Being from California (any geodiversity) can be draw for any East Coast School, esp if you pair it with some regional interest like working for an org that protects Sempervirens (giant sequoia). Interesting ECs make you a complex contributor to the community.
The schools like to brag about having kids from X number of states. For bragging rights, they really only need one kid per state. They don’t get extra points for having two kids from an underrepresented state.