<p>Does magnet school (a school with an accelerated and focused curriculum you test into before freshman year) affect your chances of admission to schools such as Yale?</p>
<p>I thought about it and it seems to work for and against you:</p>
<p>Pros:
shows motivation, love of learning, more opportunities</p>
<p>Cons:
can't stand out as much, everybody is a high achiever there</p>
<p>You’ll have access to a better course selection. Of course it’s better. For applications and for life in general (which is more important).</p>
<p>“everybody is an achiever there” And this is a bad thing? You’ll be motivated by tons of fellow students to excel and achieve. You might be the big dog at the mediocre school but so what? You’ll be a better scholar if you can get into the magnet school. If you were my kid I’d push that 100% of the time.</p>
<p>^Agree with above. If you test into the school and you are willing to work hard you should go. My children both decided not to attend our local public high school and to instead attend a very rigorous private school.</p>
<p>My oldest has just graduated and I am very thankful for the education he has received and the work ethic he has developed because he is surrounded with students who work hard and love to learn. Also where you have students who love to learn, you tend to get teachers who love to teach!</p>
<p>Regarding college placement (this is CC after all)…I would say the top 50% at the rigorous private did about as well as the top 2% at the local public. Colleges definitely know just how rigorous different high schools are.</p>
<p>OK, I need to clarify: I am a senior IN magnet school. Sorry for the confusion.</p>
<p>I am just wondering if magnet students are held to a higher standard becasue they are compared to their peers.</p>
<p>Oh and some of our teachers are garbage…they think they’re good, but everybody is just willing to put in extra effort at home to relearn every. single. lesson.</p>
<p>Anyway, that’s besides the point.</p>
<p>Students are always held to the standard of the opportunities they had and their learning environment. One of the best ways to do that is through class rank. If it really is true that grading is difficult than you may be in the top 5% with a 3.7. It will also be looked at as how rigorous your classes were in comparison with others given the same choices (ie. your classmates). If the students in the top 10% are taking 6APs and you are in the top 10% as far as your GPA, however you only took 3APs it does not show that you have taken full advantage of what was offered.</p>
<p>I really hate the kids in my program who drool over AP classes… My school offered highly advanced science classes, unique to the whole county, and half of them got canceled this year becasue of AP-oriented students. Becasue it drives up the school’s ratings, students in my program especially have been brainwashed into worshiping AP classes. I am only taking AP classes in subjects where that truly is the highest level course. Too bad I’m left with the scraps pf what could have been a truly interesting year. Sorry for the rant, but my school is a lot harder to compare students in becasue of the sheer variety of classes.</p>
<p>If your school is a well-regarded magnet, colleges will likely be aware of which classes are the most difficult in your school, AP or otherwise. Many top schools offer classes of equal or superior rigor to APs.</p>
<p>Yeah I know it’s just that they get cut.</p>