<p>Do you think it hurts or helps an applicant if he comes from NJ?</p>
<p>Why would it matter?</p>
<p>It would matter if a state is traditionally over-represented in a college (i.e. has greater percentage of students there than percentage of graduating seniors nationwide).</p>
<p>Most northeastern states are very highly represented. NJ is top 5 most highly represented states, I believe, at Harvard, Princeton, and MIT. I'd suspect the same at Yale and Stanford, but without the numbers at the moment, I won't definitively make that claim.</p>
<p>I don't know if it hurts you, but I know for sure it doesn't help you. Being from New Jersey myself, I can attest to the fact that certain things are harder.</p>