Where are the students at the top schools coming from?

<p>Backing up my regional identity post, the Mid Atlantic states are typically Blue, and the South Red.</p>

<p>Hawkette since you've chosen Wikipedia as your source, try searching under mid atlantic region and mid atlantic states. You'll find PA is ALWAYS classified as mid atlantic, Delaware and Maryland most of the time and DC quite often. New York and New Jersey often are, and sometime Virginia and West Virginia. But I would say for your definition, New York and New Jersey are definitely northeast, but schools view PA distinctly mid atlantic.</p>

<p>According to Wikipedia:</p>

<p>New England: Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire</p>

<p>Mid-Atlantic: New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania; usually Delaware, Maryland, and D.C. as well</p>

<p>I never think of Delaware, Maryland, and D.C. as anything but Mid-Atlantic, but I know a lot of people consider D.C. to be Southern.</p>

<p>I'm not sure what to say as my post #16 is a direct cut and paste from wikipedia: </p>

<p>"As defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, the Northeast region of the United States covers nine states: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont."</p>

<p>I wonder if there is this much confusion and difference in the way the colleges themselves report the data?!? </p>

<p>In any event, still need data for the following colleges:</p>

<p>PRINCETON
YALE
CALTECH
COLUMBIA
WASH U
BROWN
J HOPKINS</p>

<p>They are Northeast states. But the Northeast is split into New England and the Mid-Atlantic. There's really not much confusion. :)</p>

<p>Guidebooks I've seen seem to get the regions right.</p>

<p>
[quote]
. . . I know a lot of people consider D.C. to be Southern.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Well, Southerners sure don't. ^ </p>

<p>Oh, and thanks Hawkette-- for moving NC into the South, "where it properly belongs." :)</p>

<p>State of residence of the 2005 freshman class from the following schools (collectively - 26633 freshmen total excluding foreign)</p>

<p>from these schools 2005 freshmen
Amherst College
Bowdoin College
Brown University
California Institute of Technology
Carleton College
Columbia University in the City of New York
Cornell University
Dartmouth College
Duke University
Emory University
Georgetown University
Harvard University
Haverford College
Johns Hopkins University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Middlebury College
Northwestern University
Pomona College
Princeton University
Rice University
Stanford University
Swarthmore College
University of Chicago
University of Pennsylvania
Vanderbilt University
Washington University in St Louis
Wellesley College
Williams College
Yale University</p>

<p>sorted by the percent from each state
New York 3646 12.8%
California 3014 10.5%
(Foreign 1942 7.0% approx.)
New Jersey 1905 6.7%
Illinois 1542 5.4%
Texas 1531 5.4%
Pennsylvania 1524 5.3%
Massachusetts 1492 5.2%
Florida 1214 4.2%
Maryland 1040 3.6%
Georgia 963 3.4%
Connecticut 820 2.9%
Ohio 685 2.4%
Virginia 640 2.2%
Minnesota 474 1.7%
Tennessee 480 1.7%
Washington 447 1.6%
Missouri 379 1.3%
Colorado 334 1.2%
Michigan 328 1.1%
North Carolina 290 1.0%
Wisconsin 295 1.0%
Indiana 258 0.9%
Oregon 245 0.9%
Arizona 241 0.8%
Alabama 190 0.7%
Kentucky 187 0.7%
Maine 199 0.7%
District of Columbia 168 0.6%
New Hampshire 178 0.6%
Rhode Island 164 0.6%
Kansas 130 0.5%
Louisiana 148 0.5%
South Carolina 154 0.5%
Hawaii 115 0.4%
Iowa 102 0.4%
New Mexico 107 0.4%
Oklahoma 109 0.4%
Vermont 110 0.4%
Delaware 73 0.3%
Nevada 80 0.3%
Arkansas 73 0.3%
Outlying areas total 90 0.3%
Idaho 62 0.2%
Alaska 54 0.2%
Mississippi 50 0.2%
Montana 63 0.2%
Nebraska 57 0.2%
Utah 65 0.2%
West Virginia 60 0.2%
North Dakota 19 0.1%
South Dakota 17 0.1%
Wyoming 22 0.1%</p>

<p>Jack: Exactly. :) It's supposedly the "Northern Southern city."</p>

<p>When I was in Delaware last year, it seemed that the south of the state felt it was part of the South, and the north considered itself part of the North. I guess that must go all the way back to their Civil War involvement. Very odd.</p>

<p>According to JFK, DC had "Northern charm and Southern efficiency".</p>

<p>I love that JFK quote. So, so true.</p>

<p>collegehelp,
Great stuff. Where did it come from and how can I get it to see myself? Can you please provide a link?</p>

<p>We PA folk definitely consider ourselves to be members of the Mid-Atlantic states... I was always taught that the Northeast was split into two sections (New England and the Mid-Atlantic) and that everything below Pennsylvania is the south... of course many most likeley don't consider Maryland, D.C, and Delaware to be parts of the South...</p>

<p>hawkette-
It comes from the IPEDS Peer Analysis System. The "Residence and Migration" data is under "Enrollment" section.</p>

<p>I like how the "Midwest" takes up such a large area, yet it's still called the same region. Seriously, the distance between Kansas and Ohio is about the same as the distance from New York to South Carolina. There is the Upper Midwest, the Great Lakes, and the Great Plains, and they're really different if you ask me.</p>

<p>On the topic of the thread, IMO, the students at the top schools are mostly from the East Coast. They might be spread out over a few states, but the geographic area represented by students at top schools is really small.</p>

<p>Interesting that NY is the largest feeder of top schools. NY lacks a "Public Ivy". California has a great state system and so they are #2 despite larger population.</p>

<p>Hmm, post 27, 10% of the schools are in California and 10% of the students are from California. About 30% of the schools are in the northeast and wow, about 30% of the students are from the northeast. Reputations may be international, but student bodies are regional. </p>

<p>Yes, there will always be some number of students happy to travel across the country (or world) to go to school, but I can't imagine any university that would not have a healthy number of students from within their own geographical region. And if the fairly local students weren't clamoring to get into a university I might wonder why.</p>

<p>I get 50% of the top 20 USN&WR universities in the Northeast (if you count Johns Hopkins as Northeast) and 39.1% of students at the elites (from post </p>

<h1>27) from the Northeast. Northeast is NE plus NY, PA, NJ, MD and Del.</h1>

<p>Not an exact match because the list in post #27 includes students at top LACs.
I guess this could be interpreted that the established, well-known schools in the Northeast attract students from a national and international base beyond their home territories.
No news here.</p>

<p>hawkette--I too believe that Mid Atlantic includes PA. I'm not sure what the point of your data gathering is, but if you're trying to figure out where the top schools get most of their students from, don't you have to figure out how they definite Mid-Atlantic (in the event that a school does not provide a state-by-state breakdown)?</p>

<p>Thanks again to collegehelp for the IPEDs data. I massaged the numbers a little and the matriculation patterns will probably not be a big surprise to anyone. The Northeast (in deference to the PA posters, I moved PA to Mid-Atlantic) is the dominant region for the universe of schools that collegehelp referenced. Here is the breakdown:</p>

<p>% of Nat’l Population, % of students from that state, State, colleges in that state, </p>

<p>14% of the national population NE/NEW ENGLAND<br>
29.9% of the students at these colleges are from this region<br>
13 colleges w/ 46% of the enrollment at these 29 colleges</p>

<p>6.4% New York 12.8% Columbia, Cornell
2.9% New Jersey 6.7% Princeton
2.1% Massachusettes 5.2% Amherst, Harvard, MIT, Wellesley, Williams
1.2% Connecticut 2.9% Yale
0.4% Maine 0.7% Bowdoin
0.4% New Hampshire 0.6% Dartmouth
0.4% Rhode Island 0.6% Brown
0.2% Vermont 0.4% Middlebury</p>

<p>10% of the national population MID-ATLANTIC<br>
12.2% of the students at these colleges are from this region<br>
5 colleges w/ 12% of the enrollment at these 29 colleges</p>

<p>4.2% Pennsylvania 5.3% Haverford, U Penn, Swarthmore
2.6% Virginia 2.2%<br>
1.9% Maryland 3.6% Johns Hopkins
0.6% West Virginia 0.2%<br>
0.3% Delaware 0.3%<br>
0.2% Washington, DC 0.6% Georgetown</p>

<p>22% of the national population SOUTH<br>
13.2% of the students at these colleges are from this region<br>
3 colleges w/ 15% of the enrollment at these 29 colleges</p>

<p>6.0% Florida 4.2%<br>
3.1% Georgia 3.4% Emory
3.0% North Carolina 1.0% Duke
2.0% Tennessee 1.7% Vanderbilt
1.5% Alabama 0.7%<br>
1.4% South Carolina 0.5%<br>
1.4% Louisiana 0.5%<br>
1.4% Kentucky 0.7%<br>
1.0% Mississippi 0.2%<br>
0.9% Arkansas 0.3% </p>

<p>12% of the national population SOUTHWEST<br>
7.0% of the students at these colleges are from this region
1 college w/ 2% of the enrollment at these 29 colleges</p>

<p>7.8% Texas 5.4% Rice
2.1% Arizona 0.8%<br>
1.2% Oklahoma 0.4%<br>
0.7% New Mexico 0.4% </p>

<p>22% of the national population MIDWEST
14.9% of the students at these colleges are from this region<br>
3 colleges w/ 17% of the enrollment at these 29 colleges</p>

<p>4.3% Illinois 5.4% Northwestern, U Chicago
3.8% Ohio 2.4%<br>
3.4% Michigan 1.1%<br>
2.1% Indiana 0.9%<br>
2.0% Missouri 1.3% Wash U
1.9% Wisconsin 1.0%<br>
1.7% Minnesota 1.7% Carleton
1.0% Iowa 0.4%<br>
0.9% Kansas 0.5%<br>
0.6% Nebraska 0.2% </p>

<p>17% of the national population WEST<br>
13.9% of the students at these colleges are from this region<br>
3 colleges w/ 7% of the enrollment at these 29 colleges</p>

<p>12.2% California 10.5% Caltech, Pomona, Stanford
2.1% Washington 1.6%<br>
1.2% Oregon 0.9%<br>
0.8% Nevada 0.3%<br>
0.4% Hawaii 0.4%<br>
0.2% Alaska 0.2% </p>

<p>4% of the national population MOUNTAIN<br>
2.1% of the students at these colleges are from this region
0 colleges w/ 0% of the enrollment at these 29 colleges</p>

<p>1.6% Colorado 1.2%<br>
0.9% Utah 0.2%<br>
0.5% Idaho 0.2%<br>
0.3% Montana 0.2%<br>
0.3% South Dakota 0.1%<br>
0.2% North Dakota 0.1%<br>
0.2% Wyoming 0.1%</p>

<p>I wonder if % of national population is the correct comparative metric. I'm not a demographer, though.</p>

<p>I just included the national population numbers to give some basis of comparison, but I would agree that it is not a very good comparative metric. A better number would be the number of high school students/graduates in each state/region. I'd also like to know, by state, how many students are actually attending college. </p>

<p>I wondered also about the subset of colleges being measured. There are no publics included. But I concluded that it is probably the right choice as clearly the large size of several of these could overwhelm the statistical contribution the LACs and some of the smaller national universities. I would also have included a few more of the top privates including Notre Dame, CMU, USC, Tufts, and Wake Forest.</p>