<p>Recently I have been attending meeting of the Maine Association of Student Councils Executive Board of which I am a member and have been for over a year. The school that I come from is quite a small school, biggest in the area, but still small at about 250 students. This is a number which is continuously decreasing. Anyways, three other students on the Executive Board come from Erskine Academy, which is one of the best private schools in the state of Maine. They just yesterday at our meeting were talking about their experiences in AP courses they take at Erskine; one girl took 6 this past year as a junior, which is completely unheard-of at my school. Listening to them talk about the opportunities they have has made me feel pretty down about my chances of getting into a good school. My school only offers 2 AP courses, AP psych and AP English lit. I am taking AP English lit next year, which is my junior year, and I will take AP psych my senior year. There are also AP courses you can take online but that is only for seniors. I have taken every honors course offered for freshmen and sophomores at my school. The schools I would like to go to are probably Carnegie Mellon or Boston University to study Economics. I know other than the fact that my class rank is 5/55 I don't have much other info to tell you as I haven't taken the SAT or the ACT yet, but I guess I am just asking whether or not the fact of how uncompetitive my school is will harm me in my chances to get into good schools like Carnegie Mellon or Boston. I really am trying to make the best out of what my school has to offer, I am involved and get good grades in the courses I do take, but I would feel super bad if my application would just get thrown out the second the admissions officer reads the name of my school. Thoughts? Thanks</p>
<p>Don’t be discouraged. As a parent, we all want our kids to be able to attend the best schools, whether “best” means prestigious or competitive, or just affording the most opportunity, challenge and diversity. But if, for whatever reason, that’s not possible…I think it’s just important to work hard, take advantage of whatever opportunities are available and distinguish yourself in any and every way that’s possible. A less competitive school might require more effort on your part throughout the college process. They might not offer the same level of college advisement and counseling (or they might!) They might not have the spiffy college software/record keeping, they might not have the same handle on the profiles and admission requirements of the more “top tier” schools…you might have to sit on teachers more for letters of rec if class sizes are larger. There are some benefits tho’. At a less competitive high school, an academic star will definatley shine bright. Some colleges will limit the number of admits from an individual high school that presents large numbers of applicants…whereas if you’re the only student applying to higher range schools you sort of have the run of it. You’ll be fine!</p>
<p>Colleges want to know that you took the most rigorous courses offered at YOUR school. They know all schools don’t offer a lot of AP courses and that some schools restrict how many can be taken. </p>
<p>Work hard on your standardized test prep, because that is one way that colleges can compare “apples and apples” across schools.</p>
<p>Thank you both for you replies. Definitely makes me feel better</p>