<p>if i go to a boarding school in PA but i’m from northern VA, when i apply, where do the schools see that i’m from? who am i compaired with? i’m slightly confused with this prosess… thanks!</p>
<p>Depends on the particular issue:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If you are applying to a public university, you will be considered a resident of Virginia if that is your current designated residence (where your parents live). Thus, for both admission (state colleges favor residents) and tuition (in-state or much higher out-of-state) you are from Virginia.</p></li>
<li><p>As to private colleges, you will simply be considered a resident of Virginia who went to high school elsewhere but that means little since they charge all the same.</p></li>
<li><p>As to evaluation (grades, course load), colleges will compare you both to those from your school and applicants in general. Colleges have regional admission officers whose job is to know about the high schools in their region – how they grade, courses offerred, whether the majority of students are average or the school is filled with top achievers. Thus in evaluating your performance in relation to the whole pool of applicants they can use that knowledge (and know, for example, that a person in the top 10% of your school might be the equivalent of someone in the top 7% from another school). It is not an exact science but they usually have a sense of differences.</p></li>
</ol>