<p>See the title. One of the most common notions floated around my noncompetitive public school is that certain students applying damages other students' chances. Is there any verity to this statement?</p>
<p>I am from a public school in DE that sends, maybe, 1 or 2 kids to the ivy league (usually cornell) each year, with some few others. Is this statement just a myth, or does it hold some truth for top schools? (I noticed some schools published data showing how many different schools their students hailed from--perhaps this could be significant?)</p>
<p>They definitely do not want to stock up on the same school, but they will accept as many as they feel would be good for the school. Brown accepted/waitlisted 4 kids from my class of 205, which is pretty high considering we’re in a high density applicant area and that they have such low admissions rates. Although, we sent three kids to Yale last year, and when the admissions officer came and visited us this year, she said there was no way that would happen again. Sure enough, one kid was recruited for crew, and everyone else was rejected. The admissions game has an uncountable number of variables; in this case, it was Yale particularly concerned of its reputation at our school. You can never really know this sort of thing for sure just because it changes every year.</p>
<p>In some cases, it is true. At my HS (good public in NJ), 2 or 3 people were accepted to UR every year. Perhaps 10 people applied. If your school uses Naviance, you should be able to look up these patterns at your school and see if the argument has any merit for you personally.</p>
<p>I’m also curious about this too. However, I doubt most schools have quotas for certain high schools, since over 8 people got accepted to Princeton last year. Similarily, over a dozen people got accepted to NYU Stern this year.</p>
<p>It depends on how rigorous your high school is. There’s no quota as some people might believe. The more rigorous your high school, the more students that college tends to accept because there are more qualified students. In short, yes, it does matter who else from your high school applies because you’re most directly competing against them for admission.</p>
<p>It really doesn’t matter who else applies <em>that specific year</em>. However, who generally applies gives the admissions officer a general impression of your school. That’s why they have the same officer read all applications from a school. This makes it easier to judge you in the context of your school (ie. who has and is applying from it).</p>
<p>They have no problem accepting many from a particular school. This year, 10 students got into Princeton, 5 into MIT, 8 into Brown, etc.</p>
<p>After reading the other posts, it seems it does matter. I didn’t know they had the same officer reading all applications from the same school. But yes, I can definitely see it mattering if, say, the valedictorian applies, and then like the C average student. But then again, that’s just stats. I can see this being more of an important factor in the Ivies.</p>
<p>No, that situation really wouldn’t matter. Seriously, there’s plenty of cases where the C student would get in, but the valedictorian wouldn’t—it happened at my school.</p>
<p>logically it seems like students from your school are bigger competition- both were given the same opportunities and the system/environment is essentially the same. However just because one gets in doesn’t mean the other gets the short end of the stick.</p>
<p>Maybe it all depends on where you’re talking about. There was a girl who got into Carolina above more “well qualified” applicants. It does happen. Depends on ECs, and lots of other factors.</p>
<p>Yes. My friend did interviews at a top public high school in Nj for his alma mater (top school in NY). They didnt want 10 kids from that high school getting in. They have geographic quotas, so just for that reason, people in Northeast have a tougher time getting in to Northeast schools. But for you personally, the loss to you applying and not getting in is the time spent doing the app plus an interview plus the ~$70 app fee. So I wouldn’t let other people applying from your HS stop you personally from applying.</p>
<p>Yes, they do have geographic targets. However, NOT for particular schools. My school regularly sends 20% of its graduating class to Ivies every year, with something like a 75% acceptance rate at top unis. Clearly, they don’t have a problem with accepting many from one school.</p>
<p>Yes, they do have geographic targets. However, NOT for particular schools. My school regularly sends 20% of its graduating class to Ivies every year, with something like a 75% acceptance rate at top unis. Clearly, they don’t have a problem with accepting many from one school.</p>
<p>So, would it be accurate to say that, from a noncompetitive public school–where, regularly, maybe only one or two students matriculate to any ivy–two students may, unhindered by each others’ applications, both be accepted to the same school? I understand that it’s possible in any circumstance that both are accepted–but the fact that both are applying from that noncompetitive school plays no role?</p>
<p>I go to one of the least competitive schools in the state, possibly the country. Our average SAT score is 1300 (CR+M+W). However, every few years a really smart kid shows up, and gets accepted into an Ivy. In 2003 the Valedictorian got accepted into Cornell. In 2006, the valedictorian got accepted into Yale. In 2010, the Salutatorian got accepted into Harvard. These are the only Ivy-League acceptances in my school since the start of the century. Kids in my school rarely even bother applying, and have no ambition. More than half of the class of 2011 is going to CC. The top college anyone is going to is Rutgers, and only two students were even accepted there. So it really depends on your school. I think if you are a very competitive student at a noncompetitive school, an you take advantage of everything you can (for example the 2010 girl took classes at the local CC because we had only three AP classes.), you will only raise your own chances. School shouldn’t really matter, and top colleges know this.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for the thoughtful responses! This myth really does prevail at my school (typical northeastern fears in DE) and I’m glad people have shown to illustrate it’s not true.</p>
<p>Any more input would be very much appreciated though!</p>