"Geographic diversity"

[Anonymous]

It is often said that there is a benefit to applying to "distant" colleges. But this is usually expressed in terms of a student from a low-population state (North Dakota) applying to an elite East Coast school. The DC area is not New York City but it is highly populated and has a lot of smart kids. Has anyone attempted to quantify the benefit to applying to distant schools from this area? How far do you have to go before an admissions committee will "care" - California? How much of an admissions edge will it give you?

Is there a database for each school showing how many applicants they received from each state?

And yes of course you'd have to balance any admissions edge against the additional cost of "out of state" plus travel expenses etc.

[Anonymous]

Nice try. None of the colleges in California that are worth traveling all across the country to attend consider being from the DC area to be worthwhile "geographic diversity."

[Anonymous]

This is crazy - nothing you can do about it unless you plan to move to North Dakota. What's the point of quantifying something that you can't control?

I know the college admission process is crazy and as I'm gearing up today to help my rising senior apply to college when common app opens tomorrow, I recognize how competitive everything is now. There are lots of things you can't control though and some things you can. So unless your kids are little and you really would move for them to maybe get a leg up in a college admissions search 15 years from now, then just focus on what you can do to actually help.

And even if my kid (college kid #2 for us) ends up at a "worse" school than if he grew up in North Dakota, I'm pretty sure I would do it again this way as he lives year 1-18 in the DMV, which I think is a great place to have grown up.

[Anonymous]

Geographic diversity in college means you go to college not close to where you grew up so you can experience different geographies and cultures within the US or wherever you end up. It doesn’t mean staying in what you seem to be geographically diverse, and if you’ve ever lived outside DC you would know it’s anything but diverse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is crazy - nothing you can do about it unless you plan to move to North Dakota. What's the point of quantifying something that you can't control?

You control where you're going to apply. There are only so many places you can apply and you want to focus on the right ones.

If there are two otherwise equally attractive schools but one is further away and thus more likely to admit a student from the DC area then it would make sense to apply to that one.

[Anonymous]

i suspect that a student from the DC area might get a meaningful advantage if applying to a low population remote state such as Wyoming, the Dakotas, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and other places where no admission boost is needed.

Might generate better responses if certain targeted schools were named (Univ. of Texas, SMU, Rice, Colorado College, Pomona College, Claremont McKenna, Tulane, the Maine LACs, WashU in St. Louis, etc.).

I do not think that there is any geographic diversity boost for a DC area student in the Northeast US or for the elite Chicago schools.

I realize that this post may not be very helpful, but it may help to generate additional responses.

[Anonymous]

There are schools that want urban representation. Going to a DC public school absolutely is an advantage in this.

I have heard from many families who had kids go through both private and public schools in DC that they saw 1st hand a difference.

[Anonymous]

also, to be fair, it might help if your kid is applying to schools that others from their high school are not applying to.

[Anonymous]

Geographic diversity can also be applied to a school that isn’t so far away, but typically enrolls students from nearby. My ds is enrolled at the University of Louisville and has a merit scholarship that is only available to students who live in large cities outside of Kentucky, ie Chicago, Dallas, DC, NYC, etc. It’s

It’s not a top-ranked school by any means. But it’s a good fit for our son, and the $12K a year in scholarship helps a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i suspect that a student from the DC area might get a meaningful advantage if applying to a low population remote state such as Wyoming, the Dakotas, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and other places where no admission boost is needed.

Might generate better responses if certain targeted schools were named (Univ. of Texas, SMU, Rice, Colorado College, Pomona College, Claremont McKenna, Tulane, the Maine LACs, WashU in St. Louis, etc.).

I do not think that there is any geographic diversity boost for a DC area student in the Northeast US or for the elite Chicago schools.

I realize that this post may not be very helpful, but it may help to generate additional responses.

The DC area isn't a plus for ANY elite college, anywhere. Not WashU, not Pomona, Stanford, etc. Wishful thinking. If you're from here and applying ANYWHERE you are considered advantaged.

[Anonymous]

Maybe we could pool our resources to open up a prep boarding school in Wyoming or in North Dakota with a marketing plan that emphasized the advantage of applying to east coast schools.

Which raises the question about residency status of boarding school students applying to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Geographic diversity can also be applied to a school that isn’t so far away, but typically enrolls students from nearby. My ds is enrolled at the University of Louisville and has a merit scholarship that is only available to students who live in large cities outside of Kentucky, ie Chicago, Dallas, DC, NYC, etc. It’s

It’s not a top-ranked school by any means. But it’s a good fit for our son, and the $12K a year in scholarship helps a lot.

Your child will be around people experiencing geographic diversity but your daughter won’t get that same experience being close to home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i suspect that a student from the DC area might get a meaningful advantage if applying to a low population remote state such as Wyoming, the Dakotas, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and other places where no admission boost is needed.

Might generate better responses if certain targeted schools were named (Univ. of Texas, SMU, Rice, Colorado College, Pomona College, Claremont McKenna, Tulane, the Maine LACs, WashU in St. Louis, etc.).

I do not think that there is any geographic diversity boost for a DC area student in the Northeast US or for the elite Chicago schools.

I realize that this post may not be very helpful, but it may help to generate additional responses.

The DC area isn't a plus for ANY elite college, anywhere. Not WashU, not Pomona, Stanford, etc. Wishful thinking. If you're from here and applying ANYWHERE you are considered advantaged.

Not true with respect to URM or to socio-economically diverse applicants from the DC area. May not generate a boost for geographic diversity, but might for other types of diversity.

[Anonymous]

Every college want inner city and rural kids because majority of the applicants are from suburbs. If you attend DC public schools vs Virginia public schools, colleges will see it as a more interesting and tougher experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i suspect that a student from the DC area might get a meaningful advantage if applying to a low population remote state such as Wyoming, the Dakotas, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and other places where no admission boost is needed.

Might generate better responses if certain targeted schools were named (Univ. of Texas, SMU, Rice, Colorado College, Pomona College, Claremont McKenna, Tulane, the Maine LACs, WashU in St. Louis, etc.).

I do not think that there is any geographic diversity boost for a DC area student in the Northeast US or for the elite Chicago schools.

I realize that this post may not be very helpful, but it may help to generate additional responses.

The DC area isn't a plus for ANY elite college, anywhere. Not WashU, not Pomona, Stanford, etc. Wishful thinking. If you're from here and applying ANYWHERE you are considered advantaged.

Not true with respect to URM or to socio-economically diverse applicants from the DC area. May not generate a boost for geographic diversity, but might for other types of diversity.

Duh. But that’s not what we’re talking about.