Do colleges look at where you went to High School?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My neighbor's kid was homeschooled and had a perfect ACT test score, got a 4 year scholarship to the school of his choice. His mailbox was filled daily with requests from colleges offering him a place.

That has to do with the perfect ACT score, not the fact that he was homeschooled or anything like that. A kid who went to a top high school and scored perfect on the ACT would have the same experience.

So would a kid who went to a lower ranked high school. A lot of colleges will be very interested in a high achiever who went to a school that doesn't have all the advantages.

No. Scoring a perfect ACT says nothing about whether or not they are a "high-achiever."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My neighbor's kid was homeschooled and had a perfect ACT test score, got a 4 year scholarship to the school of his choice. His mailbox was filled daily with requests from colleges offering him a place.

That has to do with the perfect ACT score, not the fact that he was homeschooled or anything like that. A kid who went to a top high school and scored perfect on the ACT would have the same experience.

I think that was PP's point - a student who has high stats/is a high achiever will not be held back by the high school he attended (or in this case, the fact that he was homeschooled).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, of course, but if you're talking about two schools within FCPS, I personally think they will consider those more or less equal and focus on quality of courseload. If you take the most advanced classes available at Annandale, for example, I personally don't think it would disadvantage you versus taking the most advanced classes at Langley. It would perhaps even advantage you because your class rank would likely be higher at Annandale and you would have fewer classmates aiming for highly selective colleges.

The difference between Annandale and Langley is a lot greater than between Chantilly and South Lakes. Realitically, there's a much smaller cohort of kids aiming for the types of schools that DCUMers seem to care about at Annandale, the peer environment doesn't spur kids to take as many advanced classes, and the admissions officers will be less familiar with AHS than Langley. FCPS doesn't assign class ranks, by the way, although some data is made available about GPA distributions.

[Anonymous]

Colleges do not differentiate between schools in Fairfax County, other than TJHSST. Most of the Ivies re-calculate applicant GPAs by stripping out weighting and using only the core academic classes. But, the selective schools still want students to take the most advanced classes available. So a FCPS student that does not take a slew of APs will be at a severe disadvantage. On the other hand, a student from rural Iowa with no APs offered at her school would not be disadvantaged.

[Anonymous]

I think many colleges have favorite Fairfax County High Schools. Langley for example gets way more college admissions officer visits than some of the other high schools county. It is known as one of the top non magnet high schools in the USA. It matters.

[Anonymous]

Are you serious? The world does not revolve around the VA public schools. Andover or Exeter Academy? YES.

[Anonymous]

Did anyone say the world revolves around VA public schools? They simply pointed out that some are better than others. Andover and Exeter are in a league of their own but Langley high will send as many kids to prestigious colleges as just about any public non-magnet high school in the USA. It will do as well as a good number of private schools (not big time boarding schools though). TJ will top most private schools. It gives even top boarding schools a run for their money and it's free if you can get in!!!

[Anonymous]

USNews heavily weights colleges according to their 4 and 6 year graduation rates. As a result, colleges care mostly about how likely you are to successfully graduate in a reasonable timeframe.

Kids from competitive high schools are favored for this reason, even though it obviously perpetuates a cycle of inequality, since kids from lower ranking high schools are placed at a disadvantage.

That being said, your test scores are more important than your high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone say the world revolves around VA public schools? They simply pointed out that some are better than others. Andover and Exeter are in a league of their own but Langley high will send as many kids to prestigious colleges as just about any public non-magnet high school in the USA. It will do as well as a good number of private schools (not big time boarding schools though). TJ will top most private schools. It gives even top boarding schools a run for their money and it's free if you can get in!!!

TJ will top all private schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone say the world revolves around VA public schools? They simply pointed out that some are better than others. Andover and Exeter are in a league of their own but Langley high will send as many kids to prestigious colleges as just about any public non-magnet high school in the USA. It will do as well as a good number of private schools (not big time boarding schools though). TJ will top most private schools. It gives even top boarding schools a run for their money and it's free if you can get in!!!

I don't think your statement about Langley is true precisely because TJ captures so many of the top students in the county. I'd expect public high schools like Whitman, New Trier, Scarsdale and some of their suburban Philly counterparts to send a higher percentage of their kids to top schools than Langley.

[Anonymous]

"As just about any non-magnet public high school in the USA". Most of those cities have a magnet school too, they face the same situation. With the population of NOVA it would be impossible for everyone to go to TJ. Plus plenty of eligible kids do not want to go to TJ as they are not tech oriented or want to be with their friends etc.

[Anonymous]

They most certainly do. And certain college counselors develop relationships with admissions staff. A "B" isn't viewed the same for every school.

[Anonymous]

What about the differences between MCPS schools? For example, the difference between Blair, Richard Montgomery, and Wheaton...

[Anonymous]

I'm sure they do but I went to a fairly mediocre high school in the middle of the country and went from there to an Ivy League university. I didn't even have a 4.0 average or take any AP classes (there were none offered at my high school).

So the ranking of schools isn't everything. If your kid is a high achiever in a school where very few students ever apply to prestigious colleges, he might just stand out.

[Anonymous]

I think what matters more is the amount of advanced courses. Your children's scores on the AP exams will show whether they are prepared for college.