My friend actually moved to the Midwest for college admissions purposes

[Anonymous]

Will this really help? She’s raised her kids in a suburb outside out Minneapolis because -1- it’s much cheaper than the east coast yet not so culturally different and -2- she thinks it will help the kids go to good colleges. They attend a good public school — maybe top 30 in the state. This family could live anywhere in the country. Is this a smart strategy?

[Anonymous]

Her kids probably will wind up at UMinnesota.

[Anonymous]

If it's "not so culturally different" from DC, her kid will be competing with a lot of other aggressively-parented kids with high expectations and a laundry list of accomplishments. There is a slight chance that the kid could get a "geographic diversity" bump, but it'd be more likely if she moved to Idaho or something. But if it helped her save money to send the kid to college, then good for them.

[Anonymous]

I think she'll find that in Minneapolis, like the rest of the country, they worry a lot less about college and focus more time enjoying a full life. and THAT is good for college admissions.

these DMV kids all look the same!!

[Anonymous]

I went to a top 5 public school in Minnesota and it wasn't good at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think she'll find that in Minneapolis, like the rest of the country, they worry a lot less about college and focus more time enjoying a full life. and THAT is good for college admissions.

these DMV kids all look the same!!

+1 She might find it easier to get into someplace like U of Wisconsin because they have an agreement to consider Minnesota students "in-state". My family in Minnesota generally has sent their kids to place like U of MN, U of Wisconsin, U of Iowa, + smaller schools like St. Olaf, Gustavus Adolphus, St. Thomas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it's "not so culturally different" from DC, her kid will be competing with a lot of other aggressively-parented kids with high expectations and a laundry list of accomplishments. There is a slight chance that the kid could get a "geographic diversity" bump, but it'd be more likely if she moved to Idaho or something. But if it helped her save money to send the kid to college, then good for them.

Exactly.

If people want to move for a better quality of life, more power to them. But I like living in the DC area (incidentally, where my husband's job is), and I'm certainly not going to sacrifice that *just* for a possible bump in college admissions. My kids are, and will do fine. My college freshman is happy where he landed, and his younger siblings will be too.

We're nerds and like academia. But we don't actually care that much about placing our kids in "elite" universities, because we do not believe their entire life trajectory depends on the name of the institution on the diploma.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will this really help? She’s raised her kids in a suburb outside out Minneapolis because -1- it’s much cheaper than the east coast yet not so culturally different and -2- she thinks it will help the kids go to good colleges. They attend a good public school — maybe top 30 in the state. This family could live anywhere in the country. Is this a smart strategy?

I mean...she didn't move to the middle of South Dakota. Eden Prairie (Bethesda/Potomac kind of suburb of Minneapolis) has plenty of kids still applying to East and West Coast schools. It probably helps a tad bit, but not as much as she thinks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think she'll find that in Minneapolis, like the rest of the country, they worry a lot less about college and focus more time enjoying a full life. and THAT is good for college admissions.

these DMV kids all look the same!!

Op here : this is absolutely the case and something she often mentions. The dream for the other smart kids at this high school is to go to St Olaf and maybe Carleton. Their families wouldn’t want even their kids to go farther than Wisconsin — the northeast is simply not on their radar, though these are comfortable professional families. But my friend’s kid is focused on the east coast ivies.

[Anonymous]

From what I have observed, which is admittedly not a huge sample, this strategy is not helpful.

[Anonymous]

I mean, you can only be a resident of one state so it’s not like moving to the Midwest generally opens up a bunch of college opportunities in other Midwest states (they’ll still be OOS for anything not in MN).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I mean, you can only be a resident of one state so it’s not like moving to the Midwest generally opens up a bunch of college opportunities in other Midwest states (they’ll still be OOS for anything not in MN).

Actually they will also be considered in-state for Wisconsin, N Dakota and S Dakota.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I mean, you can only be a resident of one state so it’s not like moving to the Midwest generally opens up a bunch of college opportunities in other Midwest states (they’ll still be OOS for anything not in MN).

Assuming the move was purely for college admissions, probably would have been better to move to Michigan or Wisconsin. I bet there are fewer kids applying to the fancy East coast schools from Kalamazoo or Green Bay, because the in-state options are so strong/popular.

I believe your chances at Michigan are much higher in-state vs. OOS.

[Anonymous]

I can't imagine it helps with Ivys. I'm from suburban MN and had lots of very smart kids in my class, but the big destinations were one person to Georgetown and one person to Perdue and most everyone else stayed within 3 hour drive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think she'll find that in Minneapolis, like the rest of the country, they worry a lot less about college and focus more time enjoying a full life. and THAT is good for college admissions.

these DMV kids all look the same!!

This. We moved from the DC area due to job changes. There is not the hyper focus (obsession) with college admissions. Kids are in college prep privates and yes there is a focus on it but it’s not their life.