<p>There are a lot of in-state students who attend top private day schools or top public schools competing for those spots. As blairt mentioned, students who are in the top 5% of their graduating class who apply to the state university system are guaranteed a spot (although not necessarily at the campus of their choice.) Look at the admission stats for each campus online or use the UC Pathways website and you will see that the average SAT and GPA of the admitted students is in line with the graduates of the top prep schools.</p>
<p>that's my point..kids from the CA public school system, when presented in front of the Adcoms, are easily assumed to be from an uncompetitive school just becoz the CA public school system is just infamous. Unless you go to a feeder public school or top private day (the adcom has to know this).. you arent going to get a lot of attention..i think that's what suze was saying</p>
<p>ummm??? adcoms DEFINITELY take into account what OPPORTUNITIES you have had and what you've made of them.</p>
<p>blairt is right. You need to give the Adcoms some credit. They are smart enough to read the transcripts, school report and verify the commitment to the ECs no matter what school you are currently attending. Students who attend public schools or private day schools have many opportunities not always available to students at boarding schools. Such students can often add diversity and help round out the bs student body.</p>
<p>Here is an example of things that adcoms may be looking for:</p>
<p>RATING FACTORS EVALATION SCORE low 1 2 3 4 5 high</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Depth of Involvement: (Practice vs. Theorizing)
What did the student do? Did he just attend meetings
Or did he lead? Did he develop leadership? Is he
accomplished unto himself or is he helping others
accomplish something (leadership)? If the student
initiated something or is exceptionally industrious,
score higher.</p></li>
<li><p>Obstacles and Accomplishments: Did she have a<br>
goal? Did she reach it? How? Were others involved?
How ambitious was the goal that she took on? Did
She train, delegate, guide? What were the obstacles?
How did she handle those? How effective was she?
How did this accomplishment impact other people?</p></li>
<li><p>Application Quality: How hard did the student work<br>
on the application? Does it look like something that
was thrown together at the last moment, or something
labored over? Are pieces missing? Is it professional
and does it bespeak a student who takes the application
process seriously?</p></li>
<li><p>Misc:</p></li>
</ol>
<p>NOTE: This final score category is an optional add-on,
and should be treated like extra credit. Most students
will not get points in this category.</p>
<p>Anything not otherwise accounted for?<br>
Is there something special about the application?<br>
Does it stand out in some way? Does the student have
an unusual or impressive life experience? Are there
extenuating circumstances that might explain the lower
scores above?</p>
<p>remember, schools do what's good for them, not what's good for the applicants, they dont do anything in favor of you until you become their students. As I recall from AdOfficer in the college thread, he said competitive colleges besides HYPS tend to favor top prep school kids becoz "they know at least what they are getting". Same thing for top prep schools. They know what they generally get from feeder schools and top private days.. that's why feeder schools exist; They feed, and the adcoms at top preps trust that they would get whatever they expect.</p>
<p>Also money is an issue. think about these 2 applicants</p>
<p>both 4.0 GPA, both 99percentile SSATs, similar ECs, similar interview rating, similar everything, but one from top private day and one from public school, who do you think they are going to take? Of course the kid from the top private day, as his family is more likely going to donate money than the kid from the public school.</p>
<p>bearcats.. that's ridiculous. i know you're trying to make the pint that money matters but seriously.. the public school applicant may have to work more? maybe he has to tutor himself because it's not readily available? maybe he is taking the most advanced courses available at he shcool in 9th grade and won't have anything more challenging next year, whereas the private school kid probably will have a selection of courses? maybe theres a gang problem in the public school and the kid can't even concentrate in the library because theres always a fight going on outside or in class? maybe they have the same EC's but the public school kid does them on his own because it's not offered and w/ no help from his poor parents or crappy school? PLUS, because the public education is much worse, that kid either has innate genius for scoring 99% w/o a tutor or great teacher or is one damn hard working student for studying so hard. a public education lacks many, many opportunities, and often includes many barriers and struggles for its students. a private education usually does not. if they have the same stats, then the public school kid has come over more (/more intelligent for receiving the same score w/o prep), which is something all schools value highly. i'm sorry, but you do NOT know everything, esp. about the admissions process. </p>
<p>right now, i go to a crappy public high school. i had the opportunity to attend amazing elementary schools and middle schools that were better than many privates, but right now, my high school sucks. my transcript - as of now - looks juvenile, because those are the courses available. (i've done classes that i don't receive credit for which aren't on my transcript,...</p>
<p>@ bearcats: Makes total sense. Until it falls to pieces with the last 17 words: "as his family is more likely going to donate money than the kid from the public school."</p>
<p>blairt makes some good points. Many successful entrepreneurs are products of public school education and learned to be very innovative or claw their way to the top. For example, George Behrakis is not only an immigrant, but graduated from MA public Lowell High School. He donated $6 million towards the Behrakis Health Science building at Northeastern. He has also contributed to Boston College, Tufts, and North Essex Community College. Now think of how lucky some bs would have been had he been an alum!</p>
<p>Bearcats wrote: "think about these 2 applicants both 4.0 GPA, both 99percentile SSATs, similar ECs, similar interview rating, similar everything, but one from top private day and one from public school, who do you think they are going to take? Of course the kid from the top private day, as his family is more likely going to donate money than the kid from the public school."</p>
<p>There is plenty of anecdotal evidence in these forums to suggest that view is narrow. That was certainly not our experience. D with stats similar to noted above, who has always attended middle of the road public schools, will attend Exeter in the Fall. Odds are she and others had to have been accepted over other applicants with similar stats from private feeder schools. We displayed no evidence to the schools that our pockets are bulging with cash to donate.</p>
<p>" i'm sorry, but you do NOT know everything, esp. about the admissions process. "</p>
<p>and do u? as an outsider to prep schools?</p>
<p>why do u think feeder schools exist? if adcoms are going to look around crappy public schools are save kids' lives?
as i said, according to AdOfficier said (btw he's a real ADCOM), and i could imagine it's more or less for top prep schools compared to top colleges "They know what they generally get from feeder schools and top private days.. that's why feeder schools exist; They feed, and the adcoms at top preps trust that they would get whatever they expect."</p>
<p>"PLUS, because the public education is much worse, that kid either has innate genius for scoring 99% "</p>
<p>u calling urself an innate genius? now this is "ridiculous", to put it in your favorite word..i dun remember how many times i saw this word on your posts</p>
<p>From Exeter website: 54% from public schools; 46% from private.
From Phillips Andover website: 49% from public schools; 36% from private; 15% from parochial, foreign or home schools
From Taft website: 51% from public schools: 39% from private</p>
<p>and the vast majority of the US population attend public school? like more that 98%? and did they take feeder public school into account?</p>
<p>Exeter strives for 40% of students receiving FA.</p>
<p>Bearcats wrote "and did they take feeder public school into account?"
Did you take that into account when you wrote: "Of course the kid from the top private day, as his family is more likely going to donate money than the kid from the public school."?</p>
<p>i was just saying the public school percentage is skewed becoz most of them are feeder publics anyway...plus the fact that there are over 98% of the population in publicschool in the nation, your percentages prove nothing</p>
<p>and also remember, feeder public families also tend to be more wealthy than average public, feeder publics are often in wealthy suburbs. </p>
<p>anyway, this is a waste of my time, i m just going to ask my dorm fac who's an adcom when i return from break</p>