Geographic diversity

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Y'all...</p>

<p>I keep reading posts by kids with stellar SATs, great GPAs, and ECs out the wazoo...who did not get into their dream colleges. </p>

<p>It's very discouraging (especially for the kids themselves, I imagine!).</p>

<p>I'm wondering whether maybe geography might play a role? So many posters here seem to be from either California or the Northeast. Could top colleges be overwhelmed with applications from California and/or the Northeast?</p>

<p>When my DH taught at a Louisiana public boarding school for gifted/talented teens, several kids with stellar SATs, etc., did not make it into Harvard, but a kid with far less impressive stats did. What made the difference? Well, who knows; most likely a whole bunch of factors...but it's noteworthy that the rejected (stellar) students were from pre-Katrina New Orleans, whereas the accepted kid was from teeny, obscure Ville Platte (not too far from Cut Off -- not making this up!) in the middle of Cajun country.</p>

<p>I can't help thinking that Harvard's concern for geographic diversity must have played <em>some</em> role, however small. (Yes, I know many variables enter into the Ivy-admission equation, and yes, I know the chances of figuring out which factors played the decisive role are about as high as the chances that anyone will ever crack the Google algorithm...but I'm just sayin'.)</p>

<p>Perhaps the answer is for top students to move to some obscure backwater and <em>then</em> apply to their dream schools.... (Just kidding, LOL.)</p>

2

<p>It is a crap shoot at best & you are talking about the schools that accept what 9 or 10%?? There is no rhyme or reason as to who gets in & who does not. </p>

<p>Last year there was a thread about a NYT article where admissions people were interviewed off the record. One guy got food poisoning on a visit to Buffalo, so when he got back to his office, he rejected every applicant from Buffalo! Also other admissions people who were interviewed complained of “too many white girls from New Jersey” and way too many “geeky Asian math guys”. That was an eye-opening article. </p>

<p>Offering geographical diversity to a smaller private is no doubt a hook, but it isn’t a guaranteed acceptance!</p>