You want to know the truth, Patsy? I went to a very large high school - big enough that it competed for CIF Division 1 football championships during my years. Now there are 3 high schools in my hometown. I not only had good grades (not quite straight A's - chemistry) I received a perfect score on the SAT. Plus I was on the tennis team and played 4 instruments in every musical group except orchestra. I was the first student from my school to get a perfect score on the SAT in a decade, and it was another 10 yrs before another student did it. I was also the second-best art student. I went to Scripps College, which offered me a full four year scholarship - I declared independent student because my grandparents never formally adopted me and my dad never did any financial support of me. I only learned years later that my upbringing had been paid for by my mother's social security death benefit.I wasn't just a good student, I was "well rounded" and "well-liked". And ... yeah ...