<p>" “out there” states such as montana, wyoming, Idaho, kansas"</p>
<p>Maybe not as much of an edge as you might think.</p>
<p>I was living in an “out-there” state a while back, and was involved in alumni activities. They do alumni interviews for most of the area candidates.
I was curious to check up on the applicants I’d met, so I asked the alumni chapter head how the area kids wound up doing.</p>
<p>The two years I inquired, the precentage of kids who got in to Cornell from our area was virtually identical to Cornell’s aggregate admissions % for that year.</p>
<p>Whether those individuals were actually equally qualified vs. the rest of the applicant pool, I can’t say.</p>
<p>IIRC, in the book “A is for Admissions” the author describes the regional factor as being somewhat inconsequential at Dartmouth when she worked as an admissions officer there. Given its national appeal, she reported that they wound up getting adequate regional representation anyway, without much altering their admissions process to accomplish it.</p>