Right now I attend a very competitive college prep high school that is very hard. I have to work much harder than my friends at public school just to maintain a decent gpa. Will going to this school help my admissions to college(specifically Uf) because it is more challenging?
No. The school alone will not have an effect on your college application. Maximizing the opportunities made available to you at the school may impact your application.
I also attended a college preparatory high school and it really doesn’t affect anything positively or negatively. Its just there.
Students that my kids know universally complain about having to apply to tip top universities from within the competitive prep schools. They say it’s more difficult to gain admission and from what I see, I have to agree that they are probably correct in this.
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@JustOneDad what your saying is that by going to a college prep high, it is harder to get into a top university? What about a public university like penn state or pitt, does it have an effect there?
On the first count; yes, that is correct. On the second, I couldn’t say for sure, but my first inclination would be that the difficulty either disappears or is reversed, which is to say that it helps.
FWIW, 50% of the graduating class of Trinity (a private school in NYC) will be attending Ivy League schools next year. I’d assume their HS had some impact on their acceptances.
There’s a plus and a minus. On hand, you are in a more competitive environment and may be getting a better education. On the other hand, the standards set are much higher for you and you are expected to do more than a student coming from a less competitive public school. In addition, counselors tend to believe that a private school implies that you come from a privileged background.
I’m sure it did, but it is much more likely that the kind of student who goes to Trinity in the first place has a greater impact on acceptances.
@CaliCash so what you’re saying is that I’m expected to get a higher SAT score than students form a public school?
Yes. You are likely to have more resources and be more privileged than those from public schools with the exception of the super competitive public schools. So the standards are much higher for you.
In my opinion, aside from the known feeder schools like Trinity or Harvard- Westlake, college prep schools are kinda counterintuitive for those looking for a gateway into elite schools.
Like @CaliCash said, it really depends on the school. While you’ll get a better education, colleges will take note of rigor and maximizing your resources. With the exception of notable prep schools, in which it’s given and looked upon favorably it ultimately means more will be expected of you. If you were to go to a good, but not exceptional public school with decent teachers, and did an equal amount of work there (on paper, at least), it looks more impressive, because they’d known there’s less oppurtunity.
I’m not sure this is accurate, but I also heard that Hackley (in White Plains, NY) sent 22 kids to Yale. Hackley is not Trinity or Harvard-Westlake, so that would be big. If its true, the school probably played a big role for some of those kids.
These kids (many of them development cases and/or offspring w famous last names) would have gotten in no matter what school they attended.
FYI
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/golden1.htm
@IrisShadow, I am wondering what constitutes a “Notable” prep school–especially in the boarding world. A short l
List?
Sorry about that, iPad view: “A short list?”
@itcannotbetrue I’m thinking feeder school, and really any that can be easily identified/well known by the admissions office.