<p>Okay so here's the deal. I'm starting to look around at colleges. Let's say, hypothetically, I want to apply to apply to a very selective school (say, Harvard) but there is another person in my year (city school ~ 80 kids or so) who definitely takes the number 1 rank who is also applying to Harvard. This person would definitely get accepted over me. Is it impossible, or unlikely that we could both get accepted?</p>
<p>Do you have Naviance at your high school? It can be very helpful to look at the historic pattern of acceptances from your high school.</p>
<p>It could happen, it’s just that just an individual getting into Harvard is very unlikely, more so if two. But this tends to happen frequently in elite college prep/STEM/magnet high schools.</p>
<p>Two girls from my school got into Harvard so it’s definitely possible.</p>
<p>It’s not impossible. My school is even smaller (50-60 kids per grade), and we usually sends 3-5 kids to penn every year, as well as 3-5 to the other ivies (in total, not 5 to each school).</p>
<p>Phillips Andover’s Class of 2011 (323 kids) sent 15 kids to Harvard, 14 kids to Yale, 13 kids to Columbia & 15 kids to Stanford.
<a href=“http://www.andover.edu/Academics/CollegeCounseling/Documents/School_Profile_2011-2012.pdf[/url]”>http://www.andover.edu/Academics/CollegeCounseling/Documents/School_Profile_2011-2012.pdf</a></p>
<p>So, it’s not impossible for you both to be accepted to the same selective school.</p>
<p>its not impossible but its unlikely since these colleges strive for geographic diversity</p>
<p>Incorrect. It’s unlikely because the target school has such a miniscule admit rate. The question of quotas is often asked. HYPMS and their ilk don’t feel constrained to have ANY quotas at your HS. The only reason for quotas would be to satisfy some “set aside” for some other HS. These sorts of schools feel no pressure to satisfy any principal, counselor, community by allocating one: here, two: there, another one: here.</p>
<p>If the individual catches the Princeton reader’s attention, it won’t matter that their Freshman quarterback recruit comes from the same HS. Your HS might get five Harvard admits this season and then none for the next dozen years. Harvard doesn’t care what your school thinks. Harvard wants to admit great kids.</p>
<p>My nearby HS had four Yale admits one year – a huge statistical aberration. But it was the quality of the kids that season. Other seasons – maybe 1, maybe zero. It’s just how it goes.</p>
<p>(of course there are traditional “feeder” schools (Choate, Exeter, Philips, Sidwell, etc) that seem to have a steady flow into certain colleges – but given the variation of numbers, it’s still not like the old days when the headmaster gave a list to the Harvard admissions dean.)</p>
<p>I would suggest that for high schools that generally do not send graudates to HYP (this includes probably 80-90% of schools nationally), that they are MORE likely to send multiple kids to highly selective schools in years that they have at least one student admitted.</p>
<p>I believe competition is critical for most students to realize their potential. It is helpful and constuctive, not destructive. While there can only be one Valedictorian and one class president and one (you get the idea), adcoms are skilled at identifying the kids who put forth tremendous effort in all endeavors and achieve excellence. It is easier to excel when someone is running next to you, spurring you along.</p>
<p>My D1’s high school class had 55 students (private independent school in the Midwest). Two from her class went to Dartmouth. Another two were accepted to USC’s film school where an incoming class is only 200 students, so it is super competitive. If two people are qualified and interesting to them, two will be accepted.</p>