<p>Everyone knows that the greatest majority of worthwhile applications to top schools come from the state of New Jersey. (POPULATION DENSITY!!!) So I would like to know if in my list of schools does being from this state help me, hurt me, or indifferent. </p>
<p>And are there any schools that would give preferance to south jersey as opposed to north jersey, b/c there are many more distingished applicants from North Jersey. </p>
<p>Harvard
Princeton (15% in state <- more towards second question)
MIT
CIT
UChicago
Rice
Cornell
WUSTL (i heard they had a lot from jersey [source: Princeton Review])
Northwestern
Harvey Mudd
Carnegie Mellon</p>
<p>Well, being a Northern Jerseyan myself, I don't think there's much of a preference b/w the north and the south, in terms of the successes of New jersey in general and whether or not it will hurt your chances, I don't think it really will, I think your chances will be about the same as the normal percent accepted in, and I say this b/c I was reading A for Admissions, and in it is says that in 2000 Dartmouth accepted 22% overall, and that 20% of New Jersey applicants were accepted that year. Granted, this is only one college from six years ago, but I would assume that being from a certain state can't hurt but rather can only help you (i.e. Alaska, Wyoming, Dakotas, etc.), and that though Dartmouth isn't on your list, many of the colleges you the same or similar techniques in choosing the right applicants so I would assume consistency all around. And just a big thumbs up for probably being a math or science major, so good luck w/ everything</p>
<p>I'm also from South Jersey, and I don't think the location makes too much of a difference to colleges. NEw Jersey is small (in area anyway!), and the difference between North and South is negligible. </p>
<p>I would say, by far, the biggest reach on that list is Princeton. I applied there, and as I was sitting in my interview, the interviewer told me that only 1 out of 16 NJ applicants is admitted (about half of the nationwide average). I immediately lost all hope at that point, haha. </p>
<p>In that case, living in NJ would probably hurt you. In the cases of the other schools, I don't see it making too much of a difference. (Although, if you and someone with your identical stats from rural Montana were on the borderline for one school, you'd probably lose out for the sake of geographic diversity.)</p>
<p>Jersey is populous and pretty academically competitive across the board, so regardless of where you apply, your location is never working in your favor. </p>
<p>With that said, I know quite a few people going to Cornell, and some going to a few other schools on your list. So it is definitely possible, you just have to have more going for you than your location, which I'm sure you do. :)</p>
<p>Oh oh, here we go again with a "Nova" type complaint. NJ's relative wealth and good suburban schools (and some quite excellent urban ones like the McNair Academic Academy in Jersey City) means that many NJ seniors send their applicantions only to the the Ivy League and a select few others. At northeast colleges, being an applicant from NJ probably is a wash.</p>
<p>Applicants from Nova (DC suburbs) complain that U of Virginia is biased against them because of the large number of well-qualified Nova kids who are rejected from UVA each year.</p>
<p>I would say that being from Jersey hurts you indirectly because there are people from under-represented states who are helped by their residence. Being less helped than those people is equivalent to being hurt.</p>
<p>A lot of the top 20ish schools seem to have a pretty good north east population, even ones out of the area. I did read that about WUSTL, lots of New York and New Jersey kids (I'm originally from North Jersey, live in New York now) so although they're a midwestern school, they don't seem to have a problem with admitting many of them.</p>
<p>It would probably help being from SoNJ at a Philly area school, since SoNJ is essentially pennsylvania. :) You guys should get in state for PA schools.</p>
<p>South Jersey should definitely join PA. South Jersey gets all the Philly stations while Central and North get everything out of New York. I live in Central (the best part of New Jersey) and I think we have all of 1 Philadelphia station and I like it that way.</p>
<p>Franklin High... We're probly worse than u guys athletically. For example, I think our 3 baseball teams and 2 softball teams combined to lose 139-1 against Hunterdon Central in one day.</p>