<p>I'm only a sophomore I'm easily getting great grades at my school, which makes me worry that my school doesn't match up to good-college expectations. I don't think I go to a ranked high school or anything--it's public, and only 3/4 of the graduates even go to 4year college--but 6 out of 280ish of last year's seniors are going to HYPSM (well, okay, none into Princeton) and many more got into great liberal arts schools. Is that a good or bad statistic? Should I start or stop worrying that just being near the top of my class isn't good enough for top-tier schools?</p>
<p>Your high school sounds well above-average. Generally, the number of graduates that go to top schools and the number of National Merit Semifinalists are good indicators.</p>
<p>All the factors that make a university or college “good.” ffs.</p>
<p>kwu, that’s not exactly what I meant. I meant, would you think doing well in my high school would or would not be impressive to top colleges, compared with top students from other high schools?</p>
<p>six Ivy matriculants out of 280ish and 3/4 overall going to 4 year programs: Are you kidding me?</p>
<p>You need to research the overall condition of high schools in your vicinity and I think you’ll be shocked.</p>
<p>You go to a well above average HS.</p>
<p>LOL, I’m afraid I’m doing subpar at my school, and I have “decent” grades. I go to a top public in my state, but still I’m going to try a lot harder to get in the top 50 of my class the next 2 years.</p>
<p>Is there a public database out there that shows SAT profiles for high schools?</p>
<p>For example, graduating seniors from High School XYZ have a mid-50% SAT range of 1010-1260, or something like that.</p>
<p>Just take advantage of all the opportunities you school has and show college admissions that you made the most of your highschool career. My high school is not very good, however, I take classes at a magnet school downtown which is in the top 1% of AP programs in the US. Because that opportunity was available to me, I’m sure admissions would have been worried had I not taken advantage.</p>
<p>My school sends 0 people to HYPSM every year (a guy got into a lower-tier Ivy a few years ago, and it was a huge thing), and we’re above average. I don’t think you need to be worrying.</p>
<p>I think a school’s avg SAT or ACT scores is a good indication. There’s no way a school can claim that have top students but all are bad test takers.</p>