Does Bad School Help or Hurt?

Applying to College
1

<p>I'm confused. It looks like doing the same in either NJ or FL has its differences when coming to college admissions. FL would have the easier time, as it looks like NJ is slightly over-represented in the Ivy scene. So, I'm wondering, what does the effect of going to an underachieving school in FL have? My school's statistics go a little something like this:</p>

<p>People applied/admitted to Harvard in past 4 years (the existence of our school): 1
Number of NMS Qualifiers (1st round people) in school history (4 years): 2, which was me and 1 other girl this year
School Size: 3000 in a school for 1800
Setting: Suburban
FCAT School Grade: C
% of kids who attend 4 year institution: 25% maybe?
SAT Average: Not Sure</p>

<p>So, there are some bright kids here, but not that many since I easily wipe up the competition in everything (except for that one girl getting a higher SAT score). I have a 4.52W and am ranked 5th out of 650. The only reason I'm not ranked 1st is because I had band, which is not weighted and takes up 2 slots per year. In AP WH, I was the only kid to get a 5, and in USH I was one out of 4 to get a 5. The only AP class that had a passing rate above 50% was AP Literature, and I got a 4 in there. I've also got EC's out the rear end and plenty of awards/honors. So basically, does it look good that I have done this well in an underachieving school?</p>

2

<p>of course.</p>

3

<p>yea, it definitely does.</p>

4

<p>I'm pretty sure my bad school helped at least. Mine had an SAT average of 700-750 I would guess with only 10 people ever passing them Chem AP (I was the only 5 in years), with awful counselors (mine spelled Princeton with a Z and didn't know what SAT II's were). Nevertheless, we had some excellent students this past year that we're gifted, hard working and humble (1 into Yale, 2 into Harvard--both we're considering not going because of family distance, 1 was indian and 1 hispanic--, 1 dartmouth, 2 cornell, 3 rice, 1 MIT). It was a very out of the ordinary year, but none of these people (including myself) was godly in terms of their "stats" but they we're excellent people, which I believe helped</p>