<p>As a student from Alaska, how much more does geographic diversity affect my chances at a selective, private college compared to a student from a heavily populated state like New York or California? What about Alaska in comparison to other "desirable" areas such as the following: rural areas in the South, Wyoming, etc.? I am curious as to how much of an impact location has on admissions at "elite" colleges.</p>
<p>Ivies would be more lax on students from states like Alaska. While they'd still be populated with New England prep kids and etc, they'd obviously have to fill the quota and look as 'diverse' as they possibly can.</p>
<p>It depends on the college. Different colleges have different policies. And different colleges are in different locations. Being from, say, the rural South, is likely to be more unusual in New England or the West Coast, than it is at a top Southern school like Duke or Vandy.</p>
<p>It could be a "tip" factor - something that might push you ahead of an equally qualified person if the adcoms are trying to choose between you. Most elite colleges, though, will not actually relax standards for you based on what state you are from.</p>
<p>You could look at the numbers for different schools to see what percentage of their students are from Alaska.</p>
<p>I don't know if this helps...I am currently looking at the following schools: Wellesley, Bates, Emory, Carnegie Mellon, Yale, Dartmouth, Columbia, and Tufts.</p>
<p>^ Just to let you know, Dartmouth for some reason attracts a fair amount of kids (especially natives) from Alaska, though it's nothing like New York, California, or Massachusetts (four kids are signed up on the Dartmouth website= the number of students from Arizona signed up). I hear it's more than other top schools, but I wouldn't know. </p>
<p>At any school outside Alaska, you'll probably find a disproportionate number of Alaska students for the class. It won't help you a ton, but if you're on par with a kid from New Jersey, an adcom would prefer you.</p>
<p>Dartmouth has a long standing committment to Native American students - as explanation of your observation: <a href="http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7Enap/visionandmission.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.dartmouth.edu/~nap/visionandmission.html</a></p>
<p>atrophicwhisper, you're definitely right about the # of students that apply from Alaska. It is pretty common to hear about kids that applied to Dartmouth. Interestingly, I haven't heard of any Alaska Natives that applied there; all of the applicants were white. Another odd observation: I have only heard of two people that attend Ivy League schools other than Dartmouth (neither of which attended my high school). One applied to U Penn. The other applied to HYP and was only rejected at Harvard.</p>
<p>What if you apply to one of those schools (Upenn, Columbia, etc) that admits a ton of kids fron New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, etc., and you are from the southwest (New Mexico, Arizona)--do kids from Arizona, etc. apply and are rejected, or do much fewer people from the southwest even apply?</p>
<p>^ My bet is that a majority of the applications from the "Southwest" at these top colleges are from Texas rather than from Arizona or New Mexico. However, I have no stats to prove that and I'm only going by what I've seen in my area. Most kids around here just want to go to Arizona State or UArizona and are pretty complacent with that, but you really can't go by that.</p>
<p>something to think about:
On many college brochures colleges brag that class of 20__ has students from 50 states and X countries. SO coming from an area with fewer applicants boosts your chances due to less competition and quotas that colleges need to fill (in order to maintain geographic diversity.)</p>
<p>^ The schools you're looking at don't have quotas. They like geographic diversity, but it doesn't work like quotas.</p>
<p>When my son and I visited Emory a coach there told him that being from the northwest would "help some." I don't know how much, but I expect it's like people have already posted -- that among equally qualified students it might increase your odds a bit over someone from the general region where the school is located.</p>
<p>"that among equally qualified students it might increase your odds a bit over someone from the general region where the school is located."...</p>
<p>or in the case of Emory, an area where they have traditionally taken a large portion of their class..NY and NJ</p>
<p>Geographic Diversity
Colleges value the mixture of background and culture that students from different parts of the United States and from different countries bring to their campuses. Many colleges like to emphasize on their web sites and in their handbooks that they have students from so-and-so number of states and countries. Furthermore, they want students from both rural and urban areas, from public schools and private schools, etc. Because colleges value geographic diversity so much, it may give you a boost in the admissions process. For instance, if you are from a country, state, county, etc., that has a low college bound student population, you may have the option to choose admission from a wide variety of schools. Furthermore, if you are from an eastern state, for example, you may have a more enhanced chance of getting into a school located on the west coast and vice versa (as long as you still have good academic credentials, of course). Just don't be afraid to apply to schools farther away from home; it might give you a leg up.</p>