transferring between boarding schools

2BeOrNot2Be
Sat, 16 Mar 2013 16:52:36 +0000

Thank you everybody for your very valuable feedback.
I fully realize that “out of the door” attitude will not make our kid any good. And I do hope that he will love the school he was accepted to.
With this being said, our kid had a chance to experience his “first choice” school first hand, when he went there for a summer session. He really loved the place, did very well academically, got great references from his summer teachers, and made friends. Obviously, this did not help much when it came to being accepted into grade 9. He still stays in touch with his summer session pals, and some of those kids will now attend the school, while he will have to go somewhere else. Will he be able to love the school that accepted him? I hope so, but who knows.
I understand that staying in his home public school is an option, but he’ll probably hate it. He is in an international exchange program right now, where he goes to a very strong school. He went to the summer camp I mentioned above. Coming back to a very mediocre public school might be very depressing for him. Not only he is not challenged academically, but he is extremely bored. He is a year or two ahead of the class in the subjects he is interested in. We’ve tried to jump a grade, but got no support from the school.
We are outside of the US, so some of the opportunities available in the US, e.g. magnet schools, are not offered here.