My school generally only has one kid at each of the Ivys each year. Whether this is due to quotas or just chance, I don’t know. But if I apply to Cornell, and another kid with a higher GPA and legacy also applies to Cornell ED, does this automatically put me out of contention? I would say I am competitive for admission, as is the other student.
Thanks
or instead of “automatically out of contention” does it hamper my chances in any way?
Not really. I would not worry. They take 6-10 from my kid’s school each year.
No. At our school, there are always tales of how “X school only takes Y kids from our school every year”. And almost every year that lots of kids apply to X, the number is higher.
short answer is no: it does not ‘automatically’ put you out of contention. Every year, kids with higher stats and/or better hooks are turned down in favor of other kids that the adcomms feel have something more to offer. In this, as in so many things, you really have to run your own race- it’s all anyone can do, and it is what will take you the farthest.
@HRSMom but I do not go to your child’s School. Historically, two kids haven’t gotten into the same Ivy ED. This is what concerns me. If the other kid is a surefire accept (or at least a very high chance partly because of his legacy) then does this leave me as a really tough admit?
The 45,000 other applicants are your stiffest competition, not the one person from your school.
No. This is not an issue. If they want to accept you, they will, regardless of how many people from your school they’ve already accepted. My graduating class of 455 in high school (2014 at a STEM magnet school) had 46 people accepted to Cornell (for the record, I was not one of them; I did not apply to any Ivy League schools).
You are overweighting the impact of legacy. It is real, and Cornell is up front about it as a factor, but it is not surefire, or even a heavy plus.
Again, run your own race.