If a student with higher grades than me applies to the same school, will they get in? Or do they not compare based on school…?
They absolutely compare you with other students from your school. Some AO admit it, some doesn’t, but in reality, if you are applying to a top school and they accept at most one from your school, you are out of luck if a better qualified student is also applying from your school.
BTW, grades/test scores is not the only thing. I’ve seen two students from same school applying to same top college. They has similar stats too. However, one student had a sob story to tell while the other didn’t. It ended up that EVERY school admitted the student with sob story and REJECTED the one without. (Don’t feel sorry for the rejected student, because she ended up in a mid-ranked LAC with full scholarship. She was forced to save half a million dollars for her parents. Not bad.)
It won’t decrease your chances. No schools will say we only accept one person from your HS. That being said, as mentioned above, they look at more that just your stats and keep in mind that selective schools will turn away qualified applicants because they don’t have the room to accept everyone.
If you just skim the forums here on CC you can get the impression that GPA plus SAT/ACT is all that matters. Look deeper and you will see people point out that the rest of the resume will make a big difference, maybe even the biggest difference, among competing applicants.
When you compare yourself to a classmate, you may indeed have inferior grades and/or test scores, but you have no idea how your essays will compare, how your recommendations will compare, or what the total picture of your EC’s will convey to the AO. Those aspects of your application matter quite a bit, and could easily overcome your lower grades and/or test scores. Or not. What everyone ends up advising is, don’t worry about it—apply where you want to go and see what happens.
In you apply to a highly selective school, then you are competing with tens of thousands of excellent students. If you apply to a very good university (say, top 200 or even top 100) there will be many spots available, and someone from your school taking one of them won’t lower your chances in any significant way.
Worry about your own application. Don’t worry about one other student from your school.