<p>My high school is ranked #1 in Southern California and #179 for national rank. Does it somewhat impact my college admissions?</p>
<p>It depends: If it’s a well-known school, then colleges will know that if YOU get good grades, then they know you’re a reliable student. But it’s a dbl edged sword. Since they are familiar with the school’s offerings, they’ll also know if you slack off.</p>
<p>Hopefully, your school is well resourced in instructors and guidance staff and course offerings-- ultimately that’s extremely valuable.</p>
<p>YOu shouldn’t overestimate what the “reputation” of the school can do for you – it’s what you can do with it. The same for the “reputation” of your eventual college too – the real world looks beyond the name on the diploma rather quickly.</p>
<p>It’ll be placed in the context of your grades</p>
<p>Yes it does impact admissions. If your HS is known to produce quality students that is a benefit to you. That’s the way it works in Texas, no sure about California.</p>
<p>I don’t know about rank but I have been told by my guidance counselors that there are certain categories of colleges that have historically good relationships with certain schools. For example there is one HYP Ivy school that has taken like 1 kid from my HS (graduating class several hundred) in the last 10 years even though like 20 kids a year apply. One of the other HYPs literally takes like 2 or 3 every single year.</p>
<p>I am not applying HYP but have already been told my odds of admission at some other schools are substantially higher than the general pool just because of a good historical relationship between our high school and those colleges. Lots of kids apply, lots get accepted.</p>
<p>I’m not sure which way this cuts. A teacher of my DD (uw GPA 3.98, rank 4/325, SAT 2080 retaking, 8 APs) told her that the fact that her school is NOT highly rated will actually improve her chances with high-ranked colleges. How does that work?</p>
<p>I think this is how it goes. If your HS is not highly rated, then those who are striving for the top colleges literally have to be ranked in the top 10 or even 5. One might think s/he is academically talented, but if s/he goes to a terrible school and isn’t even in the top 5, then the premier colleges most likely won’t accept him/her. However, if you’re HS is highly competitive and rated, then kids get cut more slack. For example, a class of 400 students can have roughly the top 10% get into prestigious colleges, which is 40 students. All in all, yes, your HS rankings do play a role.</p>