<p>One of my friends are deciding to apply for a college that is my top choice, she has better stats than me, however I too am not out of range for this college. Do colleges take only a handful of people form certain High schools? I am afraid that a big factor might be her, or someone else being accepted and this in turn becomes the biggest factor in me being rejected (if it does happen.)</p>
<p>They say no, but I feel like they might. They only have so many spots to fill, many aim for a geographically diverse class, hence they might be inclined to not take too many from any one school.</p>
<p>They receive so many applicatiosn that they could fill their classes with great students just from high schools named after doctors in the NY/NJ/PA area, so they have to limit how many per school. Otherwise, every ivy would have a floor of Andover kids, and the rest of us would be screwed</p>
<p>This is an urban legend used by some applicants to rationalize why they were denied while other applicants from their high school were admitted.</p>
<p>It is not completely an urban legend in Texas, where the public universities admit much of their incoming freshman classes by class rank. However, top 7% (the UT Austin threshold) is typically more than a handful.</p>
<p>I think it is not an urban legend. Otherwise, the Ancient 8 boarding schools would be even more over-represented in elite schools. Now, I think they won’t keep a forth out because 3 from the same school are in, but at some point I think they care</p>
<p>If you remove the traditional feeders (Choate, Sidwell, Bronx Science, Exeter, Thomas Jefferson, etc.) and you’re talking about random high schools – then YES it’s random. Beyond very broad geographic diversity goals, the selective schools have no incentive to have a quota at a particular HS. To assume this, then you’re saying they have a “set aside” for some other school. Why? Whom do they need to please? Some principal or guid counselor ? </p>
<p>Nope. Their own institutional needs/wants trump it all. Your HS could have half a dozen admits from HYP this year and zero for the next ten years. It’s up to the individuals and their strengths.</p>
<p>Thank you for clearing it up. I truly was about to lose hope as my chances are already not very good.</p>