<p>I know that colleges, such as HYPSM, can compare you to other applicants from the same school. But, is this geographical bias significant?
For example, if there is a nationally ranked athlete in a school, who wants to go to, say, MIT. But there is also this crazy smart person who also applies to MIT. Would he have a smaller chance of getting in, if the athlete is pretty much guaranteed acceptance?
Also, if there are two very competitive people in a school applying to similar schools, will colleges compare the two, to see who has a better app?
Isn't there a problem with this, as one cunning person who knows about this can simply resume-copy by doing his/her activities well, and also doing the activities/clubs/ec's that the other person has? So when college admissions looks at their resumes, they will see that the cunning person has a better application, as he not only did the stuff the other person did, but he also did his own activities well.
Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Yes. </p>
<p>Two students from once school isn’t as big of a deal as like 50. Literally upwards of fifty students from my high school apply to GWU each year. Which is why, despite the fact that GWU was technically a safety school for me, when I was going through the athletic recruiting process the coach said that admissions urged early decision. Almost everyone in my senior class who is now going to an Ivy League school applied to GWU as a safety.</p>
<p>This question has appeared about a dozen times in the last year. A quick search will yield you a bevvy of answers.</p>
<p>Yea, thanks, I searched older posts. The general consensus is that while they do, it’s not really a big factor in admissions. It’s just like comparing a student to any other student in the applicant pool. Right?</p>
<p>I’m lucky. Nobody at my school applied to anything higher than Vandy on USNWR. The only competition I had was from a nearby school’s val who I think is going to one of the Universities of Alabama.</p>
<p>^Wow lucky!! Yea, my year is super competitive compared to last years (class of 2009’s).
We have a nationally ranked athlete, a very low income ambitious person, a cunning/hardworking/pushed by his parents to his limits/nationally ranked debater, and me, who are all applying to top tier schools. I’m just worried that this competition will harm my own chances…</p>
<p>Wow, you have an impressive school. Do you know what schools those people are applying to? Besides overlapping schools, you could apply to schools they aren’t applying to.</p>
<p>Most of the top people are probably applying to HYPS. I guess I will just have to out compete them…</p>
<p>Cornell was the most popular at my school with 5 kids who applied and only 1 acceptee. I didn’t apply to Cornell so I can’t really weigh cause really they were all qualified apps. Penn was second with 2 apps both students who applied to Cornell and both rejected…again glad I didn’t apply.</p>
<p>Haha funny, I’m not from PA, but some Nate at my school got into NYU too lol.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>If you are in a competitive high school or private school, it greatly matters. See the following, which is dead on. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Same thing in our town, popular safeties for the top students flat out KILLS the chances of kids that really want to go there. GW, BU, and Miami University (Ohio) are pertinent examples. For the top Ivies, (HYP) they seem to take only one kid from a town each year like clockwork. We had two this year for Harvard but one was an Olympic class athlete. When you are a Harvard, you can spread the joy a lot more. Bottom line, if Yale could take another kid from our school (in Connecticut) or an otherwise equal candidate from South Dakota, who do you think will be getting the big envelope?</p>
<p>Yes, your first line of competition is your own classmates. When you attend a competitive school with lots applying to the same college, who else is applying and what hooks they have will be a big factor.</p>
<p>Hmm :[
Yea, my school isn’t necessarily “competitive.” It’s a large, public school with low average scores. However, there are several (3-4) very qualified students at the top (including me) who are applying to some Ivy Leagues + top tier schools. So, I guess colleges will compare me to those other 2-3 students, and see how we compare?</p>
<p>It depends on the school I think…</p>
<p>I read that Georgetown does in this news article about their admissions process
& on Brown’s website it says that it doesn’t (they try to treat everyone as an “individual”)</p>
<p>how bout HYPSM?</p>
<p>My school’s average SAT is like 1450/2400 =[</p>
<p>i have no idea.
and i’m too lazy to check on there sites for you.</p>
<p>but i recommend reading the information on their admission offices websites!
that’s where i found the brown one…</p>
<p>Every college compares students to their classmates. Then kids from their town, their region and their state. The want geographical diversity. Some will not mind taking 4 from a large school if you’re all highly qualified. HYPS often take 10 or more from small prep schools though many are often legacies and athletes.</p>
<p>I doubt georgetown does that…like 15-20 students from my school applied there this year and only one got in and she was probably the least qualified, least number of AP courses, weak extracurriculars, she never spoke in class and probably had poor recommendations. Some of the other students who got rejected got into WashU, Harvard(the only harvard acceptance in our school), Notre Dame,Dartmouth, and full rides to less prestigious schools. We also sent 10+ students each to UPenn and Cornell.</p>
<p>i think the big place that competition within your school comes in is just the class ranking thing; I know the way that going to a really competitive school can screw some people over is that it makes it a lot harder to get into that crucial top 10%.</p>