Does the ranking of your Connecticut High School matter when applying to college?

“My daughter attends [high ranking Connecticut public school].  How much do colleges consider the strength of a high school?” We hear this comment a great deal from Fairfield County parents.

Unfortunately, probably not as much as you think.  Plentiful exceptions abound so I realize that some admissions officials and some colleges account more heavily than others for the strength of an applicant’s high school.  But many parents are delusional when they think that national admissions officials can readily distinguish between Weston and Norwalk.   Admissions officials who grew up in other states would not know the differences.

Unless a college has created a quantitative input as part of its academic index algorithm that differentiates the two schools, then the relevant numbers used for the index (grades and test scores) are the dominant variables that formulate the all important cut-offs for which students will be evaluated for subjective factors (activities, essays etc.)

To be clear, certainly most East Coast college admissions officials would recognize that Bridgeport schools are different than most Fairfield County schools but the variances within Connecticut’s gold coast will be lost on most.  I do realize this can be disheartening to families that have paid a premium to live in towns with outstanding school systems.  If there is any consolation, the competitive swimming pool that your children have attended will make them college-ready in better way than students from lesser schools.