<p>@AVA55 - LOL, one person who repeated the top 10% “rule” to parents and students was the school’s IB director! :)</p>
<p>But seriously – I think you’re assuming a lot from a guidance counselor. While there are undoubtedly some great HS guidance departments out there (our home district school has one), most are just trying their best to keep up with transcripts, recommendations, course selections, etc. with very little staff help. This is particularly true for schools in economically disadvantaged areas like S’s school. They simply don’t have the time to get to know the students, much less individual colleges and their practices/preferences. </p>
<p>The same is true for the principal – when you are primarily concerned with just keeping kids safe in a neighborhood where drugs and shootings are not uncommon, while hopefully helping most of them develop some basic skills with which they can find some sort of job after graduation, you aren’t going to spend much time worrying about whether the school is doing a good job explaining its demographics to colleges. (To give you some idea – parents attending a meeting at our home school check in via an iPad, whereas many parents at S’s school don’t even have email access.)</p>
<p>That’s one reason why, as I understand it, each college has local reps whose <em>job</em> it is to know the particulars of each HS within their region. They are supposed to know the courses each school offers, its demographics, etc. And they certainly should be familiar with the rigor of an IB diploma program, although we did hear UVA reps on different occasions say that they didn’t really consider IB to be anything that special (?! – come to think of it, that could explain a LOT!).</p>