I always think about this question and wonder there has to be an answer. I always hear of students from really bad neighborhoods get subpar SAT scores with 4.0 GPA’s because the school is really easy and kids from challenging schools like mine not get a great GPA because of the tremendous rigor of the school end up goin to comminity college, is it fair that possibly more intelligent students be rejected from college because they went to a tough high school and less qualified students be accepted because they had an easier path
From what I have learned on this website, one of the major purposes of the required school reports is that it gives admissions committees a way to compare applicants on the various factors such as differences in rigor between different high schools. In other words, there is an attempt to level the playing field. Is it a perfect system, probably not. Is it unfair? Maybe. It is also a reality of life. You will always be competing with others and there are a myriad of ways that you will feel others have an unfair advantage. The kid from the easier high school in the disadvantaged neighborhood will also likely feel that you have unfair advantages as well.
Do you honestly think living in a really bad neighborhood will improve your chances for getting into and through college? Seriously?
Focus on yourself. Don’t worry about others having an “easier” time. Chances are, they aren’t.
When adcom evaluate GPA, they will look at the school profile report and course rigor at the same time. You know GPA cannot be directly compared even between 2 students from the same school unless they have identical class schedule. Different school may have different GPA scale and weighting too. They are all well aware of that. You just need to mind your own business and try your best in your school.
What propaganda have you been eating and drinking? My alma mater urban school district (one of the largest in the country) is rife with these subpar schools. Its 4-year grad rate for entering 9th graders is 23%. Yep. 77% of those kids starting school this week will NOT have a HS diploma in four years. Of those that do graduate, only ten percent enroll in a 4 year college. Among these, half get their college diploma in 4-5 years. So that’s roughly 1.1 kids out of every 100 ninth graders will have a Bachelors in 8-9 years.
How many kids on your street will have a bachelors in 8-9 years?
If the kids in your well-resourced HS can’t enroll in a 4 year college, then it’s no one’s fault but their own. To think that they’re somehow BLOCKED from getting accepted by tons of colleges and are FORCED into attending community colleges b/c colleges spend some resources to rescue the few from the impoverished neighborhoods is head-shakingly disconnected with reality.
GPA/class rank is only one of many factors considered by adcoms, and it is always considered in relation to the school profile report for the applicant’s high school. Ask your GC to show you your school profile report and go over it with you. There is nothing secret about it.
As for top students being forced to go to community college because 4.0 students with low SATs push them aside, that’s an urban myth. Rankings such as USNWR take a hit when SAT scores of admitted students dip. Colleges just don’t do this. But feel free to come back and post when HYPMS take a dive in the rankings, because then you might be on to something.