<p>I, along 3 other kids at my high school are planning to apply to Brown Early Decision, 2 of whom have slightly higher ranking (we're all top 4% though) and SAT scores, and possibly better ECs than me. The only way I could overtake them is through my essay, which I am fairly optimistic about. I am also considering Penn for ED for second choice. Is it a big deal that a lot of people at my school are applying to the same school? I can't imagine Brown accepting all of us. What would be wise?</p>
<p>Great question, I was wondering the same exact thing!!</p>
<p>well, this is a lot different than Brown but there are 10 kids so far from my daughter’s high school that are applying to Ohio State. My daughter submitted her application on September 1st…hopefully it will help!</p>
<p>mspearl, Your D won’t get any advantage for submitting her application early versus someone who submits their application at 11:59 PM on the deadline date. Sorry!</p>
<p>Ringo, My opinion is that it WILL hurt your chances, at the most selective schools of which Brown is included, if someone from your school has a stronger application in the 3 main components (GPA, Test scores, and ECs). Essays are important, but can only compensate for lesser stats and resume only so much. That is NOT to say you should not apply and that you haven’t a chance. You just never know. Good luck.</p>
<p>This question often appears as “quotas per high school”. The fact is you’re being evaluated against thousands – not just the handful of kids from your school. If a top musician/scholar is applying and you’re a top science whiz, you’re frankly not being evaluated in the same pool. </p>
<p>You’ll be evaluated as an individual. Selective colleges have no quotas per HS. If your school has 3 super applicants, they may very well accept all three. If last year there were seven OK applicants, it’s likely that all seven were rejected.</p>
<p>The idea of HS quotas or limits assumes that the colleges are setting aside slots for some schools – in order to curry favor with them. This just isn’t the case. They don’t have to curry favor with anyone. They choose whom they want, from where they want. If they zero schools that traditionally have seen some admits, the top colleges are fine with that. Top schools have no quotas. My local HS had four Yale admits a few years ago – a statistical abnormality to the extreme. The kids were just that good.</p>
<p>Your are assuming that the all the applicants will be reviewed by the same set of admissions officers who will be able to remember the three other applicants from your school out of the 1000s they have reviewed so they can compare them to you. Not a good assumption. Some of the applicants from your school may be applying for specific majors and being evaluated differently than you. For example, if they want to go into the sciences their math SAT scores will be looked at very closely.</p>
<p>MS pearl: Does help if a school uses rolling admissions, which some state flagships do. At Indiana, students are encouraged to apply early in the process because, as the admissions season progresses, the candidate with the slightly weaker gpa etc may get edged out. Not true at privates and many other flagships.</p>
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<p>Oh wait. That’s why almost every selective admissions program has regional readers and groups applications from the same high school together.</p>
<p>The same reader is almost certain to see every application not only from your high school, but also from nearby high schools.</p>
<p>You will be considered in comparison to others from your high school. Most highly selective schools do not tend to take a lot of applicants from the same high school. (It happens, though - out of a class of 155, 3 of my classmates got into Harvard).</p>
<p>However, schools often admit students with lower class rank than some of the students they reject from the same high school. Brown admitted two people with considerably lower GPAs than me, yet rejected me. There’s much more to it than class rank, GPA, and SAT/ACT.</p>