Geographic origin--how important is it?

<p>I was just wondering if anyone could give me some insight into how big an impact (if at all any) do demographics play when colleges make their decisions? Does it matter (especially to highly ranked schools) where the applicant is from? for example, new york versus colorado? or kansas versus california? thanks so much.</p>

<p>For some private schools it could make a difference if you are from a state that is not generally represented (CA and NY would probably not qualify).</p>

<p>I think it might make the applicant more interesting, but I wouldn’t say it was a huge tipping factor.</p>

<p>yes, it’s called ‘geographic diversity’ & it’s a hook for many private schools.</p>

<p>^Not really a hook. It may be of mild interest to them. If there are two borderline candidates, one from Idaho and the other from Fairfax County, VA, the Idaho kid is more likely to get in. Of course, admissions officers probably don’t make dumb comparisons like that, and most likely, if they’re thinking about geographic diversity at all, it’s just fermenting in the back of their minds.</p>

<p>Totally depends on the school; there are some publics (Binghamton) that are actively seeking OOS students…</p>

<p>^Yes, that’s true; I was talking about a typical CCer dream school - a top 25 private university with national reputation.</p>

<p>Schools like UT-Austin may not be so hot on geographic diversity; UT-Austin must automatically accept any in-state student in the top 10% of their class, which is a lot of people, leaving little room for others. On the other hand, some colleges are sick of being regional Ivy-reject schools and are trying to branch out beyond their region.</p>

<p>Some state have lower standard like New York is way better than Arkansas which is ranked 48/50.</p>