What would you do ? 13yr old - dd home or away ?

[livinginthehills5]

Possible move to NJ, USA - DD currently looking forward to next school and will be weekly boarding , however move to Nj is on the cards - do I sell the big move to USA and send her back at 16 to do A Levels, which is my preferred choice or as dh says, we all go and stay for the duration (however long that will be )- Have no idea about USA education and as someone who had a crap uk state school education and have worked hard for a good private english education for my kids im freaked out - any advice good or bad would be appreciated.

[Borisismyhousespider]

Well personally I like NJ, some great areas to live (and some rotten ones) but close to NYC so lifestyle for you all could be great, although I have no personal experience of the school system. What would worry me is what I've seen on here about your dd having to pay overseas fees to go to Uni back here (if that's what she & you would choose to do) if she's not resident in the UK for x years prior to wanting to attend Uni. On the other hand, the US school system has some fab Uni's to attend, so if you're going for the long term stay in the USA view, skip the UK Education.
(PS you're moving to the state with the highest car insurance premiums in the USA!)

[ZZZenAgain]

US universities = expensive. I say this with a painful cringe since my dd has just told me (after our holiday in the US) that she loves America and wants to live there and is definitely going to Princeton.

So that has us eating fish fingers for the rest of our lives! lol

If she starts boarding in the UK, she can come for a longish holiday and compare lifestyles. In the meantime you can be checking out the local schools. How about a private school in the US? And would it be possible to do the IB programme in the US which might be more compatible with independent school education in the UK?

[livinginthehills5]

Borismyhousespider - thing is I sort of want for her to have an identity with the uk and don't want her to be in limbo between the two countries , so im not sure if a 3 year schooling in the usa will make her want to stay forever because i forsee that we willc ome back to uk after 3-5 years . My worst case scenario is we come back and she stays / NJ looks fantastic and I am quite excied about moving and it would be so simple if it was just me dh and ds who is only 5- but i am so worried about my dd

[livinginthehills5]

zzenagain - interested how expensive they are compared to uk. Have checked out the local private schools and have found a school that looks ok but not, if i am honest anything like the one she is down for in uk . but doesnt appear to do the IB . Nearest school seems to be in New York which I don't want to do -too much time travelling. I am really interested in the differences in standards between the private schools in uk and private schools in usa or should i just doo the high school thing ?

[livinginthehills5]

please excuse the appaling spelling

[ZZZenAgain]

list

schools for diploma level (so secondary) IB in New Jersey

I don't know how the High School Diploma is perceived/assessed by British universities.

since you have a secondary in the UK which you feel is exceptionally good, it is very hard to just try a school in another country and hope it will be as good.

[ZZZenAgain]

according to this , Bergen Academies Hackensack NJ (unfortunate the name really)

here

[ZZZenAgain]

however, having now seen the school website , it is not the equivalent of what you have.

[livinginthehills5]

thanks so much for this - some good reading for me - hackensack ummmm could find this one a lttle different !! I would love for her to be able to get into a good sixth form in uk to do A levels, and then into uni in the uk . but I am a little bit exicited about her doing a stint in the usa .... funny thing is she is only 13 but i need to look forward to the next 5 years which DH is not understtnding because he still sees her as a little girl and can not imagine her saying bugger off i staying here with my spotty boyfriend

[mtw]

Milburn NJ has excellent a high school - public. Where would you be living? Milburn is an easy commute to NY.

[mathanxiety]

If you choose a municipality with a top notch public high school (this will usually mean an expensive area) you will actually gain a really high quality education. When you look for somewhere to live, be very careful to investigate the exact high school district where residents of that area may send their property taxes and their children to school.

If your DD is bright and willing to work really hard, she can advance through honors level subjects and take Advanced Placement level subjects during her years there. The really good public schools in the US far outstrip all but the most prestigious private schools in the UK, imo. Wiki information here on Advanced Placement -- maybe a bit basic. Here's a little general information and comparison of the two systems, US and UK. WRT the AP level courses, the really selective colleges in the US will not waive freshman year course requirements unless you have a score of 5 (= A) or at least a 4 in any given subject. Students wishing to apply to the top tier of US universities (about 20 in all) will have all, or all but one subject at AP level. Students who are college-bound in general and who are hoping to be accepted in a top 150 college in the US would do four years of English, maths, a foreign language, science (usually physics, chemistry and biology plus another year or one of those or something like geology), and various electives such as art, music, etc.

Here's a tool for researching statistics on various public schools in NJ The municipalities where high home values are indicated usually show a correlation with good performance of the high school.

[frakkinstein]

I agree she will need to do AP. The problem is that sending her back at the correct age to do A-levels may mean she hasn't covered the GCSE courses fully....

When I was at Uni there were a few American international students I came into contact with - 3 had done the first year of college, 1 had done AP just in the A-level subjects required, another had done virtually all AP and there were a couple more but I don't remember exactly. We had looooong discussions within our fairly international crowd about preparedness for Uni - A-levels vs IB vs the Bac vs the various American options etc and the American one who'd done all AP or the first year of college (which I think is roughly the same standard of work?) said she felt she was coping best next to the British students. The IB lot said they'd missed some if the finer details we were expected to know for science degrees but were streets ahead of everyone else in any other subject because their study skills were better, the American who just did AP in Alevel subjects said he wished he'd known about AS levels (I assume he only did 3 AP classes whereas most if us had done 4/5 AS levels and dropped 1) and there were various other opinions but probably not relevant to you.

So ll that was to say that if you stay your DD should definitely do as many AP classes as possible and if she does a year of college it would be great preparation fir her, except ib all of those situations she ends up paying international student fees.

[piscesmoon]

If she is already going to be weekly boarding, and is looking forward to it,can't you just leave her there and fly her out for holidays? I had friends who did that, but they were only in US for 3 yrs and didn't want to disrupt education.
Have you discussed it with her? If not I would get all the facts and get her views.

[Starmummy]

I thought somebody said in another thread that boarding school didnt count for residency purposes for home student status for UK uni? Apologies for the hijack livinginthehills5

[frakkinstein]

It can count IME but you would need to have someone named as legal guardian who was resident in the UK and able to take full responsiblity for her. The forms for uni funding state parent or guardian which I believe is how the 2 people I know who successfully did the boarding option got around it. In both those cases though the postings were to very dangerous regions and one was an FCO posting, so that may have counted in any case without the guardianship.

It's worth talking to your LEA about the situation in advance, although the rules by then may have changed so you pay full whack anyway. International students currently pay the actual cost of their course.

[mathanxiety]

DD1 and the group she was in class with did at least 5 APs each over their final two years of HS. DD took 6 two AP courses in her second to last year and four in her final year. If you do an AP course, the aim is to get that 5 or a 4 at the very least. Anything less will mean nothing to a selective university.

DD1 was able to skip the majority of required first year courses in the highly selective US university she attends thanks to her AP grades; doing well in the AP exams would in all likelihood equip a student well for studying in a selective UK university too. I'm pretty sure she would have got into her choice of UK university had she applied.