<p>For Harvard and schools of commensurate difficulty to get into (Yale, Stanford, etc.), does the number of students applying to a university from the same high school have any effect on each students' chance of getting in? I understand that for Harvard there are subcommittees assigned to specific regions of the United States, meaning that applications of students from the same high schools will be looked over by the same subcommittee.</p>
<p>If my question is not clear, here is a clearer articulation.
If there are two students, Student 1 and Student 2, who are both reasonable candidates for Harvard, will admissions officers lean towards only choosing one of the students because they both attend the same high school even though they are of comparable strength? Or do admissions officers not care about who comes from what high school and if other applicants come from the same school.
Basically, do admissions officers treat the applicant pool holistically and not care about the number of applicants from the same school or do they note who comes from which high school and if so, does this impact their decisions whatsoever?</p>
<p>Aside from the obvious effect of having one more strong candidate added to the total applicant pool, are there any other effects stemming from multiple candidates attending the same high school when applying to a school such as Harvard?</p>
<p>If I am still not clear:
If student 1 has x% chance of being admitted if he is the only one applying REA to Harvard from his high school, is x lowered (aside from the relatively-minimal effect of having an additional applicant among the other thousands in the pool) if another student from the same school also applies? What if a third student applies, is x lowered further? Or is there no impact?</p>
<p>Basically, you’re discussing the oft-asked “is there a quota at my HS?” question.</p>
<p>For schools like HPYMS et al, I see no evidence of it. Why would they limit themselves? To set aside or reserve more slots for another HS? For what purpose? If they find five great applicants at your school and zero at the 20 nearby schools, then they’ll admit the five. They will act in their best interest – not to avoid hurting the feelings of principals/guid counselors at other schools. In the same vein, if they find no one of note for the next ten years, then they are fully content to offer zero slots .</p>
<p>The answer is going to depend on your high school and it’s relationship with a college. As you’re using Harvard as an example, how many students on average does Harvard admit from your high school? </p>
<p>At my son and daughter’s high school, every year about 150 students apply to Harvard. Over the last 10 years, Harvard has accepted as few as 8 students and as many as 26 students. So, I suppose you could say there is a track record of Harvard taking a minimum and maximum number of students per year. But each year, Harvard picks and chooses who they want from the students that have applied – so yes, student’s are in competition with each other. And FWIW, Harvard doesn’t take the top 8 kids or the top 26 kids. Some years, Harvard has passed over the valedictorian and salutatorian who had 97-98 averages in the most rigorous courses, and instead accepted students who had 94, 95 and 96 averages with a little bit less rigor. Harvard takes who they take and you have absolutely no control over whether they take you or not.</p>
<p>IMHO, it all comes down to your teacher recommendations, essays and EC’s – that is what distinguishes one high performing student from another. Colleges build classes and look for different kinds of people – people with passion and drive who are leaders in the classroom – those things cannot be gleaned by looking at a student’s test scores, GPA or course rigor. It comes down to how an Admissions Director “feels” after getting a glimpse into your soul by reading your teacher recs and essays.</p>
<p>I think it’s relevant to consider that some colleges care about geographic diversity and/or like to attract “diamonds in the rough” from lower-achieving schools who don’t look as good on paper as applicants who had more resources.</p>