<p>This is only my second post but here we go....
I go to an EXTREMELY competetive public HS. There's about 750 students in each grade but within the top 75 or so there are extremeley competetive academic students (like myself) I haven't decided on any "dream school" but know for a fact there are 4 ivies I am definitely applying to, probably one or two more as well as a couple other very competive schools (Johns Hopkins, Boston College etc). I am really concerned that I will be rejected from some of my schools when the time comes because of other strong applicants from my school. I have a 4.0 unweighted GPA for every class I have ever taken in High School (when I take BC calc I am expecting it to dip to a 3.8 or 3.9 but fingers crossed for 4.0) and my weighted GPA on a numerical scale is close to a 103 or higher in most classes. I am one of the few (less than 15) National AP scholars in my grade and am very involved. However I am afraid that this isn't enough. I haven't taken a real SAT yet but practice scores and such suggest that it will be well above a 2300. I volunteer a decent amount and am involved in Varsity Tennis Track and 2 clubs. All that information probably means nothing. My main question is how much do colleges compare students within schools? In most aspects I am in lets say, the top 10 or higher but not all. If maybe 20 people apply to I don't know, for the hell of it, Harvard and 16 of those students is well qualified and compares with other accepted people, how much is the Admissions Board compare us all? I know its early to be worrying about this but the competition at my school is intense. I'm really not sure where this is going but any words of advice would be greatly, greatly appreciated. Sorry if I came off as annoying, I'm just very worried. (as a quick side note, I would be applying as either a chem, bio or physch major (haven't decided) I know some people are looking at great schools like Stanford and Berkely which I'm not interested in but I know there will still be many (some not qualified, some in top 20 to the same schools I will be)</p>
<p>The top schools don’t compare you to others from your school, but rather others from your area. For example California applicants have a hard time getting into Ivies because they get so many applicants from California. John Hopkins and BC shouldn’t be a problem based on your stats, but Ivies are usually a crapshoot anyways.</p>
<p>I was in the same situation as you- extremely and excessively cutthroat public HS that ranks. I did poorly freshman year and alright junior year, in the end only getting a 3.86 UW GPA. However, even with my rigorous schedule I wasn’t even in the top-10%, and I felt so terrible because I thought it would exclude me from any ‘top’ schools. </p>
<p>Well, I’ve gotten scholarship offers from USC and an acceptance letter from UChicago, both above students in the top-5% and in some cases top-2.5%. Both schools also have over 90% of their accepted students in the top-10% of their graduating class… Moral of the story is that comparative class rank isn’t as major as some would lead you to think. Obviously important and I may be the exception to the rule (but also a top-10 ranked student was accepted to Yale EA over valedictorian), but it’s not as big of a deal. </p>
<p>The key thing is to differentiate yourself, though, because the likelihood of them overlooking your lower grades is decreased when people ahead of you are also track/tennis athletes taking similarly rigorous curriculum with 2300+ SAT and a science major.</p>
<p>Thanks for the quick replies. Finding out they look at the general area makes me feel somewhat better and a whole lot worse. As far as differentiating I think I’m okay. I have taken the most AP and honors courses out of anybody in my grade and have the highest weighted GPA (it’s too early to tell but I may end up pushing my way to sal. or val.). Unweighted on a 4.0 scale I am equal to other 4.0 students (obviously) but on a numeric scale I am a bit lower than some. Val and sal are based on weighted GPA’s so there is hope for me yet. I have no music distinction but my interests and clubs vary. Even if I don’t get into an Ivy I think I’ll be okay, there are other excellent institutions out there and it won’t hurt applying to some ivies! Thanks again!</p>