<p>HI,
my family will move in a new apartment next week. Currently, we’re choosing between an apartment that allows me to stay at my old school in senior year and an apartment allowing me to go to a better high school. Here’s the comparison of the two schools:</p>
<p>Old school:
pros: - good relationship with counselors and teachers.
- I’m currently the one of the best students there.
- The dual enrollment program at a local community college, which saves me a lot of money.
cons: - Students’ academic performance is quite low. ( Most of my fellow IB students, who are considered the elite in this school, does not know how to use their calculators to do basic algebra. Our average ACT score is 16.)
- Lack of competent Ap teachers because my old school focuses mainly on the IB program, which s!cks. Ap classes are full of drop-out IB students who believe that AP is easier than IB. As a result, we dont even have an AP calculus AB teacher.
- Old school rarely sends students to top colleges. </p>
<p>New school:
Pros: -Better overall
- Have more choices for Ap classes. Experienced Ap teachers
- Send some students to top colleges<br>
- Better peers
Cons:
I may not be one of the best students here.
No dual enrollment program
Have to redevelop relationships with counselors and teachers to have them write letters of recommendation for me</p>
<p>Could I still request recommendations from the teachers of the old school for my college application? If I couldn’t do so, what school would be a best choice for me?</p>
<p>I’m planning on applying to Columbia, and Chicago this fall.</p>
<p>it might not really matter b/c ur gonna be a senior but if ur original school sounds so crappy it might be slightly better to transfer school. more competitive and smarter kids will help u adjust to college rather than be overwhelmed.</p>
<p>Get letters of rec before you go, but it sounds like the new school is a better choice, all things being equal. The AdComs are smart enough to look at profiles of the two schools, and so if your GPA drops, they’ll understand, and coming from a better school certainly won’t hurt.</p>
<p>Plus, you know, taking good classes is pretty important anyway.</p>
<p>Your guidance counselor has to send his/her own letter of recommendation, which includes technical information like your class rank, etc. But your teachers, who write their own recs, can mail them separately. Unless your guidance counselor has a specific policy on how ALL your recs should be sent, it’s up to you to mail most everything. You might give your teachers stamped, addressed envelopes for them to mail, or they might give the recs back to you to send.</p>
<p>I gave my teachers blank envelopes. They put their finished recs inside, signed the back of the envelope (precaution against me opening and reading them, heheh), and gave them to me. I put everything–sealed teacher recs, counselor rec, and attachments–inside one big envelope for each school (including Chicago). So–in short, if you were asking if your counselor is required to send all your recs: no. If you were asking whether your counselor has to send a counselor-specific rec: yes. But I don’t know if it has to be your current counselor.</p>
<p>As for the school question: I’m sad to hear about the IB program at your school. It is a good program in general, and I’ve rarely heard of one so poorly executed as it sounds. From your descriptions, I think you’d be better off at the new school. You might have teachers who can devote themselves to their classes, and students who do the same. Furthermore, a switch to a more competitive school can only look good to admissions.</p>
<p>To the OP, in order to increase your chance of admissions, do not transfer to the new school. When I visited Chicago in April as an accepted student, one of the admissions officers said that she usually focuses on what is offered at your school and what has been accomplished. “It is not fair to compare your school, a school that has two or three AP class with another down the street that has… say 32 AP classes,” she said. “It’s simply not fair to compare apples and oranges,” she added.</p>
<p>Simply focus on what you have right now, and get good recommendations. Ultimately, excel in all of your senior courses. I wish you the best.</p>
<p>In response to your comment regarding AP and IB, as an individual who has experienced both AP and IB, I can confidently say that IB is indeed more difficult than AP. However, IB is more difficult not because of its curriculum, but because of its numerous internal assessments. For AP, you can pick and choose the courses you wish to take. This option is not available for IB students, who must take the whole program in order to receive the IB Diploma.</p>
<p>@ Divine Comedy:
Thank you for your insight. I acknowledge that IB is a bit harder overall. But the thing is that the IB program at my school does not live up to the true IB standards. To be honest, although I’m a math-science oriented student, I still like IB because it will provide me a solid liberal arts education. I really love the idea of the Extended essay (a serious research paper), and Theory of Knowledge class. </p>
<p>But well, reality is really different. There’re still some of my IB friends not knowing which continent Italy belongs to, a math teacher not being able to write an accurate derivative formula, and an English teacher making us read the summary of Hamlet in lieu of the original test.
In terms of exploiting the school’s resources, I believe that I’ve done my best. I took a full schedule at high school last year including 6 IB classes. I also excelled in Chem 111 at the local community college through the dual-enrollment program, and also took the Ap Calc BC exam after self-studying the materials. </p>
<p>Last year, I and my family left Vietnam for the US with a hope that my sister and I will have a better education. I feel so lost now. The education I’m getting does not prepare me to go to any colleges. The amount of extracurricular activities I’ve done so far is nothing compared to those of the stellar students applying to Ivies and other top colleges. I love studying new frontiers of knowledge, and discussing interesting theories, but cannot find any friend to confine. My family’s current situation makes it hard for me to get a full time college education.
What future lays ahead is so obscure. </p>
<p>Will going to UofChicago give me another way to live my life?
At Chicago, can I find a job that offers me enough money to take care of myself?
Can I find friends who are as intellectually curious as I am?</p>
<p>the initiative you’ve taken (self-studying and enrolling in college courses) seems to be really genuine, and shows that you’ve risen above and beyond the bounds of your limited environment. you seem to really be taking your education as far as you can, and really, that’s all that matters: how well you do in the context of your environment. going to a more competitive school would be another step in that direction of demonstrated intellectual curiosity-- always seeking more challenges. your intelligence seems to demand a more nourishing environment, so for your own sake, go for it.</p>
<p>and as for being prepared for these top schools…if i were you, i wouldn’t worry. i think you’ll do great. i’m curious to see how things turn out. (fortunately, these schools also happen to be those brimming with resources, doling out amazing financial aid left and right.)</p>
<p>as for your questions, there will be no shortage of intellectual friends or jobs at chicago, and like i said, their aid should be generous. if you have a unique situation-- and you seem to have one indeed, given your immigration here-- you should of course explain it to your counselor, so it can be articulated well to the colleges you apply to. for this, and for all the reasons mentioned above, make the switch. you will almost definitely receive more thorough and personal counseling at a more competitive school.</p>
<p>just a little comment about the IB. while you may not love it or your school does not live up to it, I really am glad I took the IB. I finished my first year of college knowing how to manage time, what reading really needed to be done and what could be ignored. it also prepared me for analytical writing.</p>
<p>You could of course gather recommendations from your old school, even if you went to a new school your senior year. In general, recommendations are meant to be from junior-year teachers anyway. You may need a recommendation from your new counselor, but I doubt this will be difficult, or very important.</p>
<p>As far as the actual decision–no one can make that but you. I wish you the best of luck.</p>
<p>Hi, I actually faced a similar decision at the end of my junior year, and chose to stay at my old school. The reason was that I really love my high school, even tho it is not as academically competitive as the other school, its environment is really comfortable, with all the friends and relationships i have here. For me, the beginning of senior year was very stressful, with college apps coming up, and i would imagine it difficult to deal with that AND trying to get used to a new school. Also, the extracurricular activities (sports, leadership positions in clubs) look better on apps if you participate in them longer to show dedication. And, like others have mentioned, recommendations from teachers you’ve known well are important. I’ve also heard that it’s better to be a top student in a “mediocre” high school, because colleges can see that you’ve overcome any lack of resources/opportunities that your school might have. In my school, for example, even though it does not have the academic reputation nor the wealth of resources and AP classes that other schools have, top-ranking students were able to get into prestigious schools like stanford, uc berkeley and ucla. </p>
<p>On the other hand, if you do decide to switch schools, describing the experience in your college app essay could be considered an “unusual or difficult” circumstance that you overcame, which could boost your app (: </p>
<p>In the end, the decision is up to you. Do whatever you feel most comfortable with, without stressing so much about how it will affect your college chances. Whatever happens to you, just make sure to present yourself honestly on your application, revealing who you really are and detailing important experiences that have shaped your growth. I never did anything during high school solely to impress readers for my college app (except for maybe taking the SAT, but that was a necessity ^^), and I got into schools like uchicago and berkeley. The college app process is easier than collegeconfidential makes it seem so don’t worry about it. good luck!</p>
<p>Thank you everyone, your information helps me a lot. U’r right, chococat, I just need to be myself. If I get rejected by the University of Chicago, that’s because I’m not a good fit for it.
Nothing to regret when I’ve tried my best.</p>
so don’t worry about it. good luck!</p>