<p>So I go to a top 25 school, where I am constantly being told that I am being prepared for college and blah blah. And I am, I feel like everything just clicks I am doing very well in school, every teacher I have is spectacular. Just one problem is that, other much much easier schools were kids are getting 4.0 without breaking a sweat are getting into the ivies, while kids at my school slave away for 3.5 don't get into these top schools, and also miss out on scholarships that have a minimum GPA requirement, even though they easily have more potential. I am trying to ask the question that is the rigor of high school really that important? Last year a school which isn't even ranked in the top 1000 in the nation sent 2 girls too harvard while my school had no ivy acceptance even though we had many above par students who applied to these colleges. Let me know</p>
<p>^From what I’ve heard, you are completely wrong. If it’s a top 25 high school, colleges will know about it, and they will realize that a 3.5 at your school is a lot harder than a 3.5 at most schools. Now, scholarships may be a problem, I don’t know. But admissions shouldn’t be. </p>
<p>Either people at your school are getting into Ivys and you just don’t know about it, or your school is really not as good as you are saying.</p>
<p>Well I didn’t know for sure about the kids, but a teacher this year posted all the acceptance letters of all the kids on a wall. I go to a top 25 school according to U.S. news and World Reports, and when Newsweek comes out with rankings for this year we should move up from like 68 or something to around top 25. We get a lot of awards for high AP scores and what not, and we win a lot of academic competitions. </p>
<p>^Then why don’t you have more acceptances at top schools? Maybe the top kids at your school don’t want to go there? And just because a student doesn’t go to a top school doesn’t mean they aren’t exceptional. It’s the student that these schools evaluate, not the school. They know that if you go to a top school you may not have as high of a GPA (same thing with colleges –> grad schools) and at the same time they look for students who shine in other schools and make the most of their opportunities.</p>
<p>I hope you dont take those silly rankings as gospel. My school isn’t even listed in the top 1,5xx in Newsweek’s America’s Best Public High Schools, yet we send 20+ kids a year to Penn, and 10+ more a year to other Ivies, amongst other schools, and are considered one of the top 3 public high schools in Pennsylvania. We have one of the highest SAT averages, and are usually at the very top for % of students going on to four year colleges.</p>
<p>Those rankings are severely flawed. Dont think you’re above others because of your silly, arbitrary ranking.</p>
<p>Checking my high school, it’s barely in the top 1000 but has tons of kids going to Ivys and such, and is considered one of the best schools in the state. </p>
<p>Since I know there’s no way there are nearly a thousand high schools which are better than where I went, I am also throwing the “rankings are ********” card out there.</p>
<p>My school in PA never makes the ranking system, but we do get a lot of people into top schools for our size. I think it’s like med school admissions – it’s better to have a 4.0 from a decent school than a 3.5 from a top school, but that 3.5 will still be recognized as very good and you’ll still get into a very good school.</p>
<p>I go to one of the top 5… Didn’t really help me out on college acceptances. Its better to go to an easier school and get a 4.0. Thats what everyone in my school agreed on. You only go to a high ranking school to challenge yourself - thats all.</p>
<p>Although, I am sure Thomas Jefferson has a good time getting into good colleges.</p>
<p>That’s because generally, public school rankings don’t matter. My school is well within the top 100, so I’m not saying this because I’m bitter. If your school is significantly difficult and different, but still public, much like the “Public elites” that USNWR lists but does not rank, colleges will know about it, and consider that. I mean, colleges still know about your school if you aren’t coming from Stuy, but the difference is lnot important. Unless you’re coming from the likes of Exter, Andover, Choate, Harvard-Westlake, Dalton, etc. a 3.5 is going to put you in a bad light at the colleges that people talk about on CC.
I’m sure that it’s harder to get an A in your school than it is at another school. Many people who fail out of my school go onto be straight A students at their new schools. But I doubt that the difference between the education at your school and the education at some school barely in the top 1000 is that different.</p>
<p>Yea. We send usually 2 kids to Harvard every year and we’ve sent one every few years or so to MIT, and we’re not in the rankings. We also send many kids to top schools as well. So I agree, rankings are bs a lot of the time.</p>
<p>You have to tell your guidance counselors and teachers to be sure to mention how hard the school is compared to others in their letters of recommendation. The colleges are supposed to know these things, but the admissions people are human.</p>
<p>I was told this on a college tour, btw. Oh, and the same goes for an individual class. If Mrs. Smith’s Bio class is renowned for being the toughest bio class in the school (i.e., a B in Mrs. Smith’s class is like an A+ in anyone else’s class), then the guidance counselor is supposed to say that in the letter.</p>
<p>Going to a top school has one thing that helps. Rankings actually matter.</p>
<p>Top 10% is generally “good enough” for most schools. Difference between 4th and 2nd and first and etc. don’t really matter.</p>
<p>Being top 5 or val at a top 5 school is pretty dam good.</p>
<p>Of course if you go to a top school, and suck terribly, you will get owned by everyone else.</p>
<p>Also, schools like Exeter/Andover/Deerfield are just that that well-known lol.
Also, schools like Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology is just beast.</p>
<p>First off, some schools like Choate just have name recognition. There are small private day schools you’ve never heard of with much more impressive matriculation lists. Secondly, nobody cares about US News HS Rankings; your school is a top school if and only if it sends kids to top colleges. Thirdly, there are always kids out there working harder than you. Always.</p>
<p>Unless you work 24 hours a day every day of the year with only 1 minute bathroom breaks (working while in the bathroom) and 3 minute meals (while working).
Taking naps every 2 hours for 15 minutes (listening to audiotapes).</p>
<p>Getting a full 8 hours of continuous sleep every 2 weeks.</p>
<p>Okay I am not saying rankings make me superior to anybody, I love how everyone jumped on me for that lol. I am just saying if my school is ranked 27 and andover is ranked 1245, I do not understand how they are more prestigious. I could understand maybe if it’s like a ten rank difference than oh well, but well over 1000… are these rankings just garbage? I mean they have too mean something to colleges right? Please do not get angry people lol I do not believe I am above anyone because of the school I go too. Also my school is not an elitist private school. We are a public charter school that barely gets any funding. Yet we are able to outperform every school in the midwest. We have received several awards, besides rankings, we have had several AP awards from siemens, we have been ranked by many other newspapers/magazines also, as well as other honors. Well enough ranting, just let me know what you think.</p>