Magnet High School with bad rank...

Applying to College
1

<p>The</a> Nation's Most Elite Public High Schools - Newsweek</p>

<p>I go to Bergen County Academies, which happens to be alphabetically first in that list. It's a magnet high school, and most of the kids who attend the high school are fairly smart.</p>

<p>Which is a problem.</p>

<p>My GPA right now is approximately a 3.83 (unweighted). This puts me below the 50% mark for my grade, despite a 3.83 not being THAT bad of a GPA.
(I'm not sure what it would be weighted, but every class offered here is an honors class, and I'm taking a couple AP's and IB's this year.)</p>

<p>My PSAT was a 73 Reading, 80 Writing, and 80 Math, which isn't that great among my friends, considering the fact I know multiple 240's.
My SAT right now is a 800 Reading, 800 Writing, 730 Math, but once I retake it, my composite should be a 2400 considering that Math is easy. However, even this score would not be that special considering our average SAT is 2200+.</p>

<p>Am I screwed if I try to apply to Ivies (more specifically Columbia)? Hopefully I'll be able to get my rank up by the end of this year (I'm a junior), but I'm really worried that colleges won't realize the competitiveness of my school and will just see my crappy rank.</p>

2

<p>Of course the admissions officers know the competitiveness of your school. Adcoms usually have geographically-defined territories so they will know your school. Even Newsweek knows your school.</p>

<p>Stop worrying and stop wasting time retaking the SAT. The real issue is going to be differentiating yourself from all the other top students in terms of your letters of rec, your essays and your ECs. That is a more significant challenge. Kids at our local magnet face the same issue every year.</p>

3

<p>Your school must have Naviance or some system that shows who got in where with what rank.</p>

<p>My kids go to a highly competitive high school, one of the very top in the Country. Being at the 50th percentile won’t get you into an ivy except maybe non CAS Cornell at our school, but it gets most into a T20.</p>

4

<p>YOU WILL BE FINE!. Give yourself some credit, you sound very bright. If they don’t want you it is their loss.</p>

<p>Chance back and good luck</p>

5

<p>You’re fine.</p>