Do colleges reject/admit you based on your location?

How did these friends of yours who were rejected from their dream schools come to the conclusion that they were rejected due to their location? This is very unlikely. Their dream schools may be just that: dreams. Were their stats (SAT, GPA, etc.) within or above the median 50% for recently accepted students (NOT just above the minimum requirements: that's a much lower bar than what it actually takes to get accepted at a selective college, and will only get you in if you are also a star athlete)? If not, that's why they weren't accepted. This information is usually not hard to find.

If your high school has a pattern of top students at the school not getting accepted to colleges that students with similar GPAs at other high schools tend to get into, it could be that your high school inflates grades and/or is simply not doing a good job of preparing students for selective colleges. In that case, you might want to look for other ways to challenge yourself, like taking a few classes at a local college, studying on your own to take AP tests, etc.

That is not true at all. I know many students at my school that come from other states. Hell a lot of them come from other countries. So it is definitely possible for you to get accepted into a college in Southern California (where I'm at)

The plus side to this is that you will still be in state and therefore won't have to pay all those pesky out of state fees.

I'm also going to recommend Cal State Long Beach (my school) it's awesome!

Most public state universities aer going to accept a much larger percentage of in-state student over out of state students.

No California State University is going to give perferance to a student just because of where they live within California.

You have no idea why a student was rejected. Most universities will not giva a reason- but where the student lives with in their state is not an issue.

No, There is not a university, which reject a student on the basis of location. There may be another reason of rejection.

Kind of.

It will affect public schools more than privates. The Universities will usually have a set amount for in-state admissions and another number for OOS and International.

Remember, International students and Out-Of-State students pay more for tuition at public schools. I went to UCLA where this was certainly the case. More tuition hikes and more OOS students were being accepted for the OOS tuition cost.

But no, a S. Cal school will NOT reject you for being from N. Cal.

Public Schools do: If you are in the same state as a public school you apply to, you are far more likely to get in, and you will be charged lower amounts of money to attend.

Non-Profit Private Schools do not weigh where you are from during admissions decisions.

If by "where you are from" you mean "background," then yes it does matter. Ivy league schools are far more likely to admit people from wealthy and powerful families than middle class families. ( George W Bush Jr. comes to mind. ) Public schools and most other private schools will charge you less money and are more likely to admit you if you come from a poor background and overcame adversity.

Some colleges give preference to locals. This is especially true in state run schools

No. Location has nothing to do with college rejections.

Some have a little bit of an advantage. I know CalState Long Beach did.

In most cases no. However, in prestigious schools (Ivy Leagues), location is one factor they take into account, albeit a very small one compared to your GPA and SAT/ACT scores.