stemps

I was wondering how much geographic diversity factors into admissions decisions at Ivies/Top Universities. I didn't expect for it to make much of a difference, but after coming to CC, I was surprised by the inflated amount of prospective applicants from NJ/MA/CT/NY/etc. I realize that CC doesn't necessarily represent the general applicant pool, but if anyone could comment on the relationship between place of residence and admissions I would be interested and would really appreciate it.

I'm from Minneapolis if you're wondering.

tokenadult

Where do you want to go? Minnesotans are still scarce outside the Midwest colleges, but enough of them have the presence of mind to apply to the most famous colleges in the country that all of those colleges can count on having admitted students from Minnesota every year.

stemps

My list looks something like this:

Yale (SCEA)
Amherst
Brown
Bates
Carleton
Brandeis
College of William & Mary
Clark
U of Minn (Twin Cities)

I'm not necessarily asking for my own purposes, just curious if anyone could comment on the effect geographic location has on admissions. I'm pretty sure Minnesota usually has more representation at prestigious schools than it's neighbors, but I still hope my location works in my favor a little.

stemps

bump. .

Keilexandra

Not to hijack the OP's thread, but I"m curious too. Also, is the distribution by area or state? E.g. I live in the Northeast but in a slightly more obscure state.

tokenadult

Most college students go to college within 500 miles (a reasonable one-day drive) of their homes. You can check approximate sources of students for each college from figures published by the college, e.g., "15 percent of our students come from the northeast" or whatever. Usually colleges say this by regions that they make up. The definition of "northeast," for example, may not be the same for all colleges.

For the OP, I'm assuming that if you have a legitimate shot at Yale that the U of Minnesota will be your "safety" college. You should definitely apply to the U as early as possible, to see if you indeed get in. That will be a relief during the rest of the admission process.

You all know about regional college meetings, right?

Fall 2008 Events Where Students Can Meet Admission Officers

Those are good places for meeting out-of-state college officers in your home state.

stemps

bump.

Does anyone else have anything to say?

jaf1991

I think it might have something to do with where you're from. I had an admissions counselor tell me that it's an advantage to be from the Northwest if you're applying in the midwest or farther east because it's hard to get NW kids to go east. That's all I know on the subject.