49 out of 50 states: Where are all the South Dakotans?

Although the Class of 2020 included students from 70 countries and 49 states, one state didn’t make the cut—South Dakota. Only one freshman hails from North Dakota and the Class of 2019, now sophomores, has no students from either state. The Chronicle asked senior and Sioux Falls native Brady Graber—one of five students from South Dakota in his class—about the apparent disinterest from the Dakotas, his own admissions process and what Duke admissions can do to increase applicants. 

The Chronicle: Why do you think people from North and South Dakota are underrepresented at Duke?

Brady Graber: I think a lot of it with the Dakotas is based on that it’s kind of a place where if you grow up there, you stay there. It is rare for students to come from a small town from underpopulated areas in North and South Dakota and then travel all the way across America to come to North Carolina and attend a school like Duke University. I think the statistics would show similar trends with Ivy schools in the Northeast. It is more [common to] stay local, go to a state school—Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota—whatever it may be. It’s just a kind of a mindset. People don’t grow up in high school there and think they want to go to a top-notch school on one of the coasts.

TC: Do you believe this to be exclusive to your area, or to the Midwest as a whole?

BG: I think it is fair to say the Midwest as a whole to some degree. Other than the bigger cities—Minneapolis, Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis—I think it’s smaller populated areas. And again, like I said, the ambition is just different. I loved growing up in Sioux Falls, and I could see myself going back, but a lot of the mentality there is that there is no need to leave and experience something new because they are happy where they are at.

TC: What led you to apply to Duke?

BG: Ever since I was very little, I was obsessed with Duke basketball, and so they got on the map through basketball for me. And then in high school, I talked with my mom, and she said I should apply for “the heck of it,” and so I did, and here I am. The benefit with Duke, with basketball and football now on the rise, is that it gives the school a lot of exposure. I have friends that went to schools based on discovering them from sports teams too, and giving them that appeal. That is an advantage that Duke has that will hopefully help with bringing people from all over.

TC: During your admissions process, was information forwarded to your school? Did admissions officers visit, or did you go about the process on your own?

BG: There wasn’t anything directly at my school, but I do remember we had a city-wide presentation. There were Duke and a couple other schools, Stanford and maybe Brown or another Ivy. It was a couple higher-level—I guess the more prestigious schools. And honestly, I was happy with the showing. There were students from multiple different schools around Sioux Falls, and they all attended, and I think that was good to get something on the map. But my school as a whole, the recruiting directly from Roosevelt High School where I went, was not intense whatsoever. You kind of had to do your own work, your own research and find out about different schools on your own.

TC: If Duke did more outreach, do you believe more students would apply?

BG: I really do, even if it were recent grads or people that are at Duke right now. I know I personally would love to reach out to students from my high school and get them to come to Duke because I heard that this incoming freshman class has all the states covered except for South Dakota. And that’s just kind of sad. You don’t want to be that one random state that doesn’t have anyone. I know one of my good friends from back home, his little brother was thinking about Duke and heavily considering Duke, but ended up going to Stanford. But even just having someone from back home coming and visiting campus—I love that. And I would love to reach out personally, or just have more attention or more effort put into specific high schools saying, “Hey, just because you are from little old South Dakota, you can still go to any school.”

TC: What would you suggest the admissions office do in order to recruit people from your area?

BG: I think that current student outreach would be good. Like I said, I would love to reach out and talk to people from my high school and even other high schools around the city. And even just appealing to the counselors from each individual high school, or maybe bigger schools. Because I really do think there are a lot of smart kids. I went to a public high school where there were 200-plus kids, and there were really, really smart people who could absolutely thrive at Duke. But I think the exposure was just too low. So you need to reach out and be more active about it—recent grads, current students, whatever it might be.