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If school ends at 8th grade, is it easier to transfer in 3rd or 4th or to wait until the end?
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Anonymous
| If school ends at 8th grade, is it easier to transfer in 3rd or 4th or to wait until the end? |
Anonymous
What do you mean by easier? |
Anonymous
| To which schools are you interested in transferring. |
Anonymous
GDS, Maret, NCS |
Anonymous
A lot may depend on the culture of DC's K-8 school. This doesn't pertain to whether it would be easier, but if you may experience blowback for wanting to make what administrators may preceive as a "premature" move. May not necessarily be easier but you may get more bites at the apple. For example, apply for 3rd grade, turned down. Apply same school in 9th and get accepted. Huge factor in admissions success are the numbers of applicants v the number of available slots. Folks believe that this was a difficult cycle, especially for PreK/K, because there was an increase in applicants at many schools for the same number of slots. I don't know what the scale is for these schools: how many slots do they add at 3rd, 9th, etc. and what is the applicant pool for them? Interesting question. |
Anonymous
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We have a child at a K-8 school. We may try to make a move in 4th just to get DC settled in the x-12 school. I think by the time third grade rolls around, which is when the app process starts, DC will have an opinion. DC is very, very happy at the current school. I am trying to be very go-with-the-flow with this and figure we will do the tours and see what DC thinks.
I think your question is a very interesting one and one that's obviously on my mind, too. I think, however, that at that age your DC will have a view and could choose to skew the process him or herself if s/he doesn't want to leave the other school "early." |
Anonymous
| I think it's easier on the child to start a new school on 3rd or 4th, and I think it's easier on the parents to apply out when not everyone else in the class is competing for the same spots at schools. However, if a school ends at gr. 8 and you are applying out early, they may not make it easy for you to leave and may not be helpful w/ the application process, whereas applying for 8th they will guide you through it and be more supportive. |
Anonymous
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If your school has a good record of 8th grade placement, and you're happy, stay. There is much disruption in the lives of children when they are running the roulette wheel someone else is spinning.
If you hve other reasons to leave, that's another matter. |
Anonymous
Does anyone know how WES, St. Patrick's or NPS view applying out early? Are they supportive? Does it negatively impact sibling applications or younger siblings who may still be at the school? |
Anonymous
| Well, think about it -- if the school, any school (not just WES, St. Pat's etc) thinks your younger sib applicant is going to leave after a few years and not stay thru 8th, don't you think they're going to ding that applicant and choose someone else with the same package? Who has no track record of the family leaving? |
Anonymous
Not necessarily. For example, if the school ends up not being a good fit for the older kid why would they ding the family. Why would they not support the application? |
Anonymous
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Just a thought about being settled in a K-12 school by 3rd grade: It's a very small world for a very long time.
We love our JK-8, and DC, who has 5 years till graduation, is already bemoaning moving on. At the same time, it's going to feel like an awfully small place by then. Sure, it will be scary to move on, but invigorating, too, I think. We're in a small, more progressive school with outstanding high school placement. Some years, parents start to worry and apply out early. I think they have a lower acceptance rate than with the great middle school endorsing the applications. But, as with everything posted, each case is different! |
Anonymous
| 9th grade is a much bigger expansion years at almost all schools (except NCA/STA, obviously). Most schools only take 3rd ro 4th or 5th graders if spaces have opened up through attrition. |
Anonymous
Yes, I think this is right. Unless the family and school were in agreement on an "early" transfer, I can't imagine they would forget about it when the next sib applies. |
Anonymous
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I went to a K-8 school and applied to NCS and got in in 9th grade. I am no rocket scientist, either. I noticed my peers who joined me as new students in 9th grade were not your typical type-A over-achievers. We all had something unique (real...not transcript-padding) to offer: sports, drama, art, great interview, quirky background. About half had only B GPAs from their k-8 school.
Most of us who entered in 9th grade went to excellent colleges (i know you're wondering!) |