How Important Is Your School's Reputation?

ParrisPossible
Wed, 22 Apr 2015 19:28:41 +0000

Like many of you, I am a college student aiming to transfer to well-known colleges in United States.
If there’s major difference between you and me, however, I am from the Philippines and my school is NOT even one of the best schools here. Obviously, my school’s curriculum is weak. This makes me wonder if I even have a chance to get admissions from the top-tier colleges I am deeply interested in.

Many prestigious universities claim that they are"more interested in our academic achievements and personal interests than the reputation of our school," I am uncertain if this is the precisely the case. I have nearly perfect GPA, pretty good SAT score, unique extracurricular activities that can clearly demonstrate myself as a man of leadership, and inspiring personal stories. BUT I really don’t think the qualities of subjects provided by my school are worthy of consideration by good schools in United States.

So, here are two questions I’d wish to solve through the wisdom of Collegeconfidential community:

(1) Considering that the major elements schools look into when evaluating applicants include their grades and the rigor of the classes they attended, does a student coming from the not-so-best school in the 3rd world have chances to get into one of top schools in U.S. if many things about him, except the poor qualities of courses his school provided, are excellent enough to prove his capacity as a person?

(2) What are the chances for a bright student from not-so-good school to get his units credited by the time he transfers to a new college in United States? Is it difficult to get unit credits as a transferee in general?

Thank you so much, and good luck for everyone’s preparation towards your dream school!