SAT scores, grades, extracurricular activities, teacher recommendations … and one's hometown? Increasingly, admissions officers are emphasizing geographic diversity in their recruiting, hoping to create a geographic kaleidoscope in the student body, according to Director of Admissions Susan Garrity Ardizzoni.
"Part of our responsibility as the Admissions Office is to create a community that is really reflective of the outside world," Ardizzoni said.
Recently, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions has amplified its efforts to widen the applicant pool, both internationally and nationally, seeking out students from underrepresented states, Ardizzoni said. The geographic distribution of the Tufts Class of 2014 has benefited from this endeavor and represents 45 states and 39 foreign countries — up from 42 states and 38 foreign countries for the class of 2013 — and the admissions office will continue to send college representatives to locales that produce relatively few Tufts applicants, particularly abroad, according to Ardizzoni.
"Certainly in our case, we have always traveled nationally and internationally, although we have expanded internationally," she said. "This is the second year we've had someone traveling in Africa, and we've expanded our reach in Asia and Latin America."
Senior Kofi Aninakwa, who is from Ghana, believes that both the university and the international students who learn about Tufts from its representatives abroad benefit from Tufts' initiative to expand its representation geographically.
"The rich academic programs and the welcoming student population make studying here exceptional," he said. "And the school benefits, too. The international community offers a different experience to the student population and helps promote diversity."
Considering the percentage of Tufts students from Massachusetts — by far the state with the highest representation — the admissions office feels the need to place greater emphasis on drawing students from underrepresented states and regions of the country, Ardizzoni explained.
Much of the time, the admissions office's task is a matter of getting the university's name out in areas where it might not be very well known, she said.
"I'd say in some parts of the South and in some parts of the Midwest — places like Chicago — we're very well−represented, and Florida, but some of the smaller states, we'd like to have more of a presence there," Ardizzoni said.
She added that the office is keeping its eye on areas where the population is going to continue to grow, including Texas, California and Florida.
Sophomore Ben Van Meter, however, feels that Tufts' emphasis on diversity should be centered on socioeconomic factors rather than geographic ones.
"The problem is, you're still picking from the upper segments of society, even if you're getting geographic diversity, rather than socioeconomic," he said. "I think of that as more harmful than just having people from the United States."
Van Meter believes creating a diverse student body by fostering geographic diversity alone is somewhat misguided.
"If you think about why you want diversity for a different educational environment, people from different social strata will express much different views," he said.
Often, though, geographic location does roughly dictate the socioeconomic background people come from, as well as a specific cultural aspect of their upbringing, sophomore Alissa Resnick believes. Though it may look as though the admissions office is focusing on geographic diversity alone, location often correlates with many other factors of diversity, she said.
In addition, she said, different regions of the country have different traditions and cultures, which are important, as American citizens, to learn about.
"Just as a diversity through race, socioeconomic class and religion is important, geographic diversity exposes you to completely different people who have had very different experiences than you," she said. "I had no real concept of the South until I met a girl from Alabama who became one of my best friends. I like having friends from Florida, Nebraska, New Hampshire and even Beijing. Their experiences growing up were different in so many ways, and I feel like we have a lot that we can learn from each other."
