<p>Oh damn Mission Hills. Pretty good school. But not as good as Torrey Pines or La Jolla rofl.</p>
<p>And here are the Harvard newsletters with the list of people from Southern California accepted for the high school classes of 20-9 and 2010.</p>
<p>HS Class of 2009/Harvard Class of 2013 [Powered</a> by Google Docs](<a href=“http://■■■■■■■.com/3cuxeoa]Powered”>http://■■■■■■■.com/3cuxeoa)
HS Class of 2010/Harvard Class of 2014 [Powered</a> by Google Docs](<a href=“http://■■■■■■■.com/43x4eco]Powered”>http://■■■■■■■.com/43x4eco)</p>
<p>There is indeed a pattern of acceptances within a region among schools. Maybe there isn’t technically a “quota” per se, but Harvard seems to favor certain schools over others. In the South Bay region, Harvard seems to favor schools who hold both generally good academics and ECs like Palos Verdes Peninsula and Long Beach Poly. </p>
<p>It’s funny, because Gretchen Whitney HS, which is, too, in the South Bay region, barely has any Harvard acceptances yet has higher state testing scores/API and SAT and ACT averages than Poly and PVP do—in fact, the highest in the state of California. However, the quality of ECs and activities of the school do not match those of PVP and Poly whose students rank nationally for several activities like Forensics, Economics Challenge, and science fair competitions. Kids who play national and international level concerts, kids who are recruited for athletics (esp. Woodrow Wilson HS - football player feeding school to Stanford), and kids who perform well at Olympiads. (I’m immensely jealous of PVP’s science research curriculum…they send so many kids to ISEF and STS like it’s no big deal). </p>
<p>It’s undeniable that Harvard will look somewhat at the quality of your school and I do believe that those attending better schools, in terms of having <em>both</em> overall good academics and good ECs/activites, will have somewhat of a better advantage than schools that are somewhat subpar (or, in the case of Whitney HS, focus way too much on testing and academics). Why is it that you don’t see a plethora of Harvard acceptances from high schools like Gahr High, Artesia High, and Cerritos High in the South Bay region? (APIs are less than 800, average ECs) I believe Harvard will take into account how well the academic curriculum at your school will challenge you because, remember, they need to take in kids that will be able to survive their school if they’re accepted as well as contribute, diversity, and further the activities, clubs, and organizations it has to offer.</p>
<p>This is why I say “They will look at you relative to your school, but your stats should be just as, if not more, competitive than others in your geographical region.” You should be just as academically competitive and extremely exceptional in the activities that you pursue so that the college will know you are just as prepared to enter the school as other kids in your area. If your school is relatively subpar, e.g. SAT average of 1500, it doesn’t matter that kids in your school barely break 2000. If you get merely a 2000 or 2100 and low 700 Subject test scores and have a 4.0 while also having average, albeit not that competitive or rigorous, ECs, why should Harvard accept you? I mean, great, you’re a hot shot at your school and no one else has those sort of stats. But you need to rise a lot more above that. The valedictorian and salutatorian at my school (1400 avg. SAT, API ~700 range, overall crappy ECs and sports) for the Class of 2010, for example, applied to MIT+Caltech and Stanford+Harvard, respectively. The valedictorian had a 4.0, 15 APs, ~2100 SAT, and mid-700 Subject test scores in Math and Chemistry and an 800 in World History, and his ECs were relatively lackluster - Cross Country, Environmental Science Club, History Club, CSF, Leo Club, and the school’s academic program. The salutatorian had a 3.8, ~2300 SAT, National Merit Commended, mid-700 Subject test scores (I forget which subjects), and her ECs were slightly better than the valedictorian’s - Tennis (varsity all 4 years, too), Environmental Science Club, History Club, Leo Club, and the school’s academic program, and she won a few local level speech contests. They were rejected from those schools. They both attend UC Berkeley now.</p>
<p>I mean that’s awesome, you’re significantly better than the rest of the students at your subpar school and I’m not saying schools like Harvard will overlook that. But honestly, why should Harvard, MIT, Stanford, and those schools accept them when only a few miles away from the school there are more students with better ECs and better stats?</p>
<p>That is just my theory and logic behind why I say “They will look at you relative to your school, but your stats should be just as, if not more, competitive than others in your geographical region.” I’m not saying it’s definitive…but from my own experiences of seeing people around me when applying to colleges…I would say my logic holds.</p>
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