Will the fact that we are both from the same high school make colleges less likely to admit one of us? We both have similar GPA and test scores, and are white males. However we do participate in different ECs which distinguishes us slightly.
I would recommend against going somewhere because of one friend.
I agree with the above post; I would not choose a school solely because of one friend. Friends can always change, so if you and him have a falling out and you aren’t happy at the school, what would you do?
Also, depending on the school and how selective it is, it shouldn’t make a difference. I’m not the most qualified to make these assertions, but I don’t think same school matters as much as rigor, GPA, test scores, etc.
I don’t read this as wanting to go together. More that they happen to want to go the same place, and wonder if it will impact their chances.
Why do you want to go to the same school?
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Hello. I'm an upcoming senior from Indiana who doesn't really know what schools would be "reaches" and "safeties" for me to apply to in the fall.
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I’m planning on studying pre-med,
and would really like to go to a school in an urban environment (NYC, DC, Chicago etc). Also, I definitely want to go out of state.
Here are my stats:
White male
GPA: 3.98 UW, 4.7 W
Rank: 4 out of ~580
PSAT: 1420 (690 V, 730 M) maybe commended but not finalist
SAT: 1410 (720 V, 690 M) weak but good writing scores lol (8/7/8)
ACT: 32 (36E/28R/32M/33S) very bad writing score though (23)
Will retake both in the fall for 2nd try
Courses: all honors, AP World Sophomore year (5), APUSH/Lang/Bio this year (hopefully all 5s), 7 more next year (Lit, Chem, Micro, Gov, Spanish, Calc AB, Psych)
ECs: Student Government all 4 years (committee leader & treasurer roles)
Spanish Honors Society
NHS
HOSA (officer)
Quiz Bowl (hopefully captain next year) & Academic Super Bowl
also Ping Pong Club and other dumb clubs
Chance me for the following schools and suggest others that might be good matches for me
Any Ivies ?
NYU
Georgetown
Johns Hopkins
U Chicago
Northwestern
Vanderbilt
Colorado -Boulder
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What is your home state?
How much will your parents pay each year? Ask them, please don’t guess. We see later posts from a lot of disappointed students who thought their parents would pay more.
Why do so many premeds have these app lists with tippy top schools???
@intparent OP refers to a singular school, then asks if colleges plural will be less likely to accept them. To me, that says they’re planning on intentionally applying to the same list, then attending the same school.
@usualhopeful @mom2collegekids @intparent @MPC6789 Both of us are interested in similar schools, and both think it would be cool to go together if we did get accepted to the same place, but it’s not our main reason.
also ignore my chances post, and the topics of acceptance/financial aid or whatever else, that doesn’t have to do with my question. my question is: if we both applied to the same school(s) would it have any bearing on our admissions, since we are both from the same high school/same state? (use NYU if u need a school of reference)
At some schools, whether you need FA or not does affect your odds of acceptance. So if one of you needed aid and one didn’t with similar stats, the one not needing aid could do better at that school.
@intparent true. I think we both will be applying for aid.
There is no telling. Sometimes both will get in, sometimes just one, sometimes neither.
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think we both will be applying for aid.
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then take Colorado off your list…it’s OOS and will cost your parents $50k per year…no aid given to OOS.
And take NYU off…lousy aid…over $70k per year.
Are you serious about going to med school? If so, then don’t go to a top school for undergrad.
Colleges have stated at info sessions that they look at each student individually and don’t consider whether some are from the same school. That being said, public Us have to support students across the entire state so they won’t take the whole class from a single school (like UVA and Thomas Jefferson HS).
You should apply where YOU want to go…don’t worry about what that other kid is doing.
Agree with the majority opinion here. While colleges typically do not have quotas as to how many they take from any HS, you will likely both be limiting your options if you decide in advance to go to college together. You should each apply to schools you want to attend (it is fine if there is overlap) and make independent decisions. Both of my kids had no trouble remaining close with HS friends when they went to different colleges – between vacations, the internet etc. it is easy to stay in touch. In fact your friendship may be stronger if you go to different colleges and give each other some room to branch out.
I wouldn’t worry about this. Even if a school had “quotas”, I doubt that the difference between accepting 1 student or 2 from one high school makes a difference. The difference between accepting 1 or 50 sure, but 1 or 2, probably not. And you can’t control what others are doing (your friend or all the other classmates). So, apply to where you want to go, your friend can apply to where he wants to go and if they are the same schools, then so be it. There are plenty of posts on this forum where people state that “N number of students from our school go to college X every year”, so obviously, schools don’t stop at just one.
@mom2collegekids don’t you find out how much money/loan they will give you when you apply RD? It wouldn’t hurt to apply and hope for something…
@mom2collegekids and for reference for @sb68702
CU-Boulder does have some merit scholarships for OOS students. Top award is a total of 55K over 4 years.
http://www.colorado.edu/scholarships/auto-consider/freshmen
As for your question regarding quotas from individual schools, I have no idea.
To simply ask your question (disregarding stuff about financial aid and choosing the same school as your friend), it could possibly harm your chances. This is depending on a lot of things– how many students from your HS the university usually admits (you can ask a counsellor to see some statistics on that), whether you two are distinguishable candidates in regards to grades and test scores, and whether you two are applying to the same department/major. My friend and I both applied to the same schools (we just had similar interests, which I feel is what you’re dealing with as well) and we got accepted into some schools while one was rejected from others.
If it’s a very competitive school (from your choices, I’d say NYU), there’s a chance that one of you can be chosen over the other. My friend had slightly higher scores than me (I surpassed her in ECs, though, but it didn’t carry as much weight) and she was accepted into the humanities program for UCLA. I was denied from the same program. This could obviously be from my own GPA, but our likeness as candidates probably narrowed my chance to get in. No hard feelings, though! I ended up going somewhere that I love even more. 