<p>Okay, I have a kinda complex question, and am hoping you all can enlighten me. I am at a generally competative school, not very, which sends a couple kids to top schools, and a large chuck of students to UVA and the College of William and Mary. However, there is a definate separation bwtween the top 20, in classes around 200, and the rest of the class, and the averages for the SATs are around 1600, rather low.</p>
<p>To make this all more interesting, my class, the one of 2010, is probably the brightest, most competative of all the classes I have seen go though our high school. The girls who are 1st and 2nd have above 2250 SATs, which is higher than anyone in the class beneath or above us, and the rest of the top ten have SATs atleast in the 2000's, with me at 3rd with a 2110. :P Anyway, when compared to the class above us, where the sal only have a 1760 and the rest had average scores between 2000 and 1800, our class is intense.</p>
<p>Anyway, to the point, will colleges compare the students in my class against each other or the classes that came before us? If the latter, woun't my stats look more impressive, seeing that my GPA and possibly SAT was even better than the Val the year before? Or if the former, would I just look weak seeing that we have atleast 5 kids with SATs higher than 2250, possibly one or two close to perfect?</p>
<p>How top is top? I don’t think a 1760 would make it into HYPS… anyway, as long as your good enough, I think most schools don’t have a limit on how many students they take per school. Only the most competitive ones <em>might</em>. </p>
<p>So yeah, depends on how competitive the school you’re apply to is, but I really don’t think many schools have a certain number of slots for each highschool. </p>
<p>Then again, I’m just a silly person who’s narrow-minded, so I’m not sure if you’d want my opinion.</p>
<p>If you are all applying to the same school, then yes, there will be some comparison to others in your class. However, the SAT is only one part of your application and schools do not have a limit on how many they admit from a HS.</p>
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<p>While adcoms may have a sense of how competitive your HS is in general, they will not specifically compare your SAT scores to the years before. They just don’t have time to that and it’s the current pool of applicant that you’re up against for admissions, not the previous seniors from your HS.</p>
<p>entomom is absolutely correct – what matters is how you compare to the rest of the applicant pool IN THE YEAR YOU APPLY. What happened in years before has no effect whatsoever. </p>
<p>Also, GPA, SAT scores, and class rank are just some of the factors schools look at; they will also look at the rigor of your course load, ECs, essay, etc.</p>
<p>You will be compared against your classmates if applying to the same schools. </p>
<p>In general, your scores be compared to the rest of the applicant pool. How competitive your class is only matters at schools many apply to that only want to accept a few.</p>
<p>^ Well, I am third, but second and first have high stats, AKA rank, slightly higher GPA, and SATs. I am applying to many of the same schools as the sal, which sucks because she is brilliant. I hope colleges will just accept both of us. :D</p>
<p>^ You’ll be compared with all applicants. Your HS sal is just one more kid in the pool who has slightly better stats. Now, if you have something that makes you stand out in your school (e.g., leadership or exceptional ECs), by all means mention it in your applications and/or ask a teacher to mention it in one of your recs. But don’t compare yourself overtly to the sal, and don’t worry about how the two of you stack up. Just submit the best applications you can, and I imagine you’ll have some great options next April.</p>
<p>Yes, you will be compared to others students if you apply for the same school. Schools do not compare you to other students from other schools because of different sizes, competitiveness, and different curriculum.</p>
<p>I think I know what you’re trying to say, but this isn’t exactly correct. By definition colleges are comparing you to students from other schools as you are all together in the applicant pool and only so many can be accepted. HSs do vary in the qualities you listed, so adcoms use factors such as test scores, whether you took rigorous classes (given what your school offers), essays, etc. to evaluate you relative to applicants from your school and others.</p>
<p>IMO, the titles of val and sal have to be taken within the context of the HS. For instance, our HS gives the val designation to anyone with a 4.0, with no regard to the coursework they’ve taken since grades aren’t weighted. So, there’s a large range between kids who took 0-1 AP vs. those that took the maximum and college courses to boot.</p>
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