Does being from a rural area help at all in the admissions process?

Colleges & Universities Duke University
1

<p>I am just curious! I am from northern Michigan.</p>

2

<p>If you are from a random state (WY, Montana, a Dakota) that Duke doesn’t have much presence in, that might help marginally. However, you are from MI, so it really won’t, unless somehow that affected your life.</p>

<p>If you are from rural Kenya and have a life story as to how the rural area affected you and what you have done because of that then it will help, but in your case, it won’t.</p>

3

<p>That makes sense. However, I did write about how the lack of adequate health care in the area has prompted me to do a lot of volunteering and have an interest in health disparities.</p>

4

<p>That’s good. Remember also that you will be compared to the context of your school-- so it’s not about having x number of APs or y number of ECs, but how x and y measure up in the context of what your school and community offers.</p>

5

<p>Similar to purpleacorn’s point, your EC involvement will be evaluated in light of opportunities available to you. If OP plays violin, for example, being involved in a single state-level orchestra might be a huge commitment if it is 200 miles away. However, a violin player in NYC could play in many orchestras at a more presitigious level without leaving the neighborhood.</p>

<p>By the way, my understanding of Duke’s adcom policy is slightly different than patriotsfan. An applicant from Ann Arbor would be evaluated differently from OP, even though both are from Michigan. Everyone is expected to impact their community and take advantage of the opportunities available to them. These impacts and opportunities will necessarily be quite different based on the region of Michigan.</p>

6

<p>rmldad, simply put, you’re wrong. If someone lives in a town in MI with 20k people and someone lives in a town with 80k people, universities really won’t care, unless living in that rural or urban area inspired you to do something. If you go to a ten person high school with no clubs, then they can see why your EC involvement will be down. If you live in Compton, they can see why your resources for ECs are limited and why you have to spend all your time working at a corner store. I did state that it depends on what you do with where you live, and how you make the most out of your opportunities.</p>

7

<p>I agree that each applicant is assesseed wholistically; thus, rmldad’s and purplecorn’s comments are especially applicable. However, patriotsfan1, I am quite certain Duke does not provide any “automatic advantage” to those who hail from domestic, rural areas. Simply stated, the university is far past focusing on a balance for US canadidates based principally on geography.</p>

8

<p>Is it just me or are rmldad, patriotsfan1, and TopTier’s posts basically in agreement? :wink: Seems like you guys think you’re saying very different things, but are really saying similar things in my mind. That is, being from a rural area in and of itself doesn’t help unless it’s truly shaped your experience in some way or you have access to limited resources and have overcome that disadvantage. In other words, you are judged in the context of what is available to you (extracurricular, school curriculum, etc.), which certainly could (or could not) be very different from somebody in a more suburban/urban area. </p>

<p>And, yeah, being from Montana/Idaho/North Dakota can definitely help because Duke likes to say it has students from all 50 states. A qualified applicant from a state with almost zero representation is more likely to be admitted than another qualified applicant from a state with many students. (I think only Montana was missing somebody last year…). But that is obviously a different situation and not applicable to somebody from rural Michigan (or the vast majority of applicants).</p>

9

<p>bluedog: I fully agree with your first paragraph. However, with respect, I largely disagree with your second paragraph. Specifically, while what you have indicated re low-representation states was certainly true some years ago, I doubt its current validity – and, more important, its current applicability.</p>

<p>Duke is now overwhelmingly focused on achieving true diversity – not “census demographics” such as domestic geography, gender and/or race, per se, but rather what each potential undergraduate class member will uniquely contribute to his classmates, to the faculty, and to the university. Therefore, the admissions benefit provided by being from a North Dakota or a Montana approaches zero.</p>

<p>I suppose that it might conceivably provide the most marginal advantage in rare circumstances, but no more than that. In sum, the prodigy-violinist is an attractive candidate regardless of his geographic home, whereas being from a rural, underrepresented state really does not add much (if anything) to the applicant’s portfolio.</p>

<p>Obviously and crucially, ALL this presumes outstanding – more than just quite competitive – grades, standardized test scores, recommendations, and so forth.</p>

10

<p>@patriotsfan - here is a quote from Duke’s Admissions web site:

An applicant from Ann Arbor and an applicant from rural Upper Penninsula will inevitably have faced tremendously different opportunities and challenges. If these two hypothetical applicants both list labratory research as an activity, each will have had vastly different experiences. One might pursue a research opportunity a short walk from home working with the parent of a classmate; the other must drive more than an hour each way to a lab who is hosting a high school student for the first time. If both list Varsity Golf as an EC, one applicant might have access to UMichigan’s indoor practice facility year-round while the other braves the frozen tundra taking advantage of every moment of sunshine.</p>

<p>I didn’t think my original post was all that different from yours, but it certainly was not wrong.</p>

<p>Also, TopTier for what it is worth, Duke’s Common Data Set indicates that “State Residency” is “Considered”. This documentation, along with Dean Guttentag’s address to the Class of 2017 Freshmen, would indicate that an applicant from Montana or North Dakota might still have a slight advantage over other applicants.</p>

<p>Ref.:<br>

11

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<p>Right, I’ve heard Guttentag in person (like he does in those linked comments) say, “You know anybody from Montana who wants to go to Duke? We’re looking!” Most high-stats, qualified applicants do not get admitted to Duke. A qualified applicant from Montana simply has a “hook” that makes them standout; it won’t get them admitted if they have shortcomings. </p>

<p>Having said that, Duke probably gets 10-15 applications from the two or three super low-representation states (by low, I mean approaching zero; they don’t care as long as they have at least one student from each state). So, we’re talking about 0.05% of all applicants, which is probably not even worth talking about! I agree that Duke isn’t looking to keep each geographic region about “even” and doesn’t care about geographic diversity as long as they can say “students come from all 50 states and # countries”… ;)</p>

<p>As for having state residency considered, that is probably talking more about residents of North Carolina who can get a slight boost (but, contrary to some beliefs, there is absolutely no quota or something in the charter that says Duke must enroll a certain percentage of its students from North Carolina - the charter does say it should “serve” the people of the Carolinas, but is ambiguous).</p>

12

<p>For whatever it is worth, rmldad and bluedog, I have been in several briefings to the Annual Fund Executive Committee and the DAA Board/Executive Committee where Dean Guttentag has made similar humorous remarks re applications from geographically underrepresented states. However, his point – and mine, all along on this topic – is that realistically the geographic “hook” is so tenuous and its influence is so slight that pragmatically it approaches zero. I suppose if there were a single seat remaining in '18, with two equally great candidates, and with one hailing from Montana and the other from Virginia, the Montanan would be accepted. But – and, again, here’s my essential point – there really are no identical candidates; one of those two would have some extremely slight, tangible advantage over the other, which would supersede any potential state under representation. In essence, we all agree and are focusing on the elusiveness of how many angels really can dance on the head of a pin.</p>

13

<p>Students from “true rural” high schools are at a hugh disadvatage when it comes to having the profile needed to gain admission into any elite university. Most true rural high schools have not had a single student accepted in 10+ years to any elite university. Most of the students with top profiles come from elite private high schools, magnet, and top public high schools located in affluent areas near large cities.
The adcom can’t know what evey small rural high school can offer its students. Your job is to turn this into a miny hook…you want to be the first from your school to go to Duke in 20 years, your GC told you students from your school are never accepted at top U’s but you are determined to be the first, you offer more diversity than taking 20 kids from TJHS. Most adcoms are excited when they find a rural student with an elite profile and feel good about giving you a chance. Good luck</p>

14

<p>I like what Bud suggests (and my son graduated from TJHS), but the applicant must work HARD to make a compelling case – in his essays, among other opportunities – why Duke’s intellectual diversity will be substantially enhanced and how tangible, documented experiences in his rural community are more significant than things like IB and AP courses (and so forth). Further, competitive standardized tests scores must demonstrate the candidate’s clear potential to achieve and excel at the “elite” institution.</p>

15

<p>I don’t know if being from a rural area will help you during the admissions process, but as a rural student there are some scholarships open to you. Check out this thread: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1600099-500-blogging-scholarship-rural-us-students.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1600099-500-blogging-scholarship-rural-us-students.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;