<p>This site is incredibly helpful and full of useful information. Our eldest child is a junior, and everything we read about the admissions process is somewhat daunting.</p>
<p>My husband and I both grew up on the east coast and had wonderful college experiences at Ivy League and Seven Sister schools.</p>
<p>We now live in a small midwestern city with a mediocre high school. Our son has excelled academically, and is taking AP courses, etc, etc. His AP exam scores were average, but he received a 224 on his PSATs this past October. He has EC involevment in a variety of sports, and clubs, works in the summer at a camp, so to us, he seems like a strong candidate for a top school. </p>
<p>My question is this, will he be penalized for coming from a public high school that is not high caliber and does not send alot of kids to top private schools? They have had one or two each year, but he is looking at top LACs in the east, as well as some in the midwest. </p>
<p>I would appreciate anyone's insight since the counseling at his high school is so weak. Each counselor has 450 kids on their caseload, and they seem to push kids to our public college system.</p>
<p>THANKS!</p>
<p>In no way will he be penalized because of his school's lack of resources. Colleges understand that many schools aren't all the 4.0 GPA-manufacturing private magnet schools with individualized college counseling that some are. For instance, a counselor's recommendation is likely to be mediocre in quality and impersonal if the one counselor is dealing with 250+ people. I'm sure they take all factors into account. The school environment is a very miniscule factor in the admissions process. I'd say not to worry about it at all; just make sure your son maintains his grades and uses all the other resources he has access to, to make the best college decisions possible.</p>
<p>I had a similar question too..
My high school is a small private school.
Only offers 2AP's.. But I'm gonna end up with 4 or 5..
My school doesn't have things like chemistry club,
student newspaper etc.. Not much EC's offered, but
I am involved in jazz band etc so I do try to make
most out of what my school has. But how am I supppose
to compete with students around the nation with 20EC's
10APs, etc.. Also, my school does not do the semester
system. So I basically choose a course and stick to it
for the whole year.. gosh..</p>
<p>yes the colleges will take your school into account,
but overall he wouldn't have an advantage as one who goes to a top public school or private boarding school would</p>
<p>akamom, your son has an * advantage * actually. If you check the stats of the top 20 schools you will find a majority of them favor public/charter slightly over private schools. The LACs (Amherst,Williams, etc) are looking for strong
ECs and Athletic participation (not necessarily varsity) to balance strong
academics. </p>
<p>** Location **
Your son may have a terrific advantage if you are in one of the midwest
states that are underrepresented traditionally at a LAC and even more of
an advantage of his school district has a low 4yr attendance rate (even if his
school is fine).</p>
<p>** SATs (/ACT) **
Studying in a public school provides the student a golden opportunity
to take initiaitive and do cool stuff. Above 2200 the SATs probably mean didly squat. The breadth of the SAT IIs (Science, Humanities,...) say
something to the LACs as well.</p>
<p>** Initiative,Curiosity, ACademic Potential ** It would be helpful to him to participate in national level writing/science (usapho, USABO, USANCO, Science Fairs), Math (AMC12/ARML/etc) than just
following the crowd in school. Also, doing ~ 3-5 AP's by Junior year may
establish Academic excellence. Working on the athletics side, even just
participating in local race events will be good. Also, if no more than a few APs
are offered at school, self studying the easier APs (Env Sc, Psych, etc.)
and taking them may be helpful and show initiative and passion (if he is
interested in these areas especially).</p>
<p>** Communication **
Spending quality time on the applications (50-100 hrs on each of the top
3 choices) would improve the chances for anyone....</p>
<p>** The Summer **
The summer prior to Senior year will be very important in terms of how
your son spends it...a lot of colleges have specific questions about this...
... attending free workshops (science/writers/arts etc) or even competitive
ones (RSI - given your sons high PSAT score, TASP, SSP, other) may be
awesome.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>I went to a very mediocre rural public high school, and was accepted to schools like some very good schools, including Oberlin, which I now attend. I wouldn't worry about it too much.</p>
<p>To the OP: I think your son has an advantage as well. My situation is very similar. I go to a rural school that has does not send anyone to elite schools, the most elite in recent years being George Washington University last year by another outstanding student. They only offer 3 AP classes, of which I took none because they were not useful to me (and schedule issues), but I took the AP German exam independently, all the honors courses I could, have won several national competitions, and generally gotten involved. Basically, I made the most of what I had.</p>
<p>I'm happy to report that I was just accepted early action to my first choice, Georgetown School of Foreign Service. Colleges truly want to see what you have done with what's been presented to you. If you go to an elite high school, you're expected to take 500 AP classes, have perfect SATs and cure cancer, but if you're in the boondocks and you show initiative and excellence, you stand out without having to be a superhuman. While I would have liked to have the opportunities found at wealthier, private schools, it seems that lack of prestige did not hurt me at all. I think that your background matters much much less than does YOUR merits and accomplishments. You must show that you're driven and dedicated, even if your surroundings aren't the things driving you.</p>
<p>Coming from a small city in the midwest will be a plus when he applies to good schools on the East Coast. Those East Coast LACs and Ivies are swamped with students from the NE, and have a harder time getting students from the Midwest, particularly from smaller places in the Midwest.</p>
<p>His being in a public school that rarely sends students to private schools also would be seen as a plus as the top schools want their classes to have students who come from a diversity of backgrounds.</p>
<p>Every types of schools have pluses and minuses and you never know where you will eventually gett better stats without trying both.
See, you cannot take 12 APs. But you also do not have to take 12 APs to remein competitive in your own class.
You are able to take 20 ECs, but you can devote yourself to one or two whereyou can excell.
Your school does not send many students to top colleges. But top colleges do not get strong 100 apps from your school.
In your school you are underloaded and have to look for extras yourself. In another school you may be overloaded and end up with a typical "here-there-and-everywhere " profile that colleges hate.</p>