My high school only offers a few AP courses, and none in science. In the application process, will college admissions know this fact? It seems like it would be quite an inherent disadvantage, considering that students don’t generally get to choose which high school they go to.
There is also a high school very, very near to my own high school that does offer many AP courses. Would it be expected of someone in my situation to transfer to gain the same “recognition”?
"In the application process, will college admissions know this fact? "
yes, so please relax.
you are evaluated first within the context of your own HS.Then within the context of other freshman applicants from your state.The admissions officers from colleges you apply to all have their own have territories, and it is their job to know what classes your HS offers and what it doesn’t.
"Would it be expected of someone in my situation to transfer to gain the same “recognition”? "
Absolutely not.
High schools typically send a copy of their high school profile along with the student’s transcript. High school profiles detail the course offerings and various levels, gpa calculation methodology, proportion of students who take AP tests and their scores, along with other data. These profiles are public information, and available on most school’s websites.
Most admissions officers have good knowledge about the high schools in their territories, and along with the profile, have a great deal of information on hand…applicants will be evaluated within the context of their high school. Some schools compare students from the same high school, some don’t. Take a look at your high school’s profile and/or speak with your GC. Good luck.
I’ve always wondered this, too. My D is applying to schools I’m CERTAIN no one from our high school has ever applied to before. So how would they know about our tiny, rural high school in another part of the country?
The high school profile has a lot of information that will go with the transcript. Adcoms are well versed at assessing students in context.
In addition to the school report, there are plenty of demographic reports available and many states track hs districts and performance and make that commonly available.
You might ask to see the high school profile and see if it has the information you’d like to see there. Ours had number of each AP taken (but not the average scores), also how many AP Scholars etc there were. For the SAT they had average scores, both for the main test and for each subject test (and I think how many kids took a particular subject test). They had a description of the school district as well (range of income, ethnicities, percentage getting free or reduced lunch.) And the last page was devoted to the colleges the previous year’s class had been accepted to.
Some colleges knew our school pretty well because they have regional admissions officers and were in the school several times each year for interviews, info sessions, college night and college fair.
There is a lot of good information on your school’s profile… definitely give it a close read.
In general, going to a worse school hurts you in terms of college admissions.
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/12/13/making-harvard-feeder-schools/?page=single
https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/5/1/18311548/college-admissions-secrets-myths
@roethlisburger That’s a tough comparison you’re making there. I read that Harvard Crimson article and see that ten top high schools are discussed in terms of dominating their admissions. Considering there are 37,000 high schools (i), your “worse school” count would be something like 36,990 high schools. Alternatively, I see that 11% of schools sent roughly a 1/3 of freshmen at Harvard. Again, 89% of schools are worse? And Harvard admissions are defining that?
I wouldn’t draw any conclusions from that data about whether someone is attending a “worse school” or not. Makes it sound like one is sort of doomed because of that school. Too many great kids never get into Harvard (or the HYPSM schools) but go on to stellar futures to make that assessment.
(i) https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/hs/hsfacts.html
@roethlisburger I turned down Phillips Exeter Academy to go to a public school as it’s clear now that if I were drowned out by the rest of the students at PEA I would have a worse chance than if I get valedictorian at my good public school…
squ1rrel I’m not sure that going to a strong school hurts you. My daughter’s graduating class of 100 in North Carolina had 3 going to Princeton, 2 to Stanford and 3 to Penn.
The private school is always ranked either #1 or #2 in the state and my feeling is if anything it helps. “Rising water raises all boats…”
Our DS’ school profile has the number of AP, IB courses offered, percentage of students matriculates into 4-year college, average SAT (break down with Math/EBRW) and ACT (composite) scores, as well as its grading scale. It then highlights specifics about DS’ transcripts (weighted and unweighted GPA, number of As, Bs,…, course rigor. We are not a “well-known” school so the school profile is very important imho for college AOs.
I do believe going to a highly competitive high schools could be a double-edged sword for average excellent students who want to go to state-flagships or good public universities, where GPAs/class rankings are more important.
Harvard “feeder” schools are not better than many excellent public magnet schools. The main reasons that so many kids are accepted to Harvard from these very expensive private boarding schools are A, the feeder schools are full of Harvard legacies, B, the feeder schools train kids in Rich Kid sports, like lacrosse and rowing, which are used to increase the number of underqualified rich kids being accepted to Harvard, C, the feeder schools are filled with kids of very wealthy potential donors, and D, many of the admissions people at Harvard are graduates of a feeder school, and give conscious or unconscious preference to students of these schools.
For every one of those “feeder” schools, there are at least half a dozen public schools across the country, with higher SAT scores, more academic awards, and more overall achievements. However, these other schools are not full of rich legacies, and Harvard admissions are not full of graduates of these schools. Consequently, admissions to Harvard from these top schools is but a fraction of admissions from a feeder school.
As I have also pointed out eslewhere, feeder schools do not report the rankings of their students, which is one of the ways in which they “collude” with Ivies to get as many of their graduates into the Ivies without “ruining” the claims of Ivies that 80% (or some other high percent) of their incoming students, who report their ranking, are from the top 2% of their graduating class.
Once again, some CC posters are equating income with academic quality.
There is a slight but significant statistical advantage OVERALL to go to a top high school. However, bear in mind, that top rated high schools not only have a lot of top students, but have a lot of kids who are connected thorough celebrity, development and legacy.
Still, to be a Val at one of these schools that are very much in the radars of the most selective schools counts a whole lot more, most of the time, than at unknown schools. And most schools are unknown schools. It’s not like the AOs make it their missions to visit every high school in the country. They sit and spend hours, even a day, to talk to students and staff at certain high schools regularly. So, even an unconnected Val at one of such schools, especially with high test scores has a better chance at getting into the top colleges.
Going to a public school that “only offers a few AP courses, and none in science” will almost certainly hurt the OP in college admissions.
@cptofthehouse Good point about the valedictorian of Boston Latin being more highly regarded than one from a typical high school. But what about the other 99.5% of students? So many people turn out great who are NOT valedictorians. Indeed, being valedictorian doesn’t actually mean as much as we make it out to be.
http://money.com/money/4779223/valedictorian-success-research-barking-up-wrong/
Going back to what I was saying before: “worse school” is a misnomer that has an odd caste system patina to it.
Enough with this “What Would Harvard Say?” mentality. There are 2,000 non-profit colleges, of which at least 1,000 provide top-notch educations. There are literally hundreds of great colleges which would be happy to accept the OP, as long as they take the most rigorous curriculum that their high school provides.
The regional reps know everything about the high schools they’re responsible for. Plus, every high school submits a 'school profile" to every college its student apply to. The school profile includes such info as courses offered, demographics of the student body, economics of the school district, etc.
“There are literally hundreds of great colleges which would be happy to accept the OP, as long as they take the most rigorous curriculum that their high school provides.”
I like the all the points you have made in this thread @MWolf. Although I believe there are plenty of great colleges that would happily accept the OP even if s/he DIDN’T take the most rigorous curriculum provided by his/her high school. Decent grades in on-level classes, perhaps an honors or AP in the right areas… plenty of excellent colleges are satisfied with that. Of course a rigorous high school course load may better prepare the student and may keep some doors open a little longer, and while it is important for tippy top schools, that designation is not the only way to a solid education.
OP, you are fortunate to have another high school close by to give you a choice. No one would expect you to switch, however. As to whether the other school is a better fit for you or your family - socially, academically, and financially - is a decision between you and your parents. No college will penalize you for not taking classes your current school does not offer.