<p>Looking around the CC forums, especially in the "what are my chances" forum, I've noticed many if not all of the people posting their apps have gone to a very "competitive high school"... in one of the recent forums I've read, a CCer described a competitive/good high school as a school in which the majority of the students attending, graduate and/or goto college... </p>
<p>Unfortunately at my school, no one really cares about those 2 things... I mean my clique of friends and i (about 30 or so of us), we plan on graduating and going to college, but the majority of my school doesn't even care... I goto a school in downtown L.A often described as an "Inner-city" school... The school is huge and their are a lot of gangsters and what not... you know, typical things that make a school earn the title of Inner-city... An L.A times article i recently read, called us the 2nd worst school in LAUSD (ie. we have a 58 percent drop-out rate)...</p>
<p>My question is, will colleges see me as the student who beat the odds in our dangerous neighborhood etc etc... or will i be the student who just merely coasted through High School, because our school was too "easy" or too "ghetto"</p>
<p>
[quote]
My question is, will colleges see me as the student who beat the odds in our dangerous neighborhood etc etc... or will i be the student who just merely coasted through High School, because our school was too "easy" or too "ghetto"
[/quote]
</p>
<p>That depends, did you:</p>
<ol>
<li> Take the most demanding courses your school offers?</li>
<li> Have a high gpa (or a strong rising trend)?</li>
<li> Do well on your standardized tests (this helps AOs to compare students over the range of enrichment opportunities offered at different HSs).</li>
</ol>
<p>and possibly:</p>
<ol>
<li> Supplement your HS with CC courses or other opportunities (selective summer programs, internships, etc.)?</li>
</ol>
<p>If the answers are yes, then you will stand out as a student who made as much as possible given the circumstances of their HS and community. I personally think it's harder to stand out as an excellent student in one of the top prep or public schools.</p>
<ol>
<li>My courses this year (junior year) include:
Honors Pre-Calc
Honors Statistics
AP US history
AP Computer science
AP Eng lang
Physics</li>
</ol>
<p>Senior is looking like
AP Gov
AP Calc
AP Eng lit
AP environmental Science
Yearbook
Leadership or maybe honors world lit</p>
<p>2.
my gpa freshman year at private school was a 2.0
after that my private school "kindly" asked me to leave
and the "ghetto" really changed me and my aspect on life
sophomore year at public school was a 3.5
Junior year UW is looking like a 3.6-3.8 weighted will obviously be higher
Senior year im hoping to mimic jr year</p>
<ol>
<li><p>My standardized test scores in terms of SAT's are pretty average 1900</p></li>
<li><p>My extra-curricular activities and volunteer work are pretty standard i have 300 hours racked up for several different things and I'm in 2 clubs no leadership pos. i was pres. of my class 10th grade, i am pres. of peer leadership and lastly im in student focus group (in essence its a group of school leaders).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>The admissions officers who handle your region are fully aware that there are serious hard-working kids like you in inner-city schools like yours, so don't panic. Keep working on your good grades, and keep taking challenging courses. You are going to be fine.</p>
<p>In addition, UC uses holistic review: University</a> of California - Admissions and if you look at #14 "Location of the student's secondary school and residence," that item is meant to give extra consideration to students from under performing high schools and challenging neighborhoods.</p>
<p>The CSU campuses often give preference to their area applicants, so be sure to check in to that.</p>
<p>Your standardized test scores are not at all 'average," a 1900 puts you well above the average score of about 1500. (A 1900 only looks "average" in the crazy College Confidential world!) </p>
<p>Explore the 9 undergraduate UC campuses: University</a> of California - Admissions and the 23 CSU campuses: CSUMentor</a> - Explore Campuses As a financial safety, try to find a CSU campus that you could commute to (I know you would like a residential experience, but it is always a good idea to have a back-up plan. Going to college is your goal, so it is important to find a way that you can actually GO) and explore other CSUs as well.</p>
<p>thanks happymom, i hope your right.. and thank you as well alamemom thats really interesting information... i thought i was definitely screwed after freshman year</p>
<p>Uhm 1 last question guys, i didn't take a Language class Freshman, Sophomore and Junior year so how will that effect my chances at the UC's </p>
<p>I mean i have 1 year of spanish 1 from the 8th grade that carried on through my high school credits. This summer Jr to Sr year i am going to take spanish 2 and senior year it will be spanish 3... but will it look bad that i completely skipped it Freshman-Jr. year... </p>
<p>I really don't know if it will help any, but i do speak Gujrati (an indian dialect) and i am self-learning latin...</p>
<p>For the UCs, you must have the A-G requirements, which include two years of Language Other Than English required, three recommended. As long as the 8th grade Spanish appears on your high school transcript and you take Spanish 2 you have the requirements, and if you do manage to squeeze in Spanish 3 you will have the recommended course of study. They will not care if there were years without Spanish as long as you complete the requirements.</p>
<p>Speaking several languages is impressive, so you should try to make mention of the other languages in your application somewhere.</p>