STUDENT NEEDS EMERGENT HELP- Transfering High Schools- Does it matter what high school you go to?

Applying to College Admission Stories
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Hello (sorry for grammar i am going to type very quickly)

I am a student who was in the Top IB school in the state, i was in the IB program, but due to issues of moving i now am in a situation.

Due to proximity, i can no longer go to my former school, i will transferring out 2 months. The problem is that all good high schools in Chicago require you to apply the for the 2016/2017 school year. I cant wait that long, i am need of an immediate transfer.

My neighborhood school is “Mather High School” in Chicago. This is not the greatest high school in the world, but given my current situation i am in, i have no choice.

I will enroll for 1 semester: they are offer me these courses
AP CALC AB
AP Language and Comp
AP BIO
AP WORLD HISTORY
~ AP U.S Government and Politics

  • They don’t offer me a the language i was taking prior at my IB School (arabic) so i am not going to do a language class

This is a very rigorous curriculum, the problem is that a bunch of thugs go here and the school has a bad reputation. It is ranking in Chicago is outside top 15.

SO my question essentially is: Does the high school you go to matter if you are taking rigrous courses?

(What i was taking at my old school/ currently)
IB HL WORLD HISTORY
IB HL WORLD LITERATURE
IB HL Biology
IB Theory of Knowledge
IB SL Arabic
AP CALC AB

Will this affect my application? I know my weighted GPA will increase (if i get straight A’s it will be a perfect 6 as oppose to a 5.6 i believe) but i will drop out of IB program

Will i look bad for doing so? since i only did one semester of IB?

I am freaking out, and i need help.

Recap- My two questions

If you go to a “bad” high school but take rigorous classes does it matter?
Will switching from AP to IB make me look bad/ downgrade my application in any way what so ever?

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Furthernote: the high school has low graduation rate and offers only 7 APs… Not many people go to elite colleges, let alone selective-moderately selective colleges.

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You are taking 5 AP’s which definitely is very rigorous. If your counselor marks it as the “most rigorous” course load (which they probably will considering your high school only has 7 APs) I think colleges would view it as equivalent or similar to APs. As long as you can succeed in your environment, going to a “bad” high school should not hurt your application. Build relationships with your teachers and stand out and they can also write you good recommendation letters for college which may help, and keep a good GPA, you should be fine.