I think that class rank is just one of several variables universities take into account when evaluating students from different high schools. Other variables include: 1. the rigor of the given high school, 2. available honors and AP classes (and whether the student takes advantage of advanced course offerings), 3. success of students from that high school who have been admitted in the past (yes, colleges track this), and 4. yield rate from that high school. My guess is that a selective university AO would look more favorably on a student who took a tough courseload at a demanding or competitive high school, but only ranked in the top 20% over a student who took a relatively easy courseload at an average high school and was ranked in the top 5%. Also, some universities identify “feeder high schools” whose graduates have a history of performing well, which gives them a boost in admissions. For example, my son’s high school is one of the top five feeder schools to UofM.
Does sending many students to a certain college automatically qualify a high school as a feeder school? My school sends dozens of kids (I think this year it was around 40-50) to UT Austin, but we are in state so I have no idea whether this qualifies us as a feeder
It may depend on how big your graduating class is. 40-50 out of 200 to UT Austin seems a lot more impressive than 40-50 out of 2,000 to UT Austin.
Not a big fan of the feeder term because it’s subjective. Maybe 3 years you send 5 a year to Harvard and then skip a few years altogether.
It’s like - what’s an LAC?
Whatever you want it to be. If you want it to be a feeder, then sure, it’s a feeder.
Traditionally (as in decades ago), a feeder was a prep school that existed to prepare students for a particular school because traditionally, many schools had their own entrance exams. Families who wanted their sons to go to Princeton for example would send them to Lawrenceville. There was a special relationship between these two.
The term is now more loosely used, with some people using it for a school that simply matriculates many students to selective colleges while others may use it when a school continues to share a relationship with a college, even if it’s by virtue of enrolling numerous fac brats.
Personally, I would use the term when the high school has matriculation to a certain set of schools as an intention supported by relationships. Honestly, that’s becoming more rare. Without that, it’s just “a lot of our graduates attend xyz…”
It doesn’t seem to be catching on, but I like to use the term “feederish” for high schools that send a lot more kids than usual to highly selective colleges generally, but don’t have one of those old-school feeder relationships with a particular college. I agree those sorts of true feeder relationships are nearly extinct at this point, but at least quite a few high schools are feederish in that broader sense, so it still has some use as a term.
Incidentally, I think feederish high schools sometimes do have a pattern of better luck at some colleges than others. A lot of that may just be random variation, but my sense is some colleges may also watch yields and may start admitting more applicants from a certain high school when they are seeing what they consider to be good yield rates from those offers.
I wouldn’t bank a lot on this, but if things line up well–you really do like the school and are not just using it as a deep backup on a long list, your HS counselor thinks it is a good fit for you AND that you are what that college is typically looking for as well, and your HS has a good recent record in terms of admissions AND matriculations–then sure, that might be a particularly promising college on your list. With no guarantee, of course.
Feeders fall into a couple categories. In the past, some elite private high schools had formal or informal relationships with specific universities - think Lawrenceville and Princeton. As you mentioned, state flagships might take an inordinate number of students from strong in-state high schools (as is the case with my son’s high school and UofM). Finally, public and private universities might actively recruit students from highly ranked high schools. In 1980 when I was a high school senior in New York my guidance counselor recommended that I apply to Carnegie Mellon because they were recruiting from my nationally ranked high school (I knew four other people from my school while there). At the time CMU had an excellent reputation in PA and OH, but they were actively recruiting from highly ranked public high schools across the country in an effort to garner a nationwide reputation.
I think, by definition, if a high school sends an inordinate number of students to a specific university it is a “feeder”. Universities keep data on student success, and they know that if they admit a student from ABC high school with a GPA above X and SAT above Y, then they will do well there and graduate.
I think there are often guidance counselors who point kids to favorite schools, and then younger siblings or friends of someone attending State U or Private U see the older student enjoying it.
Many kids who attend catholic high schools want to go to catholic colleges, and the GCs know the schools and direct the students to the schools that are a good fit for that student. They can’t all go to Notre Dame or BC, but the GCs know many of the catholic college. From my niece’s catholic school in Denver with about 250 graduates, I think there were 7 who went to U of San Diego.
My daughter went to an expeditionary learning school for middle school. The school was k-12 with about 25 kids in every grade. Even though the school is in Denver, there were often 5-6 students going to Humboldt in California. I’d call that a ‘feeder.’ The admin at the hs knew the process. They didn’t have grades at this school, just reports by the ‘crew leaders.’ Crunchy hs, and Humboldt likes crunchy. i will say ‘5 or 6’ didn’t graduate from Humboldt, and many only went for a short time.
Humboldt has had a 5-year graduation rate of around 37-45% for the past decade or so, so that’s not necessarily reflective of the feeder school itself.
IMO, it is reflective of the kids from this school who attend Humboldt, thinking they want the sleep away camp college experience. This school was all about the experience of learning through going camping, studying a subject ‘in depth’. My daughter only went there for 3 years and really wanted to go to high school there but I said no, it was time for some math. She is a good researcher and writer (because she actually did the work; many do not), but can’t add and subtract.
I think they all thought Humboldt would be an extension of k-12, going camping, doing what they want all day at school (or not), and living near pot farms. It works for some, not for others. College requires a lot of self discipline and I don’t think most of them learned that.
Humboldt doesn’t consider “crunchiness” in admission, and is not difficult to get admitted to generally.