Does the high school you go to greatly affect your chances of getting into a good university?

Posted on March 5th, 2010 by admin in high school | 3 Comments »

I am a junior in inglewood high school and my neighborhood is considered rather "ghetto" so to speak, but i have always had higher than a 3.5 GPA, but i have always wondered if my chances of getting into a university(such as Berkeley or Brown) are greatly different compared to let’s say a student with the same grades from Beverly Hills or Malibu and such.

it’s not a big deal, the most important things are your GPA, test scores, activities, and volunteer work. it really doesn’t matter where you come from, don’t worry!

3 Responses

  1. Amaretta Says:

    Yes and no. The colleges do keep track of which schools their top students come from, so they know which high schools do a better job of preparing their students for college. A good suburban high school or prep school tends to produce more students who are college-ready than a small town high school. However, those top high schools tend to have more students applying to those top schools, which means the students are competing against their own classmates. A school like Brown might have 12 applicants from that kind of high school, but they’ll only take two, so even a top student can lose out to their high school valedictorian or the class math genius. But if your grades and test scores are good, they’ll certainly consider you and maybe give you the edge over someone who’s just another applicant from Beverly Hills or Orange County.
    References :

  2. chandler bing Says:

    it’s not a big deal, the most important things are your GPA, test scores, activities, and volunteer work. it really doesn’t matter where you come from, don’t worry!
    References :

  3. lana Says:

    Actually the school you go to could potentially work to your advantage. If they see a student, such as yourself, come out of a "ghetto" school on top, they will probably admire that. Now, you will need to have the ACT/SAT score to match up with their standards as well but they will appreciate the diversity that you will bring because you aren’t the same as every other private school kid that grew up with everything working to their advantage. If you are in the top of your class with a 3.5 or higher and you challenged yourself in high school and took all the opportunities you could get, you will look good on paper. It may not land you a spot at Harvard or Brown but Berkeley could be in your future. Best of luck!
    References :

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