lme30005

We are looking at private and public schools for our children. For public schools, we would look to rent in catchment and then apply to the school, ideally starting in August, so moving over in July. Is that enough time to get them enrolled?

For private schools, they seem to have a long application process that starts the previous Autumn. Can we apply from the UK, even though our F3 visa might not have been approved by then? I'm hoping we can apply and we will then have the visa by the time places are offered in Spring. Otherwise getting them into a sought after private school may be really tricky.

Our F3 visa date is coming up shortly so preparing the paperwork (after a very long 10 years!). But the kids are the most important thing and we won't consider going if it is really going to mess up their education, especially as they are older. With an F3 visa, will they still be considered 'international students'?

Pulaski

US state-funded "public" schools take students based on their address, so once you have an address you will, in almost all cases, know which school each child is assigned to, so you could arrive a day or two before school starts and the assigned school would have to take them.

Private schools pretty much set their own entrance requirements and process, and I guess a lot is going to depend on whether the school has vacancies in the age group of your child, and if they do have a vacancy I guess most private schools would take the child immediately. However if the school operates at capacity, then you would almost certainly have to enter through the annual enrollment process, which may start as early as Q4 of the previous year. But the problem you may face, again depending upon the school's application process, is that the school may perform [1] an interview, [2] their own testing, [3] an observational session (school enrollment officer visits the school/ facility that your child is currently enrolled in to see them in their current setting), [4] a group interaction meeting at the school with current and/or prospective students, and/or [5] 1:1 standardized psychological testing/ interview, four of which would require your child to be in the US. My daughter is in a private school and she had to go through all five of the listed steps .... in order to be admitted to kindergarten at the age of 5! Because all the testing took place between November and February, and my daughter's birthday is in February, she went through the process when she was still actually only 4.

lme30005

Thanks, from the private schools I have been looking at, it seems to be a very lengthy process. Some say that international students can do most of it from abroad, via Skype etc. But I don't know if we need to give them proof of the visa when we start the process, as we probably wouldn't have it then. Hopefully we'd have it before the application deadlines. The schools I have been looking at seem to be very competitive to get into, so slim chance of any spaces close to August.

Pulaski

I think that would be a question for each individual school, but bear in mind that education for children is mandatory in the US (although home-schooling is allowed), and in the public school system schools are prohibited from asking a child's immigration status, what visa they are on, or even whether they are in the country legally - education is mandatory regardless, so the question isn't asked ..... I suspect that it may be the same for private schools.

RaeRee

We have just been through this process with our daughter. We’re moving to Greenwich, CT next week and wanted her to join mid-year. Due to the timing of our move we had missed the traditional application window for all the schools. We had a shortlist of 9 schools in Westchester County and Fairfield County and of this list 4 would consider a mid-year admission and circumventing their usual processes. So in our experience it’s very much up to the individual schools and surprisingly some of the schools that were open to seeing us were the ones seen as more competitive.

We filled out the forms from the UK but then took our daughter with us on a trip out to the US to look at schools and houses. It meant that they could do the screening and assessments with her while we were there - accelerating the usual process. My husband and I did a tour of the the school and met with staff while our daughter spent time one to one with teachers and participating in lessons with her potential class. We also took with us all the supporting information the schools ask for like birth certificate/passport, baptism certificate for the Catholic schools and school reports - we asked her UK school for an updated report just before we travelled. This was all once we had started visa application but before our embassy interview.

I know others who have done much of this remotely with Skype interviews with the children etc. but because we didn’t have much time doing it in person was much easier. I also think it’s easier to sell yourself and your child in person.

In the end after touring 4 schools we progressed applications with 2 and received offers of places from both. Our daughter starts at our preferred school on 2 March.

lme30005

Thanks, that's really helpful. We would be aiming to start in August but useful to know some private schools aren't averse to a mid year start. We would definitely be able to go out there during one of the school holidays here, to look around and visit schools and meet them. The complication is that we have to find school places for 3 - one in middle school and two in high school. Private would be better, so they can all be in the same school, but a lot tougher to get them all in. They are all fairly bright but I get the feeling its harder to get into private schools than it is here, and it's bad enough here.

RaeRee

Sorry if I missed it but where are you moving to? We’re going from London to Greenwich, CT and actually found schools in US easier to deal with than at home - but that may well be a London issue and I’ve heard that private schools in NYC are ridiculously tough. We were also looking at prep/elementary level so found that UK education is a bit faster paced in early years so our daughter faired well relative to US students.

lme30005

We are looking at Atlanta as that's where our relatives live, but New England would also be an option. Schools here in the South East are quite hard to get into, I was imagining that New England schools would also be tough. From reading on Atlanta forums, the top schools are hard to get into there too

carcajou

Enrollment in a public school happens instantly, there is no wait period. However there is a vaccination requirement - you need to check with the public school district and also with the private schools, and also what documentation they require as that is something that perhaps can be sorted in the UK ahead of time. Lack of vaccination could possibly delay things.

Private schools determine their own admissions policy. Make sure you understand the fee structure as it may be different for a pure international student vs someone in your situation with an F3 - if there is differentiation, the international student fees will almost certainly be higher and maybe astronomically so. International students have become something of a cash cow in the education system at all levels.