefully with the top tier schools she would like to attend to find the maximum community college credits she can earn while still be treated as a first year applicant. If she earns too many credits at community college, she may be treated as a transfer student instead. Transfer students typically have a much lower acceptance rate.</p>

<p>Lots of options to think about! Best wishes to you and your family as you work out the best solution to your situation.</p>

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<p>Keep the fam together.</p>

<p>She should be able to get to know her senior year and junior teachers enough for them to write them recs. Of the 3 teachers that I am having write recs for me… 2 of them are teachers from this year</p>

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<p>i go to an international school overseas and we get new kids all the time. They do just fine though, so it shouldn’t be a problem moving at all. She can still have teachers at the old school write recs, no? In my opinion, the hardest thing about switching schools is the course schedule. In other words, does the new school have similar courses?</p>

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<p>She might have better luck at a private school in the new location. They have more flexibility to change any rules about graduation requirements than publics.</p>

79

<p>

Oh. Somehow I was under impression that you were considering state schools, too (probably because somebody mentioned establishing the residence)… </p>

<p>Well, she still could technically apply to top schools this year: her ACT is already high enough, and she could take SAT II-s in December (and ACT alone will be enough for many top unis, including Yale, UPenn, Brown and UChicago). But you stated that she is not ready for graduation at the end of junior year, so I guess we should forgo the discussion of this option altogether. Just keep in mind that the HS diploma is not necessary in most cases, so DD can just take senior classes at her new school with no intention to graduate (but she should explicitly note this somewhere in her application).</p>

<p>I think it’s impossible to choose the best solution before you find out the exact requirements in each school. Both schools are in Midwest (maybe even in the same state) - so it’s possible that the class selection and graduation requirements will be pretty similar. In fact, if the AP classes in the new school are all the same and easy-to-get-into - you might be better off moving in the middle of the junior year. If, on the other hand, the new school has some strict two-year additional requirements and no summer-school option - you may have to look for alternative educational options… </p>

<p>What I would not worry about - that’s the recommendations. Many students get them from the teachers they only met in their senior year; and there’s nothing wrong with asking the teachers from the “old” school to write some of the recommendations.</p>

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That’s the other question you should ask at school A (preferably in writing). I am pretty sure that if DD matriculates to a high school at the new city, you’ll lose the option of getting the diploma from school A. On the other hand, if she takes classes at a CC, or distance classes, I don’t know… maybe school A will be accommodating in some cases.</p>

<p>Oh, btw, did you consider the [EPGY</a> Online High School](<a href=“http://epgy.stanford.edu/ohs/index.html]EPGY”>http://epgy.stanford.edu/ohs/index.html)? It’s a school for gifted; EPGY is well-known to the top universities; and DD can start taking EPGY classes right away (not being enrolled to the school) if she wants to check whether she would like to do it. Of course, it’s quite expensive, but I think less expensive than a family living in two cities.</p>

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The top colleges usually do not count the courses taken part-time when the student was matriculated in high school. But yes, it’s worth checking, too. Just in case.</p>