<p>I go to a medium-size high school (2,000 kids 10-12; around 500 in my class) in Arkansas. It's well-respected, although by no means wealthy. Each class tends to have a small but well-assimilated number of particularly academic students. HOWEVER, few kids get accepted to Ivies -- perhaps one or two every once in a while. (This year one kid got into Cornell.) A few kids will get accepted to top tier non-Ivies like U Chicago, Swarthmore, Wellesley, etc. </p>
<p>My question is, What exactly does this mean? Do the applicants from my school usually just not cut it (which I think is likely; most of them are too middle-class to bring diversity but lack extraordinary accomplishments), or does it mean that Ivies aren't taking my high school -- and, by extension, will not take my application this fall -- seriously?</p>
<p>I think you’ll be fine. I’m sure Yale won’t judge you just based on what high school you go to. They take each applicant seriously and if you have the scores/essays/recommendations, they won’t reject you based on your school. </p>
<p>I’m just guessing the other people from your school just didn’t have what the schools were looking for. Competition’s tough =/</p>
<p>Gooood luck! And try not to worry about these things…just give it your best shot! EVERYONE has a chance. :)</p>
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<p>Not entirely true. Because you went to a school that doesn’t send many to the ivy league, it means that you are pretty much expected to be at the top of your class.</p>
<p>Yes, Smile614 is right about them looking at all of your other stuff as well, but it means that you will be expected to have a perfect or near-perfect GPA. While a kid at Andover/Exeter doesn’t need to be first in the class to get into HYPSM, if you don’t have that you will pretty much be out of the running. Why would Yale and its peers ever want to take someone who’s 20th in a school where none of the 1-19 students go to great universities?</p>
<p>Partly, it could mean that your HS GCs aren’t that informed and/or concerned about sending kids to top schools. I’m assuming it’s a public HS, and often times GCs have many students they are responsible for and so are more interested in getting many kids into state schools than aiming at the most selective schools for the top kids.</p>
<p>booyaksha is correct that in such a HS, you will likely need to distinguish yourself with the most difficult coursework and top grades. In addition, you will need high test scores so that you compare well to kids from stronger schools. But IMO, in many cases, that can be a lot more attainable than being in the top 5% at a highly competitive private HS.</p>
<p>he has a very good point there you need to be best in your school if it doesnt send that many ivys and also consider how may people have even applied for ivys if like only a couple apply each year not too many will get in</p>
<p>Well… I was the first person in my school to get into Yale… and my school has a lackluster admissions rate to any four year college. I didn’t have any really spectacular extracurriculars, just worked hard with what I had there. </p>
<p>Anyway as they said before me, you do need to be at the top of your class to be considered.</p>
<p>[“Why would Yale and its peers ever want to take someone who’s 20th in a school where none of the 1-19 students go to great universities?”]</p>
<p>@booyaksha: Did you really mean that comment or was it just said in jest? If not, please try not to discourage people outside of the top 20 at non-elite high schools to at least craft a solid application and apply. You never know what will happen behind the doors of these schools ;).</p>
<p>@AmbitiousMind, I was completely serious and, as perhaps you can see, others tended to agree with me.</p>
<p>Why? I may be harsh, but I’m being pragmatic. The OP has described a school that is rather large – 2,000 students – and yet only sends “one or two” kids to “one of the ivies” “once every [3/4??] years.” The chances of acceptance to any ivy are therefore very very low from that school. Perhaps the easiest and most effective way to stand out in such an environment is to be at the top of the class academically.</p>
<p>Sure, by all means go ahead and apply if you aren’t in the top 20. My argument is just that a “solid application” from said schools necessitates a high ranking/gpa more so than from semi-competitive and competitive schools. I apologize if this is disheartening to some, but it is probably the truth.</p>
<p>Perhaps many students at the OP’s school don’t have the desire to attend an Ivy League school. The fact that his school has only had one or two Ivy acceptances every once in a while does not indicate that Ivies are not taking students from his school…it could just mean people aren’t applying. I mean, the OP did say that there are people who get accepted to other top-tier places such as UChiacgo, Swarthmore, Wellesley. Clearly, they are strong enough, but maybe just not interested in any of the schools in the Ivy League.</p>
<p>I don’t know, maybe I’m just optimistic, but I still don’t believe that a person has to be at the top of his class to be considered. That’s pretty (well) lame if you ask me. To ignore an application because the person is not #1 from a school that does not send many kids to Ivies? Like I said before, maybe kids from that school just don’t apply…I’m sure the OP doesn’t know where EVERYONE from the school applies. Many people don’t share that information anyway…just my optimistic opinion.</p>
<p>I’m going to have to back up booyaksha in this debate.</p>
<p>I come from a school that has sent maybe 6 or 7 kids to the top Ivies in its entire history (I was the first one accepted and going to Yale) and honestly, at least from my experience it is not that people here don’t want to go to HYP or any of the other elite schools, it is simply that they systematically get rejected. Most of the people ranked 2-20 in my school applied to reach schools. One managed to get into an Ivy, all the others were without fail defer/rejected from their dream schools.</p>
<p>That being said, it isn’t necessarily so that you need to be number 1 to get into a school, but I think that booyaksha has a point that if you are out of the top 20 (when all or most of the 19 or more kids above you were rejected) that you won’t stand a great chance.</p>
<p>Perhaps I’m just being pessimistic too but I think you need to be in at least top 20</p>
<p>Don’t worry about it. Sometimes, and I’m just assuming, schools don’t push schools outside of their state or general region. D graduated in 2008 from a school in GA that is ranked very high, and in a wealthy area. Her class was almost 700, of which over 100 went to UGA. Her school prides themselves as being the top feeder school to UGA. That is just what they pushed. Several of these kids were clearly qualified for higher ranked schools, but it is just the thing here to go to UGA. Her school offers 25 AP classes plus a full IB program,so it is clearly rigorous, but just now is sending off in the first person to an Ivy, Cornell, and this is a girl who came to the HS as a transfer for her senior year. In 2008, it was big “hoopla” so to speak that my D got into Amherst…just kidding. 
Nobody has a clue what or where Amherst is, seriously NO clue. They just smile and nod. But if you were to say you are in the Honors program at UGA, you will get a standing ovation.</p>
<p>Sorry for the rant, but I just wanted to say it’s not necessarily the quality of the students of the HS that fails to send kids to Ivies, it’s simply the culture of the area.</p>
<p>^Thanks GAMom; that’s pretty much what I was trying to say. Sure it’s important to be at the top of your class, but just because certain HS do not send many kids to Ivies does not indicate that no one is being accepted. The students could prefer to go to a state school instead. I’m from VA and my HS sent over 20 kids to UVa alone.</p>
<p>Basically, I say if you want to apply go for it! There’s more to an application than class rank…</p>
<p>I agree with those above, I go to a big public high school (550+ per class) where it is very rare for people to go to Ivies, but a lot of this has to do with the fact that very people go to school outside of the region at all. A lot of the smartest kids at my school go to UIllinois, there are also several who go to (ivy-comparable) private schools like WashU and UChicago. In the past 8 years or so I can think of one graduate of my school who went to Cornell and another who went to Brown, but they are rare not just because they go to Ivies but also because they go to school outside of the Midwest.</p>
<p>I go to a school similar to OP’s. About 2000 kids, class size approx 500. Its suburban, not semi rural. Very few go to the Ivies. Most matriculate to state schools, of which we have a few good ones. I suspect a contributing factor to that is the economic demographic of our school. It is moderately wealthy, white collar professional, but no 90210. Last year a couple made it to Yale, one to Harvard, etc… Not sure if I remember hearing of any Ivy admits the year prior. Having said that, I don’t believe that you should not apply just because your school is off the radar at the Ivy admission offices. If you have the credentials (and here I do tend to see booyaksha’s point) to apply, then you should. Defining these credentials could be a bit tricky as I am sure there are multiple dimensions on which one could be considered.</p>
<p>To OP: Your application should stand on its own merit, rather than any history, or lack thereof, of your school sending kids to the Ivies.</p>