<p>for example, there are 23 kids applying from my school to USC with me, I am maybe top 5/6, how much will this hurt me. On the other hand I am amongst 14 applying to UT-Austin, top 1 or 2 overall profiles, how much will this help me? Also if my GPA is lower than some but my EC's/Scores are better will that make up on comparison? I'm pretty confused on how competition effects admission all together.</p>
<p>bumppp…</p>
<p>common guys!! lol</p>
<p>look, yes colleges rank you against classmates from the same school, not the school down the street (several admissions officers I’ve talked to have told me that…) so if you’re not in the top tier of your classmates, then yes it’ll hurt you. but being in top 5/6 or 1/2 is probably going to help you- at worst, it won’t hurt you. USC and UT austin are great schools, but they’re not nearly as cutthroat as some of the ivies, so it’s fine for you not to be THE top applicant applying.
that said, to get accepted, you’ll probably need to distinguish yourself with great essays/recs and make them realize why YOU are different from the 10000 other people applying.</p>
<p>Read your thread out loud. Then pretend you’re a stranger. Read it again. Try to answer your question. Not so easy is it? </p>
<p>If you have great stats, ECs, and GPA, then it doesn’t matter if every person in your school applies. </p>
<p>If you went to a school like mine, and if they all applied to USC, 456 people in my class would probably have been rejected. (Out of 459)</p>
<p>Ya it is a tough question…I’m pretty sure I have the upper edge on essays (about a big personal struggle also touching on low GPA)…and EC’s my GPA is slightly lower than others .1 or .25 at most due to what was addressed in my essay. I felt that I did a good job, hopefully they felt the same…thanks!</p>