Top private research universities - Who wins competition for students in each state?

College Search & Lists
1

<p>Which of the top 22 private research universities win the tug-of-war for students in each other’s states?</p>

<p>Brown University
California Institute of Technology
Carnegie Mellon University
Columbia University in the City of New York
Cornell University
Dartmouth College
Duke University
Emory University
Georgetown University
Harvard University
Johns Hopkins University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Northwestern University
Princeton University
Rice University
Stanford University
University of Chicago
University of Notre Dame
University of Pennsylvania
Vanderbilt University
Washington University in St Louis
Yale University</p>

<p>Distance from home is a factor in college decisions but is controlled if you compare home state with home
state on a one-to-one basis.</p>

<p>For example:
Stanford attracts students from Massachusetts and Harvard attracts students from California. Which has
stronger drawing power in their competitor’s home state? </p>

<p>I have calculated a sort of “index of attraction” between each university and their competitor’s home states. </p>

<p>It indicates who wins in the head-to-head competition for students in each other’s states. It is a measure of
“animal magnetism”.</p>

<p>The index is calulated using the:
(1) number of enrolled freshmen 2006 from the competitor’s state
(2) total number of freshmen 2006 from that state who attended any private research university in the US
-included about 60 private universities
(3) number of freshmen in the freshman class</p>

<p>The basic idea is to take the number of students from the competitor’s state and adjust it for (a) the size of
the freshman class and (b) the total number of students from the competitor’s state who sought enrollment
at a private research university. I’ve tried my best to control for confounding factors and to standardize the
index.</p>

<p>For example:
Stanford attracts students from Massachusetts. Harvard attracts students from California. Which has
stronger drawing power in their competitor’s home state? </p>

<p>The Stanford freshman class (n=1646) had 22 students from MA. Massachusetts sent a total of 6,145
freshmen to private research universities.</p>

<p>The Harvard freshman class (n=1686) had 258 students from CA. California sent a total of 7,952 freshmen to
private research universities. </p>

<p>Stanford’s MA “magnetism” index = (22/1646/6145)<em>1000000 = 2.2.
Harvard’s CA “magnetism” index = (258/1686/7952)</em>1000000 = 19.2.</p>

<p>The multiplication by one million is simply to get the result on a scale that is easy to interpret. Otherwise, it
would be a tiny fraction. </p>

<p>Harvard (19.2) beats Stanford (2.2)…by a wide margin
Harvard is more attractive to California students than Stanford is to Massachusetts students. </p>

<p>Here are more scores:
Cornell (6.3) edges Duke (6.1)
Dartmouth (8.0) beats Rice (1.8)
Princeton (15.1) triumphs over Notre Dame (6.5)
Brown (4.7) squeaks by Vanderbilt (3.7)
Northwestern (5.5) upsets Harvard (5.4) in overtime </p>

<p>Just for fun, I’ll post the entire table of “box scores” one column at a time.
For this purpose, I considered Georgetown to be in Virginia.</p>

<p>I’ll start with Georgia.</p>

<p>Institution Name INDEX GA
Harvard University 7.0
California Institute of Technology 2.6
Yale University 8.5
Georgetown University 11.6
Emory University 151.0
University of Chicago 6.7
Northwestern University 8.7
University of Notre Dame 8.0
Johns Hopkins University 6.9
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 6.7
Washington University in St Louis 10.7
Dartmouth College 8.7
Princeton University 10.0
Columbia University in the City of New York 7.0
Cornell University 4.4
Duke University 19.9
Carnegie Mellon University 3.9
University of Pennsylvania 7.7
Brown University 5.7
Vanderbilt University 32.3
Rice University 16.5
Stanford University 6.8</p>

2

<p>Institution Name INDEX ILL
Harvard University 5.4
California Institute of Technology 6.4
Yale University 8.1
Georgetown University 7.1
Emory University 5.4
University of Chicago 34.3
Northwestern University 41.7
University of Notre Dame 19.3
Johns Hopkins University 3.5
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 5.3
Washington University in St Louis 21.8
Dartmouth College 5.8
Princeton University 3.2
Columbia University in the City of New York 3.9
Cornell University 4.2
Duke University 5.5
Carnegie Mellon University 3.5
University of Pennsylvania 3.1
Brown University 4.4
Vanderbilt University 8.0
Rice University 3.4
Stanford University 4.1</p>

3

<p>NU v. Harvard?</p>

<p>Not a fair comparison – a much higher % of applicants are accepted at NU than at Harvard.</p>

4

<p>I don’t think the initial Stanford-Harvard comparison is fair because Californians are far more likely to go to public universities than people from Massachusetts. This can be seen easily from the fact that the total number of students at private research universities is so similar between the two states even though California has many more students going to college total (it’s a much bigger state). The public university system in California is far better than that of Massachusetts, but your analysis assumes that the public universities in each are equally attractive.</p>

5

<p>svalbardlutefisk-
Isn’t lutefisk a fish pickled in lye?</p>

<p>Anyway, I think the number of students attending state schools is accounted for when you divide by the total number of students from the state who attended a private research university. It also controls for students who are attending LACs.</p>

6

<p>Indiana</p>

<p>Institution Name INDEX IN
Harvard University 6.3
California Institute of Technology 6.2
Yale University 7
Georgetown University 9.2
Emory University 11.9
University of Chicago 16.8
Northwestern University 25.7
University of Notre Dame 92.7
Johns Hopkins University 2
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 9.2
Washington University in St Louis 21.7
Dartmouth College 4.9
Princeton University 15.1
Columbia University in the City of New York 1.9
Cornell University 2.9
Duke University 7.8
Carnegie Mellon University 8.3
University of Pennsylvania 6.2
Brown University 4.5
Vanderbilt University 21.6
Rice University 9.3
Stanford University 5.6</p>

7

<p>Maryland</p>

<p>Institution Name INDEX MD
Harvard University 8
California Institute of Technology 10.7
Yale University 10
Georgetown University 23.5
Emory University 11.6
University of Chicago 9.4
Northwestern University 8.9
University of Notre Dame 8.3
Johns Hopkins University 43.6
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 12.4
Washington University in St Louis 21.7
Dartmouth College 9.6
Princeton University 11.2
Columbia University in the City of New York 12.5
Cornell University 12.8
Duke University 12.6
Carnegie Mellon University 14.5
University of Pennsylvania 12.3
Brown University 10.5
Vanderbilt University 14.4
Rice University 5.5
Stanford University 6.6</p>

8

<p>Massachusetts</p>

<p>Institution Name INDEX MA
Harvard University 21.1
California Institute of Technology #VALUE!
Yale University 8.3
Georgetown University 10.9
Emory University 5.7
University of Chicago 6.9
Northwestern University 5.5
University of Notre Dame 3.8
Johns Hopkins University 6.2
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 13
Washington University in St Louis 5.1
Dartmouth College 13.2
Princeton University 6
Columbia University in the City of New York 8.9
Cornell University 8.8
Duke University 5.3
Carnegie Mellon University 6.2
University of Pennsylvania 4.7
Brown University 19
Vanderbilt University 4
Rice University 1.6
Stanford University 2.2</p>

9

<p>Missouri</p>

<p>Institution Name INDEX MO
Harvard University 5.1
California Institute of Technology 8.7
Yale University 6.1
Georgetown University 5.8
Emory University 7.8
University of Chicago 5.9
Northwestern University 10.2
University of Notre Dame 15.2
Johns Hopkins University 5.2
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 7.4
Washington University in St Louis 52.1
Dartmouth College 5.1
Princeton University 4
Columbia University in the City of New York 1.8
Cornell University 1.7
Duke University 4.8
Carnegie Mellon University 2.6
University of Pennsylvania 3.7
Brown University 4.2
Vanderbilt University 14
Rice University 6.9
Stanford University 5.6</p>

10

<p>New Hampshire</p>

<p>Institution Name INDEX NH
Harvard University 3.1
California Institute of Technology 6.1
Yale University 5.9
Georgetown University 4.9
Emory University 7.8
University of Chicago 7.2
Northwestern University 3.8
University of Notre Dame 5.1
Johns Hopkins University 11.9
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 19.4
Washington University in St Louis 4.4
Dartmouth College 39.4
Princeton University 14.8
Columbia University in the City of New York 6.7
Cornell University 6.1
Duke University 3.1
Carnegie Mellon University 4.5
University of Pennsylvania 3.3
Brown University 15.9
Vanderbilt University 4.9
Rice University 1.8
Stanford University 1.6</p>

11

<p>New Jersey</p>

<p>Institution Name INDEX NJ
Harvard University 6.2
California Institute of Technology 6.5
Yale University 8.6
Georgetown University 14.5
Emory University 5.1
University of Chicago 5.3
Northwestern University 5.9
University of Notre Dame 6.5
Johns Hopkins University 19.3
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 5.6
Washington University in St Louis 4.6
Dartmouth College 10.1
Princeton University 19.1
Columbia University in the City of New York 18.2
Cornell University 14
Duke University 6.7
Carnegie Mellon University 15.3
University of Pennsylvania 13.1
Brown University 8.9
Vanderbilt University 4.4
Rice University 3.7
Stanford University 2.7</p>

12

<p>you have alot of time on your hands.</p>

13

<p>New York</p>

<p>Institution Name INDEX NY
Harvard University 10.5
California Institute of Technology 4.6
Yale University 10.3
Georgetown University 9.8
Emory University 6.3
University of Chicago 7.1
Northwestern University 4.1
University of Notre Dame 4.2
Johns Hopkins University 10.1
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 7.4
Washington University in St Louis 4.9
Dartmouth College 12.3
Princeton University 10.1
Columbia University in the City of New York 19.3
Cornell University 23.5
Duke University 6.1
Carnegie Mellon University 9.7
University of Pennsylvania 9.2
Brown University 12.1
Vanderbilt University 5.3
Rice University 2.7
Stanford University 3</p>

14

<p>North Carolina</p>

<p>Institution Name INDEX NC
Harvard University 15.2
California Institute of Technology 41.6
Yale University 15.3
Georgetown University 17.5
Emory University 22.1
University of Chicago 17.7
Northwestern University 5.4
University of Notre Dame 8.7
Johns Hopkins University 10.2
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 12.2
Washington University in St Louis 6.9
Dartmouth College 9.2
Princeton University 10
Columbia University in the City of New York 12.3
Cornell University 6.3
Duke University #VALUE!
Carnegie Mellon University 6.3
University of Pennsylvania 8.6
Brown University 5.3
Vanderbilt University 23.1
Rice University 4.7
Stanford University 6.1</p>

15

<p>Pennsylvania</p>

<p>Institution Name INDEX PA
Harvard University 5.6
California Institute of Technology 4.5
Yale University 7.2
Georgetown University 11.6
Emory University 5.1
University of Chicago 9.6
Northwestern University 5.8
University of Notre Dame 11.2
Johns Hopkins University 14.6
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 5.4
Washington University in St Louis 3.9
Dartmouth College 8
Princeton University 10.3
Columbia University in the City of New York 9
Cornell University 12.5
Duke University 9
Carnegie Mellon University 38.2
University of Pennsylvania 32.5
Brown University 8.1
Vanderbilt University 3.9
Rice University 3.2
Stanford University 2.8</p>

16

<p>Rhode Island</p>

<p>Institution Name INDEX RI
Harvard University 5.8
California Institute of Technology #VALUE!
Yale University 1.5
Georgetown University 11
Emory University 7
University of Chicago 3.1
Northwestern University 3.8
University of Notre Dame 4.8
Johns Hopkins University 8.9
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 5.8
Washington University in St Louis 2.7
Dartmouth College 5.4
Princeton University 1.6
Columbia University in the City of New York 4.3
Cornell University 7.3
Duke University 4.6
Carnegie Mellon University 10.9
University of Pennsylvania 8.3
Brown University 66.2
Vanderbilt University 3.7
Rice University #VALUE!
Stanford University 1.2</p>

17

<p>Tennessee</p>

<p>Institution Name INDEX TN
Harvard University 13.7
California Institute of Technology 5.4
Yale University 14
Georgetown University 5.8
Emory University 33.9
University of Chicago 12.8
Northwestern University 6.7
University of Notre Dame 11.9
Johns Hopkins University 7.1
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 9.2
Washington University in St Louis 22.9
Dartmouth College 4.2
Princeton University 7.5
Columbia University in the City of New York 5.9
Cornell University 2.9
Duke University 13.7
Carnegie Mellon University 4
University of Pennsylvania 9.9
Brown University 4.7
Vanderbilt University 179.7
Rice University 14.6
Stanford University 4.9</p>

18

<p>Texas</p>

<p>Institution Name INDEX TX
Harvard University 8.4
California Institute of Technology 9.3
Yale University 6.6
Georgetown University 6.2
Emory University 9
University of Chicago 6.4
Northwestern University 8
University of Notre Dame 11.1
Johns Hopkins University 5.1
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 12.8
Washington University in St Louis 11.5
Dartmouth College 8
Princeton University 8.4
Columbia University in the City of New York 5.4
Cornell University 4.1
Duke University 10.2
Carnegie Mellon University 5.7
University of Pennsylvania 4.2
Brown University 5
Vanderbilt University 16.4
Rice University 83.7
Stanford University 11.9</p>

19

<p>Virginia (Georgetown proxy home state)</p>

<p>Institution Name INDEX VA
Harvard University 11.5
California Institute of Technology 2.8
Yale University 9.2
Georgetown University 19
Emory University 8.3
University of Chicago 8.6
Northwestern University 9.7
University of Notre Dame 11
Johns Hopkins University 17.1
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 18.7
Washington University in St Louis 9.1
Dartmouth College 13.3
Princeton University 32.5
Columbia University in the City of New York 11.5
Cornell University 12.9
Duke University 30.9
Carnegie Mellon University 15.3
University of Pennsylvania 8
Brown University 13.2
Vanderbilt University 11.8
Rice University 7.6
Stanford University 8.4</p>

20

<p>California</p>

<p>Institution Name INDEX CA
Harvard University 19.2
California Institute of Technology 35.8
Yale University 18
Georgetown University 10.9
Emory University 4.8
University of Chicago 9.3
Northwestern University 11.3
University of Notre Dame 8.4
Johns Hopkins University 10.8
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 14.3
Washington University in St Louis 9
Dartmouth College 10
Princeton University 16
Columbia University in the City of New York 12.8
Cornell University 9.1
Duke University 8.3
Carnegie Mellon University 7
University of Pennsylvania 10.6
Brown University 15.2
Vanderbilt University 3.2
Rice University 6.4
Stanford University 51.9</p>