Does being from a rural area help at all in the admissions process?

[rmldad]

<p>@patriotsfan - here is a quote from Duke’s Admissions web site:

We think about what a student has accomplished within the context of the opportunities and challenges he or she has faced. And we seek those students who will bring a variety of experiences, backgrounds, interests and opinions to the campus.

An applicant from Ann Arbor and an applicant from rural Upper Penninsula will inevitably have faced tremendously different opportunities and challenges. If these two hypothetical applicants both list labratory research as an activity, each will have had vastly different experiences. One might pursue a research opportunity a short walk from home working with the parent of a classmate; the other must drive more than an hour each way to a lab who is hosting a high school student for the first time. If both list Varsity Golf as an EC, one applicant might have access to UMichigan’s indoor practice facility year-round while the other braves the frozen tundra taking advantage of every moment of sunshine.</p>

<p>I didn’t think my original post was all that different from yours, but it certainly was not wrong.</p>

<p>Also, TopTier for what it is worth, Duke’s Common Data Set indicates that “State Residency” is “Considered”. This documentation, along with Dean Guttentag’s address to the Class of 2017 Freshmen, would indicate that an applicant from Montana or North Dakota might still have a slight advantage over other applicants.</p>

<p>Ref.:<br>

• <a href=“http://admissions.duke.edu/application/overview[/url]”>http://admissions.duke.edu/application/overview&lt;/a&gt;
• <a href=“http://ir.provost.duke.edu/facts/cds/Duke%20CDS_2011-2012.pdf[/url]”>http://ir.provost.duke.edu/facts/cds/Duke%20CDS_2011-2012.pdf&lt;/a&gt;
• <a href=“http://today.duke.edu/2013/08/nowickiconvocation[/url]”>http://today.duke.edu/2013/08/nowickiconvocation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;