vossron

The Common Data Set shows what factors are considered; have a look at
http://www.williams.edu/admin/provos...S2008_2009.pdf

It says, e.g., that "Geographical residence" is "Considered" but "State residency" is "Not Considered" in admission decisions. Other factors are also given.

Corbett

For comparison, I looked at other northeastern schools that post their CDS forms online. There are four possible levels of relative importance for the different admissions factors, which are:

- Very Important
- Important
- Considered
- Not Considered

At Middlebury, Dartmouth, Swarthmore and Williams:

- Geographical residence is "Considered"
- State residency is "Not Considered"

At Amherst, Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, Brown, and Yale, on the other hand:

- Geographical residence is "Considered"
- State residency is also "Considered"

So all of these schools do consider geographical residence as a factor in admissions, though not as an "important" or "very important" factor. Furthermore, many schools apparently do care about the specific state that an applicant hails from, although other schools -- including Williams --apparently do not.

interesteddad

Corbett:

I think that may just be a difference in how the phrase "state residency" is being interpreted in filling out the form. On the one hand, "state residency" is the same as geographic diversity. However, it also has a much more specific meaning in admissions, namely that in-state and out-of-state admissions standards are often completely different (see Cal, UNC-CH, UVa, UMich, etc). The schools listing "not considered" may be trying to emphasis that there are no specific state hurdles or benefits in the application process.

I don't believe there is any actual distinction in the way Amherst and Swarthmore view state residency.

johnwesley

maybe not, but then, it must s**k if you're applying from Connecticut. Not only are you from a densley populated state, but, you're competing in the same region as Massachusetts which probably sends the most of any state.

ColdWind

How a college or university "reads" applications can be the difference between being admitted or denied. Schools can & do "read" differently. Georgetown University reads by school, thus eliminating the weakest applicants applying from the same school very early in the process. Many admissions folks don't acknowledge their "reading" process to outsiders.
Williams College, in my opinion, is doing the right thing. Provincialism is just another form of ignorance.

ephswoman09

i dont think you are necessarily screwed if you come from states like MA or CT, but you might get a bump if you are from a more "exotic" state like Alaska/Hawaii/Idaho...