<p>@rockvillemom,
Your conclusion may not be correct. We live in a small Village where average income is much higher than the surrounding area. Our village school is small in class size and most of them are considered “sheltered kid” (or spoiled brat). My S1 goes to the school and rank on the top. However, the school had never produced any HYPMS students. On the other hand, the HS in our county is much larger with 1000 students in a class, much diversified in socioeconomic status. That school typically has a couple of HYPMS students each year. A few years ago, I was thinking exactly like you had described. However, when I finally figured out the truth, it was too late for S1 to transfer. An hard lesson to learn…I have quickly transferred my S2 to a different school where he get more opportunity of accessing more AP classes and other activities, which will for sure to benefit S2 when it comes to getting into a better college a few years down the road.</p>
<p>I was stating the conclusion within a range of similar high schools - same county - same size - an apples to apples comparison. In my county - most public high schools have classes of 500-650. The high schools in the wealthiest towns have the most impressive matriculation lists - that’s all I am saying. If someone wanted to move into my county and asked me - which high school produces the most top 25 university matriculations - I would easily be able to answer that question based on the relative wealth criteria. The “best” high schools in our county are in the wealthiest neighborhoods.</p>