<p>Does the fact that someone from my school was already accepted to Harvard EA hurt my (and other applicants') chances at RD? My school is competitive, but it's not like Stuyvesant or a "magnet school", and only sends around 5 to Ivies/selective colleges every year or so.
Worried about mythical quotas..</p>
<p>mythical is the key word. The rationale for quotas would be if Harvard wanted to spread the wealth in order to keep schools/guidance counselors/principals happy. But schools like Harvard don’t feel any pressure to keep anyone happy but itself. If H wants to accept 15 kids from your school b/c it thinks the 15 are who they want, they will. The very next year, if they want to admit zero, they will. They really don’t care what people at your school think – therefore no quotas. They are a myth.</p>
<p>If you get in, it won’t be despite the other person. If you get rejected, it won’t be because of the other person.</p>
<p>If you have worse stats and essays (application in general) than that kid, it’s safe to assume that you’re probably going to be rejected.</p>
<p>I must say that aside from similar test scores, it’s very difficult to compare our applications. One is a prospective history major while the other is doing engineering. Very different ECs and essays, so I can’t say if I have a worse application…</p>
<p>No. I even have friends who all received likely letters the same week at the same school.</p>
<p>Judging an applicant: you can’t do it without an application, let alone picking an admission officer’s brain ;)</p>
<p>Sorry to hijack this thread.</p>
<p>One of my friends has gotten likelies to Yale and Dartmouth already. My app is clearly worse than his in terms of awards and prestigious camps/ECs. I mean, my scores are competitive for any school but my app pales in comparison to his. We go to a “rural” school in Michigan where hardly anyone goes to Ivies. We both applied to Duke, Princeton, and Penn. How will this affect me?</p>
<p>"it’s not like Stuyvesant or a “magnet school”</p>
<p>Having two kids graduate from Stuyvesant High School, I can attest to the fact that hundreds of students apply to all of the ivy’s, but only a select few are accepted – and those numbers vary from year-to-year. Some years, only seven or eight students are admitted; other years, twenty-eight to thirty students are admitted. As T26E4 said “If you get in, it won’t be despite the other person. If you get rejected, it won’t be because of the other person.”</p>
<p>Still, I feel that if Harvard wanted to, it could easily accept many, many more than the 1 - 15 it accepts each year from Andover. But, past that point, it just looks ridiculous and so, truth be told, Harvard really can’t. I do feel they put an upper bound on some schools, or at least an upper range, for the simple reason that past some point they lose that all-important diversity requirement.</p>
<p>Same thing here seancarpenter 
I have tried my best to make my app unique, yet I’m still overshadowed by the two or three brilliant kids at my school who are president of everything and have won every prestigious award out there. Can’t help feeling inferior…</p>
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<p>I doubt any of this is true. Harvard doesn’t have any incentive to favor Andover or any one school so why would it be “ridiculous” or somehow dubious for Harvard to accept as many qualified students as it wants?</p>
<p>Dr. Spencer Reid’: Yale was your safety school, you shouldn’t worry too much! :P</p>
<p>Do not worry about this: a likely letter is peculiar to high-potential athletes. If you friend is not an athlete, it is extremely unlikely a likely letter has been received.</p>
<p>I don’t think that a student from your school getting in EA directly impacts your chances. A abundance of highly-qualified students from you region in general might have an impact, but this is rare. For small rural schools, it is to be expected that the number admitted changes surprisingly from year to year; it’s just a statistical thing. Michigan I believe has two dockets maybe, Western and Southeastern.</p>
<p>My friend definitely got likelies to Yale and Dartmouth. He’s a beast lol.</p>
<p>caesarcreek: Likely letters are no longer solely for athletic recruits. The Ivies now use them for a handful of other targeted and highly coveted applicants – ones they legitimately feel will be courted by other big name colleges.</p>
<p>I interviewed a non-athlete likely letter recipient from both H and Y. Four years later, she was a H Rhodes winner.</p>
<p>T26</p>
<p>Yea, but still quite rare (he Rhodes example supports this actually). It’s a defensive maneuver on the school’s part, and they can generally be counted, at least early in the season, in the dozens not hundreds. I wouldn’t be inclined to believe an unsubstantiated claim to be in possession of one.</p>
<p>From The Crimson, last Feb:
"In past application cycles, the College has mailed about 200 letters to athletes and about 100 letters to other students with outstanding non-athletic attributes. Fitzsimmons said he expects these numbers to remain the same this cycle.</p>
<p>My D never won any competitions and was never president of anything -she is a Sophomore at Harvard . She got in because she has demonstrated passion for certain things and is UNIQUE .Brilliant as well…</p>