I've been an Ivy interviewer for quite a while here. The success rate for kids from DC, as opposed to MD and VA is higher because 1) a lot of the applicants come from Sidwell ST ALban's, GDS etc. and 2) the kids from DC often have a lot going on with respect to extracurriculars. Some of the kids in the burbs suffer from "stuck in the cul-de-sac syndrome", i.e. it's harder to do extracurriculars and internships when your parents have to drive you everywhere. They are also more likely to have been sheltered in a way that may call into question their ability to function independently a school full of go-getters. We have had kids tell us they've never been in apartment buildings before or that they've never taken the Metro by themselves.

Kids do get in from DC publics every year. A few of those have overcome substantial obstacles, but many of the accepted kids from DC publics come from double-graduate degreed homes, just like their private school counterparts.

The reason that states have different cut-offs for the NMSQT is that the program is aimed at the top 1/2 of 1 percent of scorers for each state. In DC, that's a really small number and so they let DC have the cutoff of the highest scoring state, or else the only national Merit Scholars would be a few kids from NCS and the score cutoff would be substanitally higher than any other state.

This area is really competitive for admissions, but I wouldn't trade places with those kids from West Va. The reason they get cut so much slack in admissions is that it is so difficult to achive at a high level when no one else around you has the same initiative, no one in your census tract (let alone your family) has been to college, your school doesn't offer any AP's, and even the people who want to support you can't give you any advice.

Anonymous wrote:The college admissions officers know the schools and areas they are responsible for and they know full well that DC has plenty of comfortable neighborhoods and they get tons of applications from these neighborhoods.

I had not heard the things about the merit scholarships. Why is the bar higher for DC kids?

Ask the College Board. They have decided that DC students and New England Prep school students must be measured against kids in the highest scoring state, which is usually Massachusetts. The local gap narrowed this year. The VA standard is up two points over last year. The current scores to be a NMSF are:

DC. 223
MD 221
VA 220
DEL 215
WV 205

Last year the gap was bigger. VA was 218

Anonymous wrote:The college admissions officers know the schools and areas they are responsible for and they know full well that DC has plenty of comfortable neighborhoods and they get tons of applications from these neighborhoods.

I had not heard the things about the merit scholarships. Why is the bar higher for DC kids?

Actually for 2012 D.C. shares the same PSAT cutoff score of 223 with MA, NJ, international students and the New England boarding schools.

According to Eileen Artemakis, a spokesperson for the National Merit Corporation notes:

“We want to ensure that we recognize outstanding students from all parts of the United States in the talent pool for the National Merit Program. We designate students on a state representational basis, which means that the number [of student semifinalists] named in each state is proportional to its percentage of the national total of graduating high school seniors. So the scores will vary from state to state as well as from year to year because of that.”

The college admissions officers know the schools and areas they are responsible for and they know full well that DC has plenty of comfortable neighborhoods and they get tons of applications from these neighborhoods.

I had not heard the things about the merit scholarships. Why is the bar higher for DC kids?

Anonymous wrote:Yes, geographic diversity matters. No, it doesn't matter if you are from VA, DC, or MD - they are all the DC suburbs. It is STATE based. The reason is so that colleges can indicate in their literature that they have students from every state (hopefully multiple students). It doesn't matter for the literature what your zip code is!

Now, not being able to take more than several kids from the same high school is true (less so with an in-state public), but that's a whole other issue.

The myth about surviving a DC public school and colleges "bragging" about that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. I do not know who started that or why it is perpetuated on this board, but it is NOT true. I have worked for many years in highly selective college admissions and again, it's just plain not true. Same with NYC public schools, Boston public schools, etc. No one cares if you survived. If anything, it means that your 4.0 is not as impressive as the one from the suburban kid because you had no competition.

Well, in Virgina, it sure does matter what your zip code is. Your chances of getting into CWM or UVA are a lot higher with a Southside zipcode than a NOVA zipcode.

Anonymous wrote:21:09 again - wanted to clarify, VA, DC, and MD are all states (and a district!) with plenty of applicants. That's why it doesn't matter. You want to be from Wyoming, N. Dakota, Missouri, etc

Both North Dakota and Missouri have more people than DC...Missouri has 5 million more...
Like previous posters said, if you live in a Virginia suburb you count as a Virginian in that college's stats. So in terms of geographic diversity being from DC is an advantage because there are a fewer number of college bound kids than in MD or VA, but I don't know how much it matters in the grand scheme of things.

21:09 again - wanted to clarify, VA, DC, and MD are all states (and a district!) with plenty of applicants. That's why it doesn't matter. You want to be from Wyoming, N. Dakota, Missouri, etc

Yes, geographic diversity matters. No, it doesn't matter if you are from VA, DC, or MD - they are all the DC suburbs. It is STATE based. The reason is so that colleges can indicate in their literature that they have students from every state (hopefully multiple students). It doesn't matter for the literature what your zip code is!

Now, not being able to take more than several kids from the same high school is true (less so with an in-state public), but that's a whole other issue.

The myth about surviving a DC public school and colleges "bragging" about that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. I do not know who started that or why it is perpetuated on this board, but it is NOT true. I have worked for many years in highly selective college admissions and again, it's just plain not true. Same with NYC public schools, Boston public schools, etc. No one cares if you survived. If anything, it means that your 4.0 is not as impressive as the one from the suburban kid because you had no competition.

There is no question that the SLACs do consdier georgraphic diversity in their admissions processes. They make a point of it.

I've heard that for UVA, DC is the absolute worse place in the country to be from. Even worse than NoVA. I've also read that far and away the best place to be from for any college is West Virginia.

I think that the geographic diversity is zip code-based, not high school-based. That is, if you live in MD, but got a DC private, you count as MD. I know it works that way for determining National Merit Scholars. Students who live in DC have to get the highest scores in the country to qualify. Maryland is lower and Virginia is lower still.

Certainly public universities are seeking out-of-state students willing to pay out-of-state tuition. And both public and private colleges also seeking to expand their searches for prospective students to other areas of the country and the world.

For a discussion of this topic see:

http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/?s=Geographic+Diversity

I think the diversity is high school based, rather than zip code based.

That said, when I toured Stanford umpteen years ago, I must have heard the same statistic half a dozen times. "We have two students from every state and at least one from every country in the United Nations." So, basically, if you're from Wyoming or Burkino Faso, you're a shoe in. Being from the East Bay, I didn't get in.

Unless you go to a DC public -- DC private school kids are just as bad off in terms of admissions as their private school counterparts in MD and VA. Some of the top ten schools like to brag that they actually took a kid from a DC public.

Hard to say. There are fewer college bound students in DC than in VA or MD (just a population stat, not a qualitative statement) so that may be a mark in your favor. But depends on the school and whether geographic diversity is important. If it's a MD or VA state school then being in DC probably isn't much of a differentiator. If it's a school that's regional (e.g., draws from the midAtlantic) then probably not so much either. But for the SLACs and selective schools it may be more of a plus. Of course for that group your competition is all the other private school kids who are applying to those same schools.

I will say that based on our experience being a white girl from Montgomery County is not a differentiator in college admissions for East Coast schools.

Does it matter for college admissions purposes whether you live in D.C., or the Maryland/VA suburbs? In other words, is there some cachet from actually living in D.C.? Or is the entire region lumped together for college admissions' purposes?