<p>I've heard a lot of people say that when applying to college, you're competing mostly with your fellow students at your h.s., because the adcom will compare you to them, by seeing how you used your resources at that h.s. or whatever. Apparently this also means that selective schools like Yale or Stanford would only pick one kid from each h.s. I go to a big public school and while most of my class are not the brightest bulbs on the christmas tree, me and my friends all have pretty good apps but the problem is we're all applying early to yale. One of the guys most definitely has a better chance than me. Should I give up and apply early somewhere else or do colleges look more at your qualifications compared to the applicant pool, rather than comparing students in one h.s.? </p>
<p>Don't live by "what ifs." Do what you think best for YOU & let things fall out as they will. You are NOT directly competing with the other students from your HS in that if you're all outstanding, you could ALL be admitted. Of course, it helps you stand out if you're the only one from that HS applying to that school, but it's still your credentials & what sets you apart that gets you admitted or not.
Sometimes schools will decline one applicant over another because one showed more interest or had that "something" that the school was searching for that year. Don't sell yourself short & directly compare yourself with other candidates you believe are "better." There will always be all kinds of folks applying & accepted at many of these schools, including HYP.
Good luck & believe in yourself!</p>
<p>I think they'll do both. first compare you to your hs then to a larger pool. I dont think they'll limit 1 person from each school, although dont count on them accepting all of you</p>
<p>everyone at my school just applies to UC's of CSU's. Those schools take as many kids as they want from each high school. Last year, out of a class of 450 only about 50 kids went straight to a 4 year college, the rest to JC--> transfer. So yeah, i have no competition.</p>
<p>there's one school around here that has 220 students in a grade, and 25% go to ivies/stanford/MIT, another 25% go to the next level (i.e. wash u, georgetown). pretty unfair.</p>
<p>the sad fact is you are competing with your classmates.</p>
<p>I think if you go to one of THE top high schools in the nation (TJ, Stuy, top boarding schools in New England, etc.), it does matter because often 20+ people are more than qualified and it would look bad. If you go to just an average school, however, it really doesn't matter, though my evidence for this is purely anecdotal (5/7 people got into Duke, 2/2 Cornell, 0/4 Harvard, 0/4 Princeton, 2/2 Stanford, Yale and Harvard (previous year)). I went to a crappy public school that offered a pretty good IB program, BTW.</p>
<p>I went to a public school and 2 kids max went to each ivy the year I graduated and last year. Seems to be the same deal every year. This might be a product, independent of admissions departments, of the school system we are in.</p>
<p>I would say that you are in competition with the rest of the kids at your school. However, I wouldn't simply forget about an early app just because a kid might have better stats than you and is applying to the same school. Try getting a historic picture from your GC on how many students make it to the ivies every year. There is usually a trend.</p>
<p>I know colleges definitely don't limit themselves to 1 student in a school. For example, 3 people from my schools '05 class went to Stanford, 2 to Brown, ~20 Cal, ~15 to UCLA, there were more last year, I just can't think of it right now. A couple years ago there were around 5 kids who went to Stanford, 2 to Dartmouth, 2 or 3 to Yale; so it's possible for a couple of you to get into Yale, although it's not that likely because of their low admit rate.</p>
<p>D's HS is a large public (478 in graduating class), and she was concerned about this topic/myth when she applied ED to an LAC b/c another classmate (whom she felt was more qualified) also applied ED. Both were accepted, and a third classmate was accepted RD. (A fourth classmate was rejected RD.) All three are now first-years. They really do compare applicants against the entire (national/international) pool first (and at some places, last). (We asked the Dean of Admissions at an accepted students' reception.) Rather than worrying about it, go ahead and apply--all they can say is no (but it could be yes)!</p>
<p>depends on the school. my old high school (suburban public) is typically a feeder for the ivies- i remember from my class of 300, 10 got into cornell, 3 to harvard, 2 to princeton, 5 to brown, 6 to columbia, 3 to yale, just to name a few. the smaller prestigious LACs arent as generous to my high school- williams, swathmore and amherst typically only accepts 1 person a year.</p>
<p>I think that if you have very solid credentials, that fit into a university, that going to a tough high school is only going to help you.</p>
<p>I'm in the top 30% at my school, the top 10% all have GPAs of 3.93 or higher. We have 10 kids with a 4.0, and 12 with a 3.99 (only one A-).</p>
<p>And my GPA wouldn't even be bad at most other schools, when i'd be in the top 10%. </p>
<p>What my counselor told me is that a class profile ties into rank to extreme measures. If you're at a competitive school with high GPA's, you're going to be OK if your rank isn't high.</p>
<p>All in all, you're trying to help each other achieve high marks.</p>
<p>With Yale, I think it's not so much the high school, but the region, that they compare you against. In other words, you're also compared to the students in surrounding high schools.
That's also part of the job of the regional reps. They're supposed to get to know the high schools, and if possible, the students who are applying in their region.</p>
<p>Most myths have some basis in reality. While it isn't true that schools limit themselves to a certain number of kids per school, they do want to create a diverse class of students. </p>
<p>Accepting 30 kids from one school instead of just 3 means that 27 kids from all the other schools in the world will get rejected. So if you are #12 out of 25 kids applying to Amherst, you're toast unless you have a huge hook because smaller schools take fewer kids and if they take #12, most likely they didn't take ##3-11. Larger schools can take more, but even so, if they take, say, 6 kids and #12 is one of them, they will have some splainin' to do to ##6-11. Maybe #12 cured cancer or settled the Israeli-Palestinian crisis once and for all or has an Olympic gold medal. But there does have to be some compelling reason to skip over half a dozen or more kids.</p>
<p>Another consideration is, for some reason, certain high schools have more or less success with certain schools. Our public does well with Princeton. Harvard, Stanford, but for some reason, they can't seem to convince Yale to take our kids. Nobody knows why, not even the head of the counseling department.</p>
<p>1Down2togo is right about some schools liking certain high schools. Harvard was founded directly for students in my school, so we have a good relationship with the university. Out of a little under 400 kids, we usually send around 20 to Harvard. MIT doesn't treat us as well, as only about 5 got in a year ago. Brown, for some reason, treats us the worst, only admitting 1 of around 15 applicants one year.</p>
<p>Yeah, many of our schools have different arrangements with the schools many of the kids apply to. My kids' HS sends a LOT of kids to USC--about 10% of our seniors go there every year. Not sure how many apply. Your GC would have the best knowledge about these kids of relationships with your school.
Anyway, don't beat yourself up by pondering things that none of us can change. For sure, you won't get in if you don't apply, so go ahead & apply to the schools you're interested in & let things evolve as they will so you won't have to say "would've, could've, should've."</p>