<p>I was wondering what difference which high school you go to makes to college admissions officers in how they view you as an applicant. </p>
<p>For example, I go to a top-ranked competitive public school in an affluent area. What kinds of things will admissions officers look for in me?</p>
<p>Rank will probably matter more than GPA</p>
<p>^Don't you mean GPA will matter more than rank?</p>
<p>My school doesn't do rankings.</p>
<p>Colleges will probably be familiar with your school and its competitiveness, so they will take that into account when they look at your class rank and schedule.</p>
<p>I'm not really sure how to answer your question. In most situations, colleges do not consider your high school a criterion for your competitiveness as an applicant. Instead, they keep your high school in mind when they consider the actual criteria for competitiveness. If you are ranked 10 in a top-notch school, that is not the same thing as being ranked 10 in a historically under-performing school with less competitive students.</p>
<p>EDIT: Oops, didn't see your post about not having class rank. But you get the point. They'll know roughly where you stand in your class most likely, based on the info your school gives them.</p>
<p>Much is expected of those who live in affluent areas and go to top school, theory being you've had every opportunity. The SAT scores of students from these schools is usually at the top of the pool and there's an expectation that you take full advantage of what your school offers.</p>
<p>Another thing particular to such schools is the presence of lots of top college legacies. This dramatically impacts who gets in where.</p>
<p>When a school doesn't rank, and most top schools don't, colleges use historical data on applicants from your school and the school profile to figure out where you rank. For high schools that send lots of applicants, they have a formula specific to that school to approximate rank.</p>
<p>Colleges are not impressed with paid for, summer programs, internships a parent got you or paid for community service programs, something they see lots of in applicants from schools like yours. They would rather see you spend summers at a community college or work at McDanalds.</p>
<p>What about local UC courses?</p>
<p>
^Don't you mean GPA will matter more than rank?
GPA means next to nothing w/o a corresponding rank.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. </p>
<p>Just to clarify, what do you mean by taking advantage of every opportunity my school has to offer? I'm kind of worried about that statement...</p>
<p>Do you mean AP courses? My school offers 30+ AP courses and I couldn't possibly imagine taking more than 8 AP classes.<br>
Would that make me look as if I am not taking advantage of what my school offers? I would still have a fairly rigorous schedule (1 AP sophomore year, 3 junior year, 4 senior year).</p>
<p>Also, at my school, there are a couple of highly-regarded specialized programs for kids interested in science and kids interested in art. These programs give you opportunities to listen to guest speakers, lectures, take interesting classes, do projects, etc. I wouldn't be able to fit into either of these but my school doesn't offer a program for kids passionate about social sciences, so I wouldn't be able to take advantage of these programs. I hope that wouldn't make me look bad, because these programs are actually really great opportunities and the kids who do them are probably the best students in the school.</p>