What really makes a high school low performing?

TeamRocketGrunt
Sun, 28 Jul 2013 21:31:26 +0000

For my school, it is both the students and the teachers. My school is filled with unqualified teachers (graduating from community colleges instead of actual four-year institutions; some haven’t even graduated any form of college). Also, my state is one of the worst in education nationally. The students are also a factor, I believe. My school is filled with underperforming students who are gang members and whatnot.

The horrible teachers and student performance detract from the funding allocated to the school.

If you’re going to an average/underperforming school, it makes you stand out a bit more if you’re above average, so that’s a good advantage. As for optimizing resources, if you have a local university (state university or whatever), try to find a research mentor in a field you’re interested in. If that doesn’t work, try taking some intro college courses over the summer.

Another thing you could do is apply to out of state summer programs if your state doesn’t have any good ones. Things like RSI, TASP, and MoSP look really impressive.

Also, read some of Cal Newport’s work. He really helped me go from “laundry list” EC’s to EC’s that show more focus.

http://calnewport.com/blog/2010/03/26/how-to-get-into-stanford-with-bs-on-your-transcript-failed-simulations-the-surprising-psychology-of-impressiveness/