<p>Hi i'm not a parent. i sneaked in here to look and found the thread
Effect of HS's academic reputation on college acceptance </p>
<p>and i have a question that i've wanted to find an answer for a long time. let me explain this through something my friend's brother told me. He is now post graduate, working in an engineering lab. He went to a HS in a deserted place where the teaching quality was poor. He had perfect SATs and all that. he did his best in HS and got into a pretty good college. Once he was there, he felt terrible the first year. He found out his college classmates from magnet HSs knew so much more than he did. The examples he gave were: Java script, C++, and some other computer skills. He finally caught up but it was a shock at the beginning. </p>
<p>I'm in a similar situation, except i don't want to be an engineer. I want to do humanity. (not sure what yet, maybe things like broadcast, or law...) In humanity areas, what are the skills that a student from less privileged school may lack compared to their peers from a very good HS? I want to narrow that gap by my work and some enrichment programs, summer programs, etc. What are the things I should work on? </p>
<p>You might lack travel experience that someone on the coasts has enjoyed because things seem closer. In the humanities, you will benefit greatly by reading and then reading some more. You will be fine; it just takes a while longer. If you have good reading skills, you might be ahead of your peers.</p>
<p>I second this. Being well-read is probably the most important thing in humanities, IMHO. Get a list of classic books and try to make sure you have read some of the top books. In my son’s private school, they are required to read a ton more than the local public schools. I think that and good writing skills makes it easier to do well in college - especially in a liberal arts field. Good luck.</p>
<p>I teach writing and I forgot that. Something else that might be in your favor: if you love to learn, you will also be ahead of your peers. Many young people want ot get A’s, want to go to top schools, but really don’t have that thirst to learn. If you have that, you have it made.</p>
<p>Write, write and write. Your peers will have spent a lot of time analyzing what they’ve read. Critical reading skills are huge for any discipline, but I think because the humanities require so much reading and analyzing what you’ve read, it’s even more so. The more you read and write, IMO, the better you’ll be prepared for a rigorous college. Also, I remember reading somewhere that the thing that most indicates freshman success is time management and organization.</p>
<p>I come from an isolated town with a very limited high school (and school choice-- my D goes to a different hs)-- but, what happens time and again is that a student will get into a good college and feel utterly at sea there. So often these bright kids end up dropping out, or being miserable for a while because they’re behind, or because they have little experience of life away from their own hometown, where everyone knows them, their parents, their uncles, their dog… </p>
<p>Reading is always important and a big part of preparing yourself. But if you can find an enrichment summer program, some distance away from home, where you meet other bright, motivated young people, I think it could be a great thing. (Look on the Summer Programs forum…just to start.) Some are free or offer scholarships-- a good one will give you a chance to be among others in the way you will be at college. You will likely make good friends and you’ll get a sense of what will be expected of you in the future-- and that can really make a difference in your confidence. Plus, let’s hope you’ll learn a lot! It’s great that you’re thinking about this already-- shows real maturity. Good luck!</p>
<p>It’s hard to catch up on those life experiences that others may have had. Besides the reading and writing that one covers in HS, there are many subtle differences between a wealthy HS and a less priviledged one. The facilities at some schools just can’t be beat. Some schools offer quite advanced science research and tech classes, for instance. In addition, a wealthy school can provide extra speciality courses that just aren’t available in a smaller school. In addition, the students from wealthy towns vs less economically advantaged can be eye-opening. There’s travel, contacts, enriching field trips, and a focus on the arts that are some key differences.</p>
<p>So, how do you make up for those things you may not have been exposed to before? Go out and do them now. Go to plays, movies, get culturalised, hang out in bookstores, travel to far off places, live life to the fullest. Then, when you read a book, you can recall your own experiences and your own emotions rather than something you just read about.</p>
<p>The ability to write a ten page research paper is the one skill my D (who went to a school which did not emphasize a lot of writing) thought that many of her peers had that she did not coming out of high school. But it doesn’t take too long to catch up.</p>
<p>Make sure you watch “Good Will Hunting” – tough movie about a brilliant Boston janitor.<br>
Amazing people come from all corners of the globe. What’s funny is when US Senators (many born with the proverbial silver spoon in their mouths) start telling tales about their humble beginnings. There are certain walks of life where it HELPS to have a challenging start. </p>
<p>Be a sponge. Learn as much as you can about . . . everything. Movies, books, websites, magazines, local talks, newspapers, all should be grist for your mill. </p>
<p>Be aware that across the continent from you, you will be seen as an interesting and exotic person. Move with confidence. As the poet Max Ehrmann wrote “you have a right to be here.”
Good luck!</p>
<p>I second the advise from the responders – read, write, attend art/cultural events whenever you can. Also key is discipline in doing this, and a process for feedback.</p>
<p>Some additional suggestions:</p>
<p>(1) Read the New York Times daily – all sections.
(2) Find one or two monthly magazines that are in your field of interest – possibly one in foreign affairs, another more literary. Subscribe to these if your library doesn’t, and read them regularly.
(3) Find a mentor … perhaps a school teacher, a family friend, a faculty member at a (reasonably) local college, and set up regular meetings. These can be by phone.
(4) Ask the mentor for “critical” writing assignments. These can be on current events, historical events, and even on modern science. These should be reasonably long (10-15 pages at time, 3-5 pages at others). Write, and have your mentor review them – very very critically. Rewrite them, and then move on to the next one. Do this at least monthly.
(5) Take the hardest courses available at your local school. Take no shortcuts. Do as well as you possibly can.
(6) Learn at least one language to the point of developing reading fluency, and reasonable writing fluency. If your school’s language programs are insufficient, then search out a correspondence course – i.e. language CDs, etc.</p>
<p>With the internet you can broaden the program suggested above. You may be able to get access to assignments from strong academic schools anywhere in the world.</p>
<p>My D’s experience is similar to what you describe. She attended our rural hs (the only one in town) which offers 2 AP courses - Sr English and Psychology. She was the only NMF in her graduating class with ACT/SAT both in the 99%tile. STILL when she started at her highly ranked university, she was floored at the difficulty AND the incredible minds of the other students. My D is now a Jr - a double science and language major. Here are some things she has learned along the way - </p>
<ol>
<li><p>D got a couple of Bs her freshman year in science classes - the first of her life. She didn’t realize just how bad her hs science classes were. In hindsight, she realizes she should have taken advantage of summer and January programs the university offered. She was a newby freshman when taking general chemistry and didn’t take them. She DID take them for organic chemistry and received A’s both semesters.</p></li>
<li><p>Before leaving for school D suffered a “crisis of confidence” - the same thing you describe. Can I do well at this school? One of the last things she said was, “You know I’m not above getting a tutor!” Sadly, she was so overwhelmed freshman year that she didn’t follow her own advice. After that, D and 3 friends got tutors for classes they knew were going to be difficult and it made all the difference in the world. Also going through the tutoring with friends helped a lot.</p></li>
<li><p>D learned you cannot go through college anonymously. Go into professors’ office hours often! Get to know them! Go to any and all extra review and help sessions they offer. </p></li>
<li><p>As others have said, being a lifelong reader helps immensely. D has had no trouble with language classes or those requiring a lot of reading and writing.</p></li>
<li><p>When taking a type of class you have never taken before, make sure you are very clear on what is expected. Example: D had never taken a philosophy class, so had no idea that philosophy papers are written a certain way (at least this professor had a very specific way he wanted them written). When she wrote her first paper, she wrote the way she had always written other papers and received a much lower grade than expected. Afterwards, she met with the professor/TA and got very clear instructions on what was expected in future papers. It never occurred to her to ask before writing. Now she always asks exactly how the professor expects that paper to be written.</p></li>
<li><p>D has a work ethic beyond compare. She said that is the one thing she had on many of her peers. They just didn’t work as hard as she did. But, she did sacrifice a lot by working that hard - she didn’t party (no interest anyway), probably didn’t make as many friends as she could have, etc.</p></li>
<li><p>I have a very wise friend who has three daughters about 10-15 years older than mine. Her Ds attended Duke, Rice, and Northwestern. She has always said, “Our kids are just as smart as the other kids who attend those universities, they just haven’t had the same opportunities. It takes them AT LEAST their freshman year to catch up and feel like they are running with the pack”. She was exactly right. If they are willing to work hard and ask for help, they catch up and do just fine!</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Across the board, you’ll gain by reading more, particularly books like the classics, and excellent newspapers like the NY Times, Boston Globe, LA Times, and Washington Post, which you can read on-line. </p>
<p>Reading will expand your vocabulary, general knowledge, sophistication and critical thinking skills. No matter what major you enter, those skills will help you.</p>
<p>When you get to college, use the professors’ office hours, tutoring, counseling and other resources to help you catch up. </p>
<p>I used to teach college and saw hard working students from low performing high schools start off behind, but some ended college graduating magna. Typically, too, my experience was that students from low performing schools were smarter than were the students from high performing schools. The low performing school students may have had low scores due to the education they got at their high schools. Given the opportunity to learn in depth, they ended up bypassing the students who had done well due to their luck in having highly educated parents and attending excellent secondary schools.</p>
<p>Along with the advice about reading, reading, and reading some more, I’d highlight two things:</p>
<p>Olymom alluded to location. I had a friend in college who came from a nearby town that was urban, gritty, and poor-to-blue collar. When it appeared in the local news it was for crimes, fires, and other negative reasons. Our school had a lot of very sophisticated, well-travelled, well-to-do students. She felt the contrast keenly–other people didn’t think about it, but SHE did. She was much happier when she spent time as an exchange student at a more distant school, where she never heard local news broadcasts about her hometown and most people had never heard of it. So it can be a good idea to go somewhere out of your immediate region, even if the danger is only that you will feel branded as a hayseed. I have no idea where you come from, but to use an easy example, a rural town in Montana will probably seem exotic and idyllic to students in many parts of the country–outside of Montana and the Dakotas.</p>
<p>Secondly, if it is at all possible, it is a great idea to try to take advantage of summer enrichment programs like EPGY, TIP, or CTY, or to do a summer exchange program in another country. THere are vast numbers of interesting summer programs that can broaden your horizons. If you have good language skills, don’t overlook foreign exchange.</p>
<p>thanks all of you SO MUCH for your suggestions. you can not imagine how much warmer they made me feel in this cold snow day, staying home, no school…
Please talk more, what you’ve said here are very helpful, heartwarming, and encouraging.</p>
<p>One thing that is within your control–don’t make it “all about me.” </p>
<p>What I mean is that if you go to college and someone mentions “When my family and I went on vacation to Egypt last year…”, don’t jump straight to thinking, “I’m out of my depth; my family never traveled. I don’t belong here.” </p>
<p>Use the encounter to ask about cool things they did, or what he thought about poverty or traffic or food in Cairo, etc. Once you move off of thinking solely about how things reflect on you (or so you think), you’ll be happier and be a better companion to others.</p>
<p>You may want to extend the project part you get from school. My d. did a history day project last year. she made a documentary, did extensive research before making the movie. That was a great experience for her. For example, if your school’s assignment has project like this, don’t be satisfied with an A from your school. Do extra. Along the way you will learn extra that will benefit you in the future.</p>
<p>I posed your question to a young woman who grew up in a lower-middle class family, went to mediocre schools, but ended up at a posh Ivy. Like others on this thread she also advised reading a great deal to “catch up.” She also advised at least a little self-studying in two areas: art and music. She said many prep and upper-middle-class kids have had exposure to the arts – and therefore point of references – that she lacked, and that made her feel less prepared to compete in the humanities at her university. She recommended you check out basic books/CDs from the library and create a little mini-course for yourself. These days, with a huge amount of material also available online, it’d be easy (and fun.)</p>
<p>I’m not sure if my S’s experience can give you some confidence since the HS situation isn’t exactly the same. I’m writing because I hope it will. I wouldn’t decribe our HS as being in a deserted place but it is not ranked and the teaching quality varies from excellent to poor depending on the class and the teacher, it is in a semi-rural area. There are a fair number of AP classes but fewer than those offered in more prestigious schools. With the exception of a handful of students, most that go to college go to state schools and few go out of state. My S is a freshman at a highly ranked LAC about 1500 miles from home,where many of the students attended private HS’s. He is also studying humanities. He is home after his first semester of college and I asked him if he felt less prepared than his peers. His reply was that he was convinced that going to private school was a waste of money. (Please note I’m NOT saying that it is a waste, just that this was his comment, perhaps made to alleviate any guilt that I might feel.) The point is that he was craving to go to a school like the one he is attending and he feels that he is on par with the other students. He has not raced into taking higher level classes even when his AP performance would have permitted it. More than anything else I believe that his desire to learn is a great equalizer for him. I would suggest that you do what you can to take advantage of the opportunities that are available and that you pursue your interests as you can. Each student brings their own set of experiences and that helps to make college life interesting. It is probably most important that where ever you go to school that you feel comfortable with yourself and approach your classes with confidence and not a sense of deficiency because of your background.</p>