Last year, a close friend from my hometown told me that a Princeton admissions officer had made an appearance at our high school’s annual college and career fair. It was surprising, she said — most of the other admissions representatives at the event came from local community colleges.
My high school — a large public school in Lancaster, Pa., where 88 percent of students are considered economically disadvantaged — rarely sends students to elite colleges. But by coming to this fair, sincerely engaging with students from my school, Princeton might have counteracted preconceived notions about dismal admissions prospects for students who don’t come from privileged backgrounds.
It is essential for Princeton to keep reaching out to historically disenfranchised communities in this way. As the student body expands, the University needs to vigorously escalate recruitment efforts at underserved high schools in underrepresented parts of the country — even those in poor ZIP codes from rich states. And it needs to take a chance on districts that haven’t sent students to Princeton before.
While clicking through The Daily Princetonian Class of 2028 “Frosh Survey” chart that shows the number of matriculating students hailing from each ZIP code, I noticed that the largest concentrations of students come from New York City, California’s Bay Area, and Princeton itself.
Although only about 50 percent of the incoming class responded to the survey, and some of these disparities can be attributed to population density, the level of geographic diversity on this map seems woefully inadequate. Large swaths of the middle of the country are blank. According to this chart, my home ZIP code sent no students to Princeton, along with most of the rural middle and western half of Pennsylvania.
In fact, only 9 percent of the Class of 2028 self-report coming from rural areas, even though about 19 percent of the U.S. population resides in these regions. Only about 10 percent of domestic students in the Class of 2028 come from the 12 states that the U.S. Census Bureau classifies as midwestern, even though over 20 percent of the U.S. population lives in these states.
These discrepancies reveal that Princeton has a long way to go to ensure that the geographic diversity of incoming classes reflects the demographics of the United States as a whole. But they only present part of the picture — a state or region could be adequately represented in the new class, yet that representation might be concentrated in the wealthiest ZIP codes.
Take New York state. Twelve of the state’s 15 most affluent zip codes are located in Manhattan, an area that sent at least 20 students to Princeton this year — a number that is almost certainly an undercount because the Frosh survey accounts for just above 50 percent of the class. On the other hand, the survey turns up no first-years from New York’s two highest poverty ZIP codes, and either one or none from most of the state’s other low-income ZIP codes.
While a sizable chunk of New York state’s population dwells in Manhattan, their representation in Princeton’s Class of 2028 is still vastly disproportionate, and Manhattan's population is disproportionately wealthy. Recruiting low-income students from cities is incredibly important, but the fact that more rural areas are often poorer than cities and their suburbs means that increasing geographic diversity can also create a less socioeconomically homogeneous class.
Consistent admissions promotion in underrepresented areas might seem ineffectual or unproductive. It requires expending many hours to connect with probably not that many prospective students. But as an institution that’s expressed a commitment to diversity in its myriad forms, Princeton has a responsibility to convert that principle into tangible initiatives. And there is much that they can do.
First, there is existing infrastructure for this outreach that the University should take advantage of. Princeton should follow the precedent set by peer institutions like Stanford, Yale, and the University of Chicago and partner with the STARS (Small Town and Rural Students College Network) consortium. STARS members are committed to facilitating programming specifically designed for rural applicants, often work collectively to arrange events, and meet with students and parents in rural communities.
These outreach endeavors have a concrete positive impact — one year after joining STARS, Vanderbilt experienced a 26.8 percent increase in applications from small-town and rural Tennessee students and a 93.9 percent increase in acceptances of these students. Princeton could also participate in more joint travel with other top universities to organize robust recruitment events in parts of the country that aren’t often visited by admissions officers from elite schools.
While it’s important for admissions officers to connect face-to-face with as many prospective students as possible, there are also more efficient ways for Princeton to expand its reach. The University should establish a fly-in program like those at many other top colleges and universities, which sponsor structured, overnight or multi-day group visits for highly qualified high school students from marginalized backgrounds. This would expose students who might not otherwise apply to life at Princeton and likely encourage more applications from underrepresented regions.
Princeton can bolster recruitment of rural and low-income students with even simpler steps. Students are much more likely to enroll in college if they think their family can afford it, and most high-achieving low-income students don’t even apply to selective institutions, often because of concerns that the cost will be prohibitive.
The University’s revolutionary financial aid program makes a Princeton education accessible to low-income students — but that information needs to be disseminated in communities where hardly anyone has a degree from a top college, and misperceptions about the affordability of such schools run rampant. For one example, when I got into Princeton, people in my hometown told me I was wasting money and were shocked to find out that it would be much cheaper for me to attend Princeton than my local state schools.
The University can invest in mailers that explain Princeton’s financial aid and strategically send them to top students residing in low-income ZIP codes. Studies show that when selective colleges send these mailings along with waiving application fees, more high-achieving low-income students apply and are accepted. Distributing more brochures that explain Princeton’s affordability could be integral to increasing geographic diversity, especially in areas where no one has graduated from a highly selective institution and therefore no one has the knowledge to correct presuppositions about financial aid.
At the very least, these steps would signal that Princeton’s investment in geographic diversity isn’t just an empty platitude. At best, this engagement would attract more rural talent to future Princeton classes and show historically disenfranchised communities that Princeton’s doors aren’t closed to them.
As the student body expands, the demographics of each new class can’t replicate those of previous classes — admissions must make room for students from high schools, ZIP codes, and even whole counties that have never sent a student to Princeton before. By taking action to bolster outreach to underrepresented regions, the University can make this goal a reality. If Princeton’s expansion is truly motivated by equity, as the University insists, they need to aggressively court students who are hesitant to even apply because they think they have no shot, not just students who would otherwise go to Columbia or Yale.
Frances Brogan is an assistant Opinion editor and prospective History major from Lancaster, Pa. She can be reached at frances.brogan[at]princeton.edu.
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