Top 100 Best High Schools 2013 – Early College at Guilford – Newsweek – 21/100

City: Greensboro
State: NC
School Classification: M,S
GRAD RATE(%): 100
AP/IB TESTS: 1.3
COLLEGE BOUND(%): 100
AVG SAT: 2051
AVG ACT: 30.4
SUBS LUNCH(%): 8
AVG AP SCORE: 4.4
NEWSWEEK SCORE: 3.92

5608 West Friendly Avenue,Greensboro, North Carolina, 27410

The Early College at Guilford (ECG) is a high school with approximately 200 students located in Greensboro, North Carolina. A magnet school in the Guilford County Schools system, it was North Carolina’s first early college high school. The school offers a writing intensive, fast-paced curriculum in partnership with Guilford College, a selective, national liberal arts institution. Students take honors and advanced placement courses in the ninth and tenth grades and college courses with undergraduate students taught by college professors in grades eleven and twelve. Students graduate with a high school diploma and up to two years of college credit from Guilford College.[1] The school practices rigorous selection methods for admissions. To join, one must submit a written application and, as of 2006, participate in an on-campus examination, currently involving an essay and math portion.
In the US News “Best High Schools of 2009”, The Early College ranked seventeenth out of 20,000+ schools examined.[2] In 2010, Newsweek magazine listed The Early College at Guilford as one of “The Nation’s Most Elite Public High Schools”, describing it as “The state’s first early college high school, where 11th and 12th graders take courses at Guilford College and graduate with both a high-school diploma and up to two years of college credit.”c
History

In the first few months of ECG’s existence, Principal Tony Burks II surveyed the students to choose a mascot and school colors. The students took into account other mascots already in use around the county, and the colors of Guilford College—-maroon and white. Based on the student body’s response, the phoenix was selected as the school’s mascot, and burgundy and pewter were chosen as the school’s colors.

Campus

The Early College is located on the campus of Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina. Students have access to almost all of the Guilford facilities (including the cafeteria, the “Underground”, computer labs, gym, off-campus ragers, and Founder’s), with the exception of dormitories. This environment provides a large amount of freedom, as well as the opportunity to interact with college students. While through its history classes especially concerning ninth and tenth grades have been held in places varying from the basement of the Frank Science building or the Bauman Building, currently classes are held on two on-campus modulars comprising eight classrooms total.

Academics

Students at the Early College at Guilford experience a rigorous academic schedule throughout all four years. Freshmen are required to take the PSAT while Sophomores are required to take both the PSAT and the March SAT. Although Juniors and Seniors take actual college classes, some students say that Sophomore is the hardest year with a very rigorous schedule with up to 6 AP courses in AP US History, AP Environmental Science, AP English Language and Composition, AP Music Theory, AP Calculus AB and AP Calculus BC. Sophomore year at The Early College at Guilford is internally accepted as the hardest year at the school due to the high number of AP classes most take.
The underclassmen (freshmen and sophomores) take honors and AP Classes. Classes are taught on a modified block schedule with holidays that align with Guilford College’s schedule.
Upperclassmen have dual enrollment; they are enrolled in both the Guilford County school system as freshmen (and then sophomores in their second year), and in Guilford College as juniors (and then seniors). Often, the number of AP Classes taken as underclassmen allows students to register as Sophomores and Juniors at Guilford. Juniors and Seniors take Guilford College classes, which count towards their remaining high school credits, and can often be transferred when continuing to higher education. If a student remains at Guilford College after graduating from the Early College, the credits they received for their two final years will transfer towards their undergraduate requirements.
The Early College at Guilford has been recognized as one of the nation’s top public high schools by Newsweek Magazine. The Early College ranked fourteenth in 2007 and twenty-first in 2008 on a list of 1300+ public high schools.[4] In the US News “Best High Schools of 2009”, The Early College ranked seventeenth out of 20,000+ schools examined.[5] Many Seniors at The Early College at Guilford get into and prestigious universities such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, North Carolina State, UNC Chapel Hill, and Duke. They also get prestigious scholarships such as the Carolina Scholars award (a merit based, full tuition scholarship to UNC Chapel Hill), the Parks Scholarship (a full ride to North Carolina State University) and Presidential Scholarship to Wake Forest University.
The Early College at Guilford has about 18-20% of its students each year to be semi-finalists for the National Merit Scholarship.