A Geographic Breakdown of Regular Decision Applications

Democrats made inroads in a number of Republican strongholds this election, but Duke too may be turning states blue.

California is the second-most represented state in the Class of 2012, calling the old cliche that Duke is overrun with displaced Yankees and Floridians into question. No official word yet on which states will come out on top in the Class of 2013, but preliminary regular decision figures could provide some clues.

The number of regular decision applications from the West Coast soared this year, with significant increases from California, Washington and Oregon. The University also saw a jump in applications from the Midwest, with Ohio and Illinois posting considerable gains.

In the early decision pool, Connecticut joined North Carolina as the top-represented state, and Massachusetts and Pennsylania also flooded the Office of Undergraduate Admissions with applications.

But the new question may not be which state is best-represented on East Campus, but which national flag. Just 1.5 percent of the student body came from overseas in 1992, but international students comprised almost 10 percent of the Class of 2012 and may constitute an even greater portion of the Class of 2013. Applications from international students jumped by 38 percent in the early decision pool and 24 percent in the regular decision pool.

Then again, applications from the usual suspects—New York, Florida and North Carolina—also increased considerably from last year for both early and regular decision. So perhaps the old cliche will hold true to some extent for the Class of 2013, too.