I work for a giant company with plenty of people overseas (including me for 7 years) and college counseling is a perk in our package.

I've had two kids now get into T10 colleges and really wish I worried less about this. Certainly, your life in the next 5 years matters more. High school in the Netherlands could be really awesome, especially if kids are on board. Your kids will be American and, like all kids, will be judged based on the context of their school.

There's a lot about narrative in the college process. Counselors like to make money by saying that has to start in 7th grade. My own kids looked back at what they did summer before senior year and built a narrative in reverse. Your kid will have a story. A "community essay"? check. A "when I disagreed with someone essay?" check.

They'll be fine. And possibly open to UK or EU schools, which would be awesome.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could be an advantage to apply to US colleges from a NL high school. It is considered geographic diversity.

Maybe it’s geographic diversity for some universities where European applicants are rare, but keep in mind that international applicants have lower admissions rates than domestic applicants-and a highly selective university may take just one applicant from a country, if any.

Except the applicant isn't an international applicant but a US one - and how many NL college applicants is a school getting. Chinese, Indian, ME, you get boatloads. But, a NL applicant. It would likely stand out for lots of reasons. It is also a good story to tell for the applicant.

You’re confusing the concepts of international student (which is defined based on citizenship and has financial aid implications) and American applicant from an internationally based high school.

Universities may differ in their practices, but applicants are typically judged in the pool where their high school is located, irrespective of citizenship. The reason for that is to have an admissions officer familiar with the school/school system and to compare students within that school system.

Agree that the competition from Netherlands is nothing compared to that from Asian countries, but still Netherlands is a small country, most universities aren’t going to need more than 1 student accepted (if any) to check the box on having a student from that country.

Check your residency requirements for in-state tuition if that is of interest. We moved for senior year only to UK, kept home and business, but laws require physical presence 12 months prior. My child was considered an International student when applying, and was read by the International AO's.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could be an advantage to apply to US colleges from a NL high school. It is considered geographic diversity.

Maybe it’s geographic diversity for some universities where European applicants are rare, but keep in mind that international applicants have lower admissions rates than domestic applicants-and a highly selective university may take just one applicant from a country, if any.

Except the applicant isn't an international applicant but a US one - and how many NL college applicants is a school getting. Chinese, Indian, ME, you get boatloads. But, a NL applicant. It would likely stand out for lots of reasons. It is also a good story to tell for the applicant.

*independently

My husband was in this situation. A couple of things:

1. Check residency requirements for in-state tuition. In many cases, just owning property in a state does not establish residency. You need to live there full-time. Additionally, there’s often a required time period, sometimes a year or more. So, if you move back summer before 12th, maybe they’d qualify for in-state tuition (bc that’s when 1yr happens) but would be considered an oos applicant (bc not 1yr yet. And some places have different acceptances for in/oos)

2. Make sure foreign school covers topics to be successful in American universities. Eg, science/math/language every year. My Dutch relatives specialized by high school, the would be lawyers dropping most STEM, for example. A US friend in Switzerland had a tutor for their kid bc their (excellent) school focused more on humanities & they knew their kid would need hard science for US college apps (I think they were indecently doing an AP?).

3. ECs matter more in US than foreign universities, so don’t neglect those.

Now, if your kid would be most interested in private schools and/or money is not a problem for you, #1 doesn’t matter. If your kid would possibly stay in Europe, none of this matters

Anonymous wrote:Could be an advantage to apply to US colleges from a NL high school. It is considered geographic diversity.

Maybe it’s geographic diversity for some universities where European applicants are rare, but keep in mind that international applicants have lower admissions rates than domestic applicants-and a highly selective university may take just one applicant from a country, if any.

Could be an advantage to apply to US colleges from a NL high school. It is considered geographic diversity.

I'd bet the kid would be eligible for a cheap/ free UG degree in the Netherlands. Could get a great undergrad and you could save your $ for grad school in the US.

I have family who educated their children overseas and sent them back to the US for college. What I observed was that their international school did not provide sound advice for applying to US colleges - they leaned too heavily on the idea of schools being test optional and despite one of the kids being a very strong student, dissuaded him from taking the SAT, while not helping him create a balanced list of schools to apply to. He ended up applying to all highly rejective schools and didn’t get in anywhere, which I was worried about, but ultimately still shocked by, because he was such an impressive student.

I’d recommend an early meeting with the school’s college counselor to assess their history with, and understanding of, US schools and the application process. Internationally educated US citizens likely face some unique hurdles and it sounded like the guidance my family member received when abroad was weak.

Moving for 12th grade would be tough on any kid, and might make college applications challenging.

You could consider having your kid finish out their high school career with one parent who remains in the country with them. I've even seen kids remain in-country separately from their parents, staying with family friends, to avoid having to move in their last year of high school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are likely about to move to the Netherlands before child is entering 9th grade, potentially 3-5years, so means coming back for 12th grade or not at all. What do we need to keep in mind for future college applications and such?

Will your employer pay US tuition if you are still overseas? You are forfeiting in-state tuition so you need to negotiate to make up for that.

Wrong. For tax purposes they maintain domicile in the USA. Even if they sell their house.

Anonymous wrote:We are likely about to move to the Netherlands before child is entering 9th grade, potentially 3-5years, so means coming back for 12th grade or not at all. What do we need to keep in mind for future college applications and such?

Will your employer pay US tuition if you are still overseas? You are forfeiting in-state tuition so you need to negotiate to make up for that.

Wait and see. Who knows what's happening for admissions cycle in 3 years

We are likely about to move to the Netherlands before child is entering 9th grade, potentially 3-5years, so means coming back for 12th grade or not at all. What do we need to keep in mind for future college applications and such?