Over represented areas

<p>Hi!</p>

<p>For those of you from over represented areas (like me, from Westchester NY), I thought you'd like to know: Out of 439 applicants from NY, Yale's most highly represented state with over 700 current students, 106 got in (by the rough count i did on the admit site, forgive me if it's a smidge off). That translates to an admission rate of 24%, about 4% higher than the regular admission rate. Not that i'm saying being from NY helps your Yale application, but perhaps it doesn't hurt as much as one might think/at all.</p>

<p>i'm a junior from new mexico and people from places like new york and connecticut are worried because they're overrepresented and have a smaller chance for admissions, but the admissions rates in new mexico are generall less than 10%, so I don't know how much of a difference it makes.</p>

<p>All things equal, the rates are higher the farther removed geographically.</p>

<p>Zuma, are you sure? I thought the acceptance rates were lower from under-represented states because the average candidate is less competitive than the average candidate from an over-represented state (NY, NJ, CA, etc). The reason why people say being from a more "farther removed" area is because it's easier to stand out there. Just because there are fewer accepted applicants doesn't mean there are fewer applicants overall.</p>

<p>Then again, there was only 1 SCEA applicant to Yale for both South Dakota and Wyoming...</p>

<p>Hah, I know being from MA pretty much screws you over, at least. Unless you go to a private school--they hardly EVER take public school kids here (1-2, sometimes even 3 kids a year get into Harvard here, and no one's gotten into Yale in 6 years). Well, unless you're from a school that has a good relationship with Yale, I s'pose.. I just know that they seem to generally hate the rest of us.</p>

<p>Then again, I've heard rumors that Harvard's not particularly nice to CT public schools, so I guess it's just about looking out for the kids in your area. Makes me want to move to CT, though, lol.</p>

<p>Theone, I'm generalizing of course. However, what I posted is, with the usual caveats, accurate. It comes to me from someone who should know. I'll leave it at that.</p>

<p>I think it would be important to control those statistics for other stats. If the NY crowd is especially competitive, for example, that would explain the higher admit rate AND could also translate into increased difficulty for any one individual, in the sense that they're facing a tougher pool even if more are drawn from it.</p>

<p>In colorado they accepted 5 of 30 early apps. that's lower than the 19% overall admit rate, which supports the argument that if you're from an underrepresented area, the admit rate is probably LOWER than if you're from an overrepresented area. it probably has a lot to do with applicant quality, as previously stated.</p>

<p>For Kansas (where I live), 2/16 SCEA applicants were accepted.</p>

<p>The reason why it is higher in New York I believe is this: Applicants who fall in the category of development legacies (ie. legacies whose famiies have made substantial financial gifts to Yale usually over one million dollars), future development applicants (ie. children of fortune 500 CEO's ect) connected legacies, and recruited athletes all are encouraged to apply early. There is an enormous amount of wealth in New York, Connecticut and the surrounding areas. There are hedge fund traders for example in these areas some worth hundreds of milllions of dollars. There are also a lot of legacies living in these areas. Those in the categories mentioned above apply early and are accepted early and have an edge over other applicants. There are just more development legacies and very connected applicants in New York and the surrounding areas.</p>

<p>I dont know Veagngirl I think it also has to do with which under represented state you come from. In my state there were about 10 accepted out of 60 applicants. But, I knew that two were development cases and one was a recruited athlete all of whom had scores and extra curriculars that would not seem competitive but for the connection ect. It makes me think that if just 10 were accepted and a few were development cases, a few recruited athletes and one or two high scoring under represented minorities, there just were not that many spaces or any left for those not in those categories. I think it depends if you come from a state where there are many development applicants.</p>

<p>From examining the meticulous statistics on the Yale admitted student site ("Blue Marble"), I can tell you that there is no discernible advantage being from an obscure state. I have found that while few people apply from Montana, for example, very few people get in. Also, in even larger states (Colorado, for example) only five people got in, whereas 106 got in from New York. If anything, it is an advantage being from an "overrepresented state," considering that you have probably had better educational opportunities, have higher test scores, etc.</p>

<p>Getting in to Yale from an overrepresented area is harder due to competition and hence better applicants. The rates of admission are higher because yale takes more of these over-qualified applicants. Also, many of these applicants from CT and NY don't need as much or any financial aid while the person applying from New Mexico is probably more likely to require finaid.</p>

<p>Yeah, but Yale's need blind, aren't they? So should finaid really come into the equation at all?</p>