Top 10% in a rural HS. good? bad?

my schools is really easy to achieve 4.0’s but it is in a rather rural area. but it does have more than 500 kids in one year. Does colleges penalise and disadvantage non-academically competitive high schools where possible grade inflations exist? I am taking loads of AP and hopefully wanting good AP scores to prove that the quality of education is good.

<p>To answer your title question first, top 10% is always good - until you realize that with three million high school grads, there are 300,000 out there who are also in the top 10%!</p>

<p>Colleges do not penalize individual schools per se, but when I was an Ivy interviewer I was often told, "Oh, we've never taken anyone from THAT school." It's not fair, I know, but they like to have a track record. But don't let that stop you - you might be a trailblazer!</p>

<p>And yes, good AP scores will help in this case, though AP scores are NOT required (despite what others think on this board!) to get into the top 10 LACs or universities. My kids did it without submitting their AP scores (mostly 5s) until after they were accepted.</p>

<p>i think top 10% is more/less expected.. at my school rural public school everyout outside of the top 10% is lazy and has low gpas... i think colleges know that too.</p>

<p>If your area is poor or extremely rural, the area rep probably knows that, and knows that your school probably doesn't have as much funding and such, and that academics may not be a high priority for many kids in your area. I come from such an area, and I did fine. No worries.</p>

<p>I come from a rural area and am in the top 10%. However, since there are only 25 students in my grade, saying top 10% is like saying top 1 or 2. Talk about misrepresentation!</p>

<p>I go to a rural school with 43 people in my graduating class. There's a good reason we don't rank!</p>

<p>i am rural yet have 390 in my graduating class... we just have a huge area to pull from.. corner to corner is probably a 90minute drive on highways</p>

<p>Colleges look at whether you took the most challenging courses offered and how well you did...you won't be penalized for attending a rural area and it could even help you...The standardized tests will indicate how you stack up against all the rest of the country...</p>