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<p>I don’t buy it. Cornell is in the same general area and it has no problem drawing people from all over. Middlebury is at least as cold.</p>
<p>I think not being near a major airport might be a factor. Californians will generally go just about anywhere, but there are fewer Californians at Hamilton than at any top 30-ish LAC in the Northeast or Midwest except Bates. I imagine it’s not so easy to get to Hamilton from LA or San Francisco; you’d need to change planes once or twice just to get to Syracuse which would leave you a good hour or more away with no good public transportation options. You’d need to get a bus from Syracuse to Utica, then it’s a 10 mile cab ride from there to Hamilton. That’s pretty arduous.</p>
<p>The people who attend Hamilton generally live within driving distance.</p>