<p>Agree it is not at all fair. I was helping a kid in a high school that was sort of transitional. It was in Silicon Alley a few years ago. Historically noone ever went to top schools, but engineers had moved in and their kids started applying to elite schools. It took about 5 years or so for the top schools to catch on that this school was now sending them good candidates. Certainly some kids who applied to the Ivies at the beginning of the process were rejected who would have been accepted later on after the high school got “on the radar” of the top colleges. My kids go to a very new private school that most top colleges have never heard of, but it is trying very hard. Having said that: hers is the advice of our overpriced private counselor on how to break through from a school not known to the colleges - standardized tests really count for a lot for kid from a school top colleges don’t know. Take APs, extra SATIIs, send all the high scores. Small schools and LACs will often take more time to figure out an individual candidate than the big Ivies. (This will help your daughter as her focus seems on smaller schools and LACs). And try to visit and meet in person with a prof or similar.</p>
<p>pizzagirl: glass half full story that may help…</p>
<p>older daughter went to a public HS where counselors have no relationships with most schools…she applied to a top 20 private in the South where nobody at said HS had ever applied (as did a number of other kids that year in her class)…said private college took the time to figure out what this HS was all about; actually admitted a majority of the kids who applied (RD)…asked questions, examined the profile, called guidance counselors etc…</p>
<p>moral of the story: don’t assume that the colleges won’t do the legwork if your HS as seldom or never sent a kid to said college…</p>
<p>I guess what gets me is the whole concept of “the high school sent a kid to X college.” My kids’ high school isn’t “sending” them anywhere. <em>I</em> am, or more accurately, <em>they</em> are sending themselves through their own hard work. </p>
<p>It’s almost a variant of the whole “which college sends more students to top law schools, medical schools, etc.” mentality. Well, no college “sends” its students to law schools. The student makes his or her way to law school; the college merely provided resources, some more than others.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl, your DD will not be disadvantaged at any women’s college. Those schools are very anxious to expand their base and will jump at the opportunity to take a young woman from a high school that does not send them candidates often. JUMP. It will be an advantage.</p>