<p>Scottj - How does BC view attending a small HS (only 50 in class). Decent stats otherwise for BC: 31 ACT/32 superscored, 1460/1600 SAT, no SAT II, 12 Varsity Letters (3 sports), 2 select sports, Student Council Officer, NHS Officer, Academic Team. 4.0 GPA, rank = 2</p>
<p>I’m not Scottj, but I have some perspective on smaller high schools and BC admissions. Our rural/suburban HS usually graduates about 150 students and the school my wife teaches at usually graduates 100 or so kids. A few students from both schools usually apply to BC annually. Over the past 2 years there have been 6 or 7 applicants, producing 3 acceptances and 1 waitlist. </p>
<p>Your test scores on the SAT are 150-200 points higher those achieved by any of these students, your rank is higher and your GPA and ECs sound similar.</p>
<p>BC is reasonably familiar with these two HS’s by now, and understands that students from these schools generally do not take SAT/ACT test prep, nor do they have access to more than 2 or 3 AP courses. BC is also aware, because of the High School Profile they receive from the guidance offices, that the school offers a limited number of extracurricular opportunities. </p>
<p>You will be judged by your performance within the context of your high school and within the context of the community you have been brought up in. Based on the limited information you have provided you certainly seem to have a decent shot at admission.</p>
<p>Dear Cc2425 : Not exactly sure of the context of your question since attending a “small” High School in terms of class size is either a choice of public/private scholastic education or a function of where your family lives relative to population size. The key reference point for Boston College (and many other universities) is that the rigor of your High School curriculum should be commensurate with the programs offered by your school.</p>
<p>For example, if your school offers three AP sciences (Biology, Chemistry, Physics) and you do not have any of them in your profile because you don’t like science, that will send a bad message. If your school only offered one science AP and you could not take it due to a senior year conflict with Calculus, that would be reasonable. My general recommendation for both AP and IB students is to make sure that you have at least one advanced junior or senior year experience in english, history, mathematics, and science. Add foreign language and social sciences (economics and such) as a next step to round the profile. From there, you can continue to add depth.</p>
<p>While a small school might “remove” some opportunities for you in terms of course offerings, you do gain in a small school since you typically have to be involved in more school activities just because of the smaller setting and not getting lost in the crowd.</p>
<p>As we have said before, we do not like to review chance-me threads for individuals based on their high school’s rankings. Conversely, we would never hold a small school experience against any chance-me applicant - just be sure you take advantage of the opportunities offered to you!</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Dear hudsonvalley51 : Thanks for jumping into the thread with your thoughts; your closing paragraph is right on target and great advice for the readers.</p>