<p>Is Minnesota considered as an overrepresented state or underrepresented state in college admissions?</p>
<p>Where? In Minnesota, I’d say no. At many colleges outside the midwest it is probably underrepresented, but that will vary by degree and by specific college or university.</p>
<p>Where are you looking where this information might become pertinent?</p>
<p>Yes, like at top 30 schools. I’m an URM possibly interested in engineering, so I’m not so sure if that would boost my chances. I’m only asking because I’ve heard people applying from ‘random’ states like Idaho and Wyoming have a slight boost.</p>
<p>Again, I think it depends more on individual schools. Same actually goes with being a URM. At schools such as MIT, UC Berkeley, CMU, etc. – which have a disproportionate number of Asian students applying, you won’t get a boost if you are Asian. It might be a different story if you are an African-American student applying to Princeton or Williams for example. </p>
<p>Minnesota is more populous and has a better public education system than Wyoming, Idaho or Alaska, so students coming from those states may get a boost, particularly at colleges and universities that prize the notion of claiming a student body that hails from all 50 states and DC. If you name some specific schools I’m sure some CC posters will have some good current information on whether or not being from Minnesota could actually increase your chances slightly at those colleges.</p>
<p>Generally, the farther away you are from a school, the more ‘underrepresented’ your state is.</p>
<p>Not so much. A lot of the top HS students from Minnesota go to top colleges outside the state. I think a Minnesota address would give you no boost whatsoever with the Ivies, for example. It may be a little different with smaller LACs in the northeast; they generally tend to draw most of their students from the northeast and mid-Atlantic regions, with a strong representation also from California. Many of those schools have relatively few Midwesterners. For example: </p>
<p>Haverford class of 2012, by region: 17% Pennsylvania, 36% other mid-Atlantic, 14% New England, 12% Western, 6% Midwest, 6% Southeast.</p>
<p>Unfortunately for Minnesotans, a large fraction of the Midwesterners they do get come from the Chicago area, and a smaller but still substantial fraction from the Twin Cities area. For example: </p>
<p>Amherst class of 2012, by state (top 10): 1. New York (82); 2. Massachusetts (47); 3. California (38); 4. New Jersey (31); 5. Illinois (27); 6. Connecticut (21); 7. Pennsylvania (17); 8. Maryland (14); 9. Minnesota (13); 10. Florida (11). By region: New England 19%, Mid-Atlantic 33%, West-Southwest 15%, Midwest 14%, South-Southeast 8%. </p>
<p>So being a Minnesotan won’t hurt, but it probably won’t help as much as being from, say, North Dakota or Montana, neither of which is represented in Amherst’s class of 2012.</p>
<p>bump. 10char</p>
<p>I already got a pm that answered my question.</p>
<p>Minnesota IS underrepresented in the United States Senate, however. We are the only state that has one Senator instead of two. This may change someday; hopefully before the end of the 6-year term that should have begin in January, though a certain political party which shall remain nameless here appears determined to drag it out as long as possible to prevent the seating of the leading vote-getter, Al Franken—or as we prefer to call him here, “Senator-elect Al Franken.” But I’ll forego the political commentary.</p>
<p>So to amend my previous post: Minnesota IS underrepresented, but only in the United State Senate. (Sigh! . . . .)</p>
<p>^ LOL. That whole Franken-Coleman deal is getting ridiculous.It broke the record for having the longest Senate Recount in history.</p>
<p>I’ve heard at several admission meetings here in Minnesota that the base acceptance rate of Minnesota applicants is about double the national base acceptance rate for those famous colleges putting on the meetings, but I think this is because of self-selection of the Minnesota applicants. In other words, fewer students from Minnesota do “lottery ticket” applications to far-away colleges, but they are still evaluated on standards that are pretty comparable to the general national standards, and don’t get any big breaks for being from Minnesota. </p>
<p>Good luck in your applications.</p>
<p>^ Very interesting info, tokenadult, thanks. Based on the (admittedly unscientific sample of) Minnesota kids I know, I think your analysis is spot-on.</p>
<p>^^ I was just looking over the College Board’s reports on 2008 SAT I and SAT II test-takers in Minnesota, and it lends indirect confirmation to tokenadult’s analysis. Most Minnesota kids don’t take SATs at all, since most in-state and Midwestern colleges are happy to take the ACT as a stand-alone. But many elite East Coast colleges require SAT IIs, so it’s a good bet that most Minnesotans planning to apply to those schools take SAT IIs, and that a high percentage of the SAT II-takers in Minnesota are the kids planning to apply to elite East Coast schools (plus perhaps a few schools on the West Coast). </p>
<p>But the numbers are tiny! Only 1,840 Minnesota 2008 HS grads took any SAT II subject tests at all. Those that did had SAT I CR mean scores of 651 and M of 675—well above the statewide SAT I means of CR 596 and M 609, which in turn are almost 100 points higher than the national SAT I means of CR 502 and M 515. Of course, only about 5,000 Minnesotans took the SAT I. So generally, we can presume that SAT I-takers in Minnesota are by and large top students; and the SAT II-takers are the creme-de-la-creme, and Minnesota applicants to elite East coast colleges are by and large drawn from this group.</p>
<p>It’s not that Minnesota kids are smarter than others (well, only partly that, because Minnesota kids also come out at or very near the top on ACT scores, too). It’s just that Minnesota kids who take the SAT I are a small, self-selecting, high-achieving group; and Minnesota kids who take the SAT II (i.e., those who plan to apply to elite East Coast colleges) are an even smaller, self-selecting, higher-achieving group.</p>
<p>And how many actually do apply? Not many. According to the college board, 378 Minnesotans graduating in 2008 had SAT reports sent to Harvard (and this would include SAT IIs which are required for Harvard); 304 to Cornell; 288 to Yale; 283 to Princeton; 217 to Brown; 204 to Dartmouth; 176 to Columbia; 172 to Penn. Some other elite schools: Northwestern 534; Carleton 409; Stanford 359; Macalester 287; Michigan 277; MIT 267; Chicago 255; Duke 139; Grinnell 102. What about AWS, Pomona, or other top LACs? No numbers reported, which means they must be below Grinnell’s 102, the lowest number reported. Since many applicants to any Ivy or other elite school will also apply to other elite schools at the same time, we’re probably talking here about just a few hundred Minnesota kids who bother to apply to the Ivies and other highly competitive schools. And since those who do apply are drawn from the elite of the elite students in the state, it’s no wonder they’re accepted into top schools at a significantly higher rate than the national average. Without getting points for geographic diversity.</p>
<p>Thanks for crunching the numbers. I’ve been struck too by just how few highly selective national universities are even on the radar screen in Minnesota.</p>
<p>At least around here, it is very unusual to see someone accepted who actually then attends. If our school’s students go OOS, it is to Iowa or WI. I think the furthest east someone in my daughter’s class went was Ohio. My daughter was accepted out east but ended up at Pomona, which I consider a viable alternative. Someone turned down Bowdoin for St Olaf. I think some kids are just checking to see if they “could have been a contender”. </p>
<p>bclintonk- that was great data. About a year ago a link was posted showing how to connect to the state SAT data. I remember being surprised at how few took the SAT. Only 50 hispanic kids took it.</p>
<p>The state data are available from the College Board at:</p>
<p>[College-Bound</a> Seniors 2008](<a href=“http://professionals.collegeboard.com/data-reports-research/sat/cb-seniors-2008]College-Bound”>Higher Education Professionals | College Board)</p>
<p>Just by way of contrast, Maryland is very similar to Minnesota in population (Maryland 5.6 million, Minnesota 5.2 million). In Maryland, 46,298 college-bound 2008 seniors took the SAT Reasoning Test (SAT I), and 6,127 took one or more SAT Subject Tests. 3,064 Marylanders sent SAT score reports to Johns Hopkins, 2,070 to Georgetown, 1,301 to Cornell, 1,282 to Penn, 986 to Duke, 973 to Princeton. Harvard & Yale weren’t reported so they must have been under 955 (lowest reported), but I’ll bet not far behind Princeton. These are many times the Minnesota figures. </p>
<p>Median household income is a little higher in Maryland, but not by that much; Minnesota has the highest median household income in the Midwest, and one of the strongest public school systems in the nation. I guess Minnesotans just like it here so much that most don’t want to leave.</p>
<p>I think that the east coast LAC’s are certainly on the radar of many Minnesotans, but we don’t perceive them as a true value. We have easy access to 4 of the better LAC’s in the country: Carleton, Grinnell (probably the top LAC that also gives merit aid!), Macalester and St Olaf (music and merit aid)–all of which have a lower sticker price than the east coast schools and none of which require SAT II’s. Those of us whose children want an excellent education have no need to go to an east coast LAC to experience a cold and rural location! Most top students from my daughters’ high school who choose LAC’s outside of this area go for Kenyon, Oberlin, Pomona, Colorado College; some go east for the women’s colleges (usually Wellesley), some have gone to Middlebury or Colgate.</p>
<p>On the University side of the equation, students have the choice of U of Minn or U of Wisconsin (by reciprocity) for their state flagship. It seems to me that most of their fellow students who leave the state choose to attend universities rather than LAC’s–HYPS, Duke, U of Penn, Berkeley or Michigan, Notre Dame, Cal Tech, and lots choose WUSL, Northwestern and U of Chicago.</p>
<p>Along with Minnesota’s higher median income comes a higher EFC, so many parents and students follow the merit money.</p>
<p>^ Agreed with all of the above. Minnesotans tend to be a value-conscious lot, and “the U” and Wisconsin-Madison are excellent values. As are, e.g., Minnesota-Morris (public + merit aid), some of the stronger MNSCU schools, and on the private side some strong but not first-tier LACs like Gustavus Adolphus, Luther, St. John’s-St. Ben’s, Augsburg.</p>
<p>All of which is fine by me as it means fewer Minnesotans competing with my D who is determined to get herself to a top northeastern LAC. I don’t think they’ll give her geographic diversity points per se, but they love to produce those little charts showing how many states are represented in their freshman class and if she’s the only Minnesotan applying, or one of just a very few, it’s got to improve her odds.</p>
<p>I love being from Idaho</p>