Transferring Spring Senior Year

[Anonymous]

My DD would like to transfer for the second semester of her senior year. We moved during her sophomore year and decided on a small private school, thinking the close-knit environment would be a good fit. However, with fewer than 80 students in the high school, she’s struggled to find her place socially and has never really “found her people.” The constant girl drama has been hard on her, and she spends every weekend at home.

We had looked into transferring her during her junior year, but the only other local option was a religious school that didn’t align with our family’s beliefs. Now she’s expressed interest in transferring to a boarding school (if that’s even possible for just one semester) or possibly living with a family member to attend a larger school up north.

I'd appreciate any advice. I don't think transferring is a possible option, and she should just stick the rest of the year out.

[Anonymous]

So she’s a senior now and wants to transfer out of her high school for next semester? That doesn’t sound realistic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So she’s a senior now and wants to transfer out of her high school for next semester? That doesn’t sound realistic.

Yes, she is, I agree, but it's hard to watch her have to deal with this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So she’s a senior now and wants to transfer out of her high school for next semester? That doesn’t sound realistic.

Yes, she is, I agree, but it's hard to watch her have to deal with this.

Girl drama can be exhausting. Mine had to go through it in high school but it was prior to senior year. By senior year they are more mature and they develop some coping skills around it even if it remains challenging. So the plus side is using it to gain maturity and hopefully some successful coping skills. This was at a larger public high school however. I can see that it would be more difficult in a smaller class.

[Anonymous]

She could move to public high school. Private schools and boarding schools do not have an application process for second semester seniors.

You could have her call to give herself agency but i doubt any school would take a kid for a semester.

[Anonymous]

She might not be able to graduate, depending on school requirements. This seems like a dumb idea tbh.

[Anonymous]

Why is the local public school not an option?

[Anonymous]

She will not find meaningful friends during the spring semester because everybody will be looking to move on to college. Senior year is tough, even for kids who have been at the same school all along. Your DD needs to stat looking forward and beyond. “F^&* high school…” and look towards what’s next. She will get there.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely would not happen in my house. Is there independent study she can do, or virtual classes?

[Anonymous]

Can she do an internship for credit, or study abroad for one semester? I know someone in a similar situation who did senior year in France and got a lot out of it.

Separately, I was in the exact same boat (new private school sophomore year and most of the kids were friends since prek or 6th grade) and I ended up spending a lot of time with my church youth group, where none of the kids were from my tiny (70 kids per grade) private school.

Is your DC involved in any clubs or sports or other groups outside of school? That may be a better social outlet.

[Anonymous]

If it's that bad, what about spending the last semester with an Online high school program, move on and look forward to college?

[Anonymous]

I think it’s very unrealistic to expect a private school to take someone the last semester of senior year. I agree about exploring the possibility of public school or an online program.

[Anonymous]

Some private schools have a sort of extra senior year for athlete types.

Are your daughter's grades good?

I like the study abroad idea BUT I think that would derail her from graduating on time at her current school. And would they make you pay tuition while she was studying elsewhere?

How do college applications fit into all of this?

This is pretty drastic. Maybe offer your daughter some rewards for gritting it out. Like a vacation at Christmas and some other cool treat in June. The idea would be to give her something to look forward to.

Have you spoken with the school counselor? This seems so hard. I would ask admin for help getting her to not hate school so much. Maybe a teacher can help through a bit of intentional mentoring.

[Anonymous]

Public schools might have different graduation requirements, so that's something to watch out for.

[Anonymous]

What about doing spring semester abroad. A girl in my DD’s high school did this spring semester senior year.