Photo taken from Sabino Counseling | Arizona universities all compiled on a list to show all universities offered in AZ.
By Jack Davis ’19
THE ROUNDUP
One possible sentiment among college applicants from Arizona is that their personal residency could be advantageous towards gaining admission to out-of-state universities.
However, Ms. Megan Ederly said that college applications are a lot more complicated than that, with a variety of factors playing into admission decisions.
“Most colleges are aware of the type of student that comes from Brophy, so that’s a huge plus,” she said. “… Most colleges are trying to have a well-rounded campus where they have kids from all across the country.”
“They want kids from not just the West, but kids that come from independent schools, and public schools and private schools because you guys all bring something a little different to the table,” Ms. Ederly added.
She said that, unfortunately, it’s impossible to know what colleges are looking for.
“You don’t know if they need that clarinet player, or that violin player, or that quarterback, Ms. Ederly said. “That behind-the-scenes thing is filling up the spaces. So, you could be that well-rounded Arizonan from Brophy with the high GPA and the job and the extracurriculars and it still wasn’t exactly what they were looking for this year because they had so many of those already.”
“Then next year, for whatever reason, maybe half the number apply so more kids get that,” she added. “There are so many pieces that are out of your control.”
Ms. Kalli Hylle said that Arizona admission statistics depend largely upon the school, pointing to the University of North Carolina as one specific example.
“Some schools struggle, not even a little bit, to get kids from Arizona to apply … in some places, it can be a hindrance,” she said.
“Schools in the South like the University of North Carolina have a mandate from the constitution of North Carolina that they can only have a certain percentage of students from out-of-state,” Ms. Hylle added. “When you’re applying, you’re applying with the whole country to take up a very limited number of spots.”
Ms. Hylle mentioned North Dakota as an example of a possibly advantageous state to live in, specifically when colleges claim that “they would like to have kids from all 50 states.”
California, Colorado, Texas and Washington are known to be popular among applicants from Arizona.
Ms. Ederly said that, in this instance, being from Arizona can hurt prospective college students applying to a school with an overabundance of applicants from their particular region.
