<p>As we know, there are schools that send 10+ students to Ivy League schools every year, and there are other schools that send 1~2 students to Ivy League schools every 3~5 years.</p>
<p>Does this difference affect acceptance? </p>
<p>As many of you have probably already assumed, I attend the latter high school type.</p>
<p>My high school admitted a student, one of my best friends, to Yale last year, but hasn't sent anyone else to any Ivy League in the past 5 years (or even more).</p>
<p>It’s the individual, not the school. Some schools are just great at gathering together qualified applicants. Most schools send zero. remember that.</p>
<p>It seems like you are trying to find out the answer to the following hypothetical question:
“If everything about me stayed exactly the same except my high school transcript came from Ivy Feeder School X instead of Soso Public High Y, would I have a different chance of acceptance at Yale?” This is a hopeless quest. Your transcript would not be the same at IFS-X — the competition there would have been different. The teachers writing letters of recommendation would have been different. YOU would have been different - perhaps more motivated to do certain things, and less interested in other things. Some of these differences would have led to a higher chance of acceptance at Yale, and some to a lower chance. How would it have worked out on balance? That depends on you, and since the experiment hasn’t been run, the answer is unobtainable. If you are a smart, creative, motivated, organized, proactive student, there are advantages to coming from SosoPublicHigh-Y. You don’t have as much competition to be #1 in your class, to be the standout best student your recommender has ever had, etc. On the other hand, IvyFeederSchool-X might help an unorganized, reticent student get their act together (although smart and creative are still on them). So you see, the answer probably does depend a great deal on you.</p>
<p>This is different from understanding that one of the reasons Ivy feeder schools get so many kids into Ivys is because those kids have been working for this result for a long time, and the schools select for kids that are already motivated and likely to end up competitive for Ivy admissions.</p>
<p>Anyways, from your perspective right now, what’s the difference? You are who you are, your high school record and accomplishments are what they are, your job now is to package them as well as possible, to get your admissions reader to be able to see you clearly. Good luck.</p>
<p>While I do agree with what everyone said, I think there is something to “the feeder school” theory.</p>
<p>First, let me say that I do think at he heart and core, it’s all about the individual applicant and not what school they came from. If you’re a competitive applicant, you’re a competitive applicant. That doesn’t change.</p>
<p>Where I think that going to a “feeder school” helps is that the College Counselors at those schools have a rapport with the AdComs, and usually it goes way back. While I do not think any backroom deals go on, I do think that AdComs are more willing to just trust the word of a College Counselor they know. I do think that kids at feeder schools are generally very competitive applicants to begin with, but I do think that AdComs would be more willing to give an applicant the BOD should it be required.</p>