Geographic Location

<p>I'm curious. Does Berkeley and UCLA consider geographic location, as in where a student is from, in their review process? I understand that some universities will look at where you're from and it could give some students an advantage, because some schools try to add diversity to their school by selecting a certain amount of students from certain regions. Any ideas? Oh and by the way, I'm from Savannah, GA (it's along the East Coast and in the southern parts of GA).</p>

<p>I believe geographic location does play some aspect in their review process. A kid who grew up in a rural town of 100 people won’t have the same opportunities as one who lives in metropolitan LA. </p>

<p>For UC’s especially, out of state students do have to pay a higher tuition than in state students. </p>

<p>@romeonachos</p>

<p>Gotcha. Not too scared about the OOS tuition, but do you know anything about them using geographic location as a means to add to student diversity on their campuses?</p>

<p>@AsianAlly schools definitely try to have geographic diversity on their campus. To what extent, I don’t know. Perhaps ask the admissions office for Berkeley and LA</p>

<p>@romeonachos</p>

<p>Alright, thanks!</p>

<p>Generally speaking, OOS admissions are more competitive, so it probably hurts your chances. Berkeley’s a public school, and priority goes to instate students.</p>

<p>Also you might find this article interesting, I feel like location would play into the “holistic” admissions stuff: <a href=“Lifting the Veil on the Holistic Process at the University of California, Berkeley - The New York Times”>Lifting the Veil on the Holistic Process at the University of California, Berkeley - The New York Times;

<p>@failure622</p>

<p>I’ve actually read that article about ten times, because I’ve done a lot of research on Berkeley’s holistic process! Haha, but I’ve never ran into any information about geographic location. I do understand that California residents get preference and that’s because of taxpayers, but Berkeley only needs to meet a certain quota of in-state applicants. Of course though, OOS are held to a higher standard is what I’ve heard.</p>

<p>I once heard the opposite re geographical preference: I heard that Berkeley favors local kids, i.e. kids from the Bay Area over LA. Probably just an urban legend but I thought I would put it out there.</p>

<p>^that’s definitely not true. They consider Californians all the same, what makes the difference is socioeconomic standing of the area/school you went to. In that sense, perhaps certain Bay Area schools are more low income and thus they’d be given a boost. However, this boost is fair considering the advantages a student from a wealthy area has. </p>