Do universities take into consider what your HS offers?

Applying to College
1

Alright-
I am a senior in southern Wisconsin.
I have a 3.8 UW GPA and 29 on ACT (plan on retaking)
I missed most of my sophomore and junior years for health reasons.
I went to a really small school (graduating class is 45)
Extracurriculars were not really offered. (Student Government only- I was Vice President 2 years)
AP / Honor Classes were not offered. (I ended up taking AP Psychology online through a different school system to get credit)
I did Youth Options program at UW-Parkside and will be graduating with around 20 credits.
I did work full time (40+hours a week) during sophomore-senior year.
I’m afraid about getting accepted into schools because of my lack of advanced classes and extracurriculars.
I’ve been told in the past they take into consideration what your school actually offered. I had not studied or prepared for the ACT when I took it so I plan on giving it another shot with studying to see if my score improves. I had by far the highest ACT score in my graduating class (8 points above any others)

Was just wondering if schools actually do take into consideration your situation- doing as much as you can with what is available to you
Thanks

2

Yes, they understand that different high schools have different offerings and they don’t expect you to take classes that your HS doesn’t offer.

They will also appreciate the fact that you worked 40 hours per week.

3

Your Counselor submits a school report to the colleges stating how many AP classes they offer, so you’ll be perfectly fine. The letter of recommendation that your counselor writes might also have something along the lines of: “Our school does not offer many clubs, so Julia went above and beyond to find ways to be involved outside of the school community.” to explain the lack of opportunities in your school.

Make sure to have your counselor write in his/her rec your health issues. That will help explain why you have a 3.8, and will give colleges insight into your circumstances.

You are absolutely right with this statement: “schools actually do take into consideration your situation- doing as much as you can with what is available to you”

4

Yes, they do as far as classes goes and you won’t be penalized for classes not on offer. But very selective schools will then want to know how you push yourself academically and how much effort you put into going above and beyond. As far as ECs going, I don’t think so because motivated students will create their own opportunities.