fleepbasding said:
yes, c_james didn't go to a selective school, but a private (catholic) non-selective, Marcellin college if I remember correctly. Though I reckon his school would've been top-200 atleast.
We ranked 74 in 2005, and 174 in 2004.
To the original poster, believe me when I say it's more up to individual student ability than the school. While it's true that the majority of the top students attend selective schools which they and/or their parents (sometimes erroneously) think cater better to their ability, a lot don't, and there's nothing wrong with that.
It also has a lot to do with your particular year 12 cohort. As you could probably tell by our 2004 ranking, we didn't have too crash hot a year. Mine was very different - there were a lot of smart kids (a 99.55 UAI and a bunch of high 98s among them) and we were a much more competitive (healthily) bunch of guys.