geographic diversity

Applying to College
1

<p>Read in another thread that some schools want a geographically diverse student body, and that it can be helpful in the admissions to be from a less common area.</p>

<p>How big a help can this be? How much of an advantage is it?</p>

<p>If one is from a different place, should this be emphasized in essays or is that unnecessary/counter-productive?</p>

<p>Are schools that are not very geographically diverse or ones that are be more likely to look more favorably upon a student from somewhere different? (I'm thinking less diverse places might want to increase their diversity, but on the other hand, places that already are fairly diverse might be that way because of valuing diversity more...)</p>

<p>Lastly, which schools is it where geographic diversity is likely to help quite a lot?</p>

2

<p>Basically, the desire for geographic diversity gives kids from the midwest and the south a boost at northeastern universities, because a bulk of their student body and applicants come from places less than 500 miles away.</p>

<p>The same is true for west coast and midwest schools trying to lure kids away from the northeast.</p>

<p>It's not a huge boost. But it's easier to get in to a school in the northeast if you live in say Kentucky than if you live in Connecticut, because less people will be applying from Kentucky.</p>

3

<p>Ok... how about if you live abroad (as in an American, so NOT international student)? Would that give you a slight boost everywhere?</p>

4

<p>anyone know about that?</p>

5

<p>I think living abroad would give you a boost, because colleges are always bragging about how many countries they represent. </p>

<p>I guess it might be the opposite if you were from Korea or some other always represented country</p>

6

<p>^ But there's a difference between living abroad and being an international student.</p>

<p>Living abroad may make you a more interesting applicant but as far as unofficial quotas go, it won't do you any good.</p>

7

<p>That's true. I guess I missed that part</p>

8

<p>Living abroad is definitely an advantage because colleges are also looking for diversity of experiences and few applicants can boast living abroad. However, study abroad is getting more common, so if you're thinking about using that as your essay (which is a smart idea), you'll need to be a little creative to stand out from other applicants with similar experiences.</p>

9

<p>how about living abroad but being from an underrepresented state -- like Colorado?</p>

10

<p>So applying from Texas to a school in the Northeast like U Penn or Columbia gives me a boost due to my geographic setting?</p>

11

<p>Depends on the school. Most schools list the states with the most applicants on their class profile page. Texas isn't on the list of top represented schools for Columbia, but on the map Penn shows (<a href="http://www.admissionsug.upenn.edu/applying/profile.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.admissionsug.upenn.edu/applying/profile.php&lt;/a&gt;) it looks like Texas has a good representation at Penn. I would also think Texas might've just missed the cut for the Columbia list because I know there are a lot of strong journalism programs in Texas who come for the CSPA convention every year and are introduced to Columbia.</p>

<p>What ses was alluding to was if you're from states like Wyoming or Montana, you have a better chance than someone in a NE state or California or Texas or Florida which tend to have more applicants looking at OOS schools.</p>

12

<p>how do you find the information for Columbia?</p>

13

<p><a href="http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/admissions/applications/stats.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/admissions/applications/stats.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>If you scroll down it has the most represented states for the class of 2010.</p>