<p>“The college looks at its admitted class as a whole and does not rank those applying from each high school”
Uh, yes they do. Admissions reps - who have regional respinsibilities- decide who they are going to “fight for” and when many students from a particular school apply, not all are going to be accepted, regardless of their stats."
“The competition is not the kid sitting next to you in class, it is the entire application pool.” Location- whether it is the state you are from or the school, is a factor in admissions decisions.
One of the “best kept secrets” of the odds of acceptance at selective colleges is that a student from a public HS, with exactly the same stats/ abilities/ EC’s, etc as a student from a private HS has a better chance of acceptance at a highly ranked college. Colleges cherry pick who they accept, because they can.
You have a lot to learn.</p>