<p>Erin’s Dad is right about state schools in some places (specifically in Virginia) having this problem. There are so many “good” high schools that they could easily fill half their freshman class just with the qualified applicants from a single high school. So in that case, you kind of are being compared with other students from your school. My high school actually had more seniors get into Vanderbilt this year than UVA and Virginia Tech combined.</p>
<p>Texas students applying to Texas public universities are basically competing against their high school classmates, since class rank is used to determine admission and GPA is not considered.</p>