How easy is it for the admissions office to tell if a student is from an underrepresented area? I live in a state where the main metropolitan area is well known and respected for academic strength and cultural advantage, but I am 6 hours away from it. Night and day, basically. I just want to think that they can see that without working too hard (I doubt every admissions office is getting out google maps, etc). Is this something I should mention to a regional counselor, or is that annoying?
It doesn’t matter enough where you should try to emphasize it in any way. It would be pretty odd. As far as if they will notice, who knows. That’s something only the admissions department knows. I would suspect no. They probably only care about geographic diversity at a state level, if that.
I can’t speak to Northeastern specifically but in general regional admissions officers know the demographics of their territories down to the high school district level. They also know the historical yield of applications from each school. That is an integral part of their job. In addition they utilize census data- based socioeconomic statistics by MSA, county, city, and zip code to help evaluate applicants and to build a diverse class. You might want to contact the Northeastern admissions officer responsible for your area to get an idea what his/her familiarity with your area is.
Agree. They will likely know and have resources, if they don’t. An area rep’s responsibilities include knowing their territories. And your GC provides a school report, which often provides base info and local demographics. But it won’t tip you, without the stats and the full rest of what they look for.
At this point, with Early apps underway, I wouldn’t bother them to ask.
Thanks everybody. I am just anxious. I will let it go, I guess. @lookingforward, I hope what I have is good enough (ACT 35 superscore, 3.9 UW), but idk. bleh.
You’re going to be just fine.
But know the rest of what your targets look for. It’s not all stats.
And I worked very hard on the Common App essay. I think it’s good. My rigor is ok, not robot level, haha. I care a lot about my extracurricular activities so hopefully that will show. The letters of rec, no idea how they are (not close to any teacher). It baffles me when kids say their letters of rec are good – how do they know?
Some don’t waive their FERPA rights. Some do but the recommenders give the letters to them to mail. Some are just speculating based on past performance and discussion with their recommenders.
@PengsPhils Thanks! Can I quote you on that? haha
@Oregon2016 Well, my recommenders are really nice people, so even though I am definitely not their best student ever, I think the letters won’t be terrible. idk, I just want to go to college already, haha. Thanks!
I don’t think that will do much good, but sure, haha. As others have correctly said, it’s a holistic process. However, based on your stats, I would say it’s very unlikely that your location will affect your admissions decision.