Teen Forums - Teen Chat, Teen Help, Teen Advice & Support

If you do not want to read the whole thing, just skip to the last paragraph. It is my question.

I think I can guess the majority of responses I will get will be "just work harder now," but I could use a little advice so here I am.

The sitch: Born and raised in Australia until the age of 13-ish, then off to America for a few years and then back to Australia. I picked a school here after checking out a couple that my mother had heard good things about. The school is CRC Sydenham, and seemed pretty decent to me. I am now a little over half way through the school year and realised it is a terrible school. The students are almost all morons who should not even bother turning up for school, lord knows they do not want to, and a nice fat majority of the teachers are only more intelligent because of age. Not a good thing. They have no idea how to deal with the students and blah blah blah. Stupidly, it took me until now to consider looking up school rankings (something that did not occur to me prior to choosing a school) and my school is ranked 263rd! Not in the world, not in Oceania, not even just on our island, but 263rd in the state. It is barely above the half way mark. I felt sooo dumb for picking this school.

I get pretty decent grades. I was awarded a "certificate of academic excellence" at my school's awards ceremony. 98% on my physics exam, 97% on my RE exam, 93% on highest level math course exam, 92% on Psychology exam blah blah blah. I am not trying to be full of myself here, hell I think apart from physics and RE (which is completely useless) my scores could do with being a few more percent higher for me to even FEEL full of myself.

I get these grades by doing the assigned homework and maybe an hour or two of study per class before exams. I pretty much put in no effort. I am lazy, that I am pretty aware of.

So here is the question if anyone is still reading: Should I go to a school ranked in the top ten/twenty for my senior level with the promise of actually working hard (which I assume for me would get my scores and what not into the top four percent in the state/country) keeping in mind that going to such a school would cost twenty grand, give or take an extra ten thousand dollars? Please help :/

First off, I think the scores you've got are amazing. I sure as hell know I could never get 93% in the highest level maths!
secondly, to get the extra few percent your looking for, it won't take much more effort, so I say go for it and feel full of yourself!
School wise, it's really up to you to decide what you want to do. As I've never been to school myself I'm not very fluent with the way schools work and teachers teach. If your teachers are not very good and your not happy going to that school, then look for another one. You could probably get yourself into the top 4% by working at your grades that little bit harder, but if you want to change schools, have a browse, find some schools you like the look of and ask for a tour/go to an open day and see if they're as good as you think. Being Home Ed and all, this is the best advice I can give. Hope I helped even a little bit!

Michael~ <3

http://vampenstine.tumblr.com/

think wisely.. i mean its always better a prestigious school and since u can for your scores and if you actually can support that why shouldn't you?.. take that in consideration..i guess its a blessing..

@vampenstine Thanks. your message did help. Problem is it is very difficult to try hard when everyone around you is not trying at all and vice versa. Going to a school where everyone is intelligent and hard working makes oneself feel pushed to work harder. That and having competent teachers kind of rocks too.

@Blair.godz Your message was a little difficult to understand. You were encouraging me to go to the prestigious school? The reason why I am hesitant to jump into CGS (the prestigious school I am thinking of) is because it costs quite a large some of money, around 25,000 AUD. Where as my current school costs more like 6000 AUD. Just giving a little comparison. Large difference in money. My mother will have to borrow it from somewhere/someone to afford it for a year.

An added bonus is that if I do get these amazing grades, just to explain why I am at all thinking that mine are not good enough, is that if I can get a final score (called an ENTER score here) of above 98, I will automatically receive a scholarship to just about any university in Australia, and the second best happens to be quite close to CGS.

Still, it is encouraging me to see people defending both sides, means I am not an idiot for considering myself.

Thanks ~

Alright, honestly speaking, I was in that same tight spot. And my decision was to incur the extra costs because of a lot of extra benefits you get from a prestigious school, most impressive of all that name on your resume. For example, Australia has the NIDA where all the top actors and performers you see today (from Australia in Hollywood) have attended. It's given their career a vital jump.

Going to a top school isn't just about the academic facilities there, it's about the other students there. Generally speaking, if you decide to attend said school, there will be a fair amount of competition, and really hardworking individuals; all in all, it could be overwhelming. It certainly won't be a walk-in-the park.

The extra money isn't really extra when you look at the future. By training yourself at a higher level, you get a better understanding, and even more importantly, more connections. Which allows you to reach people at higher positions, positions which may not be accessible to the average Joe. Which then allows you to obtain a secure job.

But then, it all depends on what kind of job you are interested in. Does your career require you to have proper networking skills, or the correct connections?

College: Are prestigious schools worth it? If you have the money and the grades for it, sure why not? Do you mean ivy leagues such as Harvard and Yale? If so, it's extremely expensive and I wouldn't recommend it unless you really really want to.

However, that being said - if you do decide to go into an ivy league, you will tend to be hired by job managers.

You will still get a great job and education at a state college. In my opinion, I would go to a state college, it's just as good as an ivy league and saves money.

But it's your decision.

On a personal note, I would go to a state college.

High School: If you go to a school that challenges you, it should be enough.

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Staff member: August 12th, 2011-November 5th, 2011
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