Class size

FØB Zero

FØB Zero

Enthusiastically American
Joined
Jul 30, 2019
Messages
205
Good afternoon all,
I go to a high school with ~300+ students in each grade level. Thus, It is very competitive to attain the “big leadership positions” such as class officer / team captain in my school. Is this as a large, small, or average class size? And I assume they put the class size I nto consideration?
 
FØB Zero said:
Good afternoon all,
I go to a high school with ~300+ students in each grade level. Thus, It is very competitive to attain the “big leadership positions” such as class officer / team captain in my school. Is this as a large, small, or average class size? And I assume they put the class size I nto consideration?
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At my high school each graduating class is roughly 500 people and is considered fairly large. I’d imagine that 300 is tilting towards a large class size.
 
I assume high school class size stats for USAFA would be similar to a recent USMA plebe class:

USMA class: 1,295 cadets
Average High School class size: 309
Median High School class size: 272
Range: 6 - 2,343

I don't know about USAFA, but USMA does not consider class size in its calculations, although the regional admissions officers are given some latitude and could possibly consider class size at the extremes if they found it relevant.
 
Wow, 2300 kids in a class? That's bonkers. What would that even look like? The mind boggles...
 
I don’t believe that such graduating class exists in America with 2,343 single graduating class. Unless @JI123 can disclose the name of the school for us to search it up. I went to either the largest high school in America or one of the largest. At the time of entering as a freshman in 1981 my high school had over 6,000 students. I graduated with 1,200 boys and girls. Prior to 1975 it was all boys school. The school is one of the 3 oldest Specialized STEM schools in America and it is about 100 years old. It is in NYC and entry is by competitive examination only. About 30,000 8th and 9th graders take the exam for only 1,600 spots in 9/10th grades. If 2,343 is a real single graduating class number I tip my hat to you @JI123.
 
Sorry don't have specific high school names, but not all cadets attend traditional U.S. high schools. The data includes foreign schools as well as online schools.

There were 3 class sizes over 2,000 and 10 over 1,000. I thought a class size over 2,000 was high - possibly data entry errors, but when including foreign and online schools not out of the realm of possibility.
 
jl123 said:
Sorry don't have specific high school names, but not all cadets attend traditional U.S. high schools. The data includes foreign schools as well as online schools.

There were 3 class sizes over 2,000 and 10 over 1,000. I thought a class size over 2,000 was high - possibly data entry errors, but when including foreign and online schools not out of the realm of possibility.
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Sorry, there are no high schools in the US with 9,000+ students. An extremely large school would be in the 5,000 student range.
 
Stork103 said:
QUOTE="jl123, post: 683056, member: 28357"]
Sorry, there are no high schools in the US with 9,000+ students. An extremely large school would be in the 5,000 student range.
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Correct, but that does not account for foreign high schools, for how online high schools report class size, or some other non-traditional method of reporting class size?

The three 2,000+ entries are in the database. I looked at four other year groups and in each found a 2,000+ class size that was the top of the range. Is it likely that an entry error would be in the 2,000 range in all five databases? No entry errors in the 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 range?

However, whether the top of the range is 1,200 or 2,500 is a moot point - including them has no significant effect on the average or median class size, which answers the OP's question of whether his school is large, small, or average:
  • Include all data: Average = 309; Median = 272
  • Eliminate class sizes 2,000+ : Average = 304; Median = 271
  • Eliminate all class sizes over 1,200: Average = 298; Median = 270
 
Just out of curiosity I looked to see how large a foreign high school could be:
  • City Montessori School Lucknow, India: 52,000 (pre-K - 12)
  • Rizal High School Manila, Philippines: 25,000 (grades 7 -12)
Note: USMA has had many cadets from the Philippine's, most recently one who graduated this year.
 
@JI123. For the sake of discussion we should not include foreign schools. Now I see why the number can be so outlier. Yes I agree when schools in India Philippines etc are added the number can be unreal.

When you exclude those very few non US schools then the norm may look something like this, this is an educated guess of graduating class size:

25%: <200 Small
40%: 200+ to 400+ Medium
30%: 500+ Large
5%: 1,000+ Mega Schools

But you seem to have more real data to fact check. This has been an interesting look into where candidates come from and how OP may sit in this big picture.
 
CrewDad said:
I don’t believe that such graduating class exists in America with 2,343 single graduating class. Unless @JI123 can disclose the name of the school for us to search it up. I went to either the largest high school in America or one of the largest. At the time of entering as a freshman in 1981 my high school had over 6,000 students. I graduated with 1,200 boys and girls. Prior to 1975 it was all boys school. The school is one of the 3 oldest Specialized STEM schools in America and it is about 100 years old. It is in NYC and entry is by competitive examination only. About 30,000 8th and 9th graders take the exam for only 1,600 spots in 9/10th grades. If 2,343 is a real single graduating class number I tip my hat to you @JI123.
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Did you go to Stuyvesant? My Dad and Grand Dad graduated from there. Great STEM. My Dad passed the "Eddy Test" while at Stuvyesant and went into the Navy Electronic Training Program.
 
DS graduated top 10 in a class of 961 and is a 2023 and his younger bothers classes are larger with one over 1k students. The one that just graduated had over 10 AP classes(all 4s and 5s) and all others where honors classes, 4.0 unweighted GPA (school does not weight GPAs), 35 ACT, Varsity Football, Basketball, National Honor Society, etc....as the school does rankings based on a formula that figures in not only grades but extra curricular's as well. He graduated #5 out of 981, 2-4 were tied with one extra AP class over DS and #1 transferred in a bunch of a AP classes at the end of the semester to work the system. Lots of kids means lots of competition at the school and that correlates to USAFA, lots of competition.
 
@swps those figures are very impressive stats on your DS. Did he go to USNA or USAFA?

@NJROTC-CC. Stuyvesant is one of the best STEM School in America. I would personally rank it as one of the top 3 schools including Bronx Science and Brooklyn Tech. All others are smaller and came much later. Stuyvesant founded 1904 (3400 students), Brooklyn Tech 1922 (6000 students), Science 1938 (3000 students) is the younger of the best 3. They are all in the top of the STEM School food chain with high Avg SAT 1500 and ACT 34. The schools are the Nation’s leaders producing talented STEM educated young leaders with about 20 Nobel Laureate Alumni under these 3 schools.

I went to Brooklyn Tech and I traveled 1.5 hours each way to school so I was in subway and bus 3 hours a day just to commute to school. I spent my time doing homework and reading The NY Times daily which was required for all freshmen - seniors. As a freshmen-sophomores we were required to complete the technical architectural and mechanical studies and high school curriculum. As a junior we began our Engineering Majors like the traditional Engineering colleges. At Tech, I double majored in Electrical Engineering and Industrial Design. I graduated with 2 years of college level Engineering and STEM Education which was required by all or most graduates. Some few had Majors in pre professional legal studies but still had the same core engineering program. In my class most majoring in Math Physics Chem BioMed Aerospace Comp Sci and Electronics went on to the best colleges. About 150 went on to the Ivy MIT Stanford from my class of 1985. Another 600 were given admission to NYU and similarly ranked schools like Binghamton.

Going to these schools you are assured top education but the stress and competition are very fierce because most are top students from their NYC districts. I didn’t want my children to go through this rat race so I sent them to much smaller private schools with a graduating class of 70-160 students. About 30,000 applied each year to each STEM schools. Many of our graduates were leaders and helped build NYC Economy, infrastructure and contributed to Nation building since post WW1. Your Dad and Grandfather are extraordinary people who share history with America’s Nation building in Science Govt Education the Economy and the Financial Institutions. Many of my friends became Doctors Lawyers Wall Street Investment Bankers and Served in the Military after USMA USNA USAFA. In fact, one of the 4 Star General was the last graduate from West Point to go to Army Air Force ‘54, General James Dalton. And the first US Astronaut graduate from the USAFA is honored as the 1st Astronaut of the USAFA ‘59. Col Karol Bobko. He is in the Hall of Fame at the Academy.
 
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My thoughts:
Yes, it would be more difficult to be the captain of a Varsity team/Class President.
But there should be more opportunities to show leadership in other ways.
Look for ways to provide leadership in school or community service.
 
FØB Zero said:
Good afternoon all,
I go to a high school with ~300+ students in each grade level. Thus, It is very competitive to attain the “big leadership positions” such as class officer / team captain in my school. Is this as a large, small, or average class size? And I assume they put the class size I nto consideration?
Click to expand...
You should look forward to the challenge! As competitive as it may be to attain these positions, that pales in comparison to the competition in obtaining an appointment. If you do not become an officer/captain, do not be afraid to think outside the box. Is there a club that you can start? That would highlight your leadership ability.
 
CrewDad said:
@swps Stuyvesant is one of the best STEM School in America. I would personally rank it as one of the top 3 schools including Bronx Science and Brooklyn Tech. Your Dad and Grandfather are extraordinary people who share history with America’s Nation building in Science Govt Education the Economy and the Financial Institutions.
Click to expand...

My Grandfather was at Stuyvesant the same time as actor James Cagney. I went to a University where the current average SAT score is now over 1500. ALL the kids I knew at my University who were from NYC, and I count at least 5, were Stuyvesant Grads. Brooklyn Tech and Bronx Science are just as good. All public and free. Unfortunately,my brother (EE major Cornell '86) got the math gene in my family, I got the verbal gene. My DS also did not get the math gene. This may lead him to pursue MO NROTC due to the lesser math required. We will see. He is only a rising sophomore. However, everything about his personality and strengths points to Marine Option. He has not decided yet himself. He is just enjoying high school.
 
I know what you mean about the math and humanities genes. Funny thing is genes hide and appear suddenly so don’t be surprised if your son suddenly can do Math more than he’s used to showing. It takes a small trigger like a good teacher or an inspiration. My DS is also better wired with Social Science and English too it seems but also enjoyed studying AP Economics and did fine in AP Cal and AP Stats in high school. Kids change sometimes, suddenly. My DS thought of doing History or Cyber Majors at USNA. He did well in both in his Plebe year finishing with A’s. But then he changed his mind to Quantitative Economics that requires more Math but with a focus on social science discipline in economics applied math and finance. NROTC requires only 2 classes of each Cal and Science classes or 4 semesters of each Cal and Chem and Physics at USNA. Takes just little more work with desire to learn. I remember James Cagney a Stuy Alumnus. We talked about him among other famous grads. It was fun talking about this.

Coming back to OP’s question on class size matters. Yes if you’re coming from a very small school. You may need to demonstrate a stronger ACA performance vs. coming from a larger school. Your 300 is a mid size. You should really focus on doing what you enjoy the most and volunteer in leading activities if you’re not a CPT but try to hold an officer role. Choose few activities you really like and Best to stick to it for long time as early as in middle school and go deep through senior year. Otherwise volunteer and make impact to your community you’re serving.
 
CrewDad said:
I know what you mean about the math and humanities genes. Funny thing is genes hide and appear suddenly so don’t be surprised if your son suddenly can do Math more than he’s used to showing. It takes a small trigger like a good teacher or an inspiration. My DS is also better wired with Social Science and English too it seems but also enjoyed studying AP Economics and did fine in AP Cal and AP Stats in high school. Kids change sometimes, suddenly. My DS thought of doing History or Cyber Majors at USNA. He did well in both in his Plebe year finishing with A’s. But then he changed his mind to Quantitative Economics that requires more Math but with a focus on social science discipline in economics applied math and finance. NROTC requires only 2 classes of each Cal and Science classes or 4 semesters of each Cal and Chem and Physics at USNA. Takes just little more work with desire to learn. I remember James Cagney a Stuy Alumnus. We talked about him among other famous grads. It was fun talking about this.

Coming back to OP’s question on class size matters. Yes if you’re coming from a very small school. You may need to demonstrate a stronger ACA performance vs. coming from a larger school. Your 300 is a mid size. You should really focus on doing what you enjoy the most and volunteer in leading activities if you’re not a CPT but try to hold an officer role. Choose few activities you really like and Best to stick to it for long time as early as in middle school and go deep through senior year. Otherwise volunteer and make impact to your community you’re serving.
Click to expand...

^ @NJROTC-CC :)
 
brewmeist said:
FØB Zero said:
Good afternoon all,
I go to a high school with ~300+ students in each grade level. Thus, It is very competitive to attain the “big leadership positions” such as class officer / team captain in my school. Is this as a large, small, or average class size? And I assume they put the class size I nto consideration?
Click to expand...
You should look forward to the challenge! As competitive as it may be to attain these positions, that pales in comparison to the competition in obtaining an appointment. If you do not become an officer/captain, do not be afraid to think outside the box. Is there a club that you can start? That would highlight your leadership ability.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the motivation!
 
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