<p>i attended a large public high school from grades 9-11, which sends students to competitive colleges. i took all the highest ap and honors course available and made straight a’s. my family moved and now i attend a public high school with 130 students in the senior class that almost never sends students to competitive colleges. There are only 2 ap courses available for seniors. my standardized scores are in the upper portion of the middle 50 percent, and i have only taken 1 ap exam (scored 5) and no sat2’s. i am worried that the fact i changed to a lower caliber high school my senior year will aversely affect my admissions chances. any ideas??</p>
<p>most applications have a space where you can list anything extra that you think the admins need to know about. if you really feel so strongly about this, you could explain your situation in that section. however, i would say that so long as you explain that you have been and are continuing this year to take the most demanding curriculum available to you (you can’t control what is offered and what isn’t), then i would think that you would be fine. plus, colleges (apart from stanford and maybe one or two others) focus on grades 9-11, not the senior year. they will usually check to make sure that you doing decently in your classes your senior year, but your grades won’t be of much emphasis. just make sure that you explain that you are taking the most demanding classes available to you at your new school and the admins will recognize that you are pushing the limits of the environment that you are in.</p>
<p>also, regarding your test scores…</p>
<p>if you have taken the ACT: send your best composite.</p>
<p>if you have taken the SAT: send the scores prior to taking the SAT2s (this is like insurance). That way, if you mess up on the SAT2s, then the schools will only see your SAT scores. If you do well on your SAT2s, then send your scores again and schools will see that you did well on the SATs and the SAT2s.</p>
<p>good luck and PM me with any ?s.</p>
<p>Your school will submit a profile from the counselor which will indicate how many AP classes are offered; average ACT/SAT scores;other relevant information. It wouldn’t hurt to speak with the counselor about what he/she can do to put you in a good light in context of your new school, but you’ll need to see how receptive he/she is to that possibility. Hopefully they will be interested in helping you package yourself in the best possible way as it will reflect well on the school in the long run if you attend a competitive admissions school.</p>