<p>As the title states - do you regret it? Is it too easy and you don't feel challenged? Or is it too competitive/ hard? How do you think this affects your chances of acceptance and how well you perform in college?</p>
<p>For me, I've always wondered how I would've done at a less competitive school, as I'm at an IB school. I have around a 3.85 unweighted and a 4.45 weighted currently, and I'm ranked about 14% in my class. This is a school where people complain about perfectly good grades and SAT scores that are below 2200. This just boggles my mind. </p>
<p>I feel that if I went to an "easier" school, I would've had a less stressful life, but I'm not sure if it would increase my chances of being accepted. Being in a competitive school gives you that competitive nature that I'm not sure I would've had going to a different school. Also, our IB classes are run very similarly to collegiate courses, so I feel like I have an advantage in that area. </p>
<p>All in all, for me, going to a competitive school is bittersweet. You get exposed to that competitive nature earlier on in life and it helps you prepare for college, but on the other hand, you could have an easier time at a different school, and you might even have a better chance of being accepted to the college of your choice.</p>
<p>^^Yes and no. If you can have high test scores, and a high average that can work for you. And if it did, a majority of people will never go to college, and elite private high school students will always be the majority in colleges.</p>
<p>My problem is the exact opposite. I also go to an IB school, but the rest of my school isn’t that great. So I wonder if I should have gone to a tougher school, because I’m really not being challenged at my school.</p>
<p>Yes x1000000.
I could have gone to the much better school across town. Or the school next door and most likely would’ve been valedictorian.
But my city zoned me to a crappy school 45 minutes away, and I kept telling my parents I’d just suck it up.
Worst decision I ever made in my entire life…</p>
<p>Very much so. My school isn’t very challenging and the learning environment pretty much sucks because of the delinquent students here. I almost transferred to a classy and competitive private school in Asia, and I would have been much happier since I’d also be far away from my parents, but that would have led me to being stuck in Asia for college (and possibly the rest of my life), not something I want at all. But whatever, I’m just going to have to suck it up for the next three semesters.</p>
<p>I love my school, but it’s really difficult to fit in.</p>
<p>And since my class only has 43 students and virtually everyone (~40/43) takes at least one AP course if not more during their time year, it makes it difficult to crack the top 50%, let alone the top 5 or 10%.</p>
<p>The good thing is that I’ve been able to do a lot of things that I wouldn’t have been able to in public school. I’ve been presented with so many more opportunities. Everything from Varsity Cheerleading Captain to First Chair in Band to being a Girl’s State delegate to taking difficult courses even though I didn’t have an A to being a member of my school’s Honor Council.</p>
<p>I think that my school worked out great for me, but there are a lot of things that I wish would have gone better and those probably would have if I had been in public school.</p>
<p>Yeah, I was wondering the same thing newperspective was asking.</p>
<p>How do colleges find out how competitive your school is? With my stats, I’m barely breaking the top 15%, but if I went to a different school (this school is way less competitive, but is still decent), I know for a fact that I would be in the top 5%.</p>
<p>I definitely regret it. I was accepted to two of the very best boarding schools in the country, but I chose not to attend because of financial aid issues: my older sister was starting college that same year.</p>
<p>I went to the local public high school instead, and I’ve realized just how many opportunities I might otherwise have had: more difficult courses, amazing peers, wonderful teachers, EC activities I could never dream of, etc. More than likely, I would have been happier as well.</p>
<p>Since then, I’ve realized that I could have appealed my financial aid decision. Even if not, I should have re-applied during sophomore or junior year, just to see if the financial aid would have changed. But it’s too late now.</p>
<p>I suppose I’ll know in April whether or not it was a good choice, in the end.</p>
<p>I don’t really have a choice, being in a small school district with one high school. I like it, but sometimes I wonder what it would have been like if my parents hadn’t moved out of NYC when my sister was born. Probably would have ended up going to Bronx Science/Hunter/Stuyvesant, but I don’t know if I’d be happier there.</p>
<p>Yes and no. There’s many things I did here that I couldn’t have done at a bigger public school (playing football and being in the musicals for example) but I definitely would’ve had a much less stressful and more fun experience at a public school. Maybe my luck would’ve been a little better with girls too… twice as many guys as girls in a class of 90 is not conducive for me, especially when the majority have boyfriends.</p>
<p>I don’t wanna admit it, but I hate my high school. I hate how the headmaster used the anxiety of high school entrance exams to sucker the outstanding 9th graders (in my high school’s middle school dept.) into applying to the high school. I hate how you can’t participate in ANY ECs senior year; I hate how my school once expelled a couple for dating; I hate how my school’s mediocre even in academics; I hate how my school (well, all schools in China basically) crams 6-8 people into a 50 sq. ft. dormitory.</p>
<p>Most of all, I hate how my school pushes people who were on the brink of becoming mindless studying cyborgs over the edge.</p>
<p>Yes
My school has too many people (1200+) and in order to stand out, I have to be really really really really really good. (I’m in an ultra-competitive Asian country.) </p>
<p>People here are like, “Oh I got a 2300+ and I felt bad when I came out of the test so I’m going to try again and see what I can get” OR</p>
<p>“Oh he did quite badly.”
Me: What did he get? 2000?
“I think low 2200s”
It’s like CC in real life, haha.</p>
<p>No
It’s one of the best schools outside the US, according to admissions rates. The competitiveness is good but also quite insane. Teachers are great and the counselor is fantastic.</p>
<p>Sometimes I feel like I should have tried for a boarding school in the US.</p>
<p>Definitely not. My school is pretty large (3000 kids), so there are enough smart people to keep me company. While our lower-level classes are infested with remedial students and mediocre teachers, most of our honors and AP teachers are great. And we have a few great EC’s (like mock trial :)), which rounds out my high school nicely.</p>
<p>My school is Goldilocks. Not too competitive, but competitive enough to not be a joke. Also, the selection of ECs is fine and we’re in proximity to a large state university, so top students can do research.</p>