Record number of high schoolers swapping the Ivy League for the SEC thanks to sunshine, campus culture - The Times

[Anonymous]

This is a cope for dumb rich kids that can’t get into a decent college.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Social media influence.

I can only speak for myself but it’s stunning how clueless we were about the rest of the country in the 80s and 90s. Social media and YouTube has made kids hyper aware of these colleges and regions before a campus tour. To me as a dumb propagandized high schooler in the 80s, the south seemed a world away, backwater, full of dumb and slow hicks. To kids now, the south is booming and fun, students look happy and attractive, academic programs are world class, merit scholarships can be life changing, and you get sunny weather instead of the cold, snow and grey skies.

What is with parents talking about the attractiveness of students?

World class academics? Really. Trump won with students at Alabama. Proof enough it’s not the place for serious students.

Gross x2

Plenty of writers used to write about how everyone at Yale and Stanford were attractive overachievers; from Fitzgerald a hundred years ago to Ann Coulter and David Brooks 20 years ago.

People instinctively appreciate beauty. People instinctively appreciate happy and confident young adults. There’s a certain energy to these booming southern campuses. Night and day from the gloomy, foreigner-filled campuses in the north and northeast.

I think like this triggers you ruthless striver parents. Y’all know no amount of scamming and helicopter parenting can get your kid into a top tier sorority or fraternity in the south.

This is of zero appeal to nearly everyone at top schools.

There was just a 30+ page thread on here about parents hoping their kid meets a spouse at college. This forum is full of strivers living through their kids, hoping they mix with and marry a gorgeous, high-born peer. The tiger mom and dad strivers can't penetrate these southern schools and their hyper-exclusive private fraternities and sororities. They also know if this trend continues and the rich and gorgeous American teens go south, the alleged prestige of their kid's "Top 20 U.S. News" northern and northeast college means squat. It's actually going to be a negative signal on your resume, while a southern school and whatever Greek house you were in will be a wink-wink signal you're normal, attractive, charismatic, smart and ambitious.

It’s obvious you’ve never set foot on an elite campus.

It’s a very comfortable life plan for some and I truly wish them well that aspire for what you wrote about.

Oh so now it’s about comfort? What happened to the top students being leaders BS? It’s so obvious the “top” schools are finished lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So tired of all this “future leader” and leadership-promotion rhetoric.

Everyday people are suffering because of poor leadership in every area of life—layoffs, affordability issues, drugs, poverty, you name it. Decades of so-called leadership, yet the problems keep getting worse.

You shouldn't be tired of it, leaders are needed and they are are often very good leaders. The missing piece is the character and morality aspect. Maybe they should over rotate into those aspects since the raw intelligence piece is more than properly covered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Social media influence.

I can only speak for myself but it’s stunning how clueless we were about the rest of the country in the 80s and 90s. Social media and YouTube has made kids hyper aware of these colleges and regions before a campus tour. To me as a dumb propagandized high schooler in the 80s, the south seemed a world away, backwater, full of dumb and slow hicks. To kids now, the south is booming and fun, students look happy and attractive, academic programs are world class, merit scholarships can be life changing, and you get sunny weather instead of the cold, snow and grey skies.

What is with parents talking about the attractiveness of students?

World class academics? Really. Trump won with students at Alabama. Proof enough it’s not the place for serious students.

Gross x2

Plenty of writers used to write about how everyone at Yale and Stanford were attractive overachievers; from Fitzgerald a hundred years ago to Ann Coulter and David Brooks 20 years ago.

People instinctively appreciate beauty. People instinctively appreciate happy and confident young adults. There’s a certain energy to these booming southern campuses. Night and day from the gloomy, foreigner-filled campuses in the north and northeast.

I think like this triggers you ruthless striver parents. Y’all know no amount of scamming and helicopter parenting can get your kid into a top tier sorority or fraternity in the south.

This is of zero appeal to nearly everyone at top schools.

There was just a 30+ page thread on here about parents hoping their kid meets a spouse at college. This forum is full of strivers living through their kids, hoping they mix with and marry a gorgeous, high-born peer. The tiger mom and dad strivers can't penetrate these southern schools and their hyper-exclusive private fraternities and sororities. They also know if this trend continues and the rich and gorgeous American teens go south, the alleged prestige of their kid's "Top 20 U.S. News" northern and northeast college means squat. It's actually going to be a negative signal on your resume, while a southern school and whatever Greek house you were in will be a wink-wink signal you're normal, attractive, charismatic, smart and ambitious.

Probably posted by a SEC nutter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a cope for dumb rich kids that can’t get into a decent college.

Wrong. You can’t buy your way into top SEC schools. The old fashioned top private colleges used legacy and all kinds of unethical tools to make sure dumb rich kids could get in. Remember those “counselor calls” that your CCO made for you? Good luck getting an SEC school to pick up the phone for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So tired of all this “future leader” and leadership-promotion rhetoric.

Everyday people are suffering because of poor leadership in every area of life—layoffs, affordability issues, drugs, poverty, you name it. Decades of so-called leadership, yet the problems keep getting worse.

You shouldn't be tired of it, leaders are needed and they are are often very good leaders. The missing piece is the character and morality aspect. Maybe they should over rotate into those aspects since the raw intelligence piece is more than properly covered.

PP said going to top colleges is about a comfortable path. Which is it? You should talk to the other dumb rich kid parents to get your stories straight.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:
I teach at an average SEC school and the party/fun-filled/non-academic culture is so strong that half the class don't bother to show up to a 10:30am lecture after the first few weeks. Many faculty members especially newer ones have expressed shock/disappointment at how weak the student body is. When our classes are filled with <22 ACT and <1100 SAT, there is only so much we can do to educate. We need to slow down, cover less (often much less than the same course at schools we did our Ph.D.), give fewer/easier assignments, and make exam questions very similar to previous ones (even then many don't have a prayer because they didn't care to study). That's SEC-level of education for you.

So you're an adjunct lecturing in some 500+ student guts level course? Of course kids don't show up. It's a waste of time when all the lectures and slides are online, assignments are submitted online, two in-person tests a semester, (and most of them are cheating). It's the same at the military academies, Ivies, and rah-rah degree mills. My daughter was in medical school over ten years ago and her classmates were always skipping class because everything they needed was posted online. Even the lectures were live streamed and record to watch later, so why show up? The tech has only gotten better in a decade.

So why exactly are you on a college thread?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can’t argue with the data they cite. Seems to boil down to fun and sunny weather. Ivy League losing its cachet. Ivy match kids increasingly prefer Vandy and Duke or a full merit scholarship at Alabama.

Why young Americans are shunning elite universities for the Deep South. Social life, sunshine and picturesque campuses are luring students from the northeast to colleges in South Carolina, Alabama and more.

https://www.thetimes.com/us/news-today/article/why-young-americans-are-shunning-elite-universities-for-the-deep-south-2ktn6fmv2

A bigger factor is cost. Even out of state a South Carolina or Florida is a major bargain. My DD would likely walk away from most public southern schools debt free. At Alabama and Ole Miss her scores would mean big scholarships and allow her to use her college savings for grad school.

My high achiever NMF turned down T10 (at a cost of nearly $400k for 4 years of undergrad) and goes to Alabama on a completely full ride scholarship. It was a no brainer. Younger siblings are also eyeing SEC schools.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The parents who comment about attractiveness of students at warm weather schools may be referring to happiness & fitness due to active outdoor lifestyle found at these schools.

This. Don’t make something a problem that isn’t. SEC kids simply take care of themselves and take pride in their appearance. They’re happy and outgoing, all American kids. Again, something that was once the status quo at “top” colleges before they got taken over by dorks.

The greatest levels of Obesity are in the South.....try again.

Go on TikTok and see the fit SEC students that are in better shape than you could ever dream of.

Oh right because a few TikTok videos is the true measure of reality. What a moron.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a cope for dumb rich kids that can’t get into a decent college.

Wrong. You can’t buy your way into top SEC schools. The old fashioned top private colleges used legacy and all kinds of unethical tools to make sure dumb rich kids could get in. Remember those “counselor calls” that your CCO made for you? Good luck getting an SEC school to pick up the phone for you.

With 60%+ acceptance rates you don’t need to do anything to get into South Carolina other than be able to read

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The tours were took in the spring of a few T20s it seemed like Caucasian American kids were a small minority of the overall student body. Indian and Asian were the clear majority, then Jewish, Hispanic, Arabic, and Black American and Nigerian kids. It felt like a UN summit.

This x1000. It was shocking. I get why people are outraged. It is 100% manufactured ratios and keeping out smart, UMC, high achieving kids SOLEY because they are white. They want that DEI. Best thing Trump has ever done is force these schools to scrap their ridiculous DEI efforts. And I am a liberal democrat! DEI just reached the point of absurdity.

My high achieving UMC white kid was accepted at multiple top 15 schools in 2023 (so before the Supreme Court ruling), as were several of his white friends.

No truly high achieving kids of any race are getting kept out of anywhere.

BTW, my kid’s Ivy campus is like 40% white…I find it interesting that someone differentiates Jewish kids who are also Caucasian American white as though they are Amish or some strange sect.

Sure, some get in. But once you tour do you still want to attend, let alone blow $400K to send your kid to school with no few white Christian peers? The whole vibe is off.

White “christian” nationalists represent!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The parents who comment about attractiveness of students at warm weather schools may be referring to happiness & fitness due to active outdoor lifestyle found at these schools.

This. Don’t make something a problem that isn’t. SEC kids simply take care of themselves and take pride in their appearance. They’re happy and outgoing, all American kids. Again, something that was once the status quo at “top” colleges before they got taken over by dorks.

The greatest levels of Obesity are in the South.....try again.

Go on TikTok and see the fit SEC students that are in better shape than you could ever dream of.

Oh right because a few TikTok videos is the true measure of reality. What a moron.

They need to go to the local Publix or Winn-Dixie to see what it's really like

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The parents who comment about attractiveness of students at warm weather schools may be referring to happiness & fitness due to active outdoor lifestyle found at these schools.

This. Don’t make something a problem that isn’t. SEC kids simply take care of themselves and take pride in their appearance. They’re happy and outgoing, all American kids. Again, something that was once the status quo at “top” colleges before they got taken over by dorks.

Good for you genius. You figured out you don't belong in some top "dork" college. Enjoy the SEC.

Aww looks like you’re triggered. Sorry you wouldn’t fit in with the fun, outgoing, fit kids in the SEC. They’ll be married with rich, beautiful families and amazing careers while you’re still coping.

I teach at an average SEC school and the party/fun-filled/non-academic culture is so strong that half the class don't bother to show up to a 10:30am lecture after the first few weeks. Many faculty members especially newer ones have expressed shock/disappointment at how weak the student body is. When our classes are filled with <22 ACT and <1100 SAT, there is only so much we can do to educate. We need to slow down, cover less (often much less than the same course at schools we did our Ph.D.), give fewer/easier assignments, and make exam questions very similar to previous ones (even then many don't have a prayer because they didn't care to study). That's SEC-level of education for you.

Nice phony Troll job. Try better next time.

You might want to check out the actual numbers for a school like Ole Miss before you open your piehole.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zkKqpes6AHDRsUFPDK37u39NIIgfMwdf/view

[Anonymous]

Why so much animosity? You do you! We have a kid at UVA, and she loves it there, and we love that she is happy. Our second kid is considering one of the lower ranked SEC schools because they happen to have a top notch department for her major. She got tons of merit, plus they keep sending snail mail to convince my kid to attend. We even got a letter from the mayor hyping up the college town!

Who cares if more academic kids from the NE choose schools in the South? It just means less competition for those “better” schools, or another option they will seem to enjoy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can’t argue with the data they cite. Seems to boil down to fun and sunny weather. Ivy League losing its cachet. Ivy match kids increasingly prefer Vandy and Duke or a full merit scholarship at Alabama.

Why young Americans are shunning elite universities for the Deep South. Social life, sunshine and picturesque campuses are luring students from the northeast to colleges in South Carolina, Alabama and more.

https://www.thetimes.com/us/news-today/article/why-young-americans-are-shunning-elite-universities-for-the-deep-south-2ktn6fmv2

A bigger factor is cost. Even out of state a South Carolina or Florida is a major bargain. My DD would likely walk away from most public southern schools debt free. At Alabama and Ole Miss her scores would mean big scholarships and allow her to use her college savings for grad school.

My high achiever NMF turned down T10 (at a cost of nearly $400k for 4 years of undergrad) and goes to Alabama on a completely full ride scholarship. It was a no brainer. Younger siblings are also eyeing SEC schools.

Cost is obviously a huge factor for most.