<p>So I go to a large public high school that's really not that great. The smartest kids in town tend to go to the local catholic school. For that reason, I'm in the top 1% of my class and have what I think is a weighted 4.3 gpa. However, I don't think this is an accurate reflection of how "smart" I am. It's probably a mixture of how hard I work and how easy my classes are and how poor the competition is. When it comes to SATs, I'm not so great. My superscore is 2080 and I have some weak subject test scores too. So I guess my question is, do colleges know enough about my high school to understand that I would not be so high in class rank if I went to another school? Will that hurt me when applying to top colleges? Don't get me wrong, my school is not horrible. It's just that I see people on CC who get 2300s on their SATs but are only in the top 10% of their class and I know that if they went to my school they would be valedictorian.</p>
<p>I realize I may have been misleading in my post… Don’t get me wrong, I do take practically the most challenging classes offered at my school and consistently get As. I will graduate having taken 7 AP classes. So far I have a 5 in world history, 4s in us and Lang, and a 3 in calc. My point is that at other schools, someone with these stats would definitely be lower than the top 1% of their class</p>
<p>I don’t think it’ll necessarily hurt you, as long as you’re taking the hardest classes that your school offers and getting good grades (as well as having ECs, etc)
however, they might be confused (and therefore assume that your school isn’t very challenging) by your average (sorry!) SAT score.</p>
<p>^ average is ~1500 btw they will see the gpa and the grades and the test scores and assume the school sucks</p>
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<p>When your high school guidance counselor sends your transcript to a college, they also send a * high school profile *, which details specific information about your high school, such as the number of AP classes offered, the range of student’s grades and SAT scores, extracurricular activities etc. If a college does not know your high school, they have enough information in that high school transcript to judge you in the context of your school. That’s important to remember – colleges judge you in the context of your school – if your high school doesn’t offer a gazillion AP’s, they don’t expect a student to have that many on their transcript. But, if your high school does offer many AP courses, they want to see that you have taken the most rigorous courses available to you. Ditto with extracurriculars.</p>
<p>Other vital data in the HS profile is % of graduates who go on to attend 2yr or 4 yr colleges, %of ninth graders who graduate in 4 yrs and the % of kids on Federal reduced/free lunch (indicator of poverty level).</p>
<p>This gives info about the relative income levels of the student body.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the answers. I would say that my SAT score is definitely one of the highest in my school. Will colleges think it is a good thing that I did as well as I did considering I don’t go to a great school and haven’t been given stellar test prep? Or will my average score still hurt me? </p>
<p>Also, there is a large percentage that don’t graduate, large percentage of low income, and large minority population. I don’t know the exact numbers.</p>
<p>gibby already said they will judge you in the context of your HS. That’s your answer. Plz relax</p>