<p>The density thing is interesting and means more to some than others. My older kid went to UVa as a Virginia kid. He really wanted to apply ED and be done with it. He had a couple top 10 schools on his list but this was 2005 and the only schools we would have signed off on for ED were instate schools. UVa then and now is not easy to get into, even for instate kids. But lots of kids want to feel “special”. So, a top academic kid sometimes wants to apply beyond UVa, Michigan, Berkeley,etc. But sometimes those schools are the best fit. UVa was a great fit. But I ran into someone tonight who talked about a local kid who was “so smart” and was at Cornell. That is some of the draw sometimes, the local kid who goes to UVa, William & Mary, Virginia Tech, may be just as “smart” but the experience is just more common.</p>