<p>I worry about competition from my HS (less than 100 graduating class).</p>
<p>I say about 15% of my graduating class have similar or better numbers than mine.
(My numbers: 3.96UW GPA, 35ACT, 2390 from 3 Subjects test. I never retook any exam.)</p>
<p>This is crazy.
1/3 of the graduating class qualified for NMSF and another 1/3 quailed for NM commended.
100% go to 4 year colleges.</p>
<p>They are my friends but I am worried.
Will the competition within my HS diminish my chances at some selective schools?</p>
<p>I say about 15% of my graduating class have similar or better stats than mine.
(My numbers: 3.96UW GPA, 35ACT, 2390 SAT Subjects test. I never retook any exam.)</p>
<p>I can assure you, with a good deal of certainty, that 15 fellow classmates did not get a 2390 on the SAT. It is NOT impossible, but it is
highly unlikely. You are a very strong applicant at any school you apply to and will be very competitive! There are other factors that are considered besides just GPA and test scores…</p>
<p>Think about letting your GC know your “top” choice, or choices. Given the nature of your school, your GC no doubt has strong relationships with the colleges on your list. He can help manage the “competition”. In the end the 15 of you will end up with 50+ acceptances to very selective colleges, so your GC can help you get the right one, and also the right one for each of your friends. I have no doubt that you and your friends will be very successful in the college admissions hunt.</p>
<p>fogcity is right. Your GC will talk to all of the top students and push each to decide what is their top choice. The top top students will be told to refrain from applying everywhere. that will open up some slots from your school to other kids. Remember it is not just grades and scores. Work hard on your essays and show off your EC’s and community service. the top schools want exciting imapctful freshman, not mere grinds.</p>
<p>This may sound too idealistic to you, but in my kids’ schools, the kids themselves put their heads together and tried not to apply to schools that their friends wanted to go to, unless they really really wanted to go there.</p>
<p>In other words, if my son kind of liked College X but had three other schools he really wanted to go to more, and his friend wanted to go to College X really badly, then my son did not apply to College X.</p>
<p>We did see one girl who really wanted to go to a certain school that was not that selective, not get in because three of her classmates used it as a safety, but had little interest in it in the end.</p>
<p>Who knows, maybe doing this could affect the stressful atmosphere a little.</p>
<p>Your high school is way, way more competitive than ours, however, so the culture is probably a lot different.</p>
<p>Good luck, and I think it is commendable that competing with your friends bothers you!</p>
<p>The Country is full of high schools just like this one. Mostly all high achieving, high scoring students. You’ve had the very best being educated in this environment. All of you will go to good colleges!</p>
<p>Will some of you not go to ivies who would have gone had you gone to more average schools? Yes. </p>
<p>Will you always benefit from having a great high school education? Yes.</p>
<p>CC makes everyone feel inadequate except for a handful of kids who receive enormous praise for years of slaving to be the perfect applicant. You will be competitive anywhere you apply, but I hope you have good EC’s and essays.</p>
<p>Are you saying that kids last year with similar stats did not all end up at fantastic schools? I’m sure they did!</p>
<p>You are overthinking this. You aren’t competing with your classmates, but thousands of similar kids you don’t even know. Lots of great schools take students from the same highschool. And they aren’t going to care about your particular rank- what, only number 5?- when you have your kind of scores!</p>
<p>As for feeling average, well maybe you are in your environment, but it’s not a bad thing. It is good to get used to it now, and you will. Eventually everyone ends up feeling that way among their peers. Especially when they get to tippy top schools as you probably will.</p>
<p>Relax, don’t worry, you will do just fine with your stats.</p>
<p>My son was in a similar situation. After his high school graduation ceremony, he mourned and groaned several times how he graduated with only high Honors not even very high honors even though he has a 4.0 uw gpa, ~4.4 w gpa, 2290 SAT I, 800/790/750 SAT II.</p>
<p>I told him to relax and move on. He got into a good college with scholarships and is loving it there.</p>
<p>??? Are we supposed to add subject test scores together? Never saw that before. </p>
<p>Anyway…try to apply to some schools that your classmates aren’t clamoring for. If you’re in the NE and everyone applies to Ivies, MIT, and Tufts, then include apps to Northwestern, Stanford, Wash U, Vandy, Duke, Georgetown, Notre Dame, USC, Rice, and/or Emory.</p>
<p>sounds very much like my S1’s HS. Small public magnet school. Out of 60, two kids with 2400 of SAT. Many of my S’s friends scored over 2300. Several additional kids with 1600/1600 without the writing section. Kids routinely studied various AP subjects on their own and most of them scored 5 in them. </p>
<p>From my son’s class, about 20-25 of them ended up attending top 20 schools. I don’t think there was ANY coordination by the GC or among students for college application. Everybody applied everywhere they feel like. GCs just handled paperwork. I don’t think they had any relationship with the admission officers of top schools. </p>
<p>One thing that was really funny was, from my son’s class, nobody got in MIT (even though this was a tech oriented HS). (I was really surprised that my S’s best friend - a super nice boy with SAT almost 2400 who already had several summer internship stints as a HS software programmer in a globally well known tech firm and got amazing recommendation letters from his bosses did not get acceptance into MIT - the letter allegedly said he is better than many of his regular employees with BS and MS) Yet, from the next class, 5 were admitted to MIT, and the teachers there swore that this class was NO better than the previous class. It shows you how unpredictable and crap shoot like the top school admissions outcomes are.</p>
<p>By the way, I never got the impression that any of my son’s friends were cut throat types. they all seemed mellow, cooperative, and just plain nice mannered kids - and these kids were at the upper end of the spectrum even in this school. High achieving student body does not necessarily mean a hyper competitive, mean, and cut throat bunch.</p>
<p>consider adding to your list some top schools in parts of the country where you would be considered a catch, meaning a school at which students from your part of the country are a minority.</p>