How do colleges know how competitive or prestigious a high school is?

Applying to College
1

<p>Are ADCOMS aware of HS rankings (like on the newsweek or us news rankings) and do they take that information into account? Or are they just familiar with the quality of certain schools within their area? </p>

2

<p>They will give the most weight to their own experiences with high schools (and their record of matriculation) in their territory. If they are unfamiliar with a high school, they will review the school profile.</p>

3

<p>If anyone from your HS had applied to a school in the last five years, they’ll have a pretty good idea what your HS is all about. If multiple people have applied, or they visit, they’ll probably know more than you do.</p>

4

<p>So if no one has ever applied from a school (save for maybe one or two a year, never accepted), does that bode well or badly for an applicant from that school? </p>

5

<p>would an average student at a top 10 school in the country, like Thomas Jefferson or Stuyvesant stand a chance at schools like Umich, UVa, Berkeley etc? obviously with strong SATs (2150+) and essays, recs etc. etc.</p>

<p>i dont go there, but just wondering</p>

6

<p>29,000 New York City 8th graders sit for the test for Stuyvesant and the top 900 are admitted – that’s an acceptance rate of 3.1%, lower than HYPSM et al. The average Stuyvesant student probably applies to UMich as their back-up school.</p>

<p>To answer the OP’s question: Every high school publishes a profile that colleges use to help them understand the competitiveness of the school. For example, here’s Stuyvesant high school’s profile: <a href=“http://stuy.enschool.org/ourpages/auto/2013/3/7/37096823/Stuyvesant%20Profile%202013-2014.pdf”>http://stuy.enschool.org/ourpages/auto/2013/3/7/37096823/Stuyvesant%20Profile%202013-2014.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

7

<p>I have access to a current naviance page for one of the competitive high schools in this discussion and the GPA bar is lowered for some of the more competitive schools, but not for others. For HYPSM, you would still need to be in the top 30 kids or so to have a real shot, or else bring something else to the table (no need to spell out what that something could be on these boards). A few of the popular schools, ranked 25-50, take kids with an average GPA of about 3.4-3.7, whereas the posted average GPAs are well above that. Other similarly-ranked schools make no amends for the GPA, from the naviance, at least. So the answer is “yes and no.” </p>

<p>I would say an average student from this high school has NYU/Michigan as a reachy match. </p>

8

<p>

Based upon this recent list of where Stuyvesant students were going to college, I would omit “reachy”: <a href=“http://www.stuyclopedia.com/College_decisions_of_the_class_of_2013”>http://www.stuyclopedia.com/College_decisions_of_the_class_of_2013&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

9

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That’s not entirely accurate. The kids sit for the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT), but not all of them specify Stuy as their first choice.</p>

10

<p>^^ You’re correct. Not all of them specify Stuyvesant, but according to Stuy’s school profile, the acceptance rate is under 4%. So, unless the school is lying, it would seem that most top scorers do choose Stuyvesant as their first choice.</p>

11

<p>How can I go about finding my schools profile? my school is ranked highly on a national list so im curious to see how colleges view students from it. </p>

12

<p>Ask your guidance counselor for a copy of your school profile. Many are available on-line, but some are just available as a printed brochure.</p>