<p>does coming from a rural town where few, if any, kids go to ivies help get into HYPS?</p>
<p>that is, considering my SAT&ACT, GPA, and ECs are all competitive.</p>
<p>I've been told that Harvard looks for high-achieving students from resource-poor areas.</p>
<p>right that's what i was thinking. my school has an ACT avg of 20.9 and i have a 34. we have two ap classes and i self-studied five myself. so i think if they look at a profile they would think i tried my best with limited opps. right?</p>
<p>Definitely - and that would put you at an advantage over students from CA, NY, NJ, etc.</p>
<p>
[quote]
and that would put you at an advantage over students from CA, NY, NJ, etc.
[/quote]
...assuming the OP is not from one of those states.</p>
<p>Colleges want diversity of all sorts. So yes, rural kids can get a boost. On the flip side, a college might prefer to accept a (or the) kid from North Dakota over a kid from rural West Virginia.</p>
<p>Overcoming a lack of access to resources by significant personal effort is going to be viewed as a huge plus, regardless of the region.</p>
<p>I think good recs and essays are vital to help flesh out who you are and what you've been able to achieve in context.</p>
<p>good luck!</p>
<p>haha, Spartan, you sound like me. :) Kinda.</p>
<p>I live in rural NM, I'm pretty sure no one from my school has EVER gone to an Ivy, and I think I might be the only person applying to any out of state schools this year. The average ACT score for my school has to be pretty low, and I have a 34, too. My school only offers 2 APs, also! But, I have never self-studied for any APs.... :(</p>
<p>Anyway...I hope our geographic location might be some sort of help. I'd like to think that living here is good for something. ;)</p>
<p>waterbed, i live in TX, and I've been to NM countless times. The food's great, the skiing's great (Taos), living there... wll let's just say i'm glad i don't live there. however, coming from New Mexico will help a lot, as that is a relatively low population state, plus i'm sure few students outside of the albuquerque area apply for ivies. If you've taken the 2 APs your school offers, then you've done all you can, although i dont know if ivies would have expected you to self-study for other APs, because it would have been a hassle for you to find a place to take them. you have a definite geographic hook though.</p>
<p>It's not really a hook, but it will help.</p>
<p>It is a definite hook* coming from a poor area yet performing highly on standardized exams that are loaded against you (and when I say that they're loaded against you, I mean really really set against you: <a href="http://fairtest.org/files/SATScores2007Chart.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://fairtest.org/files/SATScores2007Chart.pdf</a>) is a very VERY impressive outcome.</p>
<p>Well, for me, I guess I'm from a poor area. But it's not like an inner-city ghetto poor. Actually, I've never even been to one of those so I might be stereotyping. I've grown up in a town of about 200 people while attending school 30 minutes away in a town of about 8,000 in a school of about 400. And I guess on a national standard this would be a poor area.</p>
<p>But I wouldn't say that the ACT or SAT was "loaded against" me. Is it? How could it be?</p>
<p>From Oregon,... do u guys even know where it is?</p>
<p>it seems like a lot of ppl think that Washington and California are the only two states by Pacific Ocean. >.<</p>
<p>^haha. Of course I know where Oregon is! :) I have lots of family up there. Plus, I'm applying to Reed in OR.</p>