My son has finally whittled down his list to 7 schools. Six of them are among the “Colleges That Change Lives.” The 7th school is Colorado College and it is his “reach” school. Thing is, I have no worries about CC’s geographic diversity (which I suppose is one benefit inherent with any highly selective school. I’m a little concerned about the others though, as many seem to attract students mostly from the immediate region. We are in Texas and his schools are either in the Pacific NW (3) or the Midwest (3). Come to think of it, I guess Whitman is pretty “reach-y” as well. Is there anyone who ranks schools according to their geographic diversity? Trying to avoid sending him off to a school where everyone already knows everyone from high school–or students feel a bond because they’re “all” from Seattle or Portland etc. I’ve read reviews til I’m blue in the face and of course each website/brochure covers some of this, but it would be nice to know which of these schools is consistently “more diverse” at a glance…or to be able to rank them in that regard. The schools are:
College of Wooster
Earlham College
Lawrence University
Willamette University
Whitman College
University of Puget Sound
Below you will find where freshmen who entered each school in 2014 came from. The data is sourced from IPEDS Data Center which conducts a biannual survey on colleges to determine certain characteristics. New data on the geographic origin of 2016 freshmen should be available some time in 2017. If you were wondering why the formatting is odd and there is no accompanying visual data, it’s because I essentially copied and pasted this from Excel and I’m way too lazy to generate an interactive map.
Colorado College:
Alaska 4
Arizona 7
Arkansas 2
California 58
Colorado 87
Connecticut 21
District of Columbia 7
Florida 7
Georgia 5
Hawaii 2
Idaho 6
Illinois 33
Indiana 3
Iowa 3
Kansas 1
Kentucky 1
Maine 6
Maryland 9
Massachusetts 30
Michigan 4
Minnesota 13
Missouri 5
Montana 3
Nebraska 1
Nevada 2
New Hampshire 11
New Jersey 12
New Mexico 9
New York 27
North Carolina 6
Ohio 15
Oklahoma 2
Oregon 14
Pennsylvania 12
Rhode Island 1
South Carolina 2
Tennessee 7
Texas 19
Utah 2
Vermont 5
Virginia 6
Washington 15
West Virginia 1
Wisconsin 15
Wyoming 1
Virgin Islands 1
Foreign countries 46
Earlham College:
Arizona 4
Arkansas 2
California 12
Colorado 5
Connecticut 2
District of Columbia 3
Florida 8
Georgia 1
Hawaii 1
Idaho 1
Illinois 10
Indiana 40
Iowa 6
Kansas 2
Kentucky 7
Maine 2
Maryland 7
Massachusetts 5
Michigan 3
Minnesota 5
Missouri 4
Montana 1
Nevada 2
New Hampshire 2
New Jersey 2
New Mexico 6
New York 11
North Carolina 3
Ohio 27
Oklahoma 2
Oregon 3
Pennsylvania 7
Rhode Island 1
South Carolina 2
Tennessee 3
Texas 10
Utah 1
Vermont 2
Virginia 5
Washington 3
Wisconsin 2
Foreign countries 45
The College of Wooster:
Arizona 4
California 18
Colorado 10
Connecticut 7
District of Columbia 2
Florida 7
Georgia 15
Illinois 46
Indiana 9
Kentucky 4
Maine 2
Maryland 19
Massachusetts 12
Michigan 30
Minnesota 9
Missouri 3
New Hampshire 2
New Jersey 9
New Mexico 4
New York 21
North Carolina 4
Ohio 172
Oklahoma 1
Oregon 7
Pennsylvania 23
Rhode Island 1
Tennessee 3
Texas 6
Vermont 4
Virginia 12
Washington 4
Wisconsin 4
State unknown 7
Foreign countries 66
Willamette University:
Alabama 1
Alaska 16
Arizona 10
California 209
Colorado 18
Connecticut 1
Florida 1
Hawaii 33
Idaho 12
Illinois 4
Kentucky 1
Maine 1
Massachusetts 1
Michigan 1
Minnesota 1
Missouri 1
Montana 5
Nevada 5
New Mexico 1
North Dakota 1
Ohio 1
Oregon 107
South Dakota 1
Tennessee 1
Texas 6
Utah 4
Vermont 1
Virginia 3
Washington 82
Wisconsin 1
Wyoming 3
State unknown 16
Foreign countries 2
Residence not reported 2
University of Puget Sound:
Alaska 5
Arizona 8
California 222
Colorado 50
District of Columbia 2
Florida 4
Georgia 1
Hawaii 29
Idaho 12
Illinois 12
Indiana 1
Maine 2
Massachusetts 6
Minnesota 36
Missouri 5
Montana 6
Nebraska 1
Nevada 7
New Hampshire 4
New Jersey 2
New Mexico 6
New York 3
Ohio 2
Oklahoma 2
Oregon 84
Pennsylvania 2
Texas 10
Utah 4
Vermont 2
Virginia 3
Washington 120
Wisconsin 1
Wyoming 2
State unknown 2
Foreign countries 5
Whitman College:
Alaska 1
Arizona 1
California 90
Colorado 16
Connecticut 3
Florida 1
Hawaii 5
Idaho 5
Illinois 2
Iowa 1
Kentucky 1
Maine 3
Maryland 3
Massachusetts 4
Michigan 3
Minnesota 12
Missouri 1
Montana 4
New Hampshire 2
New Jersey 4
New Mexico 4
New York 7
North Carolina 1
Oregon 49
Pennsylvania 1
South Dakota 1
Texas 5
Utah 6
Vermont 2
Virginia 2
Washington 130
Wisconsin 1
Wyoming 3
Foreign countries 21
Lawrence University:
Alabama 1
Alaska 1
Arizona 1
Arkansas 1
California 14
Colorado 5
Connecticut 1
Delaware 1
District of Columbia 1
Florida 2
Georgia 2
Hawaii 1
Illinois 86
Indiana 4
Iowa 4
Maine 2
Maryland 2
Massachusetts 4
Michigan 8
Minnesota 36
Missouri 4
Montana 2
Nebraska 1
New Hampshire 1
New Jersey 2
New Mexico 1
New York 18
Oklahoma 1
Oregon 4
Texas 6
Utah 1
Vermont 3
Virginia 5
Washington 8
Wisconsin 105
Virgin Islands 1
Foreign countries 45
personally I would be less concerned about how far away students come from and look for % who live on campus. that is the gauge I would use! you want a s school with a sense of community.
not sure any bond would be stronger among people who are say from the greater Seattle area. (IMO)
College Navigator includes in state, out of state, and international %s for every college. A little easier format for a quick glance, though lacking the state by state breakdown shown above.
My D considered, visited, or applied to most of the schools on your list. I would consider them all geographically diverse and primarily residential campuses. I think it would be nitpicking to try to rank them on geographic criteria. I don’t think any of the campuses would have much in the way of high school or geographic cliques. CTCL schools tend to attract students who want to expand their horizons.
I believe Earlham is one of the top schools in the nation for % international and % African American (other than historically black colleges)