Does Weak High School Hurt Chances of Admission?

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efirestone14

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Jan 14, 2012
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Only 50% of the graduates from my high school go on to attend four-year colleges and universities. The average SAT scores are below 500 for all sections. Also, my school only offers five AP courses and I am currently on track to complete three of them. I would be scheduled to take more, but scheduling issues have limited my AP courses. Most of my other courses are honors-level courses.

That being said, my graduating class is academically tougher than most recent classes. I am ranked in the top 10% of my class and have an ACT score of 27 and a combined CR + Math SAT score of 1230. I will be retaking the ACT in September. I have various leadership positions and good athletics.

Will my weaker high school hurt my chances of admission to West Point or will my file be looked at according to what I did vs. what was offered/available?
 
efirestone14 said:
Only 50% of the graduates from my high school go on to attend four-year colleges and universities. The average SAT scores are below 500 for all sections. Also, my school only offers five AP courses and I am currently on track to complete three of them. I would be scheduled to take more, but scheduling issues have limited my AP courses. Most of my other courses are honors-level courses.

That being said, my graduating class is academically tougher than most recent classes. I am ranked in the top 10% of my class and have an ACT score of 27 and a combined CR + Math SAT score of 1230. I will be retaking the ACT in September. I have various leadership positions and good athletics.

Will my weaker high school hurt my chances of admission to West Point or will my file be looked at according to what I did vs. what was offered/available?
Click to expand...

It could hurt you. What's going to hurt you more is your class ranking. West Point do understand that not all high schools are the same. Your class ranking could be lower if you were at a more "competitive" high school.

Try to improve your class ranking as much as possible.
 
WP will look at what is offered and what you took. You can't take what isn't offered, they understand that, but they like to see that you took the hardest classes that your school offered and earned A's in them.

You will not be penalized for going to a less competitive school. That is why WP will evaluate you compared to your class (by class rank) and not so much GPA (which compares you to students at other schools which may have different classes offered, grading scales, etc).
MemberLG gave spot-on advise about striving to have as high a class rank as you can.

Good on taking the ACT again. WP superscores, so take the ACT and SAT as many times as you can.

Class rank and SAT/ACT scores are what comprise the Academic evaluation of your application so give your best effort in both of those areas.

Good luck :thumb:
 
It's not that your school is "weak" that would be an issue -- it is that in a "weak" school you were not well into the top 5% in class rank. It is also that 27 on the ACT is probably in the lowest 10% of admits into West Point for the cohort that is not athlete/diversity.

Scholarship will not be the strongest part of your file, so concentrate on accentuating your accomplishments in Leadership and Athletics, the other two important pillars in the SAL triad.

Good luck! :thumb:
 
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