By Elise King
Hundreds of students attempt to transfer into Lane every year. Lane has rarely accepted transfers in the past and as of early this school year they are not allowing them for the remainder of the 2013-2014 school year due to the large student population. Transfers will be back next school year.
Ms. Tara Carroll, the Director of Admissions receives at least five phone calls or emails a day from parents or guardians asking if their child can transfer in to Lane. Students who want to apply to transfer into Lane can only apply at the beginning of the year because Lane does not allow mid-year transfer.
“Occasionally I will have someone get angry, but usually people are just frustrated,” Carroll said, “CPS can be hard to navigate, so it is usually that people are frustrated with trying to figure out the system rather than actually being mad at me.”
Lane plans to allow about 20 students to transfer in next school year (2014-2015). The criteria for students looking to transfer includes that they must be coming from a good school, have letters of recommendation, have high test scores (PSAT or Explorer), and have a GPA above a 4.0. Prospective transferstudents also need to write a short essay on why they would like to be accepted in to Lane.
“We will be looking for someone to contribute to Lane,” Carroll said.
Some ways students can contribute is through athletics, academics, or the arts.
Ine Suh, Div. 558, transferred from Clayton High School in Missouri to Lane at the beginning of this school year.
“The transfer process was not easy, but not so complicated because I was from out-of-state,” Suh said. “I had to submit my official transcript and other papers that showed I participated in activities. The counseling department and administration [at Lane] helped me through this whole process.”
Suh is used to transferring into new schools. Her father’s job requires the family to move a lot. Suh’s family moved to Chicago over the summer.
“I was pretty excited to transfer to Lane, because I’ve never attended such a big school,” Suh said. “My old high school in Missouri had around 1,000 students, and other schools I’ve attended were even smaller.”
So far, Suh has enjoyed her experience at Lane and looks forward to spending the rest of her high school career here.
Lane does not allow students to transfer in their senior year because different schools have different graduation requirements. The best year to transfer for students is their sophomore year.
This year Lane accepted seven transfers. Kiley Green, Div. 760, was one of those seven. In October, Green transferred from Luther North College Prep to Lane. Green’s motives for wanting to transfer were simple; she wanted a high school experience. She was also dealing with some issues with other girls.
Green was accepted in to Lane as a freshmen. But she chose to go to Luther North. When she realized that Luther North was not the school for her she was eager to give Lane a shot.
“I like Lane and I am glad I decided to transfer,” Green said, “I haven’t had any problems.”
Green thought Lane would give her a more high school experience because it has a bigger student population with a diversity of people and more student activities.
Green’s entire transfer process took less than a week. She transferred in October. She was able to meet with her counselor and Carroll showed her to classes on her first day at Lane.
Marcus Monte, Div. 457, transferred into Lane before his junior year. All Monte had to do was send his transcripts along with an application. Only six students were accepted out of hundreds of applications the year Monte applied. Monte was accepted a week and half prior to the school year starting. Monte still does not know how he was accepted in to Lane, but he is glad he was.
“In my opinion, my GPA and test scores were average,” Monte said.
Monte was able to meet with students and a few teachers prior to starting school. The purpose of the meeting was to allow the students to meet other students transferring in and allow them to get a better look at the school. The students were able to meet administrators and other staff members. They received a map of the school and were shown around the building.
“I met with my counselor and other students who had been accepted about a week and half before school started,” Monte said.
Monte had previously attended Notre Dame College Prep and did not enjoy attending an all-boys high school. He decided it was time for a change. Monte said the process was a lot easier than he expected. All he had to do was send in his transcripts. He did not have to write any sort of essay like he expected might happen.
Isabelle Boyle, a junior at St. Ignatius tried her luck at transferring in to Lane in October. Boyle’s grandfather called Lane asking if they would accept his granddaughter who was having some problems at school with some girls and was tired of commuting such a long distance. But her request was denied.
“It was frustrating to hear them tell me I cannot transfer,” Boyle said.
Carroll, along with the rest of the administrative team, is working to get an online application out in April 2014. This will allow a student looking into transferring to know what criteria the school is looking for in a student and all the steps they must complete to apply for admission.
