...odd situation as I had just met and was standing next to a female high school senior who wanted get into his undergrad alma mater, Stanford. She had the grades, SAT's etc., etc., so I tried to pin him down: "How can this girl get into Stanford (insert your alma mater here) when EVERY applicant has equal and terrific credentials?"
He said admissions was a whole other beast and that the people who do that work learn how to do it only after years of experience. And one of their major criteria was what you just mentioned: The admissions people KNOW all the academically great public high schools in the country. They know your school!
"They do?" I asked.
Yes. They do. That's part of their job to know the great schools or the schools that produce graduates who can come to a Stanford (insert your alma mater here) - and succeed! And that's what they want their applicants to do when the get there - succeed! And if you did well in that school, there is a good chance you may get a nod over someone else with a better SAT/ACT!
The other HUGE factor when all else appears equal? Surprised the heck out of me: The letter of recommendation! Said it was really a big deal.
But it has to be a great recommendation letter, not just a couple sentences cobbled together; 'Yeah, he's good' kind of thing, but when the writer first says "This is who I AM, and this is why I AM QUALIFIED to tell YOU that this is the candidate YOU WANT at YOUR university...", and then give examples. This letter should take a couple hours to write.
Another friend standing nearby heard this. Turns out she is on the admissions board of another large and well known university at the graduate school level, and she jumped in on the conversation. Said she once had two great applicants from the same school and it got down to the letters of recommendation. Those letters were written by the same person. They were practically word for word identical. Whoever wrote them put ZERO effort into them.
She had to reject both applicants.
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