<p>My husband is pushing northeastern schools for our daughter, and I would like her to consider southern schools as well. Are northeastern colleges and universities (besides the Ivies) more of a draw for colleges students than schools in the south or the midwest? I'm just wondering if shifting the geographic focus (sorry, west of the Mississippi is too far) might give her an edge?</p>
<p>I think it’s mostly a regional thing. In my experience, students from the South tend to stay in the South for college. Also, there are many more colleges in the northeast than anywhere else in the country, so more students end up there.</p>
<p>Northeast colleges are bigger name schools, but Southern schools are just as strong.</p>
<p>There are a lot of kids that apply just to the northeast and/or the west coast.</p>
<p>I think the competition to get into those schools is a lot tougher, than say, Washington University or University of Michigan, in the midwest.</p>
<p>That being said, it is probably better being from the south, than from Boston, if you are applying to northeastern schools.</p>
<p>Floridadad, WUSTL has been as selective as Chicago and NU for several years now. Those three schools are as selective as most East Coast elites save perhaps HYPM and Columbia. Michigan is not quite as selective, although that is rapidly changing with the joining of the Common Application. I estimate that in 2-3 years, Michigan will be as selective for OOS applicants as any school in the Midwest.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It depends on the subject being studied, and whether you are referring the public or private schools. The northeast tends to have a lot of private schools with good reputations, but the midwest and parts of the south (VA, NC, GA) tend to have a higher reputation for public schools.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This makes sense.</p>
<p>People are provincial everywhere. It’s human nature. The Northeast has been more densely populated for a longer time and therefore has a lot of colleges per capita. Also, it has a “louder” media voice than some other areas, so people in the Northeast are more prone to confuse their region with the center of the universe in a charmingly naive kind of way. </p>
<p>Because we live in NJ and everyone applies to the same 10 big-name Northeast privates, we are actively encouraging our D to consider colleges outside the Northeast and do the reverse commute. We think she has a better chance of acceptance at selective places that way.</p>
<p>
Most students everywhere stay within their region. According to the HERI/CIRP survey, 75% of students stay within 230 miles of home, and the median distance is a mere 94 miles. 35% stay within 50 miles of home, a number that has stayed consistent since the 1960s!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not a surprise when most college students go to a nearby community college or a nearby state university. But these students are not generally the ones posting here about chances to get into some highly selective school or asking what schools offer a very specific combination of major(s), social environment, and physical environment.</p>
<p>
There is definitely a noticeable difference, yes. In order to have numbers that at all comparable to average, you have to expand the radius to 500 miles, still within a day’s drive but much further. According to Emory’s report of the same survey, slightly less than half (48.8%) of freshmen at “highly selective peer universities” in 2009 lived more than 500 miles from the school (i.e. within a day’s drive). As an Ivy example, Dartmouth pulls 55% of its total students and ~50% of its domestic students from more than 500 miles away. Cornell pulls fewer - about 1/3 of all of its students - but it is a slightly different case, having contract colleges; roughly 40% of CAS students come from outside that 500 mile radius. </p>
<p>As for the OP’s question…I think it would depend on the school. A college like Emory or Duke does not need geographic diversity as much as a school like Birmingham-Southern or Millsaps.</p>