Daughter’s public highschool is very famous, Each year school has a very high percentage kids who matriculate at the very tipy top colleges mentioned on this web site. High School does not rank but she is among top 5% based on high school profile. She has taken the hardest course load that is challengeing in humanties as well as STEM subjects. In addition, she interned as a paid summer reserach intern in a fortune 100 comany in artificial intellegence. She has secured a return offer for next year summer paid summer internship. Does it help to go to a very competitive high school and have a good profile among very competitive environment.
The best person to ask would be the guidance counselor who helped those previous students get into the top colleges.
For the ultra-competitive colleges, going to a competitive HS can be helpful, but only if your daughter is at the top of her class. The admissions committees generally don’t discount GPAs for students attending competitive high schools. They will expect her to have similar GPA/test scores as compared to the other admitted applicants.
Since your daughter is in the top 5%, she should be fine. This doesn’t guarantee anything of course. Also keep in mind that your D will be compared directly with the other top applicants from her high school.
(I have no expertise here… this is just my impression which could be totally wrong). My guess is that it helps for private school admissions, especially if she’s in the top 25% or so of her class. The local adcoms will know your school well and will be able to read between the lines in the letters of recommendation. Where it could be less helpful and possibly detrimental is at flagship state universities in states that guarantee admission to the top x percent of every high school class. If your daughter was only in the top 20% of her current high school but would have been in the top 5% at a less competitive public school, she wouldn’t be assured of a spot in the UC system for instance.
Given that she is in the top 5% at this more competitive school I think she’ll do really well.
Yes it helps. She may still not get into her first choice colleges, but she’ll be better prepared for her courses. IMO, that’s worth its weight in gold.
I agree that her high school guidance office will have the best insight into where “kids like her” have applied and matriculated both in her region and out of the region. Colleges in her region should have a very good idea about where she fits. She sounds like she will have a nice application to work with. Best wishes for finding her match!
It sounds like you daughter is doing very well.
Make sure that she doesn’t get overstressed – it is not unheard of to see straight A or even near straight A+ students get stress related illnesses of various kinds (depression and anorexia being two of the common ones).
To me the internship sounds quite valuable as long as she likes to do it. The fact that it will be paid is nice, but probably not as important as the experience.
When the time comes make sure that she applies to appropriate safety schools in addition to matches and reaches. Pay attention to the cost of university, and she should do very well at university as well.
The top colleges are holistic. It won’t just be stats, standing, and the internship.
Generally if she is doing well at the competitive high school and is not stressed out that’s going to be a good thing. Since the high school doesn’t rank, she will have to ask her GC where students like her are likely to get in. If your school has Naviance and she’s already got SAT scores she can use that to get a general idea of the sort of school she’s likely to be accepted at. Students from less competitive high schools can also do very well, but they need to have higher grades. As lookingforward says holistic admissions means that they will be looking at more than just a list of courses, scores and activities. They are looking for signs that you will bring something more to the table.
“Does it help” - with what?
Getting into certain colleges?
Being prepared for college work?
Being ready for a career, knowing what she wants to do?
^^From past questions it looks like the parent is looking at big state publics and is interested in merit, but without knowing what the D is interested in the only answer is to talk to the guidance office at the high school. High stat out of state kids are generally attractive to publics because they pay more in tuition so for the OP it most likely will come down to finances…but isn’t that true for many, many families? But the really top notch publics have a plethora of OSS kids with high stats so often are reaches no matter what simply because of acceptance percentages and he cost variable. It’s threading a needle for sure.
What I learned from my bff whose kids attended a “famous” public high school in the CA was it was more famous and a legend in the minds of the parents that sent kids there, than in actuality. They knew perpetuating it kept property values up or it helped their own egos. It’s still sad, cause a lot of kids pay a big price for all the puffing up the parents do. According to CC, almost every kid attends the most competitive high school out there. A students record and performance will do the talking way more than the school attended. There are many “famous” schools out there.
Does going to a competitive high school help? Absolutely. Does it mean she will be accepted into a tippy top college? Absolutely not.
All selective colleges and universities will look favorably on good grades in a rigorous HS curriculum at a good school. But two important caveats: first, there are literally tens of thousands of applicants with similar credentials, and second (really a corollary of the first), that’s the minimum the most selective colleges will expect from applicants they will seriously consider, especially if the applicant doesn’t have a “hook” (e.g., recruited athlete, legacy, URM, first-gen, offspring of a wealthy donor, celebrity in her own right, etc). SAT/ACT scores also need to match the HS record, and colleges using holistic admissions (including almost all of the most selective) will also look closely at ECs, essays, evidence of any truly special talent, and HS counselor and teacher recommendations. I think they’ll view the internship as basically an EC or equivalent, and it sounds like a good one, but again, many applicants will have similarly impressive ECs and/or work experience. I don’t mean to be discouraging, just realistic. It sounds like she’s on track to get into a very good college, especially if the test scores, essays, and recommendations are strong, but as a previous poster suggested, she shouldn’t focus only on the most highly selective colleges. Once she has her test scores she should set her sights on a range of schools that are matches as well as safeties for her, as well as some reaches. A good HS counselor can help with that, as can Naviance if her HS has it.
Middle 50% of all students have a SAT 1 range of 1300 to 1480. 80% student took one or more AP classes. 40% took 5 or more AP classes. 68% scored 4 or 5 in AP classes
@scholardad guidance counselor is stating that daughter’s profile is very strong, however no gurantees but kids lower than her grades and scores have done well. She is one of the very few candidates who is invited to attend post APs in English, math, computer science, language course work. She is also taking AP physics.
@sgopal2 I do not have real picture therefore putting her in top 5%. School does not weight grades. If school weighted, than based on her extremely challenging course load she probably will be in top 1 to 2%.
The colleges regional reps know the local schools. They compare kids to their own school and region. Does it help. Yes, if the colleges know the reputation of the school and past student performance. My son went to the number one public school in our state with avg Act 31.3. This is a very academic school but had sports, clubs etc. It is run on a block system like many colleges due. These kids go to all the brand-name schools and other great schools. We were told that getting a “b” at this school is like getting an “A” at other comparable schools and reps have actually stated this. Does it mean everybody is going to Harvard or Berkey… No. But these kids usually acclimate to college very well.
@ultapradesh seems like your looking for some sort of confirmation that your DD will get into a top school which no one here can give you…….she is competitive, that’s it. Apply to schools that she thinks she will fit in at and hope for the best.
@lookingforward Even though she has done well in academics, her real strength are extracurricular activities that are outside of classroom as well school. She is very busy in her community and won many outstanding awards for her involvements.