<p>I'm a student at Dr. Jorge Alvarez High School which is in Providence, Rhode Island. My school is ranked 2nd worst in the state (out of 54 public schools) and none of our graduates have gone to any impressive school for the last 10 years that its been open. The best college anyone has been to is Bryant University.</p>
<p>My GPA is a 3.8 unweighted and a 4.3 weighted (Science was where I lagged a bit, got B's in the class but we haven't had a legitimate teacher until May of this year, the rest were all long-term substitutes.</p>
<p>My SAT scores- CR 620 M 610 W 620 </p>
<p>SAT Subject tests- U.S. History 600 Literature 570 (Taking AP Literature next year so I'm going to get another crack at Lit. the poetry screwed me up.</p>
<p>I'm going to try and improve my sats/sat 2's by 50 points on each respective section this summer and then I have several EC's like a summer internship for Digitas and I've interned for a local senator. On top of that I'm 4th in state heavyweight wrestling and I'm ranked 17 for hammer throwing in the state in track and field.</p>
<p>Does my schools underperformance help me? I feel as if I stick out a lot from the school, their average sat is 1250 total and 97% of them failed the NECAP (New England assessment which is required for graduation, a lot of students excluding myself need to take remedial classes for it.</p>
<p>Yes you stand out but you need to show initiative, to show you looked for opportunities to challenge yourself academically beside that one AP lit class (which, considering the school, is probably the only one or one out of a handful offered). Can you look into dual enrollment at a community college (you attend one class as if it were for high school, so, for free, but you take it at the local community college and if you get a good grade you get college credit. It typically indicates to colleges that even though your school’s overall level is poor, YOU are able to handle college-level work).
What’s your class rank?
Next year, you’ll have to make a bullet point list of things for your Guidance Counselor since s/he is likely overworked and may not remember everything, such as no legitimate teacher until May for science, 97% students failed NECAP yet applicant donaldb040 scored in the top … percentile, etc.</p>
<p>They offer 7 AP’s, although with the dual enrollment this won’t cut into school hours right? Can I do these at night?</p>
<p>AP Statistics-Next year
AP English Language-Took it this year
AP Literature -Next year
AP statistics -Taking it next year
AP U.S History -Took it this year
AP Spanish -Took it this year
AP Government -Taking next year</p>
<p>Colleges don’t care so much about your high school as about what you’ve done with the opportunities you’ve been offered. It sounds to me like you’ve done an excellent job in that regard. It also sounds like you might be able to be a recruited athlete for track and field. That would be a big boost.</p>
<p>In the end, sadly, going to an underperforming high school is not an advantage, because you will not be as well prepared and you won’t have had the experience of being in a high achieving environment. </p>
<p>FWIW, I think Brown would love to be able to admit a high achieving minority from Providence, so you might get a boost from being local, but the above paragraph holds true in spades for Brown. It would be great if you could hook up with something like Posse or Summersearch or (I know about California) Meritus or East Bay College Fund that provides counseling as well as scholarships. I don’t know if something like that exists in Providence. You should check with your GC.</p>
<p>Brown is my first choice, I’m applying there ED and I have an alumni recommendation. I’ve also met the President of Brown, she came to our schools graduation ceremony and I got to meet her. She wished me luck in admissions because she said she would love for someone from alvarez to go there in 2015.</p>
<p>As you can probably tell I’m going completely for Brown but unfortunately its a reach for everyone, I have plenty of backups but going there is my dream.</p>
<p>Overall, an underperforming school hurts you and its wise to know that ahead of time. </p>
<p>Individually, you are a standout student which will help you.</p>
<p>Hurts - you probably could do better on the SAT except for the lower level of rigor your courses may provide, you may struggle at unexpectantly at an elite school if there are gaps in your education, you may get frustrated being an average student among a group of elites which can affect confidence.</p>
<p>Helps-you made the most of where you are and succeeded. That counts.</p>