<p>I am contemplating on moving with my dad to Ottawa Canada so I could go to an elite well-known private school, Ashbury College, or attending a boarding school. The reason is that the high school I would be going to is a small, limited, public high school. It barely has any APs, limited ECs, and most of the graduates attend community college. </p>
<p>My question is this, Does the high school matter tremendously in admittance to Harvard?</p>
<p>What you do OUTSIDE school probably matters more, because that shows what you do on your own initiative. That said, and not particularly with reference to Harvard (or to college admission anywhere), I am thinking over the same issue for my son. The reason to go to a better school is to get a better education TODAY, not to impress a college admission officer in a few years. If your current school limits your opportunities and wastes your time, you might be well warranted to apply to other schools. In our family, the issue is between certain out-of-state boarding schools (which may or may not admit our son) and various ad-hoc things we can do locally, including taking college classes for "high school." </p>
<p>Best wishes for finding a suitable learning environment for the next few years. Don't forget to find your own things to do for academic challenge outside the school curriculum.</p>
<p>Have you asked staff at the school how many of its graduats have gone on to Harvard?</p>
<p>No, I haven't. The only person I have heard of has gone to Princeton on a wrestling scholarship.</p>
<p>I've been thinking of going to St. Paul's School. Has anyone on here attended SPS?</p>
<p>You may want to consider a school with a track record of placing students in Harvard.</p>
<p>If you have the money and have the opportunity to go to a great school, then go. Northstarmom told me once that if you go to a school with 8 Aps and take all 8, it'd be viewed the same as if you went to a school with only 4 aps offered and took those 4. They won't hold your school against you. They have a "school sheet" or something that has the average test scores, graduation rates, classes offered, etc... It's not like you're in the middle of Montana and have to go to the local public school because you have no other opportunities. Go to one of those good schools, and be thankful that you have the opportunity and money. I'm sure you'll do very well at the school and by going to this "elite" school you can prove that you're a smart, hardworking person easier because you'll have more ec opportunity and classes to prove this by. I hope this makes some sense.</p>
<p>do you really want to go to a private boarding school? i mean besides the potential for going to harvard, does it really appeal to you? if you stay at your smaller school, you can form clubs and be a leader easier, but what do i know? im lucky, im going to pub high school in a town with a huge hospital and a lot of doctors. we have a phenomenal high school and enough money to fund it. its not to big, but not too small either. it couldnt get any better. also we have more ap's offered then almost any school in the state. its small town charm with big city opportunity. in short it totally rocks.</p>
<p>Yes, I really do want to go to a private boarding school. SPS has over 100 ECs and a very challenging curriculum. The main reason I want to go there is because of its outstanding foreign language program. I am half Greek and unfortunatley, when my parents divorced, the opporunity to be immersed by Greek and French was taken away from me. I go to my dad's in the summer and he works all day and has no time to teach me. My mom said I could live with him during the school year but I don't think I would like living with him. We argue all the time and he's never in a good mood. The person there I really connect with is my grandma. She also speaks French and Greek and when I was 7, I went there in the summer and I was reading Greek, although I didn't know what I was reading. lol. The next summer, I tried reading, and couldn't make out a single word. If I lived there all the time I could probably learn it in a year or so. The school I would go to there, is an IB school. Therefore, I would need to get caught up with all of the other students who have their whole lives to learn French, and I would only have 6 weeks to learn it. What should I do? Stay with my mom and an easy, small-town high school? Move with my dad, with my grandma only a few blocks away. (My dad might be moving to Toronto for a better job opportunity by the end of the year) Or go to an amazing private boarding school in New Hampshire?</p>
<p>i am not 100% sure about this, but at phillips exeter academy (where i go) there are at least 5-10 (maybe more, maybe less just depends the year) that go to harvard every year. it may help that the founder of our school was a very proud harvard alumnus as well. further i think somewhere around a 1/3 of each graduating class gets into the ivies (may help that many kids are legacies and have a LOT of money). take a look, but remember these east coast boarding schools are not cheap.</p>
<p>best of luck with yor decision.</p>
<p>Exeter and Andover were my dreams, however, I never knew of their existance and their financial aid until recently.</p>
<p>Hi, ivyathlete3, </p>
<p>What's your sport? How do your other activities fit in with your sports involvement?</p>
<p>tokenadult, i'd rather not say my sport just because you could probably go on the school's website and figure out who i am from there (kind of ruins the fun of anonymity).</p>
<p>activities are an interesting question. i actually participate in multiple sports so that takes up a lot of time for 2/3 of the year. otherwise i can usually fit in one of the many activities that the dean brings to campus. i am not sure if you wanted to know about regular extracurriculars like student government or something like going to an a cappella concert. either way practice is very time consuming, but if you really want to make something work professors and advisors will help you in anyway possible.</p>
<p>In the graduating classes of 2005, 2004, 2003, and 2004, 33 students went to Harvard. <a href="http://sps.edu/beyond_sps/college_prep/default.asp?id=2006%5B/url%5D">http://sps.edu/beyond_sps/college_prep/default.asp?id=2006</a> </p>
<p>Do you think that Andover and Exeter and better schools than SPS?..overall?..my criteria..? (Offers Greek, French, outstanding harvard matriculation, many, many ECs, etc.?)</p>
<p>I think most people would characterize Andover, Exeter, and St. Paul's School as all being in the same echelon, each with a different mixture of special strengths. (Each also has a different on-campus environment.) The first two schools mentioned are very interesting to our family, because of our son's interest in math and science, but I have no basis for saying that they are "better" than the third school, the one you are most interested in.</p>
<p>You should try to challenge yourself. However, one question: why are you so focused on Harvard when you are in presumably 8th or 9th grade?</p>
<p>Andover sends aroudn 15 to Harvard each year. And 40% of the students are on fin. aid.</p>
<p>"why are you so focused on Harvard when you are in presumably 8th or 9th grade?"</p>
<p>I'm in the 7th grade.. a little young to be on CC, I know. I am "so focused" on Harvard because of its strong academic program, reputation, etc. I know I am too young to be looking at my college opportunities, but I can't resist. lol.</p>
<p>Keep the comments commin'!</p>
<p>Fair enough, it's great that you are motivated and Harvard is certainly the educational goal of a motivated student. As someone who is currently applying to college, I was a little surprised by the apparent single-mindedness. But I see that it is a goal to encourage you to work hard. Keep working hard, and you could achieve your goal.</p>
<p>Thanks. :)</p>