What states are considered "underrepresented?"

Title says it all. Any ideas? Without giving away my location is one of these states considered under-represented: SC, GA,
NC or AL?

I don’t think NC is underrepresented. I may be mistaken, but I feel like they have a very competitive applicant pool. Although, many of the competitive students do choose to attend UNC Chapel Hill because of money. I am not sure about SC, but I do know a few students at Duke from SC (I don’t attend Duke). So I guess that goes to show SC has the ability to churn out top students. I would say Alabama is the least represented state that you listed at Stanford, or any top school if I may add. But do not take any of this as complete truth, I may be completely wrong.

Maybe ND?

Underrepresented states are generally the Dakotas, Alaska, Idaho etc. Def not the ones you listed.

Any state that is far away from the college AND has a small population

Planning a move to Alaska may not be the best way to get your kid into Stanford.

Like most colleges, Stanford has more applicants and students from its region, e.g. students from California are 33% of the most recent entering class versus 12% of the US population. The percentage of incoming students from California has been declining at Stanford in recent years but it’s still the largest source of applicants and students.

That said, to the extent geographic balance comes in to play, I think it’s more complex than what state an applicant comes from.

To take North Carolina as an example, I doubt that a student from Durham Academy - which has sends students to Stanford, Yale, Harvard etc. on a routine basis - is going to get any geographic advantage in getting into Stanford. A student from a public high school in Durham where it’s unusual to apply to Stanford might stand out more, if they have the kind of experiences and credentials Stanford is looking for.

Agree with @bluewater2015. Underrepresented states can be very misleading to many applicants. It is not what you think it actually means. Even for a state as large as California which can easily be split into 6 or 7 states in the northeast in terms of population (someone in California is actually trying to do this at the present moment)…one needs to understand students applying from the affluent towns in the bay area or LA or San Diego will be treated very differently than those applying from the inner ghettos of Compton or Oakland or the remote areas of Tehachapi or Mohave Desert or Ukiah…

…conversely, those who think that applying from Anchorage, Alaska or Albuquerque/Sante Fe, New Mexico or Fargo, North Dakota will give them an “edge” should be aware that they will not be “favored” nearly as much as those applying from Stanley, North Dakota or Roswell, New Mexico or Kodiak, Alaska…

…usually, the more affluent and professional types tend to congregate in the larger cities and towns…even in the underrepresented states…and often have children attend the more expensive private or affluent public high school that can provide more programs and opportunities for extracurricular activities…

…so, the decisions are made all in the context of one’s socioeconomic status, URM vs ORM vs white, rural poor school vs rural wealthy school, urban ghetto school vs urban wealthy school, what are the opportunities (or lack of) available to the student in the rural town…

…and last but not least…those doctors, lawyers, or the bank owner’s kids in that remote small town in that underrepresented state still have to meet a higher standard than those kids whose parents work in fields picking fruit, textile mills, or fish…

…nothing is black and white…there are several shades of gray or in Stanford’s case…shades of red…

Whenever I hear about people from underrepresented states getting a boost, I regret moving from West Virginia (not a really crazy academic place) to New Jersey (which has people who started thinking about the Ivy League in utero).

For the Class of 2013:

State – Number of Enrolled
Alabama 2
Alaska 8
Arizona 32
Arkansas 6
California 676
Colorado 45
Connecticut 25
Delaware 5
Florida 26
Georgia 20
Hawaii 21
Idaho 6
Illinois 45
Indiana 17
Iowa 9
Kansas 3
Kentucky 3
Louisiana 5
Maine 2
Maryland 37
Massachusetts 31
Michigan 16
Minnesota 18
Mississippi 1
Missouri 17
Montana 3
Nebraska 3
Nevada 13
New Hampshire 1
New Jersey 30
New Mexico 9
New York 49
North Carolina 13
North Dakota 3
Ohio 17
Oklahoma 6
Oregon 34
Pennsylvania 21
Rhode Island 3
South Carolina 6
South Dakota 3
Tennessee 10
Texas 87
Utah 8
Vermont 5
Virginia 31
Washington 55
West Virginia 3
Wisconsin 15
Wyoming 2

Other United States Territories
American Samoa 2
Guam 1
Puerto Rico 3
Virgin Islands 1

Other Countries represented:

Algeria
Argentina

Armenia
Australia

Bahrain
Bangladesh

Belarus
Belgium
Bolivia
Botswana

Brazil

Bulgaria

Canada

Chile

Colombia

Costa Rica

Cuba

Dominican

Republic

Ecuador
Egypt

El Salvador
France

Germany
Greece

Guatemala

Guyana

Honduras

Hong Kong

Hungary
Iceland
India

Ireland
Islamic
Republic of Iran

Israel

Italy

Jamaica
Japan

Kenya

Lebanon
Malaysia

Mexico

Myanmar
Nepal

Netherlands
New Zealand
Nicaragua

Nigeria
Pakistan

Palestine

People’s

Republic of Cina

China

Peru

Philippines
Poland

Republic of Korea

Republic of Serbia

Romania
Russian
Federation

Singapore

South Africa

Spain

Sri Lanka

Sudan

Sweden

Switzerland
Taiwan

Thailand

Trinidad and Tobago
Turkey

Ukraine
United

Kingdom
United

Republic of Tanzania

Venezuela

Vietnam
Zimbabwe

^Keep in mind that’s enrolled, not accepted

@ewho - is this Stanford Class of 2013 or the high school class of 2013? Where did you find this information?
Thanks for sharing it!

^ Stanford class of 2013.

@Stanccepted: use the yield of that year to get roughly how many were accepted.