I hope this is relevant enough to merit a whole thread, but I found an interesting study on where students go to college. Reed was the school with the greatest average travel distance by a significant margin. https://ink.niche.com/going-away-college-data-dive-350000-hs-grads/
Do you think this is because Oregon is not the most populous state, the midwest is not so populated, the east coast is very populated, and that the students who are interested in Reed are more interested on average because it is harder to hear about than HYP, leading to greater endeavors to be able to attend it?
I think it is because Reed is Reed. Not really like any other school, IMHO. If it is the right fit, students (and parents) will literally travel the length of the country for what Reed offers.
That’s a good link @Cosmological. I think your inferences are logical, excepting the HYP part, since H and Y appear on the same list. I’d add that Reed’s standing may come partly from the origins of its nearer students. I’d think a lot of them come from the densely populated area from San Diego to San Francisco, which by an absolute standard is still fairly far. . . . It would be interesting to see to the median figures from the same database.