Most popular elite colleges by state

College Search & Selection
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<p>Here's a list of the most popular elite colleges (US News top 50 universities/LACs) among students in the nation's most populous states (and a few more in some regions), as inferred from the # of students in each state sending one or more SAT score reports (SAT I and/or SAT II) to each college. Not all score reports end in completed applications, but the proportional fall-off should be more or less constant across schools. Data will be most accurate for colleges requiring all applicants to submit SAT II scores even if ACT is sent in lieu of SAT I (e.g., Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, MIT, Caltech, Carnegie Mellon). For colleges not requiring SAT II, data probably underestimates the school’s popularity as some applicants will submit only ACT scores. </p>

<p>Conclusion: even at the elite and super-elite levels, college applications have a distinctly local/regional cast. Harvard and to a lesser extent Stanford are the only elite colleges to rank among the favorites outside their home regions with any consistency. A separate listing of favorite Ivies by state will follow.</p>

<p>Midwest:
Illinois: U Illinois, Northwestern, Chicago
Indiana: Notre Dame, DePauw, Rose-Hulman
Iowa: Stanford, Northwestern, Wash U
Michigan: Michigan, Northwestern, Harvard
Minnesota: Wisconsin, Northwestern, Stanford
Missouri: Wash U, Harvard, Stanford
Ohio: Case Western, Michigan. Northwestern
Wisconsin: Wisconsin, Northwestern, Harvard</p>

<p>New England:
Connecticut: BU, BC, Yale
Maine: Colby, BU, Bowdoin
Massachusetts: BU, BC, Tufts
New Hampshire: BU, Dartmouth, BC
Rhode Island: Brown, BU, BC
Vermont: Dartmouth, BU, Middlebury</p>

<p>Mid-Atlantic:
District of Columbia: UVA, Georgetown, Penn State
Maryland: Penn State, John Hopkins, UVA
New Jersey: Penn State, NYU, BU
New York: NYU, Cornell, BU
Pennsylvania: Penn State, Penn, Carnegie Mellon
Virginia: UVA, William & Mary, UNC Chapel Hill</p>

<p>Southeast:
Alabama: Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech, Duke
Florida: NYU, Duke, Harvard
Georgia: Georgia Tech, Emory, Vanderbilt
Kentucky: Vanderbilt, Wash U, Harvard
North Carolina: UNC Chapel Hill, Wake Forest, Duke
South Carolina: UNC Chapel Hill, Duke, Georgia Tech
Tennessee: Vanderbilt, Wash U, Duke</p>

<p>South Central:
Arkansas: Vanderbilt, Wash U, Harvard
Louisiana: Tulane, Rice, Vanderbilt<br>
Mississippi: Vanderbilt, Harvard, Duke
Oklahoma: Harvard, UT-Austin, Wash U
Texas: UT-Austin, Rice, Stanford </p>

<p>West:
Arizona: Stanford, USC, UCLA
California: UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, USC, Stanford
Colorado: Stanford, Colorado College, USC
Oregon: U Washington, Stanford, UC Berkeley
Washington: U Washington, Stanford, USC</p>

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<p>BU just owned Jesus</p>

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<p>yea why is BU represented in 8 states???</p>

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<p>I am just going to guess that these are the universities that get most applications from each state.</p>

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<p>Or you could, you know, RTFP and see that it clearly states that it is based on the SAT score reports to these colleges from each area. Just a thought.</p>

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<p>bclintock, Interesting. Where did you get this data?</p>

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<p>Uh yeah. What? BU?? I think you mean MIT ;)</p>

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<p>^^ He say’s it, US NEWS. He just sorted it out by state (from the top 50 Uni’s). There all still from US NEWS.</p>

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<p>was this recently released?</p>

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<p>^Nope. The new release of data for the nat uni is 11 days away.</p>

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<ol>
<li>BU doesn’t make the top 50.</li>
<li>BU is HUGE.</li>
</ol>

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<p>^ What BU?</p>

<p>Binghamington Uni, Boston Uni etc…?</p>

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<p>i know this isn’t based on the actual rankings i was just curious if it was based on this year’s SAT data or last year’s</p>

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<p>BU = Boston University.</p>

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<p>And it’s obvious the Ivies aren’t going to dominate the top 3 in every region because people from the general population wouldn’t waste their time applying to schools they can’t get into.</p>

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<p>Data are from College Board state reports on college-bonud seniors for 2009. They issue a national “Total Group Report; College-Bonud Seniors 2009” accompanied by individual state reports (plus one for DC). These data are culled from the state reports. Download the state report .pdf for any state you’re interested in, then go to the next-to-last page to see the top 45 schools receiving SAT score reports from students from that state. Not sure when 2010 data will be out.</p>

<p>[College-Bound</a> Seniors 2009 - SAT Total Group and State Reports](<a href=“http://professionals.collegeboard.com/data-reports-research/sat/cb-seniors-2009]College-Bound”>SAT Suite of Assessments – Reports | College Board)</p>

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<p>New York: NYU, Cornell, BU</p>

<p>I would have to agree with this. These 3 schools are talked about the most in my school. I’d say we are a pretty good sample of kids, lots of high-achievers, lower-achievers, and inbetween</p>

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</p>

<p>Exactly.</p>

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<p>I guess that’s right. BU was #56 in 2010 US News rankings. I was a little loose with boundary definitions on some schools. BU is obviously VERY popular in New England & to some extent in the Mid-Atlantic. Excluding BU as not top 50, we get:</p>

<p>New England:
Connecticut: BC, Yale, Brown
Maine: Colby, Bowdoin, BC
Massachusetts: BC, Tufts, Brown
New Hampshire: Dartmouth, BC, Tufts
Rhode Island: Brown, BC, NYU
Vermont: Dartmouth, Middlebury, BC</p>

<p>Mid-Atlantic:
District of Columbia: UVA, Georgetown, Penn State
Maryland: Penn State, John Hopkins, UVA
New Jersey: Penn State, NYU, Cornell
New York: NYU, Cornell, Penn State
Pennsylvania: Penn State, Penn, Carnegie Mellon
Virginia: UVA, William & Mary, UNC Chapel Hill</p>

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</p>

<p>Right. And yet in large numbers the general population in the Northeast does waste its time applying to Ivies they can’t get into. Then they complain it’s because they’re from “overrepresented states.” Go figure.</p>

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<p>without friggin BU in the way BC has the whole new england region locked up</p>

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<p>I think that’s right. Far more New Englanders identify with & aspire to BC than Harvard. Not even close. But it depends on how far down the scale you want to go. BU is even more popular than BC in New England, but it’s just outside the US News top 50.</p>

<p>I’ll narrow this to US News top 25 (which would exclude BC) as time permits.</p>