<p>These forums are amusing! However, universities WILL and DO compare students applying from the same schools. Why wouldn’t they? The major universities allocate applications to admissions officers responsible for certain school or regions, and this is one of the things they do. </p>
<p>What universities do not do is “count” the number of “ECs” you have and compare these numbers. Anything that makes you stand out matters. Anything that distinguishes you matters. Think about it. A 2300 SAT score is great but is unlikely to make your application stand out. I’ve said this before. If you do something exceptionally well, that matters much more than doing 5 things poorly. Universities do know the game of listing 10 activities. They know about NHS, AP scores etc. The keys are differentiation and diversity.</p>
<p>That said, some major state universities use index scores. For these, the numbers are very important.</p>