<p>We live in probably the best school district in our state, with a huge high school that has a sizable number of students whose parents use the alternate grading scale (A: Acceptable, B: Bad C: Catastrophic D: Disowned etc) :). Graduating class of a thousand plus, it’s easier to win Powerball than to get Valedictorian or what not. Full complement of AP and IB.</p>
<p>You see some pretty incredible GPA’s and SAT’s - yet only about 10 kids a year go to a top school (Ivies or top20 type). Maybe 15 in a good year. About 500-600 go to the state flagship, another 100-150 in the directionals, OOS, etc. We’re not seeing a flood of A+++ students to top schools. Plus the school is most definitely not the kind where you waltz into A’s. My younger one has an unweighted 3.8 or 3.85, weighted well over 4, but studies till 11:30 PM every night.</p>
<p>Colleges seem to know about us. We’re ranked in the top 0.5% if you believe the list of HS… But to be honest, if you want to go to a top school I’d think to go to an easier school, be it college prep or parochial or semi-rural. A few of my friends’ kids did that and ended up in the Ivies or with full rides in flagships.</p>
<p>No good way around it. The better public schools, especially large ones, attract top students, and with competition being as cutthroat as it gets, individual achievements are hard to showcase…</p>