I just found out that my HS is ranked 137/270,000 or something like that (in Newsweek) & top 25 in CA. I’m not sure if this is public or private.
Will this help my chances a lot? a little? not at all?
<p>I think regardless of the rankings, your chances are better than average. If your school was ranked highly, that means that college admissions officers already must know your school is competitive and is academically demanding. If your school has a good track record (mine has almost an 80% acceptance rate at CMU; when I went to a college fair and told the adcom what school I go to, he quickly recognized it), then that shows your chances are good.</p>
<p>In any case, colleges will see if you made good use of a good high school and a good environment, so they won't hold it against an applicant if they weren't given any good opportunities due to the quality of their high schools. I guess it's both a good and bad thing at the same time.</p>
<p>yeah. higher standard set and more competition, but they know that if you're at the top you're doing well in a competitive environment</p>
<p>Just wondering... where'd you find those rankings? I'd like to see where my school places in the country and in California. :)</p>
<p>have fun ctrl f-ing your way through lol</p>
<p>There are nationally known high schools. Some high schools have 6-10 people go to each of the top five colleges. If you go to a high school where 30 people apply to Harvard each year and 6 are normally accepted, that does affect your application strategy. Admission committees go through the list of applicants sorted by state and then sorted by high school. When they come to a high school where 30 people have applied, they can't take all 30 no matter what, and they take take number 25 on the list without taking the ones above him/her. This means that your rank within the class is a big factor. </p>
<p>Of course, going to such a high school has a lot of advantages and contributes a lot you credentials when you apply to colleges. If this is an issue, talk to your guidance counselor. If your rank isn't at the top, they may be able to help point you towards colleges where a large number of people from your school do not normally apply. If you live in the Northeast, try Stanford. If you live in California, try Yale.</p>
<p>I dont think that colleges really care what your high school is rated because the formula that is used is ridiculous. THey take the number of people who took APs (no matter what score they got) and divde it by the graduating class...now this is terrible because:</p>
<p>1- you can have a small graduating class..and the other grades are large = larger index
2- some schools (like mine) have qualifying exams for APs while others have open admissions
3- some schools offer many APs while some have very little
4- people can just write their name on the AP test..getting a 1..and yet it still counts as an AP class
5- in some schools you dont even have to take the AP test for an AP class</p>
<p>my school was #1 when those ratings first came out because we had the smallest graduating class in years and then when they came out 2 years ago we were somewehre in the 20's and now we're #85</p>
<p>what if my school is ranked 369....so Low...</p>
<p>colleges will think my school sucks</p>
<p>This ranking also EXCLUDES the ENTIRE Coalition of Essential Schools...</p>
<p>my school was ranked number 3 (Stanton)..it really is a joke- it doesnt affect admissions decisions- i have a 4.3 GPA and didnt get into a top 20 school because my school is so competitive and my placement in class is far from top 10</p>
<p>Colleges don't care how good your school is. They care about how you did considering the environment. For example, if you go to a HS that has a lot of AP courses, they expect you to take a lot of them. If you go to a HS that is in the middle of North Dakota and doesn't have AP courses, they don't expect to see any on your transcript. When you apply to college and your HS sends the colleges your transcript, they will include a profile of the school that shows a breakdown of the class by gpa, what AP courses are offered, the breakdown by minority status, and other info. In order, colleges consider whether you took the most difficult curriculum available, your gpa, and your standardized test scores.</p>
<p>You HS can't hurt you except possibly in the way that getreal411 described. If your HS is really competitive and a lot of people from it apply to certain schools, you will have trouble being accepted into those certain schools unless your class rank is high.</p>
<p>what if my school is top 10 in the MO, st. louis.</p>
<p>NOBODY goes to ivy league calibar schools except for TWO (these past 40 years).</p>
<p>and those TWO went to UPENN!! I am applying UPENN 1st choice ED next year.</p>
<p>would that affect me good/bad way like getreal11 described?</p>
<p>(it is competitive..but not when it comes to colleges)</p>
<p>mine is ranked 2nd, everyone is apalled because it went down from 1</p>
<p>The list is so flawed that it means nothing. With so many other factors necessary to rate a school, I can't see colleges taking this list seriously.</p>
<p>chanman
You have the best of both worlds, a great high school and no competition from your fellow students. You will likely be the only applicant to UPenn from your high school and so you will be judged against the entire applicant pool and not primarily against the other students in your high school. However, your class rank will be considered (if your HS ranks) and they would like you to be in the top 10 percent.</p>
<p>Oh my goodness, my school is ranked so low. It's around the 1020's..Another school in my county, though, got something like #185.</p>
<p>My school isn't anywhere on that list (I searched through the whole ~1000) and I got into Rice, Chicago, Cornell, UNC OOS, etc. with literally no guidance (I know that's hard for the rich prep school kids to believe). Rely on yourself and your aptitude, not your fancy, top-ranked high school.</p>
<p>"what if my school is ranked 369....so Low...</p>
<p>colleges will think my school sucks"</p>
<p>chanman: I recommend blaming your "low" ranked high school for any rejection letters you recieve...it's easier than taking responsibility personally.</p>