<p>here's what i think about "please chance ___" posts: i think that no one, short of an admissions dean, can give you a GOOD "rough estimate". there are so many unbelievably qualified students applying to top schools these days that guesstimates thrown out there by current students will have little to no bearing on reality, because there is such a vast amount of students contained within the "rough estimate" 's gray areas. I think all answers to "chance" posts should be taken VERY lightly, and with a tablespoon-size serving of salt. </p>
<p>That said...</p>
<p>I think that in some cases, being from a rural area can be helpful to your application. I'm a member of the class of '11, and having facebooked a goodly number of my future classmates, i've noticed several were from places like south dakota and montana, which provenance i assume benefited them because of the rarity of applications from those areas. The region i'm from (the mid-atlantic) is one of the most competitive in the country, so applicants have to rely on relatively flawless stats and unique extracurricular accomplishments to achieve admission to top schools. My own personal distinguishing factor (i think) was NOT my stats (which, aside from high test scores on verbal + writing + SAT IIs, were lowly - my GPA was in the high 80s/low 90s, in a schedule which, for my region, was unremarkable), but it was the fact that [I THINK] i have done a great deal of traveling and am interested in seeing the world; also, i speak 3 languages and had some leadership positions to my credit. I also wrote an essay which I put a lot of thought and effort into, and which was pretty daring, in my opinion. </p>
<p>Moral of the story being: there is no one way to guarantee admission to wesleyan or other similar institutions. i think, however, that your son's record of academic of extracurricular achievements are pretty competitive, and one thing that could put him over the top and boost him over the ranks of the scores of "gray area" applicants, is how he made the most of the opportunities afforded him by his home region, a), and b), the fact that he's from a place where not many people apply to wesleyan from. I could be wrong! I, admittedly, have no idea. But then, neither do 95% of the other people responding to "please chance ___" posts; by nature you're only going to get an educated guesstimate. My advice is, apply to wesleyan ED if you really like the school; that's what it's designed for, anyway, and the demonstration of interest might be another small factor that helps affirmate your son's candidacy.</p>