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I am a sophomore and am considering attending the NC School of Science and Math. This is a very competitive public residential magnet high school for students with a special interest and aptitude in science and math. I am wondering how my attendance at this school might affect my chances of getting into a prestigious college.

By Larzo on Thursday, January 09, 2003 - 11:51 pm: Edit

Hey man, where are you from in NC?

I attend teh school of science and math, and your chances vastly improve....VASTLY. Here your automatically looked by most prestigous colleges, definetly come here. Its great, I love it here. nearly 100% attendance to all unc schools. about 50% to duke, and 100% at state. I know many poeple here accepted to ivies that would not have been at their other high school.

By Larzo on Thursday, January 09, 2003 - 11:52 pm: Edit

email me at whysalll@ncssm.edu o, and uhmm, most poeple on this board have no idea what NCSSM is

By your local mayor on Friday, January 10, 2003 - 12:43 am: Edit

i do...wish i had gone.

By Liz (Liz) on Friday, January 10, 2003 - 10:11 am: Edit

I know for a fact that, while in-state schools are familiar with NCSSM and will roll out the red carpet for its students, out-of-state colleges can be kind of clueless and don't give it the credit it deserves. But it still increases your chances. You'd be more likely to get good merit aid instate though

By Liz (Liz) on Friday, January 10, 2003 - 06:42 pm: Edit

BTW- some stats. 11 kids got into MIT last year, at least 2 that I know of this year. But the year before last 11 applied to princeton and not a single one got in, or was even waitlisted. That year there were 2 accepted to Harvard, 2 to MIT, 1 to Caltech, a few to random other ivies. LOTS to UNC, like 60, more to State, some to Duke, etc. As a warning though, it's VERY rigerous.

By frogbert on Friday, January 17, 2003 - 03:06 pm: Edit

to see how people in the class of 2000 fared, visit http://www.ncssm.edu/StudentLife/collegeplacement.html it has numbers for 221 out of 237 graduating seniors.

By CousinMertle on Saturday, January 18, 2003 - 04:05 pm: Edit

EL LARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRO

By yo on Saturday, January 18, 2003 - 04:57 pm: Edit

uum, i went to the ncssm collegplacement site, and it's not THAT impressive. The number of Duke acceptees was amazing, but other than, it just seems like a good school, not great. I go to a public school and we have about the same if not better stats of students getting accepted into ivies and the top school. What troubles me is if it is better to be ranked 40/300 at a top school or 5/200 at a mediocre school. Going to a top high school is stupid, it barely helps i think. Feel free to disagree.

By factman on Saturday, January 18, 2003 - 08:41 pm: Edit

NCSSM doesnt have good acceptance for ivy leagues considering last year only 24% of the people got into ivies. Compared to public schools like Stuyvesant (NY), Phillips Exeter Academy (NH), Horace Mann School (NY) and many more where the precentage of acceptance to ivies is much better, NCSSM is not so great..

By Larzo on Sunday, January 19, 2003 - 02:27 pm: Edit

How much does Stuyvesant, PEA, HMS, cost? Aren't those prep schools? NCSSM is entirely free. Going to a top high school isn't stupid either. Even if this top school doesn't have absolutely impressive acceptance rates, it prepares you for what college life is. If you go to NCSSM you wont be as depressed when ur first project in college is graded as a C if you stayed at your normal high school. You will also be used to most of the college social life. If your normal high school has 24% getting into ivies, thats bloody impressive.

By dude on Sunday, January 19, 2003 - 02:33 pm: Edit

NCSSM'll be tough. If you're not a genius, you'll prolly get like the 50th rank out of 350 kids when you could've gone to an easier public school getting top 10/350. Which will help you for college admission? Larzo, first you have to get into college, then you can think about doing well! I personally think getting top 10 in a mediocre public school is better than being only in the top 20% of a magnet school!!!!

By Larzo on Sunday, January 19, 2003 - 06:04 pm: Edit

O yea, NCSSM does not give class rank. It does not exist. If the app requires it, they jsut say "top 10%"

By Larzo on Sunday, January 19, 2003 - 06:16 pm: Edit

Until a year ago, GPA didnt exist either.

By factman on Sunday, January 19, 2003 - 06:42 pm: Edit

The schools I listed are FREE. They are PUBLIC as I said, if you can't read. Last year the acceptance rate from Stuyvesant for people that applied to ivy league schools was 45% which is way more impressive than NCSSM's 24%. Among the PUBLIC schools that have good relations with ALL the ivies and have much higher acceptance to ivies and better preparation for college include Stuyvesant, Acton-Boxboro Regional, Thomas Jefferson Science and Technical School, and Norfolk Academy. These are all FREE schools with much better acceptance to ivies. I'm sure the ivies dont even know about your school.

How can you call your school impressive when 13 people apply to princeton and 0 get in? not even deferred or waitlisted? pretty impressive eh?

By Larzo on Sunday, January 19, 2003 - 07:07 pm: Edit

Acceptance rates are much better this year, taht was 2000 you've been looking at. I'm not claiming NCSSM is better, just that it is worth attending. It has very high merits, especially for such a educationally poor state like North Carolina.

*People have been accepted to Princeton this year.

*factman is an arsehole.

By bump on Monday, January 20, 2003 - 11:46 am: Edit

bump

By frogbert on Monday, January 20, 2003 - 12:25 pm: Edit

some of you guys seem terribly concerned with rankings and prestige. well, let's go by what far too many consider a magical list - us news's. this year, duke is tied for number 4 in those rankings. it's higher than several ivy league schools. a few of you are brushing off duke and only using ivies for comparison. you need to remember that many of the public and private schools to which you're referring are in the northeast, close to ivy league schools. the ncssm is right next to duke. small wonder that many students choose to attend the school. a fairer comparison would include duke with the ivies.

By rofl on Monday, January 20, 2003 - 12:59 pm: Edit

lol, my magnate school has far higher acceptance rates at ivies than yours does (Troy in california)

By Aab123 (Aab123) on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 01:45 pm: Edit

Factman- Horace Mann is not free. It is a private school and is upwards of $25 grand a year.

By Sac (Sac) on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 02:50 pm: Edit

Whatever happened to the idea of choosing where to go to high school based on where you'll get a better education?