<p>First off, I apologize as I know that both of these topics must have been discussed before. I attempted to use the search bar, but in all honesty I didn't even know what to search for.</p>
<p>One thing I've noticed in many of the "chances" threads is that the posters often claim that their high schools are "very competitive". Others say that their school is the top school in the state or that it send several kids to the Ivies each year.</p>
<p>I would like to know what effect going to a less prestigious school has on my application (if any). According to schooldigger.com, my school is ranked 131st out of 336 high schools in the state. As far as I know, no one from my school has ever been admitted to the Ivies or other top schools (Amherst, Williams, JH, Georgetown).</p>
<p>Another factor that I had questions about is geographic location. The most that I've heard relating to this is that some schools aim to have a "geographically diverse" student body. I am from the Puget Sound region of Washington state. One intersting thing that I've found in my research is this map of Princeton's undergraduate class of 2012 (<a href="http://www.princeton.edu/admission/i...s/map_full.gif%5B/url%5D">http://www.princeton.edu/admission/i...s/map_full.gif</a>). As you can see, only 7 students from Washington. Will my geographic location effect my application in terms of the admissions committee's expectations?</p>
<p>*This was originally posted in the college search and selection discussion. My mistake, sorry.</p>
<p>Evertheoptimist, the thing about "competitive" high schools is that there's nothing you can do about it. I mean, you are where you are. Do you think if being in a less prestigious high school might work against you, that you wouldn't even bother applying to certain colleges? I hope not. If there are colleges you want to apply to, and you think you would be a good candidate for them, by all means apply and just see what happens. It's not like ALL students accepted to top colleges come from high schools like that.</p>
<p>I think you probably see more students accepted to top colleges from those sorts of high schools because those high schools tend to cluster students that are favored in admissions to highly selective colleges; they have affluent families, routinely do formal test prep, have access to expensive ECs. It's also just more a part of the culture at those competitive high schools, so a greater percentage of the students apply to top colleges.</p>
<p>That said, your application is judged on an individual basis. You. I think it's true that schools like some geographic diversity, and a student from the Pacific Northwest will not be hurt by that fact. How much, if any, it helps is hard to say. My son is a Pacific Northwest, rural, homeschooler from a family of modest means, and he got into one of the schools on your list. So, really, you can't worry about what you can't control. Just make sure to come up with a smart list of colleges to which you'll apply. Make sure to have a couple "dream" schools, and then also some good "match" schools, and at least one "safety" school where you are pretty certain you'll be admitted, you can afford to attend, and where you'd be content to study for the next few years. You'll be fine!</p>
<p>Where you live and go to school is up to your parent's choice of residence, and your socio-economic level. Kids are just luggage parents drag along when they move. </p>
<p>The importance of school competitiveness is more of a myth than anything else. Unless you attend feeder privates like Exeter and Andover, the name of the school will not affect admissions. Kids going to highly ranked colleges from highly ranked high schools do so because of their own competitiveness and merit. </p>
<p>The competition, AP number of the school does in no way imply that the courses are any more difficult than those in lower ranked ones. Also, higher ranked schools tend to be so due to their presence in more affluent neighborhoods as the poster above me has said, and thus environmental factors lend greatly to the student's chances at success. </p>
<p>In many cases, a lower ranked, uncompetitive school may have greater benefits in a college admissions process. A lower ranked school may boost relative rank, have less competition for leadership positions, and less student hawking for the interests of educators and counselors. </p>
<p>Don't worry about the supposed "competitiveness" of a school. The public I go to was ranked in the bottom ten percent of state test scores in my freshman year with a current 12 percent four year college rate.</p>
