How much does geographic diversity help?

[Anonymous]

I’m just curious, my kids and their cousins are very similar in terms of stats - AP/honors classes, athletes but not recruited, 1400-1500 range on SAT, full pay, but their cousins are from middle of nowhere rural America. Her kids are planning to apply to places like Georgetown, Pomona, UVA… my kids are being told UMD CP is a reach and to apply places like Denison and JMU. I need a reality check.

[Anonymous]

what state is middle of no where rural America? From what I gather it seems to be more about state than "middle of no where." Colleges love to be able to say stuff like "we have students from all 50 states and 200 countries"...if it's middle of no where Ohio or Illinois or Minnesota (among others) I would say no because those states have large metro areas that will produce a lot of well-qualified competitive applicants from good publics or private schools so colleges have their pick of a large group of who they want to admit from that state. now, if we're talking Wyoming or North Dakota...those states have much lower population and not really that many competitive high schools/kids gunning for competitive colleges so there would be fewer applicants so more likely to be admitted to get that geographic diversity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:what state is middle of no where rural America? From what I gather it seems to be more about state than "middle of no where." Colleges love to be able to say stuff like "we have students from all 50 states and 200 countries"...if it's middle of no where Ohio or Illinois or Minnesota (among others) I would say no because those states have large metro areas that will produce a lot of well-qualified competitive applicants from good publics or private schools so colleges have their pick of a large group of who they want to admit from that state. now, if we're talking Wyoming or North Dakota...those states have much lower population and not really that many competitive high schools/kids gunning for competitive colleges so there would be fewer applicants so more likely to be admitted to get that geographic diversity.

Rural southern Utah - city of 80k but hours from anywhere else. My sister is a physician and her husband a surgeon, so they are not under privileged by any means.

[Anonymous]

The cousin has the better shot at those schools due to geography.
Your kid has a better shot at say SMU or Carleton due to geography.

[Anonymous]

Maybe it will help. Who knows. You don't seem happy for them.

[Anonymous]

It's just life OP. The 50 state thing is a big deal for most schools. Not sure if southern Utah is a huge hook, but realistically the number of kids applying to Georgetown from Utah is disproportionately smaller than the numbers from the East Coast/DMV. So overall, geography will be a point in their favor.

That doesn't mean it's a game changer, and you should be wary of interpreting too much from your relatives' college lists, especially early on. My kid and his cousin both went through the process this year, and early on seemed to be targeting very different levels of selectivity despite being generally similar in terms of credentials. I wondered if one of us was way off base (us too pessimistic, them too optimistic.) By the time the kids actually applied, the disparity wasn't as great.

Don't let other kids' aspirations mess with your heads. It's been really nice to have everyone rooting for one another sincerely through what is a lousy stressful experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m just curious, my kids and their cousins are very similar in terms of stats - AP/honors classes, athletes but not recruited, 1400-1500 range on SAT, full pay, but their cousins are from middle of nowhere rural America. Her kids are planning to apply to places like Georgetown, Pomona, UVA… my kids are being told UMD CP is a reach and to apply places like Denison and JMU. I need a reality check.

If they are truly coming from a rural area, they are likely at the top of their classes in terms of grades, SAT, AP scores, etc. It is much harder in this area to stand out from your classmates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m just curious, my kids and their cousins are very similar in terms of stats - AP/honors classes, athletes but not recruited, 1400-1500 range on SAT, full pay, but their cousins are from middle of nowhere rural America. Her kids are planning to apply to places like Georgetown, Pomona, UVA… my kids are being told UMD CP is a reach and to apply places like Denison and JMU. I need a reality check.

It’s very important. For example, students from ROVA require lower stats than students from NOVA for colleges such as Va Tech and JMU.

[Anonymous]

I think it’s big. My friends and I all do alum interviews for an ivy and NO ONE ever gets in. Most of us have slowly quit over the years because it’s so depressing really great kids who never get in…

One friend moved to the boonies and now her kids are starting to get in sometimes. We’re convinced it’s tHe geographic diversity thing.

It stinks for the kids applying, but at the end of the day, it really doesn’t matter. The kids I’ve interviewed who didn’t get in are still amazing kids, just not amazing kids with degrees from my alma mater. They still end up at great schools and I’m sure they’ll be successful.

[Anonymous]

It's huge if for no other reason than there are far, far more competitive applicants from a place like the DMV.

Think of the National Merit Scholarship program. The cut-off score for DC was 223 this year. For South Dakota it was 208. kids from DC had to get 30+ more questions correct for the same recognition as their South Dakota peers.

[Anonymous]

You sound jealous, OP.

[Anonymous]

It helps a lot. Schools want to create incoming class that represents all 50 states as much as possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You sound jealous, OP.

Yes, I am. My nephew for example is the oldest and with his stats, really similar to my kid, I think he is in the top few kids at his school. It also just seems easier for him in terms of stress and competition versus the close in dmv schools. It also is just so different culturally… where most kids in my child’s peer group are wanting to go to these top most selective schools my nephews peer group is mostly aspiring to go to Ute, byu, Arizona or maybe one of the uc schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You sound jealous, OP.

Yes, I am. My nephew for example is the oldest and with his stats, really similar to my kid, I think he is in the top few kids at his school. It also just seems easier for him in terms of stress and competition versus the close in dmv schools. It also is just so different culturally… where most kids in my child’s peer group are wanting to go to these top most selective schools my nephews peer group is mostly aspiring to go to Ute, byu, Arizona or maybe one of the uc schools.

So? I bet your nephews friends are great kids who will all do well in life. Does that annoy you too?

[Anonymous]

Back in the 80’s I was convinced I got into my Ivy school because of where I was applying from. And later heard from someone in the admissions office that that region was indeed a target area because there were so few applicants from there.