<p>ADad's comments are correct as to reading the SAT scores. The geographic can be a slightly favorable factor, but not heavy enough to bring up the chances considerably. There are also a number of other tip factors that can influence the decisions more drastically in the smaller schools because it is more difficult to get the diversity these schools want. Schools like that often take into consideration the major, area of academic interest, sex of the applicant, and ECs. A small school that is top heavy with premed applicants, for instance, will be looking harder at kids that do not have the premed profile. There may not be sufficient lab space for all of those kids. A school with too many English, humanities majors, will be eyeballing those in the other disciplines with more interest. The school will take a hit on the SATs to some degree to get the balance they want.<br>
My son's friend applied to some fairly selective LACs that used to be all girls' schools and are trying to get a more balanced ratio. He got into all of them, whereas I know a few girls with stronger academic profiles who did not. It is a problem for the smaller schools when the M/F ratio starts to fall below 40/60. It has traditionally impacted the admissions picture for both male amd females when that occurs. I know that at some schools, this has become a problem that is of great concern. Schools that have engineering/ math type programs, on the other hand, will give females a bit more consideration even if the scores are not quite as high as the average males' there.</p>