I’ve been thinking about asking this question for a while, but it really came to the forefront yesterday. My DS19 doesn’t want to go too far from home - within a state or 2 - which doesn’t take him out of our “region.” He, like most of you or your kids, has been getting mail from all sorts of colleges, most of which are outside of our area. I straight up asked an admittance officer at a tour we did yesterday about regional admittance criteria. She smiled and danced around the question, but did say that they do want a diverse student population from many geographic areas. I asked if my son and someone else were dead even but that person wasn’t from the “region,” would they get priority, and she wouldn’t answer, just said something about holistic review.
So my question to you all is, how important is it that schools be included outside the region? And how much do you think the geographic diversity really matters to small LAC’s? Are we doing a disservice to our son by agreeing to limit his search to what is close? What are we losing by not widening the net?
The answer is - It Depends. Schools do want geographic diversity, but they also are concerned about yield. So if they think the applicant from outside the region is not likely to enroll, they may not use the admit there. So make sure your S expresses a lot of interest in the nearby schools he likes.
It’s tough to generalize, but at many private schools – those with national reputations, or those that want to develop national reputations – then yes, applicants do have an advantage if they are applying from outside the typical “feeder” area.
This would include top LACs. Lower-ranked LACs may be less interested in geographical diversity, because they know that realistically they are regional schools.
It’s true that top schools are concerned about yield. But they also know that it is much harder to recruit “long-distance” students than “locals” – long-distance students are less likely to apply, less likely to visit, and less likely to enroll if accepted. Schools that want national reputations generally have to accept lower yields from long-distance applicants as the price for a national student body.
If your son is seriously prepared to consider a long-distance school, then he could end up with a better offer than if he stays local. The chances would be particularly strong if he can provide a good story about his interest: for example, maybe the long-distance school has a specific program that is better than the local options, or maybe he has family connections to the area. If he visits, then he should make sure to check in with the Admissions Office, because a long-distance visit will provide big points for Demonstrated Interest.
However, he may not want a long-distance college experience. One study found that even the most highly qualified college applicants usually pick schools within 300 miles of home. In areas with lots of high-performing students, this can result in brutal competition for the local schools. Examples would include California students for UCs, or northeastern US students for Ivies and northeastern LACs.
On more than one occasion, I have responded to a student from Long Island or New Jersey who is worried about the competition for top northeastern LACs, and who wants their application to stand out. My suggestion: send it to Grinnell or Davidson or Whitman. I don’t think they ever do it, though.
Thank you both! @corbett, that’s what I thought. I went about 300 miles away (OOS public), but my husband went 45 minutes (small LAC), and DS is thinking more local, maybe based on our experiences. But we will visit others (and have already at DH’s alma mater) so DS can have more options. I appreciate your insight. Sigh. More visits… 
It also may depend on where exactly you are. There are fewer kids applying from North and South Dakota to most places, so those states get a nice bump for geographical diversity (I assume Alaska and Hawaii as well). But there are just so many kids applying practically everywhere from California that it doesn’t “count” the same way. Source: I asked this exact question to a smaller school’s Head of Admissions.
As a Californian, I agree that there is some truth to this. A few qualifications though:
(1) The biggest-name out-of-state private universities and LACs now have no trouble getting Californians. However, many out-of-state schools with lower national profiles would still like to get more. For example, Californians are 10% of the Princeton Class of 2021, but only 3% at Lehigh. Lehigh recently established a regional office in San Mateo in an effort to boost its visibility on the West Coast.
https://admission.princeton.edu/how-apply/admission-statistics
https://www1.lehigh.edu/about/glance
https://www1.lehigh.edu/news/provost-announces-launch-of-western-regional-office
(2) Although I have no data to back this up, I strongly suspect that the vast majority of Californians who apply to out-of-state private universities are from either the Bay Area or LA/OC/SD. My impression is that applicants from other parts of the state, say Redding, SLO or Bakersfield, are much less common and still get geographic diversity points.
Lehigh would like to have more students from California, and more Asian students.
My guess is that every Patriot League institution – which would include schools like Colgate, BU, Bucknell, Lafayette, and Holy Cross, as well as Lehigh – still wants more Californians.
It wouldn’t surprise me if the Ivies, and other top-ranked northeastern universities like MIT or Johns Hopkins, no longer need to make any special efforts to enroll Californians. But a little further down the northeastern academic prestige hierarchy, Californians probably still count as geographic diversity.
OP, if your son wants to stay close by and you are looking for an edge consider LACs that have way more females than males. His odds should go up as long as he has the stats he needs
I’m sure it’s not Californians that get the biggest boost for adding geographic diversity. It’s likely small states like Alaska, Wyoming, North Dakota, and Idaho. Bonus points if the state is especially far from competitive school in question.
Thank you all! @citymama9, I hadn’t even thought of that. We are in NC, so no California, North Dakota, etc. Just the southeast. I appreciate all opinions and insights!
I know Elon can use some boys. I think it’s 61% females.
@citymama9: Spot-on correct.
Elon Acceptance rates, Fall 2016, from College Navigator:
54% female
74% male
Elon is on his list… not exactly his major, but minor and closely related majors.