Odd that I thought my high school was bad even though statistics say it is good? (read) (IEP, universities)
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So I went to a very small high school, about 300-400 total kids there. We did not have basketball, football, or any sports. In terms of extra curricular activities we were very limited. We did not have a model UN or anything of that nature.
Now the thing is US World News and Report gave our high school a silver medal and stuff and we had nearly everyone passing statewide tests. In order to get into our high school, you had to take a test and get selected.
But it has been three years since I have been out of high school. Our class had a total of around 80 students. In my four years there, only 1 kid got into the Ivies.
Usually this is how college admissions would go at my high school:
Valedictorian = UGA or Georgia Tech
Salutatorian = the same as valedictorian
5 other people or so = maybe the same as val and sal but mostly Ga Southern or Clayton State and schools of that caliber
Everyone else = local 4 year university
I know tons of kids who are now doing remedial classes in college, and comparatively speaking, compared to kids from the suburban public schools and private schools, the ones who went to my high school are really struggling in college and when talking to them most did not know much about academics or anything. A lot aimed for the bare minimum.
Most kids took the SAT, made a 1400 or 1500 on it (new 2400 scale) and were happy about that. No one even aimed for above a 2000 on it.
In a way, I feel that had I gone to a public high school in the suburban district the results would have been better for college admissions. I had a 1950 SAT score and a 3.4 GPA, now I am at a university 5 minutes from my house with not much to do.
The US News list is very heavily weighted towards students that take AP/IB exams. It doesn't matter how the kids actually did on the exams, just that they took them.
Scores were 1440 - 1490 just on reading plus math, higher for those getting the competitive scholarships. I do not know why they omit the writing score.
Note that UGA is turning out Marshall, Fulbright, Rhodes, and similar scholars.
So the kids at the top of the class in your school who are going to UGA (and GA Tech, I would surmise) do have the opportunity to get a great education, comparable to what you would get at an Ivy.
If there are kids who need remedial work, who are they? If they were ostensibly at the top of the class academically, there is definitely a problem. If not, you would have to try to determine why they failed to develop the study skills they need to succeed in college. Is it lack of ability or lack of effort?
It sounds as if you do not feel challenged at your current school. Have you talked with your adviser? Do you need to be taking tougher courses? Why do you feel you have "not much to do"?
An article in the Washington Post today (I don't feel like linking because I don't have the tolerance for its website right now) talked about this. The 2 highest ranked school systems in the DC area are Fairfax County, VA and Montgomery County, MD and both are seeing about 1/2 their graduates going to community college in remedial classes, mostly in Math.
One of the realities of education today as compared to 3 or 4 decades ago is that we've gotten rid of tracking and students go to college today that in 1970, 80 or 90 wouldn't have even had an admissions interview.
I graduated from high school in 1972, started college in 1973. I had decent for the time SAT scores but lousy high school GPA, a 2.0 with a couple AP classes (A's in those). I got into college because the Admissions Officer had been my high school Principal and he took a chance on me. It turned out to be a good chance, many of my classmates with better grades flunked out of college.
Also keep in mind, after nearly two decades of "college for all" the number of people in the US with a Bachelor's degree is around 25% of adults. The dropout rate for college has been stuck at around 50% or so for decades.
So I went to a very small high school, about 300-400 total kids there. We did not have basketball, football, or any sports. In terms of extra curricular activities we were very limited. We did not have a model UN or anything of that nature.
Now the thing is US World News and Report gave our high school a silver medal and stuff and we had nearly everyone passing statewide tests. In order to get into our high school, you had to take a test and get selected.
But it has been three years since I have been out of high school. Our class had a total of around 80 students. In my four years there, only 1 kid got into the Ivies.
Usually this is how college admissions would go at my high school:
Valedictorian = UGA or Georgia Tech
Salutatorian = the same as valedictorian
5 other people or so = maybe the same as val and sal but mostly Ga Southern or Clayton State and schools of that caliber
Everyone else = local 4 year university
I know tons of kids who are now doing remedial classes in college, and comparatively speaking, compared to kids from the suburban public schools and private schools, the ones who went to my high school are really struggling in college and when talking to them most did not know much about academics or anything. A lot aimed for the bare minimum.
Most kids took the SAT, made a 1400 or 1500 on it (new 2400 scale) and were happy about that. No one even aimed for above a 2000 on it.
In a way, I feel that had I gone to a public high school in the suburban district the results would have been better for college admissions. I had a 1950 SAT score and a 3.4 GPA, now I am at a university 5 minutes from my house with not much to do.
What are your thoughts?
I think you are on to something. Youngest is currently in the UGA Honors College, and doing fine. Middle is at Southern, and didn't need any remedial classes, although he has dealt with an IEP due to a learning disability since 3rd grade. We live in the northern suburbs though, and the expectations are high. Even with a learning disability, middle was required to perform as though he was capable of a college curriculum.
Higher expectations= higher performance in our case. I wouldn't put too much stock in US News and World Report rankings. The end-of-year tests required for graduation are far from arduous in GA.
Also, many of the students in our local high school were accepted at top tier universities, but many, if not most, opted to stay in state and attend Tech or UGA. The Hope scholarship is a wonderful option for GA students.
well I am just saying I think I got screwed over a lot during college admissions
Could you be more specific?
Did you want to go to UGA or Tech and not get in? The Hope Scholarship has made admissions much more competitive for UGA. Not everyone who applies gets accepted any more.
If you did not get into your first choice school, did you consider trying to configure your first one or two years to maximize the possibility of transferring to your first choice school?
If you are unhappy, what have you done to fix the problem?
Did you want to go to UGA or Tech and not get in? The Hope Scholarship has made admissions much more competitive for UGA. Not everyone who applies gets accepted any more.
If you did not get into your first choice school, did you consider trying to configure your first one or two years to maximize the possibility of transferring to your first choice school?
If you are unhappy, what have you done to fix the problem?
well my SAT was well above average for UGA but my GPA was low, thing is I was in the top 20 percent, at another high school I would have had a higher GPA
also my stuff got sent late by the counselor, we did not have many ways to pad up our resume, and I just think it was a bit unfair overall
i am trying to transfer to UGA after 60 credit hours, posting a new thread on that, any advice?
well my SAT was well above average for UGA but my GPA was low, thing is I was in the top 20 percent, at another high school I would have had a higher GPA
also my stuff got sent late by the counselor, we did not have many ways to pad up our resume, and I just think it was a bit unfair overall
i am trying to transfer to UGA after 60 credit hours, posting a new thread on that, any advice?
What does your GPA look like now? What major? Extracurricular activities? Plans after graduation?
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