<p>What are the skills/abilities that a college freshman from a prestigious HS have and lacked by someone from a low quality HS?</p>
<p>Work ethic, and knowing how to study. Of course this is a generalization. There are clueless people from top HS and people who do really well for bad ones…</p>
<p>If you’re worried about not be able to succeed coming from a low quality high school, I’d suggest Cal Newport’s books and blog, Study Hacks. I came from an Southern, impoverished high school with a 30% graduation rate and matriculated in an elite liberal arts college in the northeast, full of Andover, Exeter, etc. graduates. Using some commonsensical ideas (work hard, don’t procrastinate, etc.) and some of the finer tips from Study Hacks, I managed to earn a 3.7 GPA after my first semester. Top schools are tough, but don’t let your high school’s low quality keep you from succeeding. You’ll graduate from high school soon and that will be all behind you; you can succeed despite anything.</p>
<p>As a writing tutor, I’ve found that there’s a big discrepancy in writing ability. At exclusive prep schools, the courses are often writing intensive and students generally come into college having worked on research papers, critical essays, etc. Students from “low quality HS” sometimes have no background in college-level writing, don’t know how to structure an essay, don’t know what citations are, etc. For humanities courses, good writing skills are essential.</p>
<p>What are the good ways to improve writing skills? write often, of course. but feedbacks from teachers are important, i think. what if the teachers in school only pay attention to the standardized tests but ignore the students to have needs to accelerate and have desire for ivies and stuff? what can they do outside the school’s coverage to improve their writing skills?</p>