<p>In my area there are two high schools with mostly same options ( as in classes,clubs,etc) but one has a higher ranking with a much more competitive environment. Many students there are intelligent and hard workers which makes it hard to stand out. There is another high school with a lower ranking (269 vs 126 -- Nationwide) and a less competitive environment. My question is will colleges rather see a student who is in the top 10 percent of their school with a medium level of competitiveness or a student who is not in the top 10 percent of their school with a high level competitiveness and ranking? </p>
<p>*Grades,leadership,volunteer service,etc are same for both cases.</p>
<p>You are deciding which to enter and are already sure what your ranking will be?</p>
<p>Your question doesn’t make any sense. How can you be out of the top ten and with a high ranking at the same time? How can you be in top ten with only ‘medium competitiveness’?</p>
<p>Edit to add: since I won’t be coming back to this, I’ll just add that nothing is ever exactly the same, so pointless to play that game.</p>
<p>I meant top ten percent of grade in a school where there is a lot of competition with many high achieving students. High school 1= lots of high achieving students which means it is harder to stand out. High School 2= not as much high achieving student which means it is not as hard to stand out/less competitive</p>
<p>Most people don’t choose where they go to school. They just want you to be in the top 10% of your class.</p>
<p>But if one has a choice which one would be better or does it matter?</p>