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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]People at lower SES schools have a greater chance of getting into the advanced band/orchestra earlier in the high school career, and thus receive the higher GPA boost.

People at lower SES schools have a greater chance of making the varsity sports teams earlier.

People at lower SES schools have a chance at obtaining leadership positions in sports and music. They have a greater chance at starring roles in drama.

Those are all things that look great on a college application.

Competition is fierce at the higher SES schools for leadership positions, sports teams, and music programs. On top of having to juggle an advanced academics course. Some kids thrive in that kind of cut-throat environment. Some kids don't.[/quote]

It's not lost on colleges when the big fish are swimming in small ponds. The advanced band/orchestra never places many kids in all-state band or orchestra.  The varsity sports teams struggle to field teams and have losing seasons.  The kids struggle to find enough peers to sustain interest clubs.  The primary drama at the school is not successful plays so much as daily chaos in the school hallways.

The irony is that some parents at these lower-achieving schools are desperate to have you believe (falsely) that their kids have an advantage in getting into competitive colleges, yet claim that secondary schools where kids are both held to higher expectations and challenge one another to excel are "cut-throat" and best avoided.

This thread isn't based in reality, but instead just another way for people to express their resentment and blow off some steam.  That's apparent from the concurrent thread where a delusional poster claims that FCPS will soon abolish all school boundaries. [/quote]

Colleges aren't looking at what trophies are sitting on a school's shelf. They're looking at a student's individual achievements.

It doesn't matter that a school has 20 all-state band players; it matters what YOUR does child do on the band? If your child one of 45 clarinet players on the marching band field? Or is your child part of the leadership team on the band, and has been since sophomore year?

And yes, maybe your child is the top clarinet player on the band, first out of 45 players. That's great! But that also means 44 players are just supporting players at that school, and they won't have as strong a college application.

If you play things by cold, hard numbers, your child's chances of building a strong college application are harder at a larger, higher SES school with more competition. [/quote]

That’s the point. An individual student’s accomplishments are less likely to be impressive by the time they are applying to college when they’ve come up through a mediocre pyramid.  They’ve spent years being treated like they were exceptional when in fact they were only above average. This is illustrated by the very small number of NMSFs and Commended Students in the lowest rated FCPS schools, year after year.

Sure, there are a few outliers, but there’s a reason for the adage that “the strongest steel is forged in the hottest fire.”

If attending a low-performing school truly provided a competitive advantage, you’d see the parents most intent on their kids attending a top school flock to the likes of Annandale, Justice, or Herndon.  The exact opposite is what happens - in particular, the Asian enrollment is increasing rapidly at Langley and plunging in some of the lowest rated schools.  [/quote]

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