What states are underrepresented?

tokenadult
Thu, 06 Sep 2007 20:17:11 +0000

Two things make the Midwest underrepresented in elite private college admission:

1) Few of the colleges that most people call “elite private colleges” are located in the Midwest, and yet most students go to college within 500 miles of home, so it takes extra effort to find students willing to go so far from home even for the most famous colleges,

and

2) most Midwest states have strong state flagship universities, which usually have top-of-the-nation programs in at least a few subjects, and often strong undergraduate honors programs that keep in-state students in state.

Both reasons to stay in state can be overcome, and of course the very most famous elite private colleges get applicants from all over. But, speaking of Minnesota, it is my impression that a lot of young people who would be very competitive for applying to colleges in the northeast or California simply decide to apply only to State U, because an honors program placement with a full-ride-plus-travel allowance merit scholarship is a hard offer to turn down. When students from Minnesota apply to HYPSMC, there seems to be more self-selection of the students and fewer “lottery ticket” applications, and for most of those colleges the base acceptance rate of applicants from Minnesota is approximately twice the overall base acceptance rate of that college.