<p>To tell you the truth, the school I am attending is and was remarked by a brochure thing I found out about my school:" This school did not make adequate yearly progress in 2004-2005. The state department of education identified this school as "in need of improvement, Year 3" for 2005-2006." The school I attend is a Title-1 school and frankly speaking, my school is one of the worst high schools in California. Also, I am asian (korean) and our school has a decent asian population of around 13 percent and hispanics and african americans making up the rest of the percentage. Because of my ethnicity plus the bad high school I attend, am I screwed for any chance for top 25 college? I worked my butt off in this school and looking at this site with people attending expensive private schools, it seems I have no chance at any schools.</p>
<p>My sons came from a sub-par high school situation and it did not affect their acceptances. It will probably get the "did not make AYP" this year, and has been teetering on the Texas "unacceptable" ranking for years. It is 51% low socio and only about 25% go on to some sort of college. They start with 1,200 freshmen and less than 700 graduate.</p>
<p>What matters is did you make the best of what you had, how you did relative to the students from your school that are applying to competitive universities, and can you show that you can handle the academics where you have applied. When my son talked to the Pomona adcom he was asked: of your classmates, about how many are "competitive" academically. They were not interested in the school as a whole.</p>
<p>You can show that you are competitive by shoring up the weak spots in your application--SAT IIs, AP exams, good dual-credit grades, strong essays...all of these show that despite your high school's deficits, you can do college level work.</p>
<p>While my S was applying to colleges, his hs was put on probation (long story). I was told by admissions officer it would have no effect on his application, and that, furthermore, it was unlikely that colleges would know about it. A record 11 students got admitted to Harvard that year! Also, MIT, Yale, Stanford, etc...</p>
<p>My school is brand new and we do not have any history of it competitiveness. Will that have any effect?</p>
<p>A lot of schools do not have an established history or pipeline with the top colleges. That's why shoring up your application as I described below can help you. It will be up to you to show that you can do the work required, and that you have made the best of your high school situation. </p>
<p>The high school where my sons attended sends approximately six to seven students per year out of state. Add in that it is sub-par. My sons could not rely on their school's reputation to help grease the skids, but they were admitted to their colleges. It's not a lost cause.</p>
<p>If anything it might be an advantage to come out of a HS or a zipcode that does not traditionally send many kids to top schools. It shows you have motivation and the ability to excel in non-optimal circumstances.</p>