<p>I was wondering if the specific high school you attend matters. I know the very top like Andover and Exeter matter, but what about just good public high schools. Like if the high school is ranked in the 300s according to the Newsweek publication thing, does it hold sway in determining if a school is better than a school ranked in like the 900s? I ask because there is a rival school down the street from my high school and I wonder if the Newsweek rankings affect where graduates end up. Like if two people were both number 10 in their class would top colleges (Harvard or Yale) see those class ranks as being the same? Or would they give preference to the higher ranked high school.</p>
<p>It does depend, being #1 in a very competitive school is very different than being #1 in a less competitive school.
Colleges should take it into account.</p>
<p>No, I am not taking about giant leaps in difference like Thomas Jefferson and some podunk school. But rather differences where one school is slightly more competitive than another school but both are good.</p>
<p>No. All other things being equal, the schools care about how you did in comparison to your classmates. Two students with equal records at the same rank within their class (and no natural track to top schools like Andover) would be viewed the same.</p>
<p>Those Newsweek rankings are pretty suspect, btw.</p>
<p>S’s hs is ranked 189 out of 213 in our state. Very low but it houses the IB for our school district. Every year the top 10-15 students are accepted to Ivy and top 20 schools. This past year we have Yale, Duke, MIT, OOS UNC, OOS GA TECH, Emory, OOS UCBerkley and others.</p>
<p>So it is possible to get into the top schools from Podunk high school.</p>