New Trier is a decent high school with more than 4k students totally (8-12 grades, white 84%, asia 9%, Hispanic 4%, black 1%, American Indian 0.1% and others). IMSA is a decent test-in school funded mainly by IL government (about 80% funds), which has about 700 students totally (10-12 grades, Asian – 47%; White – 45%; Black – 9%; Hispanic/Latino –8%).
A lot of kids go to a prestigious college such as Ivy League schools (generally about 2% students from New Trier while higher % from IMSA), MIT, CALTECH, U of Chicago, UC Berkeley, Northwestern, U of Michigan, U of New York, U of illinois at urbana-champaign, DUKE and so on… My kids with top 10% GPAs and good ECs at New Trier went to prestigious colleges several years ago. 
But recently IMSA may have some finance trouble due to political reasons. Here copied some sentences from Chicago Tribune By Sarah Freishtat (Mach 31,2016): ‘…Torres told the Beacon-News in January that the selective, residential high school was at a “critical” point, and by the end of March could owe more in debt than it has in its bank accounts if money did not start flowing again from the state…’ 
. Hope this issue will be solved soon. :">
@javascript Ah yes of course keep in touch. Also, just a question for the application of integrated science. The application says that all of the parts are completed. So, do I have to do anything else or is it completed?
@enjoyourlife thanks for the info on New Trier. Coming from that school is nice, as I have a decent fallback if I don’t get in or if IMSA’s financial issues don’t get resolved. However, I am hoping that I am able to go.
I feel like the students at IMSA have such a passion for math and science that they will be able to fight through the financial dilemma. The students will come together and make the best of what they have.
Yeah. I mean, I hate to sound so cliche but I’m sure that IMSA will stay open. It sounds like the students there love it and it’s an amazing asset. It’d be a shame if such a good school had to shut down and I’m sure that’s like the last resort’s last resort.
I made this account for one simple reason, to tell everyone to calm down. All of these bloody numbers… WHY? Its as simple as this, your fate at this point is out of your hands. Whatever happens you should take it in stride and move on. Its your life , you work and you shouldn’t be at the point where you are converting it to probabilities. All of this is dehumanizing. You should try as hard as you can and the rest of it is up to people in admissions offices. To be honest its better for you as a person to simply let go of all of your statistics and simply let it happen. To put it out of your mind and not sit there staring at the limited data IMSA releases every year.
And the painfully obligatory addition IMSA class of 2018.
@OhBloodyHell is quite right. You guys are wasting time and energy worrying about something that is out of your hands. IMSA doesn’t accept students off of simple statistics and it doesn’t matter how hard you stare at the previous class stats, you will not know if you got in or not until the letter is in your hands. Finally, IMSA isn’t even making such a big deal about the financial situation as you guys are on this post. So simply let it go. If you get in, then the reason you will accept is because you are a hardworking student, nothing else.
@OhBloodyHell and @priyaluvsbooks - I am just curious how well the IMSA seniors did in their college acceptances. Quite a number of seniors in my school had impressive acceptances - Ivies and top 20 schools. It is one of my concerns about going to IMSA if I get accepted. Thanks!
@survivorfan1 Maybe the current IMSA students are too busy to answer your question. There’re always some students who get multiple Ivy (and the equivalent) admissions. They probably would still get into those elite schools without attending IMSA. Meanwhile, some students might have better chances to get into some top 20 schools if they had stayed in their home schools. You will be able to view the class 16 college admission results in the new IMSA Profile to be published after summer. IMSA does offer better college counseling than the average public high schools. College admission is a byproduct of learning. IMSA is special in its learning experiences, not a guarantee for getting into prestigious colleges.
Anyone have alternate summer plans if they don’t get accepted?
I will go to Russia to see my grandparents and other relatives. My uncle promised to take me hunting in Siberia <:-P If I will not get killed by a wild boar, a bear, a moose or a siberian tiger I will apply to IMSA next year <:-P
@javascript Hopefully we get into integrated science, which will be epic learning plus something that looks good on the application 
@Bamboolong thank you for taking time to reply. I was at a party this weekend with a couple of IMSA parents of seniors. It looks like my school has better acceptances this year at highly selective schools (HYPSM). I understand that IMSA is not a ticket to selective college. I was just wondering if I should have the "learning experiences " at my current school instead. You are definitely right - some students would probably have better chance at top 20 schools from their current school. One of the parents is somewhat regretting sending her child to IMSA. My parents and I are now leaning to me staying at my current school next year even if I get accepted. I found a research opportunity at a lab this summer and I might be able to continue with that over the school year. Research was the main reason why I was interested with IMSA to begin with.
@survivorfan1 my parents are having the same thoughts. But why is it harder to get into HYPSM if you go to IMSA where there are more research and other opportunities?
@YoloSwagMaster It is much easier to be the best student of the class of to be on top 1% in your home school versus IMSA. As far as I know colleges (at least public colleges) admitting certain number of people from public high school nationwide. And if you are the best student of some rural or underrepresented school you look better than being at top 100 students at IMSA. Of course if you are the best student at IMSA, you are in a good shape then. It is very hard to get straight A`s at IMSA versus other schools, so your GPA will be lower.
@chicagonerd We’re planning on a taking a trip to Germany for a month or so either way. The only things IMSA will effect is when but ¯_(ツ)_/¯. I already registered my classes at my HS for next year just in case though. Do you have any plans?
@javascript I’m sorry, I’m not very well-versed in the world of college admissions but wouldn’t they take into consideration IMSA being so hard when looking at your GPA?
Also, does anyone know what IMSA would look like on a college application for a college outside of the US? Long story but basically it’s a 50/50 as to if I’ll be going to a US college or not.
@YoloSwagMaster I know you are not asking me but I’d like to share what I know. Doing research in high school is a respectable EC, but it doesn’t necessarily make one stand out among the many applicants of the elite colleges. Nowadays it’s not rare for applicants to have research experiences under their belts and the colleges want to build a rounded class. They would like to have some of the researcher/scholar type of students but not a lot of them.
IMSA offers the opportunities to do research at Argonne, Fermi, and other prestigious academic institutions or internships at start-ups, but one has to apply to and earn the opportunities. These institutions offer research /internship opportunities to all local high school students, not just IMSA students. Now it seems harder for IMSA students to get into Argonne than in the past since the opportunities are no longer for IMSA students only.
@red42413 of course GPA is just one part of the college application, but it is important part for colleges anyway. You can back it up by high SAT score… Remember, during selection process for admission IMSA does not really care too much what math class you got your “A” for, algebra 1 or calculus, just because they want to give equal opportunity for students who do not have advanced math programs. I am sure technology/engineering/math/science oriented programs at colleges will have a larger quote for students from IMSA, let say 10 people instead of 1 from regular school, but you still have to be the best 10 at IMSA. Of course, if you are the best of the best, it does not matter what school you are coming from, it is just harder to be the best of the best at IMSA. From another hand, IMSA would prepare you for college level work better than some rural school, but college admission-wise, you better off being a brilliant applicant from a underrepresented school…
@YoloSwagMaster Only 2-4% of the IMSA graduating class attending HYPSM, and it is actually surprisingly low given that students admitted to IMSA are among the best and brightest of an entire state. This could actually prove that universities often don’t want to admit too many students from the same high school, even if the high school is selective.