Saint Ignatius San Francisco - Is it harder for transfer students to fit in?

[Erin]

I was talking with somebody about the possibility of transferring into SI (Saint Ignatius) for 10th grade, and he told me that he'd heard it can be hard for people to fit in with the others who started at SI together.

Any thoughts on that SI students? I'm just wondering.

[shuttupjessmah]

It's so not true! I know people who transfered to SI during soph or junior years, and they've made friends pretty quickly. Thing is, there is quite a bit of drama, and people tend to switch cliques every once in a while. When transfers first come to the school, they get assigned a host who's in a few of their classes. This way, the transfers can better know the school and activities. Personally, I've met a lot of people through activities, and it's not hard to make friends. The more involved you are, the better it is to make friends. There's no real difference. I didn't hang out with my current friends until the last month of junior year. We're a very friendly community (most of the time).

Good luck to him. I know quite a few freshmen since my brother and his friends are in that class.

[cridamour]

High school is a jungle everywhere, it's something for all of us to survive while trying to limit permanent damage... Adolescents can be cruel and who can truly say they've never come home from school crying and saying they never ever want to go back and feel that whatever embarrassed them will affect the rest of their lives. And how many people now look back on that and smile, saying: "silly me". It's always hard, whether you're a transfer student or not. (remembering "the good old days"...)

[Erin]

Somehow I thought European schools would be kinder, but I suppose such a comparison would be difficult to make.

I recently heard someone on NPR say that people's high school experiences affect them for the rest of their lives and that they can never quite forget what happened to them at that age (both good and bad).

But to get back on topic a bit--how do students in private schools treat people who study there on scholarship? In other words, do you think private school students are snobbier than public school students? Some of my students from University High have said that some people from University are like that. I'll have to ask our Lick-Wilmerding students. What about SI?

[shuttupjessmah]

Originally Posted by Erin

How do students in private schools treat people who study there on scholarship? In other words, do you think private school students are snobbier than public school students? What about SI?

It's common knowledge that SI is full of snobby rich white people. Well, I know people who get financial aid get the huge blue school spirit sweater for free freshman year. We refer to it as the "Financial Aid Sweater", and we tease one another when we wear it. 1/4 of the school has some form of financial aid, so it isn't THAT big of a deal. Most of the snobbiness I know is clothing-related. Like the Abercrombie vs Target clothes. The people from Marin are generally more snobby than the people from the Peninsula. It's just all stereotype-related. SI's full of snobs. The end. Buh-bye.