In my neck of the Midwest, the ivy applicants are not only mostly from the few upscale " pockets " pizzagirl mentioned, they seem to be concentrated in a few r eligious/ethnic/racial factions within those pockets. Nothing at all wrong with that, obviously, but it further reinforceces the notion that ivy lust is not at all an epidemic out here in flyover country. I went to high school and undergrad in the Northeast , and recognize ivy lust when I see it.