Strategically transfer to crappy school for the last year

[Anonymous]

I'm just curios.

DC (middle school) goes to a private school that has pretty high academic standards and it's not easy to get an A. I'm sure in high school it will be even more competitive - it's a small school, there are plenty of of overachieving, bright kids, the average ACT score is 28 and last time they had 11 National Merit semi-finalists.

We are zoned for a pretty crappy high school and my friend's son goes there. He sleeps in classes, hardly ever does homework. Yet his GPA is 3.8.

So, my question is wouldn't it be a good strategy for parents to put their kids from overachieving school to the crappy school for the last year? The kid will have a great GPA, be on top of the class, may even be a valedictorian. And coming from a crappy public school, it will look good on a college application. What do you think?

[Anonymous]

No. The schools know the crappy schools and they will think the kid won't be able to hack it at their college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm just curios.

DC (middle school) goes to a private school that has pretty high academic standards and it's not easy to get an A. I'm sure in high school it will be even more competitive - it's a small school, there are plenty of of overachieving, bright kids, the average ACT score is 28 and last time they had 11 National Merit semi-finalists.

We are zoned for a pretty crappy high school and my friend's son goes there. He sleeps in classes, hardly ever does homework. Yet his GPA is 3.8.

So, my question is wouldn't it be a good strategy for parents to put their kids from overachieving school to the crappy school for the last year? The kid will have a great GPA, be on top of the class, may even be a valedictorian. And coming from a crappy public school, it will look good on a college application. What do you think?

This has got to be the most DCUM post ever. Like, EVER.

[Anonymous]

This sounds like a perfectly reasonable thing to do to a kid for the senior year just to MAYBE get into a marginally better college.

[Anonymous]

Can you imagine selling that to your high school senior and/or yourself?

What a message (see college admissions scandal).

-signed mom of a high school senior in a public school because he has gone to public school all 13 years......

[Anonymous]

The only reason to do this is if you live in a state like Texas where the top X% from every public high school gets in to the state U system.

Schools see transcripts so they're not going to think "this scrappy disadvantaged kid really shines from Boondocks High!" they're going to think "maybe dad lost his job? Of course he's top of the class here, coming from Snooty Private where he was middle of the pack."

[Anonymous]

I don't understand how this would work. Your kid spends three years in the prestigious/hard grading school. He and his GPA then transfers to the easier school, where his GPA now looks even lower in comparison to his peers. Plus you lose access to teachers and counselors who know him and can write good letters of recommendation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can you imagine selling that to your high school senior and/or yourself?

What a message (see college admissions scandal).

-signed mom of a high school senior in a public school because he has gone to public school all 13 years......

What? Going from private to public is not a college admissions scandal or anything near it.

[Anonymous]

I wish my parents had done this for me in 9th grade. By senior year it is too late.

[Anonymous]

If you want to pull this off, you'd have to transfer him straight out of middle school, for 4 years. Last year 'strategic' transfer just doesn't make any sense.

[Anonymous]

This is a stupid idea on many levels. First, colleges barely consider senior year grades. So many kids are applying EA, ED, and rolling admission these days, your senior grades aren't that important.

Second, colleges can see your transcript and will see that you transferred from a more competitive school. So they will still benchmark your kid against kids from the school your kid previously attended, not the new school, for an apples to apples comparison.

Third, your kid will lose access to teachers and counselors for references, and will also lose out on any possible opportunities for leadership (club presidents, team captains, etc.).

Finally, your logic makes no sense. How would your kid with lower grades from private school come in and be valedictorian? Your kid's grades would be worse, and if you came in with no APs/other weighted classes, your kid will not be able to compete.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand how this would work. Your kid spends three years in the prestigious/hard grading school. He and his GPA then transfers to the easier school, where his GPA now looks even lower in comparison to his peers. Plus you lose access to teachers and counselors who know him and can write good letters of recommendation.

Good point. You're still importing the kid's 3.4 or whatever. One year of 4.0 isn't going to help that much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish my parents had done this for me in 9th grade. By senior year it is too late.

Agreed. If you do this, it's important for 9th-11th. 11th in particular is usually pretty hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish my parents had done this for me in 9th grade. By senior year it is too late.

Why, so you could have showed up at college wildly unprepared?

[Anonymous]

Maybe he is a bright kid who has things come easy. Keep your kid in private.