I attend the number 7 public school program in the nation as ranked by Newsweek, and was wondering what kind of weight this will provide when applying to colleges, or if they will care at all.
<p>i'm sure it carries some weight. a 4.0 from your school might carry more weight than some random public high school in LA or NY. then again, since your school is so highly ranked, i'm sure the competitiveness will screw everyone over, and the poor kid from the no name high school with a 4.0 will get in everywhere. ironic...</p>
<p>Newsweek is a joke. They do not include any public magnet schools. Thomas Jefferson is the top public or private school by far(1482 SAT average.. higher than some IVYs).</p>
<p>Newsweek is done by how many AP classes is offered or something like that for non-magnet schools. TJ has the highest average AP scores for schools over 1000 kids in about 11 different subjects.</p>
<p>schools in this area are ranked- do you mean schools that require a test to get in? What do they call magnet schools in your part of country?
Here magnet schools are public schools that offer programs that interest students in other neighborhoods enough to go there. No testing to be admitted
Private schools that require testing as well as "public" schools that require testing are selfselecting students rather than making an attempt to educate everyone, so while I don't think much of hte ranking of Aps offered, it makes sense for brevitys sake not to include those schools which can control their student body</p>
<p>Newsweek's calculation method was flawed in a big way. Their standard for comparison was # of AP/IB exams divided by the number of graduating seniors. Not the pass rate, simply the number of exams...</p>
<p>The number one school, Jefferson County International Baccalaureate, is more or less a Magnet School, only they are not classified by the state as one. The school serves as the International Baccalaureate program for a rather large county school system. However, since <em>everyone</em> in the school takes atleast one AP/IB exam, the ratio for Newsweek is atleast 1. However, JCIB is a subset of another high school, so it actually should have been included in the ranking of Shades Valley High School, the campus it shares and who's students utilize its facilities.</p>
<p>Being in a very competitive public school (regular public) actually screws you over more than it helps. Assuming your SAT scores, ECs, etc are all pretty much the same, it is better to be a valedictorian from some random high school than something like the second decile (10%-20%) of the competitive public school. Why? Because colleges look for potential in people, and they probably would see more potential in the valedictorian.</p>
<p>Newsweek's calculations were really messed up, and pretty much roundly ignored by everyone except for the schools on the list. It's going to matter more how good /your/ education was and how much you took advantage of the programs and services available to you. Don't get caught up in thinking the ranking will get you anywhere.</p>
<p>The Newsweek list tells us little about schools other than which ones are more affluent and therefore push AP/IB more. Colleges already knew which those schools were, and they expect more from kids with those opportunities. In addition, being at one of those schools indicates there will probably be much competition from the school when applying to top colleges. A major disadvantage in college admissions.</p>
<p>All schools (23 I believe) in Fairfax County, VA were ranked in top 600. That's because ANYONE can take IB/AP classes here, and you don't have to pay for the IB exam.</p>
<p>Woodson and Langley are ranked really high because almost everyone there is fluent in English. Schools like JEB and Annandale get screwed just because of the large ESL population.</p>
<p>I know quite a few people who say that Annandale has a more rigorous grading standard for IB classes than Woodson. Newsweek ranking is just BS.</p>
<p>P.S. I don't understand the whole thing about TJ not being ranked number 1 either. TJ is def the best and dorkiest school...lol</p>
<p>it won't help at all unless you did well there</p>
<p>i agree with iciclerose88. also, newsweeks ranking system (as we have discussed before) is extremely flawed for numerous reasons.</p>
<p>boarding schools are top..period</p>
<p>tj is not there because it is a magnet school(admittance rate of less <20%). </p>
<p>'For schools with more than 1,000 students, TJHSST was cited as having the highest-performing AP Biology, AP Calculus BC, AP Chemistry, AP English Language & Comprehension, AP French Language, AP Government & Politics: U.S., AP Psychology, and AP U.S. History courses among all schools nationwide in its size range. No other school had a greater proportion of its student body succeed in these subjects.'</p>
<p>' TJHSST also has the highest average SAT score among American high schools(1482).'</p>
<p>Sorry my friends, no comparision. We're on the visitor's stop to many official teacher tours that come from different countries. Anyways, that list is flawed. There are many great schools(private, magnet) that are not on that list and it means nothing. Also our school doesn't rank and many colleges know it well(MIT Admissions Director, Harvard Admisssions Director come and give a personal talk to our school every year).</p>
<p>Sometimes going to TJ works against a student because top schools only want to take a certain number of TJ kids even though many are qualified(diversity issues, except for UVA who accepted like almost all 200 who applied!). But at the same time, wherever the students get in from TJ, even with in-school competition, they end up succeeding(top 25%) at their colleges so it works out to their benefit.</p>
<p>UVA does not accept almost everyone who applies from TJ. I know plenty of people who were rejected or waitlisted. They start that once the GPA drops under 3.7.</p>
<p>Like I said in the thread where you posted information about TJ Harvard admits that was blatantly wrong, please check the facts before posting about TJ and college admissions, or wait until you have first-hand experience.</p>
<p>ehh sorry about that. i was going by the self-reported numbers, not by the senior edition of the newspaper.. good call.</p>
<p>but when i meant 200 i was including the people who would have gotten in if they hadn't already gotten in somewhere ED. 114 something kids are going to UVA and maybe a good number or waitlist/rejections near bottom of the pile so I'm guessing that probably 150 applied to UVA. I think most the kids who didn't apply got into a school ED or EA that they valued more than UVA.</p>
<p>Newsweek's ranking is about public schools that are trying to do better. A school gets a lot of credit for encouraging students to take AP exams, even if the bulk of the students get 1's and 2's.</p>
<p>Nobody is going to buy a magazine about Harvard-Westlake, Thomas Jefferson, Montgomery Blair and the rest of them. </p>
<p>Does anyone else think that ranking high schools is pretty stupid? USNWR was bad enough.</p>
<p>the point is, colleges have regional supervisors that will KNOW your high school. if it's competitive, they'll know it. if the classes are easy, they'll know it. they probably wouldn't look at rankings. they have their own standards.</p>
<p>I know my school is widely considered top 5 by most, top 3 by many, in long island, but we're ranked around 15 in then newsweek listing.</p>
<p>mit director of admissions visits tj once a year and apologizes upfront that they cannot take more tj kids then they do because they need variety etc. they take i think 10+ which is much more than any other high school. so reputation of school can help.</p>
<p>Actually my school is considered a magnet school, and i think they do the rankings by the percentage of students who pass the AP exam compared to how many take it. And Newsweek only rated the IB program at my school number 7,not really the whole thing. Newsweek purposely left out the more recognized schools like Thomas Jefferson. I was just wondering if like a 3.75 at a high ranked school would be nearly equal to a 3.9 or something</p>