<p>I meant that a high school student who is ranked lower in the high school class may be accepted at an elite college while a higher ranked student from the same high school is rejected. This is due to the many factors that go into the admissions decisions. It is virtually impossible to compare two applicants because of the many “soft” qualifications that are important to admissions officers. For example, where the orchestra needs an oboe player or merely becasue the essays of the lower ranked student are better. As for my second point, while elite colleges want geographic diversity, they will accept more than one student from a particular high school. For example, the tiny high school in Alaska from which Stanford accepted two students this year. I agree that the top colleges probably will not accept 50 students from the same high school, but they will accept 10-15 or a little more (this occurs at a top private or a top public high school). Stanford does this with its “local” high school. There is a great article about the Claremont colleges admissions process that talks about the way a college builds its class. There was also an article in the NY times about a long island val who was rejected from the ivies while the number 10 (or so) student was accepted. I do not have the cites handy.</p>