I’ve heard of a lot of cases of kids gaming their applications, especially for ED, based on who they already know is applying to a certain school. For example, I know one girl whose dream school was Dartmouth, but ended up applying ED to Williams because she was worried about competing against a girl with better grades who also wanted Dartmouth. I guess what I’m wondering is if applicants from the same high school are directly compared like that. Looking at Naviance data, it seems like certain schools are oddly consistent with the number of kids from my school they take, and if that’s the case and not just a coincidence, it seems like it can sometimes be a matter of one student winning out against the other.
Yes. They will only take a certain amount of kids from each school.
Yes. You will be directly compared with each other, so it matters a lot. It’s very hard for adcoms to compare applicants, but if they’re from the same school, it becomes a whole lot easier–many variables no longer apply. @amerinet
I disagree with the above two posters. I think you are compared to people in your geographic region, not only your school. Schools do not have quotas by high school.
They don’t have quotas, but they will certainly know if multiple people apply from the same school. This doesn’t mean you won’t all get in- 2 people got into Dartmouth from my school this year, 4 to WUSTL, etc.
I didn’t say “only” your school, nor did I say colleges “have quotas.” Come on now.
@marvin100 Then it appears that the meaning of your answer in post #2 wasn’t clear to me.
Okay, let me help, @happy1 – applicants are compared to all other applicants. But that’s hard, as there are so many variables that can’t be pinned down (grad inflation, differeint curricula, etc.). If Student A and Student B are from the same school, though, it’s easier–they have access to the same classes, same grade policies (in general, of course, since individual teachers might differ to some degree), etc.
And since it’s much easier to compare an applicant with another applicant from the same school, those comparisons carry a lot of weight. And while colleges don’t have quotas from high schools, it’s pretty easy to figure out (with Naviance data) how many students (ballpark) are likely to be accepted. For instance, I worked at a high school for many years, and we got 3-5 kids into Stanford every year without fail. Could S have taken 6 kids? Maybe. 8? Vanishingly unlikely.
My son, a sophomore at MIT had 5 kids at his school accepted at MIT. Four are currently attending, So I don’t think it matters who else applies
@marvin100 I certainly realize that it is easier to compare applicants within the same school but wanted to clearly make a point to the OP that he/she will be compared to a pool that extends past his or her own high school. To me that was not clearly laid out in your point #2. Reading your other posts, I now see we are in agreement on that point. In our HS we have had pretty large variations in the number of kids accepted in a top school by year (ex. 6 accepted to Harvard my daughter’s year versus 1 the prior year).
I’ve heard multiple admission reps say they compare students if there are multiple applicants from a school and I believe they look at historical data as well but that I’m not sure. But, that’s not the same as a quota. If 20 apply and five stand out from a top school, then all five get a bump to whatever degree. If one breaks out from the pack, then it’s one that gets a bump.
Of course all that presumes that the five or one have stats that are competitive for the college.
My son and his friends started senior year convinced that xyz college only took # kids from their school every year. Yet a much higher number matriculated. This hapened at several colleges, demonstrating that adcoms will happily take several kids from one high school if they are excellent candidates. Will they want 10% of their freshman class to come from one school --no.
Most schools say they don’t compare by school but do by county or region to some extent. Our school has a very weird pattern where one year 5 students were accepted to 1 Ivy League school and since then they have never accepted another student despite an increase in apps. We have never had 2 accepted to the same Ivy in the same year. We go back and forth with MIT. Some years none and last year 3 accepted. The other similar school a few miles away had none accepted last year though so maybe they were looking at the county not just the school. If you really love a school I would go ahead and ignore what you think others are doing. It’s not an exact science with GPA and test scores once they are a certain level. Additionally we did find that when my son was applying 2 years ago there were people who lied or simply chose not to tell about where they were applying, RD vs ED, deferred or rejected. We don’t have a competitive HS so this was unexpected.
Yes you will be compared to other applicants from your school as well as to the larger applicant pool. However it is inadvisable for high school students such as this one:
to decide who they think will be accepted and use that decision to influence their own ED application. Particularly at highly selective colleges, the admissions process is holistic and not just a matter of GPA and test scores or even EC’s. Essays and recommendations are usually unknowns as well as particular niches that the college wants to fill.
Nobody ever talks about personality as an admission factor but certainly it’s there. And I don’t necessarily mean “Miss Congeniality” criteria, just that adcoms may pick up a certain je ne sais quoi from one applicant and not another.
And I agree with comments above that although admissions from a single HS are somewhat consistent, there is still variation from year to year. From using Naviance at my D’s HS, there were patterns but nothing set in stone. I could also see patterns that applicants from her HS had a better than average chance of getting into College A but a lower than average chance at College B.
Take stats with a grain of salt. ED should be a heartfelt decision and then I think that will come through in your application and help your chances.
It’s nutty to “want” Dartmouth and then apply to Williams ED. It makes it seem the kid was less interested in D than an early top-school “win.”
Your school, the neighboring schools, then the area, then national. The dean I know best says, in the end, the view is national. I.e., a somewhat nationally consistent result. For any college cherry picking from tens of thousands of apps from top kids, not hard to get that somewhat evenness. (But first, you have to get through various gates.)
Try to remember, if they take fewer from your hs this year, they’re most likely taking a few more from other local hs. Not a quota, but a need for balance through the area. Sometimes, other local kids surpass your applicants; other times, your hs produces the stronger applicants. That’s a wild card you can’t predict.
They don’t have a quota, but they can’t build their class with graduates from the best schools in the country. Sometimes it is better be the best at mediocre school then mediocre student at the best school.
I can tell you that Tulane specifically makes a point that they do not have a limit per school.
I have found actually in discussing with other parents, people often seem hesitant to say exactly where their c will be applying.
Reading The Gatekeepers gave me a good sense of how adcoms at selective schools work. Yes, they do look at kids from the same school together sometimes, but it’s not a quota. If two kids really stand out to them – and meet institutional goals – they’ll happily take them both. Applications should be driven by where the kid actually wants to go – and has a realistic chance of getting in.
Also I didn’t discuss specifics of where my kid was applying except with a few very close, non-gossipy friends. It was his journey, not mine, and I didn’t think having the quest – and its end results – be public information (and gossip fodder) had any upside. I did discuss very broadly where we were looking, what our goals were, how we’d gone about it, and anything else I thought might actually be helpful in a more general way to anyone else going through the process. But I think comparing notes on specific schools and application plans can only accelerate the frenzy, especially in a small community.
Yes, I learned that several people in my community seem almost a little too interested in where my child is applying. try to avoid the discussion now bc when I did mention a few he was interested in, they were almost “disappointed” that he wasn’t looking at more prestigious names. It was a very strange and uncomfortable feeling, so I can understand your view.