@gRw110
You are correct. And, Cruzss misunderstood. I never said a college held anything against a particular student, but a high school - exactly for the same reason Cruzss acknowledges, it impacts the college’s yield.
And it is unfortunate that people like to collect admissions, but it happens and still will. I understand if you don’t get into your top school EA or RD, but once you do, you should cut back your list - not only to help kids you don’t know, but to help the colleges and students you may know (i.e. at your high school). But, that appears to require a certain level of empathy and altruism that not all 18 year olds (or maybe their parents) possess.
Cruzss is completely off in many ways, including what you pointed out. I won’t even get into his/her comments on Harvard, MIT and Yale. What I know is that colleges hold it against schools b/c it impacts their yield, which Cruzss is actually admitting. If he/she talked to guidance counselors and others knowledgeable of the process he would know that plenty of schools, esp. many selective colleges, do change the numbers and types of students accepted based on past experience. The counselors I have spoken with at multiple schools report that they have certain colleges that react to how students respond to acceptances. They have top students who are very competitive, being told to think twice based on track record with specific college and specific high school. It is not about the quality of students. Most high schools produce the same number of quality students each year.
This changing admission strategy makes a lot sense for the schools - they do not want to keep admitting large numbers from a high school that constantly has students turn them down. There are schools that are exceptions and this pattern goes both ways (some colleges will take admit many students at a particular high school b/c in the past many of the students have attended).