Advice for Choosing a High School
From our panelists at our January 29, 2019 Event
Panelists were high school students from Bellevue High, Interlake, Sammamish, International, Newport, and Lakeside
Quick summary:
1) keep grades to yourself; be your own biggest fan
2) try new activities in high school - you may land in a club, activity or club that ignites a real passion
3) learn and use all your resources from beginning of 9th - friends, teachers, upperclassmen, tutorials
4) don’t procrastinate - time management is primary key to success in high school
5) if you go to neighborhood school - put yourself out there to make new friends early
More in-depth summary:
Average number of kids per year from Odle/Tyee gifted/AL who attend
*Bellevue--30
*Newport—52
*Sammamish—10
*International—2-3
*Interlake—145, including 140 per year in centered program (grades 9-11)
*Lakeside—2
[Numbers for BSD schools from gifted office]
School size (2019 numbers)
*Bellevue—1500
*Newport—1800
*Sammamish—1000
*International—320 (in the high school portion)
*Interlake—1600 (486 in the gifted/AL centered program, grades 9-12)
*Lakeside—600 (in the high school portion)
Reasons to choose neighborhood school over Interlake
*commute, did not want to ride metro bus for 45 min-1 hour
*want to be involved in more activities
*want less homework
*band (see below)
Amount of homework--all schools say 9th grade is easiest and 11th is hardest. For 10th-11th grade:
*Bellevue, International, Sammamish said 1.5-2 hours per night.
*Lakeside said 2 hours per night.
*Newport said 2-3 hours per night.
*Interlake said 3-4 hours per night.
Curriculum
*At Interlake, Freshman AL/gifted students take 1-2 AP classes and other gifted classes. Sophomore and Junior year these students take classes in the accelerated IB program. Interlake is one of only two accelerated IB programs in the state (Skyline). At Interlake, if you are in AL, you MUST take all the accelerated IB/gifted classes in 10th and 11th grades--it is a pretty rigid program, you can't pick and choose which gifted/AL classes to take. If you leave AL you can't take any AL classes and can only stay at Interlake through open enrollment (unless Interlake is your neighborhood school). If you choose to leave AL, you have the option (through open enrollment) to take regular IB classes in 11th and 12th grades at Interlake but these are not AL classes. Senior year involves 4 classes and then an internship. Note—Interlake student said the IB program is very Humanities based, and there are lots of essays, etc.
*Bellevue/Newport/Sammamish/International AL freshmen take 1-2 AP classes. As sophomores they take 3-4 AP classes, juniors 5-6 AP classes and seniors take 5-7 AP classes. The AP program is much more flexible than the IB program. If a student decides English is not a strength, that student can take the honors level class instead of the AP class—the student can choose how difficult their schedule will be.
*Registration note: at all Bellevue School District high schools, chemistry/gifted chemistry has a different curriculum than AP chemistry and MUST be taken first. However, AP World History and Honors World History are similar and students take one or the other.
*Lakeside has its own curriculum, with different levels of classes; regular, advanced, and very advanced. Very advanced classes are similar in difficulty to AP and IB classes.
AP classes for Freshmen
*AP Modern World is at all schools (including Interlake), and is the class all AL students coming from Odle/Tyee AL are prepared to take as freshmen.
*AP Human Geography is also available at some schools (Bellevue and Interlake for sure, may be at other schools, generally thought of as easier than AP World).
*Newport mentioned AP Music Theory is available for Freshmen, but at Bellevue AP Music Theory is one of the hardest AP classes.
*Freshmen coming from Odle/Tyee AL take 1-2 AP classes (at Interlake and at Bellevue/Sammamish/Newport/International).
*Lakeside does not have AP classes, please see above.
For gifted in neighborhood schools--how many AP classes have you taken?
Panelists said they have taken 9-12 AP classes through Junior year, and probably plan to take 5-7 more Senior year.
How hard it is to get an A?
It is difficult at all schools and requires you to complete all assignments and study. Just because you choose to go to your neighborhood school does not mean it will be easy to get an A. All panelists recommended keeping your grades to yourself. If you talk about grades, it makes the atmosphere more competitive.
How do you manage your work load?
Find a good system to keep track of assignments, set aside time for homework. Curtail social media while working on homework—i.e. put your phone in another room, don’t surf the web, etc., to make you more efficient getting your homework done. Don’t watch TV while doing homework. Don’t procrastinate.
If you had to go to a different HS, where would you have gone?
*One boy from Interlake said Interlake was his home school so he would have gone there regardless.
*Another boy from Interlake wishes his family had looked at other Bellevue School District schools before putting him at Interlake (he went to middle school in Seattle and moved to Bellevue in 9th grade).
*Sammamish and Newport said they would probably have gone to Interlake because of friend groups.
*One girl from Bellevue did not get to answer that question, but she later said she was glad, because she did not have an answer--she would not want to go anywhere else besides Bellevue.
Challenges of going to neighborhood school after going to Odle/Tyee gifted
*Bellevue talked about taking core classes with kids a year older than you, so your friend group is your Odle/Tyee friends and kids older than you. [Additional comment--There are about 40 kids from Chinook every year who are advanced in math/science, and the Bellevue kids from Odle/Tyee probably have them in classes, but don't realize (at least initially) that these kids are also freshmen.]
*One girl talked about how, in non-AP classes, very few kids raise their hands and get involved in discussions and she felt like she was the only one talking, but that changed once she got into more AP classes.
*International talked about how only 2 kids from his school got into International so he had to make all new friends, but looking back he is so glad to have these new friends.
*Advice for any new school--get involved in something--activity, sport, music group--to find new friends.
Number of extracurriculars and number of hours spent on extracurriculars
*As a general rule, our panelists from Interlake did participate in extracurriculars, but chose to do less activities and spent less time per week on them (1-2 activities at most, 0-15 hours per week, depends on the season).
*Our panelists from all the other schools participated in more activities and spent more time--3-6 activities and 15-25 hours per week, season dependent).
Band
*One Bellevue student said band at Bellevue was an important reason she chose Bellevue. The Bellevue band is high quality and the band director wants everyone to want to be in band. If a student has conflict between band and another school activity (often a school sport), the student is encouraged to do the other activity (i.e. a varsity soccer game), and still can participate in band without penalty to her grade. The Interlake band is also high quality, but that director says band is an academic subject and students have to miss other activities in order to be at all band rehearsals/events. If band is your only interest, then this is not a problem, but if you want to be involved in many activities/sports (i.e. want to play a sport who has games during marching band practice), then perhaps Bellevue would be a better fit.
*The Sammamish student is very involved in all aspects of band at her school and loves each music group she is in.
*The Newport student on the panel was not a band student, but Newport does have high quality bands as well.
SAT v ACT
*All students take PACT in 10th and PSAT in 11th (there is also a PSAT 8/9 taken in 9th grade). See which test you do better on and focus on that. All three Interlake panelists preferred the SAT, most of the rest preferred the ACT. (Although we know plenty of Bellevue kids who prefer SAT, so again this is panelist dependent).
School spirit: A great way to integrate into a new school is by doing the school spirit related activities (e.g. pajama day) as these are intended to engender belongingness.
*Bellevue and Sammamish seemed to have the most school spirit.
*Newport and Lakeside were in the middle.
*Interlake had the least and one panelist complained about the lack of spirit at Interlake.
*International was not asked, since they don't have sports teams. (If you go to International and want to play a high school sport, you do so at your neighborhood school).
Other notes
--All BSD teachers are required to stay for the 30 minute tutorial period after school on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday
--No Bellevue school uses class ranking. No Bellevue high school uses weighted GPA. No Bellevue school uses plus or minus grades (no A+ or A-, only A)
-- Which school will prepare you for college the best? Any BSD school will prepare you well for college. Students from Bellevue/Newport/Sammamish/International are accepted at their top schools and find they are well prepared for first semester of college, just like at Interlake/Lakeside. Kids get into Harvard from each high school. Kids don’t get into their top school from each high school. It is more important that the student is well rounded and works hard and that well roundedness is evident on the application. Some people feel that having the IB diploma in hand after junior year (which happens in the accelerated IB program) is a slight benefit when applying for college, but thoughts on that vary. When choosing a high school, don’t think so much about what looks best for college, think about what is the best fit for high school for you.
1) keep grades to yourself; be your own biggest fan
2) try new activities in high school - you may land in a club, activity or club that ignites a real passion
3) learn and use all your resources from beginning of 9th - friends, teachers, upperclassmen, tutorials
4) don’t procrastinate - time management is primary key to success in high school
5) if you go to neighborhood school - put yourself out there to make new friends early
More in-depth summary:
Average number of kids per year from Odle/Tyee gifted/AL who attend
*Bellevue--30
*Newport—52
*Sammamish—10
*International—2-3
*Interlake—145, including 140 per year in centered program (grades 9-11)
*Lakeside—2
[Numbers for BSD schools from gifted office]
School size (2019 numbers)
*Bellevue—1500
*Newport—1800
*Sammamish—1000
*International—320 (in the high school portion)
*Interlake—1600 (486 in the gifted/AL centered program, grades 9-12)
*Lakeside—600 (in the high school portion)
Reasons to choose neighborhood school over Interlake
*commute, did not want to ride metro bus for 45 min-1 hour
*want to be involved in more activities
*want less homework
*band (see below)
Amount of homework--all schools say 9th grade is easiest and 11th is hardest. For 10th-11th grade:
*Bellevue, International, Sammamish said 1.5-2 hours per night.
*Lakeside said 2 hours per night.
*Newport said 2-3 hours per night.
*Interlake said 3-4 hours per night.
Curriculum
*At Interlake, Freshman AL/gifted students take 1-2 AP classes and other gifted classes. Sophomore and Junior year these students take classes in the accelerated IB program. Interlake is one of only two accelerated IB programs in the state (Skyline). At Interlake, if you are in AL, you MUST take all the accelerated IB/gifted classes in 10th and 11th grades--it is a pretty rigid program, you can't pick and choose which gifted/AL classes to take. If you leave AL you can't take any AL classes and can only stay at Interlake through open enrollment (unless Interlake is your neighborhood school). If you choose to leave AL, you have the option (through open enrollment) to take regular IB classes in 11th and 12th grades at Interlake but these are not AL classes. Senior year involves 4 classes and then an internship. Note—Interlake student said the IB program is very Humanities based, and there are lots of essays, etc.
*Bellevue/Newport/Sammamish/International AL freshmen take 1-2 AP classes. As sophomores they take 3-4 AP classes, juniors 5-6 AP classes and seniors take 5-7 AP classes. The AP program is much more flexible than the IB program. If a student decides English is not a strength, that student can take the honors level class instead of the AP class—the student can choose how difficult their schedule will be.
*Registration note: at all Bellevue School District high schools, chemistry/gifted chemistry has a different curriculum than AP chemistry and MUST be taken first. However, AP World History and Honors World History are similar and students take one or the other.
*Lakeside has its own curriculum, with different levels of classes; regular, advanced, and very advanced. Very advanced classes are similar in difficulty to AP and IB classes.
AP classes for Freshmen
*AP Modern World is at all schools (including Interlake), and is the class all AL students coming from Odle/Tyee AL are prepared to take as freshmen.
*AP Human Geography is also available at some schools (Bellevue and Interlake for sure, may be at other schools, generally thought of as easier than AP World).
*Newport mentioned AP Music Theory is available for Freshmen, but at Bellevue AP Music Theory is one of the hardest AP classes.
*Freshmen coming from Odle/Tyee AL take 1-2 AP classes (at Interlake and at Bellevue/Sammamish/Newport/International).
*Lakeside does not have AP classes, please see above.
For gifted in neighborhood schools--how many AP classes have you taken?
Panelists said they have taken 9-12 AP classes through Junior year, and probably plan to take 5-7 more Senior year.
How hard it is to get an A?
It is difficult at all schools and requires you to complete all assignments and study. Just because you choose to go to your neighborhood school does not mean it will be easy to get an A. All panelists recommended keeping your grades to yourself. If you talk about grades, it makes the atmosphere more competitive.
How do you manage your work load?
Find a good system to keep track of assignments, set aside time for homework. Curtail social media while working on homework—i.e. put your phone in another room, don’t surf the web, etc., to make you more efficient getting your homework done. Don’t watch TV while doing homework. Don’t procrastinate.
If you had to go to a different HS, where would you have gone?
*One boy from Interlake said Interlake was his home school so he would have gone there regardless.
*Another boy from Interlake wishes his family had looked at other Bellevue School District schools before putting him at Interlake (he went to middle school in Seattle and moved to Bellevue in 9th grade).
*Sammamish and Newport said they would probably have gone to Interlake because of friend groups.
*One girl from Bellevue did not get to answer that question, but she later said she was glad, because she did not have an answer--she would not want to go anywhere else besides Bellevue.
Challenges of going to neighborhood school after going to Odle/Tyee gifted
*Bellevue talked about taking core classes with kids a year older than you, so your friend group is your Odle/Tyee friends and kids older than you. [Additional comment--There are about 40 kids from Chinook every year who are advanced in math/science, and the Bellevue kids from Odle/Tyee probably have them in classes, but don't realize (at least initially) that these kids are also freshmen.]
*One girl talked about how, in non-AP classes, very few kids raise their hands and get involved in discussions and she felt like she was the only one talking, but that changed once she got into more AP classes.
*International talked about how only 2 kids from his school got into International so he had to make all new friends, but looking back he is so glad to have these new friends.
*Advice for any new school--get involved in something--activity, sport, music group--to find new friends.
Number of extracurriculars and number of hours spent on extracurriculars
*As a general rule, our panelists from Interlake did participate in extracurriculars, but chose to do less activities and spent less time per week on them (1-2 activities at most, 0-15 hours per week, depends on the season).
*Our panelists from all the other schools participated in more activities and spent more time--3-6 activities and 15-25 hours per week, season dependent).
Band
*One Bellevue student said band at Bellevue was an important reason she chose Bellevue. The Bellevue band is high quality and the band director wants everyone to want to be in band. If a student has conflict between band and another school activity (often a school sport), the student is encouraged to do the other activity (i.e. a varsity soccer game), and still can participate in band without penalty to her grade. The Interlake band is also high quality, but that director says band is an academic subject and students have to miss other activities in order to be at all band rehearsals/events. If band is your only interest, then this is not a problem, but if you want to be involved in many activities/sports (i.e. want to play a sport who has games during marching band practice), then perhaps Bellevue would be a better fit.
*The Sammamish student is very involved in all aspects of band at her school and loves each music group she is in.
*The Newport student on the panel was not a band student, but Newport does have high quality bands as well.
SAT v ACT
*All students take PACT in 10th and PSAT in 11th (there is also a PSAT 8/9 taken in 9th grade). See which test you do better on and focus on that. All three Interlake panelists preferred the SAT, most of the rest preferred the ACT. (Although we know plenty of Bellevue kids who prefer SAT, so again this is panelist dependent).
School spirit: A great way to integrate into a new school is by doing the school spirit related activities (e.g. pajama day) as these are intended to engender belongingness.
*Bellevue and Sammamish seemed to have the most school spirit.
*Newport and Lakeside were in the middle.
*Interlake had the least and one panelist complained about the lack of spirit at Interlake.
*International was not asked, since they don't have sports teams. (If you go to International and want to play a high school sport, you do so at your neighborhood school).
Other notes
--All BSD teachers are required to stay for the 30 minute tutorial period after school on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday
--No Bellevue school uses class ranking. No Bellevue high school uses weighted GPA. No Bellevue school uses plus or minus grades (no A+ or A-, only A)
-- Which school will prepare you for college the best? Any BSD school will prepare you well for college. Students from Bellevue/Newport/Sammamish/International are accepted at their top schools and find they are well prepared for first semester of college, just like at Interlake/Lakeside. Kids get into Harvard from each high school. Kids don’t get into their top school from each high school. It is more important that the student is well rounded and works hard and that well roundedness is evident on the application. Some people feel that having the IB diploma in hand after junior year (which happens in the accelerated IB program) is a slight benefit when applying for college, but thoughts on that vary. When choosing a high school, don’t think so much about what looks best for college, think about what is the best fit for high school for you.
