So I attend a small prep school and I always hear each year about one or two people that ward off people from applying to their top choice for the fear of being compared to and then rejected because of other applicants. For example, this year one of my good friends would not say where she applied ED until she received her decision because she did not want anybody else to consider applying.
I understand the premise of comparing students who attended the same school. “If student x could do this why could student y not?” I get it. Especially when the majority of kids in my grade are applying to super selective schools.
So I was wondering how often colleges do compare students from the same school? How likely is it that this could be the main reason you were rejected?
Unlikely. They will evaluate your application on its own merits, although they will look to see how your grades/scores compare to other applicants from the school, particularly if the school does not rank.
That said, no college has a quota/min/max per High School
I would assume that very competitive/elite schools will do this when evaluating applicants from schools that they consider to be “pipeline” schools (a school that has been historically strong for the college). In this case, the comparison probably does play a fair role in evaluating students.
As far as schools that are not historically pipelines, they may not even recognize/connect the dots on applicants from the same school.
Not all schools offer the same amount of APs and Honors courses, so colleges compare how many of these courses you take with how many your peers are taking.
They know who’s applying from which hs, Oriole. And while I basically agree with the comment there’s no quota. kids need to understand it’s not just within your hs, but also others nearby.
It’s not just the number of AP, it’s the overall sense. That kid with 14 may be loading, may not have the more rigorous AP, etc. They look at the transcript. The comparison is done after the whole is reviewed and impressions were made.
Does that mean not taking rigor is ok, for a competitive college? Rarely.
Did she really think someone would use their one ED app to college, committing to go there if admitted, to a school that was not their first choice, just to spite her?
Maybe she wasn’t being entirely honest about that and was just afraid in general. That’s understandable, and OK.
You are spending time and energy worrying about something that you cannot control. And different colleges may have different methodologies (ex. some college admission offices compare students by region not school etc.) I would suggest that the best course of action is to apply to the schools that make sense for you without regard to what others are doing.
Yes, they do compare students. But if it was a selective college, I’m sure everyone else had heard about it anyway. But kids should not feel like they have to tell everyone where they are applying. The students at my D’s HS were asked by the CCs to not talk about apps at all since it just made everyone else so stressed (and this was at a selective prep that places most kids at top colleges).
@happy1 I’m not worried just curious. I just like understanding the process better. Definitely not stressed. I applied to the schools I am interested in and that’s that.