<p>how do the colleges check the stats and competitiveness of schools? The thing is, I live in Long Island, which is super competitive, but my school isn't that competitive. I dont think our school has sent anybody to HYPSM in a very very long time. I am in the top of my class....will I have that advantage or am I going to be screwed over bc I live in LI?</p>
<p>ronlivs, does your school rank? If so, you'll be at the top which will obviously work to your advantage.</p>
<p>In my high school class the top 20% went to Ivies or similar, and another 10-15% went to Vanderbilt, Michigan, etc. It was private though so there was no ranking, which helped significantly.</p>
<p>sorry sweetkidsmom, but your school sounds very similar to my school.
My junior class is made up of 800 kids (large i kno) and around 150 made the cutoff. 15 kids scored a 220 or above on their psats (one girl scored a 240) and 35 kids still have straight A's. Our school is in southern california and we are ranked Number 1 in the world for Calculus AB (we had the most kids in the world pass the exam...lol not a big honor but it sounds cool.)
We send 60-70 kids to Berkeley every year as well.
We're just a normal public school.</p>
<p>Now after hearing where I come from, you can get a perspective from a real-life student in a similar school as your son. Having a low class rank has basically put him out of the running for the ivies (sorry). He still has a chance at UCLA or Berkeley, and will most assuredly get into the other UCs, but even though your school is competitive, it doesn't matter. It is still a public school, and colleges usually don't normalize for us public school students.
Moral of the story is, public schools get screwed over because their administrations dont work with them. Private schools bend the rankings or don't rank in order to help their students, but public school students dont get those benefits. I wish your son luck in college admissions (he should do fine because his SAT is pretty good), but don't expect schools to normalize for that rank.</p>
<p>how do the colleges check the stats and competitiveness of schools? </p>
<p>In most cases, high schools send a profile along with transcripts or counselor recommendations. The profile will contain the information necessary for an adcom to determine how competitive the high school is. Many high schools have their profiles on their websites. If your high school's profile is not on the website, then ask your guidance counselor for a copy.</p>
<p>so in my case, would me standing out in a mediocre high school offset the disadvantage from me applying from a super competitive region?</p>
<p>Dima:How does such a top-notch high school send only one student to Harvard?
I think many just apply elsewhere, many apply to Uc's because of the reputation and cost. Many parents of our students seem UC driven. So I think 1-2 go to Harvard. many get into Ivy's, MIT,Cal poly is one I hear mentioned although its not an Ivy.</p>
<p>We have some specific reasons for not wanting Ivy's or east coast schools. We are looking at bay area schools and some LAC's in Oregon and here that can accomodate medical issues. In other words he has a great shot at getting in to the schools he most likely would want to attend, and who could accomodate his specific needs.</p>
<p>sweetkidsmom,
I know this school. I have a house in this school district, so I know it is very competitive. The reason why only 1-2 kids go to Harvard because Harvard does not have good engineering program compare to UCB, etc..and the cost/competitiveness of UCB. This school is 70% Asians, in elementary school, it's 90% Asians. This school is very math driven because most parents are engineers, so that is why it has the highest API. Just a word of caution, highest API means nothing, it the same as highest SAT.
Unfortunately if your son ranks in the 100/495, then he is not competitive. I know somebody in this neighborhood/graduated from this school that got into no good school because the family tends to under estimate the application/admission process. Make sure you have a lot of safeties.</p>
<p>Hm...I think that 70% asians answers my previous question..this school is probably Mission San Jose. That school is quite competitive.</p>
<p>I also attended a high power magnet school, our class was considered 'slackers' for having only 1/3 of the class qualify for NM. Though technically we don't rank, being average according to our school statistics definetly hurt applicants, no matter now good their standardized test scores were. So colleges may adjust, but not enough.</p>
<p>Oops, reread your post, it's actually 328/495. I have a friend who's daughter graduated a few years ago with 3.70 from this school, got accepted to UCI. Her sister had a bit lower stats, went to CC and transferred to UCLA.</p>
<p>lol
your kids from mission huh? i have no idea whos mom you are..but im a junior at mission too
cool</p>
<p>hailfromcali: that school in irvine is not the only one with multiple 2400s. i know the 2 ppl from mission who got 2400s. btw how could a newspaper possibly know exactly how many 2400s come from every school? i doubt cb releases those kinds of stats</p>
<p>Mission is SUCH a PATHETIC SCHOOL</p>
<p>OMG</p>
<p>hailfromcali, newspaper did not say only 2 ppl from irvine that got 2400s, but rather they know that particular school in Irvine has 2 kids that received 2400.</p>
<p>sweetmom: </p>
<p>Attached link shows top ~100 publics, plus a public magnet or two (Oxford Academy).</p>
<p>UC's don't use rank as admissions criteria, since 50% of Calif high schools do not rank. High school gpa is the first criteria, in a numbers-driven game. You can go onto UCSD's web site and literally calc the chances of admission to that school -- it's on a point system.</p>