McGrath Lewis also said that an elite high school with a challenging atmosphere benefits all applicants, regardless of class standing.

“Students get energized by their company and the competition of their classmates, and that’s a great thing,” she said.

In addition, Graham stressed that Attewell’s study failed to take into account other factors in admissions.

“The selective colleges say that 80 percent of their applicants are capable of doing the work,” she said, and tend to select their class based on other factors, with an eye to a diverse class.

“We stress that students are not competing against each other,” Manella said, “If four candidates are strong, we’re confident that multiple admits are possible. There are other factors besides academics that factor into admission, and we take time to educate parents and students about them.”

Attewell did not return a call for comment.

—Staff writer Eugenia V. Levenson can be reached at levenson@fas.harvard.edu.