What's with the geographic distribution of QB matches and finalists?

[Joshtch]

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Someone with a lower income does not automatically have more hardship, especially because QuestBridge consideres other factors such as home life, educational opportunity, family history.

Then how does higher cost of living translate into negative bias towards northeasterners? There must be some other confounding variable. Are northeasterners more likely to have a stabler home life, greater educational opportunity, or a favorable family history?
…Not really, AFAIK.</p>

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Maybe that year, the Mid-Atlantic students were just better applicants.

That’s totally possible, especially considering the numbers behind the chart: the finalists represent less than 2500 students in all–the matches represent a mere 250. The fewer data points there are, the more statistical variance there can be. </p>

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I’m not sure how to interpret the data, it is just a pie chart from the one year. I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you, just put together a great application and let the cards fall where they may. I think the bigger picture is the # of QB applicants that get into QB partner schools during RD! I wouldn’t over analyze the match data if I were you.

Yeah. No matter how much I complain about the apparent geographical bias on QB, there’s nothing I can do about it. Congratulations to you and your D, and I hope I have her good fortune come next year. :)</p>