<p>Does attending a competitive high school improve one's chances at being admitted to top schools? And by competitive, I mean nearly 100% of kids go onto college, a dozen kids go to the Ivy League, two Intel Finalists in the past two years, etc. Will colleges take this into consideration when looking at my rank?</p>
<p>In short, yes. </p>
<p>Many people here say you absolutely have to be in the 10% of your class AT LEAST if you want to have any chance at an Ivy League school... but I know several girls from my school who have been accepted to Ivies without being in the top 10% (we only have 50 students per grade).. more like top 25%, and they weren't URMs, athletes, legacies, etc. Going to a good HS with a great reputation/relationship with colleges definitely helps.</p>
<p>That's good to hear. I'm in the top 12% and would just be happy to get into NYU... I certainly have the SAT scores (1480), EC's, and such...</p>
<p>OK, another question. If I get high SAT II scores from a variety of subjects (800 Math IIC, 760 US History, 760 Math IC, 740 Physics), would these help colleges overlook a 3.4 GPA? I mean, I got an 800 on the IIC despite having a B average in Algebra II and a low A in Geometry, which I hope would show the difficulty of the courseload.</p>
<p>Too many B's can keep you out, even if those are in Honors and AP Classes.</p>