<p>My school’s API score is 876, almost close to Harvard westlake’s score of about 900. extremely competitive,. by junior year about half the people i know were taking pre-calc/ap calc ab. many 4.0 gpa’s. i only have a gpa of 3.1 unweighted, 3.4 weighted. no sports. two languages though ( french 3 i am taking right now, arabic one i am also taking right now). i have taken-
honors world history and with a score of 3 on the ap exam( grade in class b first semester, a second semester)
honors biology with a b both semesters
french 3 i am taking
honors english 10 with a b both semesters
algebra 2 with a b then a c second semester
and i have yet to find out the grades for this school year since school just started
do i have the possibility of getting into ucla, nyu,usc, and other good colleges?</p>
<p>I’m a Harvard-Westlake mom. Thanks, HWFriend, for your post.</p>
<p>Yes, the HW kids are privileged and their acceptance rates at the Ivies are high. But no one is handing anyone at HW an Ivy acceptance on a silver platter, believe me. I expected to find a sense of entitlement when we started there, but other than a (very small) handful of snooty families, it simply isn’t there.</p>
<p>We pay a lot of money in tuition (about the same as other private schools in L.A., but a much better education). Very few families are rich enough to not care about the tuition; most of the HW families I know are stretching for their kids to be there, and many, many are on financial aid. Personally, we moved to a smaller house, drive a 15-year-old car, and didn’t go on a major vacation for years to be able to send our kid there. </p>
<p>And the students at HW work their tails off. My kid is a junior, and every single one of his classes uses a college textbook. The classes are rigorous (more than my own <em>college</em> classes were), the class sizes are small (8 to 16 generally), and the teachers are the best-prepared, most dedicated I have seen anywhere. (And I’m a teacher myself.)</p>
<p>The money we fork over pays for the small class sizes, the incredible facilities, and the wonderful faculty, and also for college counseling that starts in the sophomore year, with 1 dean/college counselor assigned to about 30 students per grade. The hard work (and it is <em>hard</em>) the kids put in gets them into the school, keeps them in the school, and opens the doors they want opened when they graduate.</p>
<p>I was a National Merit Finalist who got <em>no</em> college counseling at my huge public school growing up. Absolutely none. The one college counselor who handled over 1000 students told me, “You can do whatever you want,” and that was it. My parents were immigrants who didn’t understand the U.S. college system, and they couldn’t help. I made weak choices as a result. And I decided I wanted better information and options for my kids when I had them.</p>
<p>Not everyone makes the choices to stretch financially and work so hard, and that’s fine. It’s just a statement of our priorities. Every penny we have spent (and will spend) has been worth it, in our opinion. My kid is not headed for an Ivy (not what he wants, and he won’t have the unweighted near-4.0 he would need), but I feel confident he will get into his first or second choice school. I am grateful for all the help HW will give us in the effort, just as I am grateful for all I have learned lurking here on CC about what lies ahead of us in the next couple years.</p>
<p>Sorry to go on so long… But since Harvard-Westlake has come up so many times in this thread, I just wanted to post and let you know the point of view from one who had to work hard to get in to HW in the first place, and continues to work hard to stay there.</p>
<p>Good luck to all in your applications. You are already so far ahead of most everyone else just by hanging out here and learning how to navigate the waters ahead.</p>
<p>School is very important in the selection process but only when considering gpa. Colleges know that a 4.0 at top 100 high school is far superior and harder to get than a 4.0 at a poor performing one.</p>
<p>Excellent post Holli72! Your comments regarding the “guidance” provided by your high school guidance counselor reminded me of my own experience. I am also a daughter of immigrants and am driven to provide my children with the options and the guidance that I did not receive. I am grateful for everything my parents did provide - so I look at it as building upon their foundation. For my children, I believe private school is the way to go. The pricetag for private high school here in the Northeast is about the same as in the West coast. No doubt – it will be a sacrifice. I’ve recently joined CC to see whether parents/students believe it is worth it. I appreciate your post!</p>
<p>@PurePhysics You may not have to attend a CC. A relative of mine went to 2 universities (one junior year and a different, better university senior year) for math after he completed all his HS math by sophomore year.</p>
<p>I think the school name really makes a difference. Someone who goes to like the #15 school in the country who took the hardest classes that were available (3249867 AP classes, IB, etc) is going to be chosen over someone at a regular school who also took the hardest classes available (which were mostly regular classes anyway because not many advanced courses are offered - like a max of 2-3 APs).</p>
<p>It could help alot if its a prestigious high school.</p>
<p>So I go to a public high school consistently ranked in the top 10 public high schools and I’m one of the best students there. Does the reputation of my school help me in being a competitive applicant?</p>
<p>^definitely. Top ten in the nation right? Mine is top 50 and we send several kids to ivy league and top schools each year.</p>
<p>Huh. So I guess it really doesn’t matter that I do well at a school that is filled with pot smokers, robberies, assaults, thefts, and fights? The only safe way to ride the bus in my area is to travel in groups and carry pepper spray. And hope the gang bangers from up the street don’t come down and rob you at gun point.</p>