<p>I can see from Naviance a few glitchy results - for example, that a significant proportion of applicants from our huge high school were accepted at a much more competitive school (school y) and only one student out of 40 applicants was accepted at a school one tier down (school Z). Does it seem likely that school Z just doesn't like our high school? I'm curious because school Z is my son's first choice, but we don't want to waste an early decision application if it's extremely unlikely he'll get in. It's a reach school for my son regardless but if they just don't like our school . . . Am I being crazy? Thanks.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if it’s case of not liking. I’d check with the GC, but it may be that school Z has a track record of students from your son’s HS not performing as well at their college. </p>
<p>^^or a bunch of students applying and getting accepted and turning the college down. Your best bet here is to have your son address it head on as a question to admissions - although an ED application should do the trick.</p>
<p>It is more than likely one of the two scenarios listed above. If it what @skieurope suggests, then I am not sure if he can do anything to persuade them. If it is what @momofthreeboys suggests then your son can do what ever he can to show interest.</p>
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<p>I’m betting on this. Your school counselor probably has a good idea what’s going on.</p>
<p>D2’s international school consistently sent few students to most of top 20 schools every year, except for the school D2 wanted to ED at. we looked at the school’s Naviance, it showed one year 5 students were accepted and no one matriculated. Ever since then not one student was accepted again. D2 made a point of contacting the admission office to ask for a special since we were traveling far to visit. We also asked her GC to contact the school to show interest. Of course, by applying ED it showed her commitment. She was the first one to be admitted from her school in a while.</p>
<p>Sometimes when EDers back out, some adcoms could also get upset.</p>
<p>I’ve also observed kids doing multiple deposits, writing letters when wait-listed which say, “if accepted I will definitely attend”- then get in off the waitlist and not attend, kids taking a Gap year after accepting (where you agree not to matriculate at another university in exchange for having the U hold your spots) and then the kid mysteriously shows up as a full time student second semester of the Gap year, etc.</p>
<p>Adcoms have long memories. Check with your GC to find out what’s gone on in the past and the best way to address it.</p>
<p>Within our large (16 universities) state school system, the prob. is not so much specific high schools but certain counties. The two most populated/urban counties in our state have way more applicants for our state schools than the counties in the more rural areas. Those two counties alone could make up a large majority of the freshman classes at state u’s. We have 100 counties, many of them rural. All 100 counties need to be represented. So some students fr. the large urban counties may get passed over for those in the more rural counties in order for our state schools to be representative of our state as a whole.</p>
<p>We have that same general problem / issue in Illinois (a heavily populated urban area “thick” with well qualified applicants, the rest of the state rural). However, I don’t interpret that as “they don’t like certain high schools” per se. It’s just that there’s more than enough upper-middle-class qualified Chicagoland kids for them to pick from, so they aren’t going to pick them all. That’s a separate issue from “they don’t like New Trier or Highland Park High or Naperville Central or Stevenson or … or …” IMO.</p>
<p>That is certainly the case in our HS. We send 5-6 kids to Harvard every year but at most only 1 gets into Brown and that is usually a legacy.</p>
<p>It absolutely doesn’t occur to anyone that there are only a handful of high schools in the country that “send 5-6 kids to Harvard every year” - maybe 50 at the absolute most? And that such schools are either elite boarding schools, elite magnets with high admission requirements or very-affluent public schools? I’m sorry, it’s just rather funny on CC when people are coming from high schools that are CLEARLY out of the norm in terms of affluence, and like to think that their experiences are anything like the other 29,950 high schools in this country. </p>
<p>OP is asking if it is possible that some colleges do not like certain high schools. He is not asking if it is the norm. Most CC’ers are also not your normal students/families who go to your local in-state. For most 29950 high schools in this country, adcoms would look at them just another high school unless if they stand out for whatever reason, good or bad. Top tier college adcoms will have regional reps who would know high schools in that region well, but would only know them to the extend they stand out.</p>
<p>Yes, a school which sends 5 students to Harvard and only 1 Brown is a cause for concern for any students who want to apply to Brown. A well known private school in NYC was getting shut out of Harvard for few years. The board told the headmaster to take care of the situation or she was going to be out. She paid her respect to the adcoms and smoothed out whatever issues they had. The following year, few students were admitted again. </p>
<p>I guess that bothers me because more so than anything else, the high school someone attends is pretty much a direct reflection of parents’ affluence and / or sophistication. It’s rarely something the kid has a say or choice over.</p>
<p>From my observation it is not necessarily that colleges don’t like a high school, I think it is more that some colleges like some high schools more than others. They know that the students who apply will actually attend and do well in their school. </p>
<p>My HS GC recounted how one elite university rejected everyone applying one year sometime in the mid-'80s because the previous year, every student who was admitted turned down their offer which really ticked their adcoms off. </p>
<p>The GC did this to reduce the likelihood there would be a repeat and its negative consequences for younger classes after we graduated. </p>
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<p>Not only do well, but perceived to fit in well with the given school culture. </p>
<p>The latter was a key issue in why in the mid-'90s and before, Princeton had a widespread reputation of favoring private prep school graduates over public school graduates…including public magnets like the one I attended. </p>
<p>Another commenter on a past thread mentioned the history behind that and how this changed when a succeeding adcom made it a point to publicly state the need to admit more students from public schools…especially public magnets. </p>
<p>Then again, other colleges may be more willing to admit students who don’t fit a given college campus’ culture to ensure greater intellectual or social diversity. </p>
<p>Where a student can get admitted or attend is highly depended on parents. As many people have stated on CC, there are a lot of colleges to choose from, not being liked by few colleges is really not end of the world.</p>
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<p>1990s? That type of thing was described in the 1950s by Vance Packard in The Status Seekers, where HYP were noted as admitting about half of their class from elite prep schools (which were then more SES elite than academically elite) and the other half from public schools. The public school graduates were the ones who had the higher academic achievement at HYP, while the prep school graduates were content with gentlemen’s C grades.</p>
<p>HYP were described as having to deal with the conflict between admitting enough prep school applicants in order to keep the donations coming from their parents, and admitting more public school applicants to maintain the academic eliteness. Obviously, it has shifted more to the latter, and the prep schools have raised their academic standards to compete, though the conflict still remains with respect to legacy and developmental preferences in admissions.</p>
<p>I think that have favorites more than those they disfavor.</p>
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<p>What I described was applicable only to Princeton back then. In contrast, Harvard and Yale were perceived to have much more meritocratic admission process where public school students were given a much more fairer shake. The contrasting stats between numbers admitted from my graduating HS class to HY versus P was really telling (20-30 each versus 5). </p>
<p>It also factors into why Princeton and its alums do tend to come in for some friendly ribbing* from HS alums in my graduating class and moreso…older classes. </p>
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<li>Jokingly asking them if they require fancy cutlery and a silk napkin to eat a slice of NY style pizza.<br></li>
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<p>This has been eased with the fact legacy/developmental admits could also come from public high schools, especially public magnets. </p>