<p>Obviously, being from certain parts of the country can work in your favor. Usually CA is not one of those states. Is there any schools where being from CA is actually an advantage?</p>
<p>at many east coast LAC's it is a plus. when a school only draws students from a 100 mile radius, it doesn't seem so prestigious. when a school draws students from 3000 miles away, it seems like more of a draw. at bigger universities like the ivies, they have applicants from every corner of the globe, so being from CA wouldn't matter much.</p>
<p>note: i heard this from a cousin who worked in the holy cross admissions office. it might not be applicable for the top schools like amherst and williams.</p>
<p>It would in general be non big name schools in the MW and South.</p>
<p>Advantageous? In terms of admissions? social life? financials? I don't understand the question.</p>
<p>The top northeast LACs typically draw the largest numbers of applicants from the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions, but they also tend to have good representation from California. The Midwest, South, and Southwest (excluding California) tend to be somewhat underrepresented. Haverford's class of 2012, for example, is 17% from Pennsylvania, 36% "other Mid-Atlantic", and 14% New England, for a whopping 67% from the Northeast. But next comes "Western" at 12% (I'll bet disproportionately Californians), and only 6% Midwest, 6% Southeast, and 2% Southwest, with the remaining 6% Internationals and U.S, Territories. </p>
<p>Haverford</a> College Office of Admission: Profile of Students Admitted to the Class of 2011</p>
<p>Wellesley is not quite as extreme in its home-region skew: 22.8% New England, 17.9% Mid-Atlantic (for a total of 49.7% Northeast), 21% Pacific and Mountain, 16.5% South, 11.9% Central, and 9.9% Internationals and Americans Abroad. But basically a similar picture: probably more of an advantage to be from the South or Midwest than the West.</p>
<p>Statistics</a> 2012</p>
<p>Same at Wesleyan: 21% New England, 40% Mid-Atlantic (= 61% Northeast), 17% West, 6% Midwest, 6% South, 10% Internationals.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.wesleyan.edu/admission/Profile2012.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.wesleyan.edu/admission/Profile2012.pdf</a> </p>
<p>On the other hand, being from California may give you some geographic diversity points at top Midwestern LACs. I don't have the stats but I'll bet there re not very many Californians at Carleton, Macalester, Grinnell, Oberlin, or other top Midwestern LACs.</p>
<p>I went to a second-tier LAC and CA had big representation there. Most schools in the top 100 aren't hurting for CA residents -- the state is HUGE and there are plenty of y'all to go around :) I'm going to go ahead and say that I doubt that Carleton, Grinnell or Oberlin are hurting for CA residents, either. Those are top schools. Students from all over want to go there.</p>
<p>I'd say the only place where it may have a significant advantage is at a public university on the East Coast or in the South, or some not very well-known college in that area.</p>
<p>I'm also going to say that geographic diversity inside the U.S. is not going to be a hugely advantageous factor in admissions. I mean, colleges want geographic diversity, but that's not going to make them accept someone that they wouldn't otherwise accept. It most likely would be a small weight to tip the scales in the favor of a borderline admit or something. But you shouldn't consider it part of your package like your ECs or your scores.</p>
<p>Actually, bclintonk, there are more students at Oberlin from California than from any other state.</p>
<p>being from North Dakota is advantageous. schools like Penn love to advertise that their students represent all 50 states. Penn actually enrolled 1 person from ND last year, and I guarantee the ability to say "we represent all 50 states!" played a big role in that person's acceptance(which was most likely ED)</p>
<p>The big advantage of being a California resident is the admission plus at the University of California schools.
Otherwise, I agree with julliet that there seem to be plenty of Californians at schools all over the country.</p>
<p>I just wanted to know, for knowing's sake. Plus, if I saw a college that was on my borderline list that might tip the scales.
UC's are great... but not exactly what I want at this point.
Oh well.</p>
<p>While visiting Univ of Dayton last week, they made a plea for us to tell anyone from North Dakota that Dayton needs them. I e-mailed a friend there, who has a hs d and told her she should see how bad ($$$) they needed someone.</p>
<p>toledo, that is a great story about Dayton needing ND students :)</p>
<p>I think that Kenyon would like more students from California. (Not Oberlin.)
Kenyon Regional Distribution
New England 12.5%
Mid Atlantic 24.6%
South 9.1%
Midwest (Ohio: 16.8%) 30.8%
West and Southwest 19.2%
Foreign 3.8%</p>
<p>The more "Midwestern" private colleges in Ohio, say Wooster (1880 students) for example, would love to have more Californians. Or other small schools like Ohio Wesleyan (1850 students) or Hiram (1200 students).</p>
<p>Same thing for Minnesota. Carleton and Macalester already attract Californians, but being from California is likely to make St. Paul's St. Thomas or Hamline love you. Maybe Northfield's St. Olaf's, too.</p>
<p>These colleges are not very hard to get into by CC standards so you probably don't need the geographic hook to be admitted; check for scholarship availability, though. </p>
<p>Also, I think it is a little bit fun to be from out of state at a school where most kids are in state, as long as it is not a suitcase school that is dead on the weekends. My daughter is enjoying being one of a handful of Ohio undergrads at UT in Austin, where there are 50,000 students.</p>
<p>Where's a quick online reference to geographic make-up of a school? Thanks.</p>
<p>I would say you're somewhat SOL there buddy. I was once poking around the MIT admissions website. They have students from "All 50 states," with one from Wyoming. The states that are out in the boondocks, that's where you're a geographic minority. I'm going to a college in Pennsylvania and they get more freshman from California than they do from Ohio.</p>
<p>You might try Macalester. They show only 13% from the "West/Southwest"---a 6-state region that includes California. Given that California alone represents something like 11% or 12% of the nation's population, that probably makes Californians a slightly "underrepresented" group:</p>
<p>Macalester</a> Admissions</p>
<p>Mac, but the way, shows a student body of 18% Minnesotans, 13% other 'Upper Midwest" (Wisconsin, Iowa, the Dakotas), and another 11% "Midwest" (Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan), for a total of 42% Midwesterners.</p>
<p>Or Carleton. They show 33 Californians in a class of about 500, good for fifth place after Minnesota (102), Illinois (52), International (46), and New York (40). That works out to about 6.6% Californians, well under their proportion in the population at large.</p>
<p>Carleton</a> College: Admissions: Class of 2012 Profile: Facts & Figures</p>
<p>Whether either of these schools will give you special consideration on grounds of geographic diversity remains to be seen, but it can't hurt. At least Californians aren't a dime a dozen at these outstanding Midwestern schools as they are at many Northeastern LACs.</p>
<p>At the Amherst admissions info session this summer, they said that they wished that there was a great prep school in South Dakota. They said so many states, like California and Massachusetts, have an abundance of qualified applicants and they get very few applicants from some states.</p>
<p>^ Yes, I hear that all the time. Unfortunately my job in Minnesota isn't close enough to the state line to allow us to relocate to South Dakota or North Dakota. Minnesotans are "underrepresented" at some Northeastern LACs but not at the Ivies or a lot of other top schools, and not at top West Coast schools. I figure a SD or ND address would be worth at least the equivalent of a 50-point boost on D's SAT scores. Maybe more. MT, WY, ID, and AK are good, too.</p>
<p>Yay, underrepresented states! (I'm from Neb., which I assume is also underrepresented?)</p>
<p>To the OP from California....You may be a geographic minority at my alma mater, the University of North Dakota. You interested???</p>
<p>I am sorry to say I doubt that there is a school in the US that wants Californians bad enough for it to be a hook....</p>