<p>In the midst of the application and admissions process how do we know if our high school is competitive as far as GPA, curriculum, class rank, etc.? If you ask your GC won't they just say yes or is there some kind of report that will show your high school profile and list these categories and how they stack up? I know college admissions people have a school profile on each school so I'm thinking there is one available to the student if they ask their GC?</p>
<p>Your school will have an average GPA, SAT score, etc for your class. If the GPAs are relatively high but the SATs are low, then you're not in a competitive school. Same if the GPAs are low AND the SATs are low.</p>
<p>Also: How many kids go to top schools each year? If every year 5% of your graduating class hauls off to Yale, then you're competitive. If one kid every four years heads off to a top ten school then you're average if not below average in competitiveness.</p>
<p>would this count as a competitive school then?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ncusd203.org/north/profile.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.ncusd203.org/north/profile.pdf</a></p>
<p>^ The SAT scores are higher than the average by around 100pts per section, but only 31% of the class took the SAT, the ACT are only slightly above average. The school is above average and I have seen more competitive schools...</p>
<p>Yes it would. I would consider that as a highly competitive school, almost exclusively based on the number of National Merit you guys had.</p>
<p>A competitive schools would be one that has an average SAT of at least 1200 and sends at least 15% to top colleges including the state flagship.</p>
<p>wow, 15%? that's a lot. I don't know if my school has that.
so will being in a competitive high school will be an advantage in the application process?</p>
<p>That's hard to say. Certainly top high schools are better known by top colleges. Yet, you're facing the competition from lots of qualified kids at these schools.</p>
<p>Top colleges actively recruit low income students and URMsfrom poor communities. If you are in this category, I would say the lesser known school would help.</p>
<p>hahaha, no way is Naperville a poor community. But the city is semi-well known. I just don't know how well my school is doing.</p>
<p>Her school is pretty competitive. Not the most, but I think it goes under the category of "highly competitive public". I think someone said this above me, you can basically tell by the number NMSF's.</p>
<p>Competitive meaning that if ones GPA/class rank isn't stellar but their SAT Scores are in the 2100-2200 or higher that would balance out? Your class rank is affected by your GPA and not your SAT? Your SAT just speaks for itself.....right?</p>
<p>oh, ha! i just found this:</p>
<p>In 2005, Newsweek ranked Naperville North 1,025 out of 1,200 high schools, placing it in the top 5 percent nationally. The rankings are determined by a Challenge Index, which includes the total number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Cambridge tests given at a school, divided by the number of seniors graduating that year.</p>
<p>so i'm guessing my school is pretty competitive :</p>
<p>Realize that the Newsweek list does not include public school that require a test for admissions (therefore top public schools in general), the private schools that account for 35% of the population at top colleges and parochial school students who are another 5%. While certainly your school sounds well rated, top 5% nationally is misleading. Their methodology also lowers the ranking of IB schools. All Newsweek compares for this list is number of APs taken per capita, not even the scores on them!</p>
<p>look at the number of ap scholars and what grade they got the awards in.</p>
<p>It depends on the class. The Seniors that graduated this year were kind of competitive. My class, class of '08, isn't that competitive because the person who was 4th called our class the lazy class.</p>
<p>That's why I was able to be valedictorian currently. I took AP Music Theory and by the end of Sophomore year, I was valedictorian. </p>
<p>The amount of APs each Senior class takes and their GPAs signal whether or not the class is competitive.</p>
<p>Currently, I've taken 3 APs and the salutatorian's taken 2. my GPA is 4.527 and his GPA's around 4.35-4.43. Iwould say that my school isn't that compeitive because a magnet school a town over from me has around 30 valedictorians and scores well over 2000 on their SATs.</p>
<p>^^
Well, it's pretty obvious your school's not that competitive. Not to be offensive, but most of the smarter kids in your area will elect to go to the magnet instead of the normal school. As a result, there won't be many smart kids in the normal school and thus less competitiveness.</p>
<p>on whether my school is competitive or not even after meeting with my guidance counselor this morning. The poor woman was having so much trouble with the computer program that was supposed to assign my senior classes, that she wanted to just write my classes on a piece of paper and give it to me. Luckily I was able to fix it for her and while doing so I noticed she had a plaque above her desk that holds her diploma from UNC-Chapel Hill.....the school I want to go! She proceeded to tell me that even though I am taking 2 AP classes and 2 Honors classes next year there is no way I can get my GPA up from a 3.33 to a 4.2 for Carolina so forget it. She said that just because my SAT score is 2100 and I am in a prep class to increase it, they look more closely at the student's GPA so I basically don't have a chance. Nothing like getting up early to go meet with your guidance couselor that doesn't know how to process your schedule and then being told you aren't smart enough to get into the school she graduated from. Something just isn't right about that. On my way out I asked for a copy of my school profile and according to it the average SAT score for 2006 was right at 1500 and ACT 21.9.....not very impressive. In other words unless your GPA is a 4.0 at my school no matter what your SAT/Act scores are you are bound for a community college or a college that is not competitive. Like I said....something just isn't right about that.</p>
<p>11 NMF/667 class -->Not highly competitive</p>
<p>There are several easy ways to tell if your high school is competitive or not. Competitive high schools usually offer lots of AP, IB, and honors courses, have average standardized test scores well above the national averages, and send a large number of students to top colleges and universities.</p>
<p>When it's name is either TJ, Stuyvesent, Exeter, Phillips Andover, Lynbrook and somethingSSM.</p>