My friend actually moved to the Midwest for college admissions purposes

[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?

No, residency in Minnesota won't help with college admissions. Since the move has already been made, ask your friend to consider getting a P.O. Box address in South Dakota, Wyoming, or in North Dakota.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Why are you all up in their business? Is your life that boring?

[Anonymous]

I live in the midwest, too, after growing up in a pressure-cooker NYC burb. I disagree that it is a smart strategy for getting into an elite college, though there are things to be said for living in a less competitive area. But upper middle class professional families and lifestyles are more or less the same everywhere. They are just more concentrated in coastal areas.

[Anonymous]

Who cares? Why does it matter? Are you jealous that she did this? Are you thinking maybe you should do the same?

[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).

Incorrect.

[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?

She should look at exmissions for her high school. That is the largest indicator of where her kids might end up…

[Anonymous]

OP come back and tell us where they land.

We had to move to CA for work reasons. I'm much happier with the prospect of our kids going to one of what I consider the worthy UC colleges over UMD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Really only helps if UMinnesota is where her kids want to end up. Or maybe UWisconsin if they have a reciprocal agreement (someone mentioned they did). Otherwise, nope, there are still many suburbs with highly educated parents where the kids are pushed as much as DCUM.

[Anonymous]

if she's rural (vs suburban) it could def help.....
look to see if the HS has a college counseling profile....if not, it could be low resourced, and if she has high achieving kids and helps navigate the college process it will likely work out well for her kids (she should have kids apply very widely).

[Anonymous]

If she's "raised" her kids there sounds like this was a conscious decision made early on not a rash decision sophomore year. She likely had family or other reasons to move to be so committed for so long.

But she should have picked a more obscure state. My husband grew up in Iowa and likely had a much easier time getting into his top 5 school than kids from other states, which he will readily admit. But it was not part of an elaborate strategy, his family has lived there for generations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Why are you all up in their business? Is your life that boring?

This is something she openly discusses, not a state secret! I find it both annoying (since I’m slogging it out with my kids in a competitive east coast private where even high-performing kids seems to be slamming into a brick wall when it comes to elite admissions) and intriguing. Most of all I have no idea whether she is right so I thought I might ask.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

No, residency in Minnesota won't help with college admissions. Since the move has already been made, ask your friend to consider getting a P.O. Box address in South Dakota, Wyoming, or in North Dakota.

No. They care where the student went to high school.

But I agree Twin Cities does not help in this regard.

[Anonymous]

Interesting.

We moved to the Midwest for COL reasons, which helps us save for college but not at all for college admissions. We have a couple of sought-after colleges in our current state. Instate tuition does make them very affordable but getting accepted as an instate student is very challenging. We live in one of the top school systems in the state, if not THE top school system, but the competition will be fierce.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

+1 If they can move/live anywhere, why choose Minnesota so that you can go to North or South Dakota? You can get into those two from anywhere?

I'd def have chosen Michigan for the in-state options. And also for looking to Carleton, St. Olaf & Macalester for private options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

+1 If they can move/live anywhere, why choose Minnesota so that you can go to North or South Dakota? You can get into those two from anywhere?

I'd def have chosen Michigan for the in-state options. And also for looking to Carleton, St. Olaf & Macalester for private options.

Edited: Sorry, didn't see that they'd get in-state tuition(?) for North and South Dakota, as well as Wisconsin. Still, personally, I'd hedge my bets and move to Michigan instead.