<p>I think people tend to forget how, despite the international stature of these universities, in terms of student enrollment, colleges still tend to be pretty regional. I believe a professor recently talked about how a huge chunk of students at top colleges come from close by. The student profiles of various schools provides evidence for this:</p>
<p>[The</a> Undergraduate Program: Stanford University Facts](<a href=“http://www.stanford.edu/about/facts/undergraduate.html]The”>http://www.stanford.edu/about/facts/undergraduate.html)</p>
<p>43% of Stanford students come from California ALONE.</p>
<p>[Harvard</a> College Admissions § Applying: Statistics](<a href=“http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/statistics.html]Harvard”>http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/statistics.html)</p>
<p>40% of Harvard students come from the Northeast.</p>
<p>[:</a> Northwestern University Newscenter](<a href=“http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2007/10/admission.html]:”>Freshman Class Profile: Record Applicants, Highest SAT Scores: Northwestern University News)</p>
<p>43% of Northwestern students come from the Midwest.</p>
<p>[Penn</a> Admissions: Incoming Class Profile](<a href=“http://www.admissionsug.upenn.edu/profile/]Penn”>http://www.admissionsug.upenn.edu/profile/)</p>
<p>More than 50% of UPenn students come from the Northeast.</p>
<p>In contrast to all of this, only 32% of Chicago students hail from the Midwest:</p>
<p><a href=“https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/apply/classprofile.shtml[/url]”>https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/apply/classprofile.shtml</a></p>
<p>So, really, I think Chicago’s first goal should be to firm up its standing in the midwest. There are too many great students in the midwest that wind up going to other schools. Harvard, Stanford, etc. seem to have some “home field advantage,” and Chicago needs to develop that. For too long, not enough people even in the city of Chicago knew about the U of C, or had a favorable impression of the school. That needs to change first before we look to win those tougher battles on the East and West coasts.</p>