please advice
I attend a private school, on paper it's amazing and has a lot of resources....but in practice, it's well behind where it should be. would transferring schools my junior year (fall next year) hurt me in terms of applying to universities? would it be better to have some serious-looking classes, but they have no substance? like honor chem, but in reality, we haven't had more than 1 lab, and we are not even a fraction of the way through our textbook. i think we are still in the first few chapters. i understand needing to be prepared for college, but due to the limited resources our school has, my entire senior year will be college classes. it seems fully possible to catch any delinquent areas during that time. however, would it hurt me to transfer junior year? i would probably lose the majority of my friends b/c the private school is 30 mins away in a different town, but the local public school has a lot more to offer academically. thanks for your time.
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2 answers
The simple answer would be to go to the school that will challenge you the most and has the most honors, APs/IBs, EC opportunities, Sports, and a better academic reputation.
The bottom line is that colleges will not penalize you for attending a better school. Just a clarification, when you say your Sr. year will be college classes, is that because your current private schools has no APs/IBs for you to take and you have to do dual enrollment? Or am I missing something.
Friends are important but they will not get you into college. You can still keep your friends but make new ones. Keep an open mind. Maybe there are some cool kids at the new school and you don't even know what you are missing.
The better your Common App looks from the perspective of grades, course rigor, awards, honors, ECs and essays, the better chances you are going to get into a better school.
It's time to make up for lost ground IMO.
Good luck.
I am going through this same problem except for it's a poor public school to a good public school. So, the dilemma is which one is more important to you. Your friends or your academic life.
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