The admissions office wants you to believe they truly know the high schools. However, I directly questioned a seasoned adcom at one of D’s schools for which the majority of students come from our state. She had absolutely no clue about certain realities at our large high school and we do send kids there. She also admitted that if a high school is unusual in some way that affects a kid’s transcript or EC record, that is never a good thing because they likely won’t be aware the school is any different from the norm. I also talked with a coach at that same college who said his wife is a GC at the local public high school and has personally experienced that adcoms often have no idea about the context of her school.