Do top private colleges favor in-region students?

[Anonymous]

I was looking at the profile for various schools and found that the percent of in-region students can be massive.

For instance, 42% of Rice students come from Texas alone (which is 8.25% of the US population). 17% of Harvard students are from New England compared to under 5% of the nation. 45% of Stanford students are from the West Coast states (compared to 15% of the nation). 37% of Columbia students are from mid-Atlantic states compared to 19% of the US. 41% of Princeton students are from the Mid-Atlantic states. And I haven't included international students, which means that the magnification is even larger.

This extends to top SLACs too- Williams with 22% New England students, Swarthmore with 38% Mid-Atlantic students, Pomona with 35% West Coast students, Bowdoin with 38% New England students...

Is this a reflection of the pool being skewed at these colleges by various regions, or are admission officers deliberately admitting more students from their respective regions over those from outside those regions? I wouldn't expect H/S/P to have such a high percent of in-region students with their global widespread appeal.

[Anonymous]

I think that lots of families would prefer that their kids remain close to them. They'd also like to minimize travel expenses. This might be particularly true for students from families with lower incomes.

[Anonymous]

They favor out-of-region students. But most parents and children prefer their children to be within a 4 hour drive. So even though the admissions people favor out-of-region, they still end up with more in region.

[Anonymous]

My Top-10 private uni favored townies (I was one) and in-state students. This was political so that they'd gain favor with the locals and get favorable treatment by the gov't and to try to avoid the whole town vs. gown thing.

[Anonymous]

Accepted students and enrolled students re 2 different things.