Fox Chapel Area High School guidance department chair Bob Alcorn considers his school to be on "the circuit."

Recruiters from more than 120 colleges and universities visited Fox Chapel last fall -- including Harvard, Princeton and Columbia -- hoping to land some of the school's more than 300 seniors.

From the Class of 2005, Fox Chapel sent more than 100 graduates out of state last year, among them some of the 38 who chose top-ranked colleges and universities.

At tiny Union Area High School in Clarion County with a graduating class of 41, recruiters from 13 campuses visited last fall, all from Pennsylvania. Union Area students rarely go to college out of state, much less to the Ivy League.

"They're just not playing the same game," Union Area guidance counselor Carol Scott said of her students.

Where students go to college depends in part of what's available at their high schools.

These extras aren't offered everywhere but can make a difference for college-bound grads:

A guidance counselor who has visited colleges to make admissions officers familiar with the high school, as Julie Sitko at Vincentian Academy in the North Hills has done with the University of Notre Dame.

College admissions officers who know a high school so well they recognize the tough graders, as Upper St. Clair guidance supervisor William Rullo has found.

Visits by so many college recruiters -- some of whom sit on admissions committees -- that the recruiters are almost as numerous as members of the senior class, as at Shady Side Academy.

Long-term data on the acceptance rate of students at various colleges that can be used to counsel students on their chances, as guidance counselor Susan Williams tracks at Franklin Regional High School.

High school faculty who are trained in how to write college recommendation letters, as in Mt. Lebanon.

College personnel authorized to admit students and award scholarships on the spot at a high school, as West Virginia University does with Canon-McMillan High School in Washington County and 74 other high schools.

Certainly, students on their own can find out about any college, especially with so much information on the Internet. They can research strategies, attend college fairs and urge teachers to write recommendations that stand out.

That kind of initiative can even show independence and curiosity that impress admissions officers, said Jennifer Fondiller, dean of admissions at Barnard College in New York City.

But high school advantages can help steer a student in a particular direction or make a difference in winning acceptance, such as meeting someone on the admissions committee.

"I always think it helps to put a face to a name," said Ms. Fondiller.

When college admission representatives come on a typical two-day visit, Mr. Alcorn said, they often visit six high schools, five of which often are Fox Chapel Area, Mt. Lebanon, Upper St. Clair, Sewickley Academy and Shady Side Academy, with the sixth Allderdice, North Allegheny or Hampton.

"They look and see, 'Where do we get applications from?' They're not going to spend their money to go to [a particular] high school if nobody ever applies from there. They go where their customers are," he said.

In 14 years as a counselor in Union Area, Ms. Scott can't recall one student going to an Ivy League school.

"A lot of our families, the parents haven't gone to school themselves. Parents don't have the experience with it."

She said parents figure their children can go to a state school that is both nearby and affordable. She said some can't afford the cost of college trips to check out schools farther away.

The choices for some Union Area students have expanded because of the McKelvey Scholar Program, which offers scholarships of up to $12,500 a year for certain colleges to students in some rural high schools in three states.

As a result, some Union Area students have gone to Bucknell, Susquehanna, Juniata and Wilkes universities.

"They never had the opportunity to go before. That's a wonderful thing for us," said Ms. Scott.

Mr. Alcorn believes students don't have to go far to get a good education.

"Our kids, many of them have family expectations. They're encouraged to look everywhere, but you don't have to look everywhere."