Is being rural a hook?
I’ve seen stuff from that Harvard trial like they have lower PSAT bars for recruiting folks from “sparse country states,” but my question is this: is not only being from one of those states (Nebraska), but also being from a rural school (like with about 200 kids total)/rural area a hook?
Does it make you (to probably a lesser degree, I’m guessing, since that’s about the only diversity I have) a URM?
A hook is URM, recruited athlete, or big pocket donor. A rural kid from NE is not a hook, nor an URM. It might make a good essay topic.
Colleges want diversity across their classes and pride themselves in having kids from all 50 states. I think your situation may get you attention on your application - has anyone from your HS recently gone to a top 50 school? Applied but denied ? Start there and understand a bit more about the applicant and if your HS has a record with top schools. There is a fluctuation in scores based on state/county residency too - but not as much as many people would want/hope.
There are very few hooks (hook is not a generic term, it is only used as Erin’s Dad described).
That said, I agree, being from rural Nebraska helps.
In my opinion, schools don’t want to be full of the same type of kid. If you are different from every other applicant it helps. We also live in a rural area and one of my sons wrote his essay about his ADHD in the context of his summer job, making hay on a farm. I would bet any money that nobody else wrote an essay like that. There just aren’t that many kids who spent the summer making hay applying to college. (Making hay is hard work!)
It goes without saying that you need a great deal more than just being from a rural area to be appealing to schools with low acceptance rates. I believe schools want to see you maximizing the opportunities you have (understanding one applicant’s opportunities might be very different from another’s).
Geographic diversity helps, particularly if you apply to school that doesn’t typically get many applicants from your area. So while Harvard may get a number of applicants from Nebraska, will Dartmouth or Williams?
But geographic diversity won’t help you overcome a lacking gpa/act.
@coffeeat3 Cool, thanks. What do you mean by a fluctuation in scores, though?
@TheJohnboi -Scores differ by states. You can google National Merit and see the different cut-offs by State and it would give you a good idea of where your state falls. (ie: I think Virginia, California and New Jersey have some of the highest scores). The numbers differ - but it is still not a wide range. Look and see where you fall within your state is a good start.
Also, if you take the ACT your results will be reported with your score, but it will also show you where your percentile is for your state. IE: 33 composite is 98% nationally, but drops (obviously, not a lot) to 96% for the State. National for math score of 28 = 91%, but in our state a score of 28 is in the 84th percentile. I am unsure if SAT shows this on your personal report.
Your best resource will be your high school counselor and understanding your school profile - this profile will tell you the score range within the current senior class, gpa range and how many students take APs (if offered).
The information provided by previous posters is great advice - rural may give you a 2nd look, but you still must deliver academically.
I am guessing the school profile from a school like that will not be as helpful as you would think. We are from a substantially larger school, but one where almost everyone who goes to a 4 year school applies to either the local directional or the state flagship, both of which are essentially open admission. We do get 2-5 kids into selective schools a year probably. Our school profile is worthless, and has info about AP classes that we haven’t offered since at least S18 was a soph signing up for classes. There is nothing about grade distribution. It is basically a sales pitch for how great our school is, but one that appears to be written by a marketing guy who isn’t even that familiar with the school, especially with what info selective colleges might want to know.
@dadof4kids - Sadly, you may be right about the profile. Our school updates it every year and it is accurate - but it is also a small school with 90+% college attendance with majority leaving the state.
The OP mentioned they attend a very small school, so was hoping it would be something kept up by his school - but no way to tell until they ask. Seems like every college presentation I sit in lately states the profile will become more and more important for colleges that review it with the way classes are delivered and grading differences this Spring. (talking about small liberal arts/ivys) The OP was specifically asking about top schools and I was just hoping he can learn more from his current school to help with the journey and understand the past admission’s history from his school.
My one child is a D1 recruited athlete and was just asked this weekend in an email by a coach when her school’s profile will be updated for the Class of 2021. She asked her counselor today and was told that one will be done by mid-June along with transcripts, but will be incomplete, as 50% of the Class of 2021 do not have test scores and only 15% of the students with scores indicated those are their final ones. This will be noted on the profile.
Nothing really clear moving forward and not easy for these high school kids.
@thejohnboi:
It’s a “boost”, something that definitely helps. At some colleges, it may even be a hook in the same way being first gen is. (first gen = neither parent graduated from a 4-year college)
That being said, if you’re aiming for top colleges (those that offer the best financial aid) it means you need to do exceptionally well in relation to your environment. Teachers need to say you’re among the top students they’ve seen in 5 or 10 years, or at least that you’re the best this year.
School profile: small rural schools often don’t have one. As a result, college adcoms don’t know how to evaluate your record.
How many periods per day? What courses are required to graduate?
How many AP’s were offered sophomore year, junior year? How many could a student realistically take, with no overlaps and a lunch period? How many students or what % graduating class graduate with 1 AP? with 2-3 APs? with 4-5? with 6 or more?
If your school offers 10 or fewer Aps, can the profile list them and indicate how many students enroll each year?
What’s the highest level of math offered for advanced students? Highest level in foreign language? (It’s important because top colleges will expect precalculus honors and Foreign Language Level 4, and generally want Calculus and AP Foreign Language. So if your school only offers Precalculus, period, no honors no calculus, because only 10 students get to that level in your class, and there’s no foreign language beside Spanish and it ends at Spanish 3… well the college needs to know.)
What % goes to college? What % goes to a 4-year college?
What % are on reduced/free lunch?
Is AVID or any upward-bound type program offered?