<p>No, they haven’t. (I’ll waive over the fact that PSAT/SAT scores are not the sole means of qualification to elite colleges, of course, despite the numbers-nerds who wish they were.) They assumed qualifications were evenly distributed among the states / applicant pool and they assumed there was no reason for a college to disproportionately favor applicants of one region over another, and presumed that the discrepancy is due to the disproportionate regional nature of the applicant pool.</p>