I guess not. My bad, but in general the student should be applying. With that - our high school is very not-elite and I know of a few really nice kids who got into elite schools entirely on their own merit. No extra advantages whatsoever; which may have been at least partly why they were granted admission. Superstar achievers, good kids and very hard workers. The process does work and I understand a lot more about it now than I did a year ago.