<p>So I go to a small school of about only 120 or so in my class alone. Unfortunately, our school ranks pretty low academically in the state. The valedictorian of my school last year was a VERY smart individual (obviously), had a perfect GPA, excellent test scores, and took the most difficult coursework offered at our school.</p>
<p>From what I've heard, when he applied to his dream school, they rejected him. Apparently it was because his statistics were not that impressive considering the high school that he went to. He really couldn't help that, though. He literally did a much as he could possibly do.</p>
<p>To give you an idea, I can only think of 8 AP classes offered at our school.</p>
<p>So my question is...
How much does the high school that you attend affect your chances of getting into a good college?</p>
<p>It matters, but probably not in the way you think.
Colleges get a school report that tells about the school, and in this way colleges can get an idea of how a student performed in the context of their school, because they can’t directly compare a student who had few opportunities to one who had many opportunities. I would say going to a low-ranking school and doing well looks better than going to a high-ranking school and doing the same stuff.
I imagine his dream school was very selective and he got rejected because they reject almost everyone, even people who did all they could have done.</p>
<p>(And your state residency will affect your admissions chances at some schools, mostly public schools and schools that want to increase their geographic diversity.)</p>
<p>Probably not too much. Hence the use of standardized board scores. However maybe a little bit. A big name school just might have a direct line to the admissions office.</p>