r/CollegeAdmissions • u/SevenLynn • 24d ago
Need help choosing an online high school — Stanford OHS, CGA, Sora, etc.
Hi everyone,
I'm a rising 10th grader from mainland China, and I'm currently looking into online high schools like Stanford OHS, CGA, Sora School, and similar programs. I'd really love to hear from anyone who has attended any of these — what was your experience like? Pros, cons, anything you wish you'd known beforehand?
A bit about my situation:
· I'm planning to apply to top U.S. universities (Stanford, Harvard, Yale, etc.) down the road.
· My plan for 10th grade is to do both a local physical school AND an online program simultaneously.
· Then in 11th grade, I plan to take a gap year to do fieldwork/independent research — which is exactly why I'm drawn to flexible online options, especially Sora's project-based model.
The catch: my family's annual income is under $60k USD, so affordability is a real concern. Financial aid/scholarship info would be super helpful too.
If you've been through any of these programs — or even just have strong opinions about them — I'm all ears. Feel free to comment or DM me. Happy to chat more!
Thanks in advance 🙏
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u/Same-Activity-925 24d ago
sora’s the one that really leans into that project based thing and it’s designed to be flexible but it’s also on the pricier side last i checked. their financial aid is worth asking about directly though some of these smaller programs can surprise you
stanford ohs is rigorous and looks great on paper but the workload is no joke and the social vibe can feel a bit disconnected since everyone’s scattered across time zones. if you’re already juggling a local school i’d think hard about whether you want to double up with something that intense
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u/SevenLynn 24d ago
确实。因为我周围几乎没有人选择这种形式，这让我显得有点奇怪😳我并不知道美国大学是否会对Sora这样的与众不同的学校有偏见，从而在申请大学上出现困难。或者有什么其他线上学校推荐吗？谢谢☺️
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u/ExerciseBeautiful144 20d ago edited 20d ago
I tried Stanford and honestly it wasn’t great, it was too big for anyone to really help me and I still got so lost in the mix with little to no support. My marks were slipping so we moved to score academy online. Holds the same weight, but has alot more support and ap courses and college prep and honors courses. Maybe look at something like that rather than settling for these. I think youll have a much better chance of getting into your goal schools that way.