If several students from my high school apply to the same college, will our applications/stats/grades etc be compared side by side? I’ve heard rumors of this at some schools but I’m not sure.
Yes. But that doesn’t mean you can predict who will and will not be offered admittance.
At the most selective universities you will be competing with tens of thousands of excellent students. A few other students from your high school will not matter.
For most other universities, there will be plenty of room for each of you if you are strong students.
You should not worry about someone else from your high school applying to the same schools.
Yes, your app will be compared to others from your high school. Your app, as well as the other applicants from your HS, will also be reviewed in context of the total high school class using the school’s profile.
Some adcoms ‘batch’ read - which means they read all the apps from the same high school back to back, while others do it differently, yet ultimately compare all applicants from a given high school.
Your app is unlikely to be compared to those of certain hooked applicants from your high school, e…g, recruited athletes and legacies, which are often evaluated separately.
Good luck.
It is safe to assume you are being compared at every level. It is best to “run your own race”. Each applicant is bringing different talents and interests to the table anyway.
All applicant are compared with others in the admissions process - that’s how they decide who to admit.
So yes.
Why wouldn’t they compare, at some point? Except for some non-holistic colleges, they try to balance the number they admit to include various local high schools (if the quality is there, too.) Not all your good kids will get in, at the expense of other hs getting none. Not all in your pool, as said, will actually have the “whole picture” the target wants.