Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP here. How welcoming do you think GDS high school students would be to a transfer student, in particular one who has to commute from fairly far away?
OP, the kids will be welcoming and it will be fine. High school is an expansion year so your son won't be the only one.
However, 1) don't get your heart set on GDS. I don't know how familiar you are with how tough private schools admissions have gotten in recent years, but there is approximately a 10% acceptance rate for the Big 3 schools (which for many people, GDS is). That means many well-qualified, great kids don't get admitted. From a parenting perspective, I think it's important that you don't set up expectations that because your child is a great student at a public or smaller private, he's sure to get into GDS.
2) I would strongly recommend against commuting from far away. Not because your child won't be included, but because it adds to the stress your child is going face. GDS is a demanding intense school. In the high school years, could be times when he has 4-5 hours of homework a night. Plus he needs some downtime to socialize and just hang out. Adding a long commute time to this is just not fair to your kid.
Rent your house out and move into the city -- into an apartment or whatever you have to do -- to avoid this. Either that, or make peace with the high school you're at and spend a lot of money on enrichments or independent tutoring for your son. For $40,000, you can buy an awful lot of enrichments and tutoring. And, believe it or not, a superstar from a public high school probably has a better chance at being admitted to top schools that a top 30% kid at GDS.