I’ve been trying not to think about admissions, but this question kept bugging me: If I’m from an underrepresented town, but one that is in an over-represented state, will that increase my chances of acceptance to a boarding school?
Probably not because the advantage of coming from an “under or unrepresented state” comes from the school’s desire to be able to list students from as many states as possible to demonstrate the school as a national one with a national reputation. You might have a slight advantage if you come from the state where the school is located but you live on the other side of the state where few kids attend the school. In NY that might be coming from Buffalo to a school located in Westchester County, for example. Given the exact same credentials, you might have a tiny advantage over a Westchster student, but I’d not count on it.
Ah I see. I just checked their website with quick facts and they don’t have anything about towns, so I guess there is no advantage. I think I can safely state I live in Massachusetts. Does that disadvantage me with Andover, as so many people who go to Andover are form Massachusetts? Also, one last question. I was wondering why exactly do International Students have a disadvantage? Wouldn’t they have an advantage since the schools want to say they have X amount of countries represented?
No
Many schools, particularly the most selective ones, have a hard or soft cap on the percentage of international students. After all, one of the primary objectives of US schools is to educate US students.
These schools don’t need to say they have a student from Ghana, simply to say they have a student from Ghana; they have more than enough qualified applicants as it is.