If I got great grades at a bad HS,

Applying to College
1

<p>will a good college accept me?
Let’s say I have a 3.9 gpa, A’s in every class, volunteer, and do great on the SAT, will a good college (not Ivy League) accept me even though my high school is not really competitive?</p>

2

<p>If you can manage to get an A in every class and a 3.9 GPA, then yes. </p>

<p>In all seriousness, of course.</p>

3

<p>Short answer yes. Long answer going to a bad high school won’t even hurt you and might even help if your other accomplishments are comparable to students from elite high schools. This article <a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/~tje/files/Frog%20Pond%20Revisited%20Espenshade%20Hale%20Chung%20Oct%202005.pdf[/url]”>http://www.princeton.edu/~tje/files/Frog%20Pond%20Revisited%20Espenshade%20Hale%20Chung%20Oct%202005.pdf&lt;/a&gt; should relieve you of all your worries</p>

4

<p>Thanks! I was stressing out over it thinking that good colleges wouldn’t accept me.</p>

5

<p>My wife teaches at a small at-risk high school about 100 miles north of NYC. Very diverse student population with a high percentage of URMs and children of immigrants. Over the past 3 or 4 years they have sent graduating seniors to Cornell, Brown, Boston College, University of Chicago, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke and RPI. So, yes, students from not-so-great high schools do go to “good colleges.”</p>

6

<p>Yep, if you make the most of the resources your school has and you’re at or near the top of the pack, you will have a shot at plenty of top-tier institutions.</p>

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<p>A few A-s will do that.</p>