I go to the #2 school in my state and the classes are known to be extremely difficult. I’m only a sophomore, so I know it’s a little early to be thinking about college (or as least that’s what people tell me), but this year I got a C in Honors Chemistry which has been stressing me out tremendously and I’m worried it’ll ruin my chances to get into some of my top schools (University of Miami, NYU, Penn State, Pepperdine…). So my question is: will a college understand that the classes at my school are more difficult than those at a different school which then means my GPA may be lower (if that makes sense)? Thank you!
Yes. In many instances, the AO may be familiar with the school. However, schools will generally include a school profile, which will outline academic requirements and limitations, AP courses offered, college matriculations, and a ton of other info. [url=<a href=“http://www.newton.k12.ma.us/cms/lib8/MA01907692/Centricity/domain/28/counseling/NNHSprofile2014-2015.pdf%5DHere’s%5B/url”>http://www.newton.k12.ma.us/cms/lib8/MA01907692/Centricity/domain/28/counseling/NNHSprofile2014-2015.pdf]Here’s[/url] an example.
That said, try not to get any more C’s. 
@skieurope is right they will get a copy of the school profile and the adcoms probably know that your school is a top school because a lot of people from your school will apply to the colleges you listed.
Also, if your classes are hard, then your friends’ GPA’s won’t be that high either, so your class rank will be higher with a lower GPA since the classes are so difficult.
Most, if not all the time, at least one of the members of the admissions committee who reads your application WILL know your school well enough to judge its rigor. He/she will pass on those statements to anyone else who will read your application. If you want an example of how this works, check out the University of Michigan’s admissions page.
Most of them do as skieurope said. But what about schools that are not recognized. The easiest way to look them is with the SAT or ACT and the GPA.
What are the profiles like for students from your school that were previously admitted to your top choice schools? If your school uses Naviance, checking that would be a good idea. But overall, if a school takes X number of students from your school yearly, its likely that the number they take in future years won’t be too far off X. Do you best to be in the X.
Yes they do.
For truly holistic schools, they go beyond this. They’ll look at the high schools’ reported percentages of college attending seniors and avg ACT/SAT of seniors.
Thus a kid who achieves a 29ACT in a school that has 30% of seniors graduating in 4 years and of these, only 15% go on to college and the HS has a 15 ACT average, and 98% of kids are on free/reduced school lunch (a mark of relative poverty level) — will be rightfully compared in the correct context. That 29 looks rather good…
Whereas a kid who attends a school where 87% of graduates go onto 4 year colleges and the avg ACT is 25 and a 3% free/reduced lunch — well, that 29 doesn’t really jump out, see?
The interviewer my S had from MIT told him his school got more points in admissions process because of the difficulty. I imagine most universities are familiar with many high schools. MIT admitted 5 students from S’s school this year.
Thank you for saying that @t26e4, but I said for schools that are not recognized. Yeah, the holistic process look beyond that.
@Jr12317 For not “recognized” schools, the Secondary School Report (SSR) is even MORE valuable. Besides the data I mentioned in post #7, it includes stuff like class size, numbers and sorts of college prep (honors, AP, IB) classes available, etc.
With this in hand, a holistic reader will be able to better gauge the academic potential of an applicant – even from one where little history exists.
I meant that I have known schools that don’t have a class rank, any AP, IB, or honors. Yeah but as I said those schools have GPA and students are required to take the SAT or ACT, and also they do EC’s. But I understand your point @T26E4.
Note: I know it’s early, but if Pepperdine is a good fit, then NYU isn’t,and vice versa. Get a Fiske guide from your HS library and read about these two if you don’t see what I mean.
Thanks for the responses guys. NYU is a good fit because of its location which is extremely close to home. I understand how they are different in most other ways, though. It’s more of a personal reason for why it is a good school for me.