How much does geographic diversity matter to colleges. I am applying to a lot of schools in the northeast from Atlanta, GA. Does it count as geographic diversity since I’m from Georgia, or is it negated by the fact that I’m still from a large city?
Also separate question, do you guys think that students at northern schools look down on southerners as less smart? I’m kind of worried about that.
Schools do strive for geographic diversity. There can be an advantage to be from WV, WY, ID, ND, SD, etc. Unfortunately, in a way, you are from a large metropolitan area with many affluent families. So many schools will receive a fair number of applications from GA. It’s probably neither an advantage or disadvantage for you, though it might vary some from school to school.
Schools are pretty diverse places these days. There will probably be a decent percentage of students from all regions. Several schools have a majority of students from outside the Northeast. So I don’t think someone from Atlanta would particularly stand out most places.
I would think the only time there might be some looking down on is if you have a strong southern accent. It seems to me that people do have some bias in that direction. Funny story, I’m from mid-Atlantic but am in the Northeast, which we love, frequently. I was playing golf in MA with a friend who lives there and two locals with whom we were paired (nice guys). The locals had very strong MA accents. A guy came over from an adjacent fairway to find his ball and asked us if we had seen it. He had a strong southern accent, maybe Texas. After he left, one of the locals said to the other one, “That guy talks wicked weird.” Wicked means “very” in MA, and “weird” was pronounced with no “r” whatsoever.