Simons limits the number of students that a high school can nominate to just three. This obviously restricts the number of applications it can receive from schools such as Stuyvesant which has over 800 high performing kids in their junior class alone. Without this restriction, Simons would probably receive at least double the number of apps (maybe even that much from Long Island alone) and the acceptance rate would be under 5%. In any event, the smaller applicant pool is much more competitive due to the self-selective process.