<p>In the vein of Digmedia's</a> thread, I thought this might be interesting... </p>
<p>I attend a small, 'international' private school in DC, where a disproportionate number of students are either diplomat kids or kids of World Bank employees. Needless to say the list is somewhat unconventional...</p>
<p>Out of 59 students in the graduating class, the distribution was as follows (schools outside the US are italicized):</p>
<p>McGill University, Canada (5)
University of Michigan (5)
University of Virginia (4)
College of William and Mary (3)
American University (2)
Brown University (2)
Clark University (2)
George Washington University (2)
Stanford University (2)
University College London, UK (2)
University of Warwick, UK (2)
Bard College
Boston University
Brandeis University
Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, UK
Columbia University
Davidson College
Dickinson College
Ecole de Police Scientifique Criminelle, Switzerland
Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK
Haverford College
James Madison University
NYU
Oxford University
Pomona College
Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
St. Mary's College of Maryland
UCLA
UNC-Chapel Hill
Universidad de Chile, Chile
University of Colorado-Boulder
University of Durham, UK
University of Guelph, Canada
University of Manchester, UK
University of Pennsylvania
University of Toronto, Canada
UT-Austin
Vassar College
Virginia Tech</p>
<p>I did a bit of statistical analysis, and found that only 68% of students are staying in the United States for college. Of these, 58% will attend private universities. Of the students going abroad, 53% are going to the UK and 37% to Canada. 7% are staying in DC, and 22% in the DC/VA/MD area (clearly staying close to home isn't a concern--though for many of these students DC isn't really "home").</p>
<p>The main surprises in the list:
1. The number of students attending McGill.
2. The number of students attending UMich.
(Both good schools, of course, but it seems pretty random. Bias in the admissions department?)
3. The conspicuous (for a DC school) absence of students attending UMD.</p>
<p>Now that I've deconstructed this enough--how common is it for students from more traditional "all-American" high schools to go abroad for college? I can imagine that it's a huge leap for many; it would be for me, and I haven't even lived here for four years yet. Still, it obviously happens, and I'm curious to see how prevalent it is.</p>
<p>(Posted in the parents' forum because I don't want this to deteriorate into uncivilized debate or prestigewhoring. Insightful comments are, as always, appreciated. :) )</p>