Family friends present us with a small, unscientific matriculation sample; sorry, I don’t have a clue about how wide a geographic net was extended in the application process. I’m persuaded that going out of region can be helpful, the moreso for those from very competitive homes (NY, MA, NJ, etc.) and less hookiness. But that clearly does not deter a majority on the upper east coast from staying in region or close to it. And that is because there are so many quality institutions sprung from the historical development of our nation. Quality is elsewhere, to be sure, and I would advocate for collegians to experience the other coast, or the midwest, for example, but that just does not happen so much. The results below show the mix that I find fairly normal in recent years.
- a NYC family with brothers from Deerfield to Vanderbilt and SMU, sister from Salisbury to Cornell
- several Peddie faculty families to NYU, Tufts, Wheaton (MA), 2 at Delaware, Washington College, CUA, Princeton, Franklin and Marshall, Gettysburg, Williams. Outside of the region, other kids went to Elon, Grinnell, Kenyon and Macalester.
- Choate faculty family's siblings to Hobart and William Smith, Princeton, Williams
- Delaware day school friend chose Stanford over Dartmouth, but family took some convincing due to distance
Legacy and intercollegiate athletics are factors in some of these matriculations, but the point is that at the end of the day, a kid and family are going to look at their choices and make the decision that works for them. Some are thinking “strategically” about post-baccalaureate job markets and the such, but it’s awfully hard in my estimation to work “backwards” from a prediction about an individual’s situation in four years. Maybe there is more to go on (“passions”, interests, mid-career salary expectations!) at 17 than applying to boarding school at age 13, but overthinking this whole business is . . . undertaken with an opportunity cost ~O)