<p>That can only benefit me when applying to a college, right?</p>
<p>yessssssssssss</p>
<p>not with your grades</p>
<p>Ranked by what?</p>
<p>what school? i've seen so many people say 'my school is one of the best in the country' yet they never mention it or anything. i want proof.</p>
<p>I dont think that would give you an upperhand on other applicants, except instate schools that may recognize your school.</p>
<p>I think it helps a lot, actually.</p>
<p>Last year, my school was named #7 in the country by U.S. News, and one of the "public elite" by Newsweek. Well, my class (class size: 70) pretty much pwned admissions (something like: 1 Harvard, 2 Princeton, 1 Brown, 3 Columbia, 2 UPenn, 2 Dartmouth, 14-16 Cornell, 3 MIT, 5 CalTech).</p>
<p>Top schools are a crapshoot. No way the rankings didn't help.</p>
<p>i think my school is ranked #620 or something, so its not way up there, but last year we had: 2 Harvard, 2 Princeton, 1 Yale, 4 Columbia, 1 Dartmouth, 3 Upenn, 1 Brown, 1 MIT and 5 Cornell. Being recognized as a high school that prepares kids well for success in college is important in my opinion, it creates a sense of reliability</p>
<p>It's important that a high school be respected by colleges, but high school rankings done by magazines are pretty worthless.</p>
<p>A couple of years ago Newsweek ranked high schools by the # of AP tests taken per student. It gave some strange results.</p>
<p>Haha. High Tech offers 4 AP Classes, max, that a student can take in all 4 years (and only one of them in junior year). Also noted is that my total class is 70 kids, so something like 20-30/70 are going to top schools, which I find rather unbelievable. </p>
<p>I really think the fact that these rankings got my school some publicity helped colleges gain a better understanding to what we do and how the school is run (ex. Every class is honors level at least, no ranking because all students ranked in the top percents in the county so it "wouldn't be fair", etc.), and gave a better representation of the school as a whole.</p>
<p>going to a really highly ranked school might make colleges respect your school more, but it puts you at a personal disadvantage. sure, plenty of kids from your school get into top colleges, but the environment/resources of your school probably helped them achieve that...or vice versa, they were amazing and so your school is ranked higher. But this rank itself does not boost your chance of getting into the top colleges.</p>
<p>for example, our school has been repeated ranked in the top 100 by newsweek.</p>
<p>kids here take ap classes like crazy, some starting as early as freshman year. here, taking five ap classes before your senior year won't get your class rank anywhere, you'll probably be dead on at the 50th percentile...if you're lucky.
our valedictorians end up taking 15 to 20 ap/honors/ib courses....</p>
<p>also, competitive colleges will be more likely to admit kids from disadvantaged backgrounds, including schools that don't have too many resources and most kids end up dropping out of high school, right?</p>
<p>I don't think the rankings impact how the colleges look at high schools. I doubt they even look at them. They have other ways of figuring out whether a school is good.</p>
<p>Well the rank isnt what they know schools by. However if your school is ranked as it says, they definitely will know.</p>
<p>Certainly, the perceived excellence of your preparation and your school's regular contact with Admissions Offices can be assets. But excelling against the odds at a resource-poor high school by going above and beyond to carve out your own enrichment opportunities can be a great benefit too.</p>
<p>I have a friend who went to RPI (good engineering college). He admits he went to a fairly lousy high school. He was tops in his class and in particular, he excelled at calculus. Then he went to RPI and found out that compared to kids who went to good high schools, he didn't know squat about calc. He basically had to retake the entire sequence. </p>
<p>Point? Being the best at Tumbleweed High may be honorable, and yes, you may, in fact, be a genius, but if a top-notch college accepts you, they are taking a big risk. When that same college takes a kid from a top flight feeder high school, at least they know what they are getting -- a student who should step right in and flourish from day one.</p>
<p>what do you guys consider a 'top' school?
mine is rank mid-200. would you guys consider that 'top'?</p>
<p>i don't think so
it def. won't hurt you, but i don't see how much that would help you..
i don't think grads from your high school went to a nice college, b/c of your school rankings, but purely b/c of their qualifications.</p>
<p>Going to a top high school doesn't really help that much.</p>
<p>All it does is make it harder to get a high class rank.</p>
<p>If any of the people at the really competitive high schools transferred to an easier school, he'd be at the top of his class and get into a lot of great places with ease.</p>
<p>Of course, he probably wouldn't do as well when he got into college.</p>
<p>In all probability it hurts at the really top schools to go to a top HS and helps at scshools below the top.</p>
<p>The problems with top schools are generally lots of competition from your classmates many of who will be affluent legacies at top schools, increased incidence of recruited athletes due to affluenza and associated issues.</p>
<p>At my top private HS, 30% plus go to ivies plus, but those who go are not at all the top 30% stats wise. Several have buildings named after them, a few bought their way in, many are deeply connected and then there are all the legacies and athletes.</p>
<p>@ topick..
WTH do you mean by "i dont think grads from your h.s. went to a nice college"?
i dont know what you mean by 'nice college' but I do know that it was pretty offending by assuming when you don't even KNOW the students.
We don't send like 20 kids to ivies/year, but a handful go to berkeley/LA. Last year, a couple went to U Penn & Wharton, Cornell, etc. I guess since it's in CA, most people choose to go to UCB/UCLA or USC. Many choose to go to the Claremonts too.</p>
<p>those are, by the way, all 'nice collges'. Not exactly HYP but far better than your quote nice college quote. </p>
<p>and unlike newyorka's school, we're pretty middleclass suburban. Not "rich kids" who buy their way in.</p>