Despite their national reputations and despite their best efforts to expand their student bodies to include people from around the country, a new analysis conducted by the University of Denver has found that many private institutions are still more local than many people realize.

“There is a misperception that ‘national’ universities are drawing most of their students from the far reaches of the nation,” Tom Willoughy, who is the vice chancellor for enrollment at the University of Denver, is quoted as saying in a New York times blog post. “In fact, many of them find most of their students in-state or pretty close to home.”

According to the University of Denver study, one out of every two American students admitted into Boston University’s freshman class in 2008 was either from Massachusetts or from a community located within a 200 mile radius of Boston. Another one-fifth of the students were from high schools within a 200 to 500 mile radius of the university.

Harvard showed similar characteristics in the study. In fact, more than one out of every three American freshmen attending the school grew up within a 200 mile radius of Cambridge. Slightly less than half of the students, on the other hand, were from over 500 miles away from the school.

The University of Denver conducted the study in order to find out how its student body compared with that of schools with a national reputation. The study found that the demographics were comparable to those of the “big name” colleges and universities. At the University of Denver, only 45% of the America freshmen were originally from areas within 200 miles of campus. 51% of the university’s students, on the other hand, were from areas that were over 500 miles away. These numbers were comparable to the University of Southern California, where 60% of the students come from areas within 200 miles of Los Angeles, as well as Southern Methodist, where 49% of the American freshmen were from areas within 200 miles of Dallas.

“Stanford may come closest among the schools analyzed to mirroring the traditional view of a national university,” the analysis concluded. “Fifty-seven percent of Stanford’s 2008 freshman class came from more than 500 miles away. Still, fully 40 percent of the freshman class came from California.”