Does High School Attended Affect Admissions?

<p>Hello all. I'm a rising junior at a low-achieving Program Improvement/Title I school in Northern California whose top students generally go to Berkeley or UCLA. The last Ivy League/Ivy League-level acceptances we had were for the class of 2010, whose valedictorian went to Cornell and whose salutatorian went to Stanford. </p>

<p>My question is: Does attending a school such as mine, from which higher-tier/highest-tier acceptances are few and far between affect the chances in any way -- positive or negative -- of an applicant from that school?</p>

<p>“top students generally go to Berkeley or UCLA”</p>

<p>How awful!</p>

<p>My guess is that if you go to a more high-achieving school you’re expected to accomplish more because you have more opportunities.</p>

<p>Haha, don’t take that as me saying that those aren’t great schools – I’d love to attend either of them. I was simply stating a fact.</p>

<p>I know, but I don’t think it’s really accurate to say top-tier acceptances are rare if it’s common for people to go to those schools. It doesn’t seem like it would be much of a stretch to imagine someone going to HYPSM from there.</p>

<p>Okay, that’s fair to say, although, like I said, it hasn’t happened since the class of 2010, and it hadn’t happened for quite a few years before that. (I’m not sure exactly how many, but it was a very large deal at the time due to the rarity of the event at our school.)</p>

<p>And as far as students at high-achieving schools being expected to accomplish more, where does that leave me?</p>

<p>@halcyonheather: well, tiger15 lives in California so at least a couple of his classmates must be automatic/-ish admits to UCB. The fact there hasn’t been one in 3 years reflects the general school environment.</p>

<p>@tiger: it means you’ll have to show you’ve got extra initiative - tried to create clubs if they don’t exist, try to dual-enroll in community college for classes that don’t exist, etc. Are you in Trio/Upwardbound?</p>

<p>If you show lots of initiative above and beyond, your school background will probably be a big leg up, if you are a URM, first in your family to go to college, etc.</p>

<p>Don’t assume that the reason your peers aren’t at highly selective schools is that they can’t get in. Are they even applying? Cost and location may play deciding roles in the college application decisions of the top grads at your school. Your peers may see good value in the UCs and they may be reluctant to consider campuses on the other side of the country.</p>

<p>I am not in Trio or Upwardbound, nor am I a URM – both of my parents have Bachelor’s degrees, I’m white, and our pre-tax household income is around 250k/year. However, I would say that is probably the norm for only about 10% of the school. In our district, we are known as the poor school for Hispanics and druggies. </p>

<p>The school itself is not incredibly bad academically – I think it offers around 15 or 16 AP courses. The problem is that the majority of students don’t take those courses – we have enough enrolling to fill up sections, but it’s usually the same kids taking a lot of APs, not a lot of kids taking some APs. </p>

<p>However, the main problem is the extracurriculars. I would go so far as to say that not a single program on campus is noteworthy in any way on the state, regional, or even district scale. All of our chapters of national organizations are small and under-the-radar, our sports teams are poor, as are our visual and performing arts. People find that it’s very hard to get something done at the school, because we simply don’t have a lot (of money, of students, of ambition, etc.) to work with. </p>

<p>Despite this, though, the two programs that are dearest to my own heart seem to be on the rise, those being the Journalism and Academic Decathlon programs. If I am able to grow and improve those programs significantly while I am here – I’ve already started to – and make them competitive on a larger scale, will that help overcome the limitations of my school? (Not that I do those things for college apps, but I worry about it a lot, especially when I see friends in other states and at nearby schools who seem to be in much better environments for success.)</p>

<p>@niceday: That’s true, although I know that, generally, I would say the top five or so students send applications to Stanford and at least one other Ivy League – or at least that’s the trend I’ve seen with my senior friends over the past two years, and I know that all of them were rejected, but it’s possible that earlier students either didn’t apply or were accepted but decided not to attend.</p>

<p>Bumpity bump?</p>

<p>If my family had a 250k income and the choices were Berkeley or UCLA instate tuition vs a no-merit aid private school fullpay. I’d pick the prestigious UC schools in a heartbeat.</p>

<p>I’m also in NCAL and know a couple of students who have been in the same situation. I would say this: Top colleges know your school. They know you’re going to be limited in terms of school activities. However getting in is going to be far more a function of you, your strengths and how you took advantage of what was offered to you than it is the school. From that standpoint, as a child of college graduates with a fairly high income, it will be assumed that you had more resources available to you than your peers. That said, if you do what you’re talking about doing, you should be fine in that respect.</p>

<p>I would encourage you to not necessarily believe everything that past students have told you about their applications - your friends may or may not have actually been in the top 5 of their class; they might fudge a bit when they tell you their test scores; they might not even apply to every school they say they did and just claim they were rejected/waitlisted.</p>

<p>At one point, my kids got together with their friends and counted how many of their classmates had claimed to be in the top 10% of their relatively small class. The total came to over 20% of the class.</p>

<p>I don’t think that which high school you went to affects your admittance to a school. Colleges, generally, look at the circumstances. They look to see if you took the most rigorous that was offered and other factors. So the high school shouldn’t affect which colleges you are accepted to.</p>

<p>So I won’t be penalized for my lack of opportunity?</p>

<p>It is better to be a top ranked student from a middling school, than a middling student from a top ranked school.</p>

<p>Of course, the best scenario is to be a top ranked student from a top ranked school.</p>

<p>In terms of the competitive privates, what can affect you is the number of quality programs in CA, especially any in your area. The solutions is you empower yourself. Don’t see it as lack of opportunity. Look for opportunity. Find it or make it. And, forming a club isn’t it. Get out there, hold responsibilities, do for the needy, gain some practical experience related to your college interests. Be a leader. In general, you don’t stand out for being a good kid in a less competitive school- but for being a great kid. Can you see it that way?</p>

<p>I have wondered about this too. I have sometimes gotten the impression that the selective colleges may have some favorite high schools, making me wonder if our florida high school will even seriously make their radar.</p>

<p>@looking forward: I think I know what you mean – I don’t need to be a great student in comparison to the rest of my class, I need to be a great student in comparison to the history of my school? Someone who will be remembered by teachers and administrators for years after I graduate? </p>

<p>Kind of a tall order, haha.</p>