<p>Practically everyone who posts a "chance me" thread or who asks for college suggestions posts their stats, preceded by a statement explaining that "my school is 'rigorous' or 'competitive' or 'well-known' for my state" for the purpose of college admissions. Who says that simply to try and cover for their poor performance at points, and who actually has a rigorous, competitive high school? And more importantly, on what basis are we to assume that your school actually is?</p>
<p>if a school sends 100% to four year colleges, that’s a good sign. you can also look at the % of students who go on to Ivies(or top 20 schools). average SAT scores, average AP scores, and number of APs offered can also be signals of rigor. if colleges have experience with your high school, they can also check to see how well accepted students from your high school have done at their college.</p>
<p>In addition to what Chocklit wrote, also consider % NMSF’s, rank within state (California scores schools by an index), gpa % (is a 3.9 uw top 1% or top 10%?).</p>
<p>The majority of people who post in the Chances threads are probably lying about how rigorous their high schools are. I have serious doubts of people who claim their high schools are “most rigorous” when they have 4.0 UW/5.0 W GPA’s with a 2000 on the SAT.</p>
<p>There’s also the infamous USNWR gold medal list for public high schools that include many magnet schools that weed out lower tier students plus a few open enrollment schools. Examples are Stuyvesant in NYC and Lowell in SF. Everybody knows about the private feeder schools like Boston Latin and Andover.</p>
<p>Same mine is a silver medal. My HS is the best in my county, but the amount of kids it sends to top schools is about 20-30 our of 428. The average SAT is like 1700-1900. :</p>
<p>I don’t think kids are lying, it’s just that most have not had exposure to a wide variety of high schools. If there’s is the hardest in their area, they believe it’s a rigorous school. And it is fr their area.</p>
<p>It’s when we begin to talk on a national basis that we see what the colleges consider most rigorous. Schools with 2100 average SATs and classes that go way beyond AP. Most areas do not have such schools.</p>
<p>My high school is very unrigorous. Out of 80 graduating seniors, average GPA is around 2.9. I’m still applying to top schools though, and hoping that they don’t hold my high school’s poor reputation against me. I have a 4.0 GPA and 35 ACT, and lots of ECs, so I think I made the best of my situation.</p>
<p>Mine is pretty rigorous, I think we have like 98% go to 4 year colleges, although we don’t rank top 10% is >4.0…we don’t have “Ds” <70=fail, and we send probably 40-50 kids to top 25 schools…out of a class of 400</p>
<p>I go to a tiny school (about 50 kids per grade) in the rural Midwest. The average ACT is a 24, so I think it’s safe to say it’s not very rigorous. However, our grading scale is more difficult than average.</p>
<p>I’m confused as to whether this will make me look bad (because I go to a really lame school) or good (because I have a 31 ACT and pretty good grades). Can anyone help me out on this?</p>
<p>However, my class still scores consistently better than classes at other large, more respected suburban and private schools in my county by wide margins, and some ofthose are among the top in my state. Unfortunately, we are just an odd group: classes below and ahead are considerably more lackluster (3.6 cracks top 10% instead of 3.95, avg ACT drop by 3-4 points, PSEO participation drop by double digits, etc.)</p>
<p>I have no clue in h*ll how colleges are going to judge my school, but for my sake, I hope the confusion benefits me :)</p>
<p>Mine is definitely rigorous (small private high school, with my grade level containing only 85 kids). Our average SAT score is very close to 2000 on a 2400 scale. We send 100% of all our graduates to four-year colleges, and over 20% of both the Class of 2009 and the Class of 2010 earned the designation of National Merit Semifinalist. It’s a pretty intense environment. </p>
<p>Needless to say, we don’t rank, although we do have a chapter of the Cum Laude Society. Students in the top 10% get inducted at the end of their junior year, while those in the top 20% get inducted at the end of senior year. I’m not sure whether my school provides a GPA distribution of some sort, but I would think that it does, seeing how it actually takes the time to figure out who gets inducted into the Cum Laude Society.</p>
<p>With that said, would it hurt me if I wasn’t ranked within the top 10% of my class? The fact that my class size is small and really competitive leads to the fact that not being among the top 8 automatically kicks me out of the running for top 10%. I’m not sure how this would be perceived by highly ranked schools such as the Ivies. Does anyone know anything about this? I’d greatly appreciate your help! :)</p>
<p>Hmm, my high school is probably the best in my county, everyone there is extremely competitive about grades, getting a bad grade (sub 90) will get you laughed at.</p>