Hi everyone! I hope you are all having a great week! In today’s post I want to talk about a little myth in the college admissions world.
It is a common misconception that schools like Harvard, Yale and Stanford only offer admissions to student who grew up and live far away from the school’s location. Many people think that if you live in CA you have a much better chance of getting into Harvard than if you live in MA and if you hail from the east coast you have a much better chance at getting into Stanford than a West Coast resident.
This notion is a definite myth. While Ivy League and other top ranked schools do admit students from all over the country, they are more local than you may think. Take Harvard for example; a new study from the University of Denver suggests that more than one in every three American freshman at Harvard grew up within 200 miles of Cambridge. Additionally, less than half of the school’s students were from more than 500 miles away. And Stanford? 40% of Stanford’s 2008 freshman class were from the state of CA. Finally, remember the quadruplets who were all accepted to Yale this year? They are right from the state of CT!
Don’t think that you can’t get into Columbia because you live in New York. Although these schools are looking for diversity in their population, they are also looking for the students with the best SAT scores, grades and other qualifications. So if the school next door is on the top of you college search, apply! You may be just what they are looking for.
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Great site and great information. You gave me ambition to write another blog post tonight. I like your style.
I'm currently a junior in high school living in the east coast. Attending Stanford has been a dream and goal of mine since I was very little. I've been working to achieve high scores in high school because I know that SU is difficult to get into (I'm also aware that admission officers look at other things during the applicatio process). I was just wondering, does living on the east coast decrease my chances of getting accepted (because above^ you mentioned that many local residents apply to "near-by" schools ex: California high school students applying to SU).
I'd really appreciate it if someone could answer my question.
I’m glad that’s not true, it’d be incredibly unfair.
What an awesome way to explain this-now I know everything!
definitely a myth.
That would be funny if that was true but it isn’t thank god
I”m glad that is not true but i knew that it wasnt tho. it just doesnt make any sense
wow! i definitely did not know that, and I am glad to hear that ist is not true!
Wow,I guess you learn something new everyday!!!!!!!
Interesting info, but GPA and SAT scores count in my opinion.
I am very glad it is not true because I would hope that it would not matter where you live in the United States.And you can go to any college you desire as long as you meet the educational standards like act scores,gpa,get the financial help and etc ofthe college.
this is ture
i don’t think this is true
Very interesting and great info!