Virginia parents do not have many good in-state options
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Anonymous
| We moved to Tennessee. What I wouldn't do for the options we had in Virginia! |
Anonymous
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OP here again.
Not sure why so many people were triggered but let me try to clarify: (1) I didn’t say Virginia doesn’t have many options. I said it doesn’t have many *good* options. How to define a “good” school is subjective. I personally think UVa, W&M, UMCP, and VT are good or great. JMU, GMU, and UMBC are just OK. (2) An option is not really an option if you cannot choose it. UVa and W&M are extremely selective. VT, a land grant school, became very selective for popular majors. And VT prefers the OOS kids, which makes things worse. Look at the acceptance rate: VT in-state: 50% VT OOS: 63% This is same for JMU. Very easy admission for OOS kids. JMU in-state: 71% JMU OOS: 87% So I think it’s very possible that many good students who would get in a big state school such as Michigan State or Pitt/PSU didn’t get in VT only because they live in Northern Virginia. (Also kids who would get in a second tier public school such as Temple may not get in JMU) I am sure some people already knew that the college options in Virginia are not that great any more. Let’s just accept the reality. |
Anonymous
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OP can you provide an example of a "good" in-state option in another state - what it is you think that Virginia should have but doesn't?
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Anonymous
Unless your kid is exceptionally smart, you might be better off in Tennessee. I would take UTenn in-state over JMU/GMU in-state. |
Anonymous
It's like... you want UVA quality with a better than VT or JMU acceptance rate? |
Anonymous
FSU, which is a good and huge public school and limits the OOS admission. |
Anonymous
Four good or great public options in the state is pretty impressive really. Certainly better than Maryland, NYS or Mass. |
Anonymous
The easier ask here is to have the VA Legislature put harder caps on OOS students. However, VA residents need to prepare for big tuition hikes and bigger classes, if that happens. That's what happened in the UC system when they put harder caps on OOS. |
Anonymous
Number of public colleges in USNWR Top 100: CA - 9 FL - 4 NJ - 4 NY - 3 VA - 3 PA - 3 |
Anonymous
UNC is has an instate cost of attendance of 25k and an 18% OOS students. UVA is 37k and 32% OOS. There is no reason that UVA couldn't mirror UNC with both numbers. |
Anonymous
Now do it per capita because on state on your list is a lot smaller than the rest |
Anonymous
So Virginia has the same number as much more populated NY. And no SUNY is as highly regarded as UVA. |
Anonymous
FSU has a 37% acceptance rate, but OP is unhappy with the much higher acceptance rate at VT / JMU. |
Anonymous
No USNWR changed the methodology and it's now largely non-academic. Removing class size and high school ranking (if it's done) and portion of professors with terminal degrees IMO is important (HS ranking not as much so---but that's still there with GPA, etc). Class size is very telling of the quality of academics offered at a school. NO way you can convince me that a typical class with 30-40 students is not a much better learning experience than one with 500+ students (given the same quality of professor---obviously a bad prof is bad in all instances). It's simply a very different learning environment and no expert would try to convince you that the 500+ environment is better. Adding in Pell Grant graduation rates really does not demonstrate how one school is better than the other, given that outside factors for those students are often the reason they don't graduate on time, not what the university does or doesn't do. All it means is that State universities jumped in the rankings and private, less than 15K undergrad universities lost placement. That is mostly an indicator of class size and terminal degree. DOn't know about you but I prefer my kids to sit in classes with 25-50 kids where they can actively learn during a lecture and be engaged with a professor who is an expert in their field, not the TA who is a first year graduate student. |
Anonymous
Yes, per capita is a better way to look at it - I agree. I've expanded to top 150 with a minimum of two schools per state. Per capita is in the parentheses - lower is better. This is based on 2020 census numbers, so I have not adjusted for population under age 35. That may be a better way to examine it. Number of public colleges/universities in USNWR Top 150: CA - 11 (1 school per 3.59M residents) VA - 6 (1.44M) NY - 6 (3.37M) FL - 6 (3.59M) TX - 4 (7.29M) NJ - 4 (2.32M) PA - 3 (4.33M) OH - 3 (3.93M) IA - 2 (1.60M) OR - 2 (2.12M) AZ - 2 (3.58M) IN - 2 (3.39M) MD - 2 (3.09M) MI - 2 (5.04M) GA - 2 (5.36M) NC - 2 (5.22M) IL - 2 (6.41M) CO - 2 (2.89M) SC - 2 (2.56M) |