<p>I am one of four (that I know of, but I think that is it) applicants that applied from my school. Would Harvard be more compelled to accept at least one of these students than if I was the only applicant? Or would they even think this way in terms of geographic area if you add other applicants from surrounding high schools? I live in deep South Texas (5 miles from the border). I'm just wondering if Harvard would see a batch of kids from the same area and think "let me give one of them a shot"? Or does location play little to no role in this process? Thanks!</p>
<p>Harvard is not “compelled” to accept anyone, nor does it accept people out of a sense of guilt that it’s being mean to a particular high school.</p>
<p>The main role that geography plays is 1. that it favors underrepresented areas and 2. slightly favors Cambridge residents and to a lesser extent Boston residents and to an even lesser extent MA residents…at least according to an interview given a few years back.</p>
<p>Being located in deep South Texas might give you an edge if it’s a historically underrepresented area but it doesn’t have to do with how many people apply from your particular high school.</p>
<p>I think geography gives you so small of an edge that its practically negligible with the exception of Alaska. ;D</p>
<p>Dean Fitzsimmons is a Boston guy and therefore cares about students from Boston. Obviously, every college cares to make sure that qualified students from their hometown so Cambridge candidates are read with care too.</p>
<p>I think it MAY hurt a little, but not enough to really count.</p>
<p>I believe the more unrepresented your school is, the better odds you have of acceptance. The admissions officers at Harvard are looking for diversity. But you really cannot help who is applying so don’t worry about it! Just have faith in your application and whatever happens happens. Have faith in yourself to acheive wherever you attend college. :)</p>
<p>In theory, Harvard would prefer not to turn down the entire flock of applicants from a south Texas high school if they can find any reason to admit at least one. Are any of the applicants football players?</p>
<p>The common rumor is that it decreases the likelihood of two of you being admitted, compared to if you’d all applied from different high schools, but Harvard and Dean Fitzsimmons adamantly deny that. Anyway, four isn’t a flock. If there were thirty applicants, maybe I’d be more dubious of their stated policy, but they do say they don’t do any sort of just-one-high-school applicant pooling, except maybe for the Philips Academies, and that’s only because that’s such a large applicant pool.</p>
<p>Our public HS routinely averages at least 30+ apps to Harvard, some years they take no one, some years they have taken 8/10. You just never know until the letters role in. There are years the val has been denied and the quiet kid “no one in the class was impressed by” made it in. You just never know. So good luck to you.</p>
<p>Harvard’s website answers this question:</p>
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<p>But for the longest time, I still had my doubts about that answer. I go to a school in an area that always sends tons of apps to H, but usually only 1-3 get in. But I can, at least based on personal experience, confirm that Fitzsimmons really means it when he says that applicants are judged relative to the entire pool. In this cycle alone, we had 5 applicants get in early, and I am almost certain that it is because our class is just more competitive than previous classes. You are judged against your counterparts in the applicant pool as a whole, not your classmates.</p>