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

[Anonymous]

$$$ and FUN. Most kids aren't competitive for Top 20 and most can't afford it anyway. If you've got $40k/yr to spend instead of $80/year, you are going to have a different set of priorities.

[Anonymous]

The article and trend are populist anti-elitism, the kind that glides past the details relying on “vibes.”

The growth of interest in Southern universities is real! But it’s not coming at the expense of the Ivy League.

The new mid-Atlantic trend toward southern colleges is real, and the parents and kids want to feel self-satisfied. Good weather, frats and football! But again: Long Island 1340 SAT kid isn’t going to cold Cornell or Harvard because HE negged THEM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Swapping the Ivy League? That suggests they had a chance of admission in the first place.

Bwaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

I know. I love when I hear parents whose kids were not even close to required test scores, rigor/goa sat the reason their kids aren’t attending the 3-5% admit Ivies is because they like sunshine. So they go to the 50-85% acceptance rate instead.

This was all click bait. It became a thing when the T20s were next to impossible to get into.

Exactly. Live near Duke, even top students here want Ivies. They apply to Duke also, but it doesn’t have the same wow factor that colder climate applicants fawn over.

That may just be the fact that Duke is too close to home. I live in the Pacific Northwest and Duke has the same if not more "wow factor" than any Ivy after HYP. My valedictorian kid is applying ED to Duke.

I live in the Bay area and Duke has pretty much zero "wow factor" for top students. Checked our SCOIR, few apply to any of the Southern schools and to be fair few are accepted so it looks like the feelings are mutual.

[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

Because they cite almost zero data. The biggest takeaway from the data I.e. the map is that CA and TX do not have enough spots in desired schools for their kids so they go to other states. Probably more reflective of the population of those states than anything else.

+1 There is no true data in this article that paints any sort of a picture that these particular students are "shunning elite universities" for the SEC. Zero. I don't think Vanderbilt and Duke were even mentioned.

My kid wants one of these kinds of schools, but he is not Ivy League material. This article is about northerners passing on Rutgers, SUNYs, Penn State, Pitt, etc. for the SEC.

[Anonymous]

Agree they are not turning down Ivy spots but it looks like Auburn’s acceptance rate was 70% in 2022 and is now <50%(and they don’t separate out in state versus out of state). They are also going to require test scores again starting in 2027. Clemson was 62% in 2020 and now 42% OOS. Of note, UMich has decreased their acceptance rate during that timeframe, but only 2%. Ohio State has hovered between 48-52% during the same time.
Here is the acceptance rate at Harvard across 10 years:
Overall acceptance rate trend 2012: \(13.47\%\)2013: \(36.68\%\)2014: \(32.72\%\)2015: \(35.16\%\)2016: \(32.45\%\)2017: \(29.50\%\)2022: \(3.2\%\)2025 (Class of 2029): \(3.43\%\)

All to say, the number of applications impacts acceptance rates and at least some southern states are seeing their acceptance rates drop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The article and trend are populist anti-elitism, the kind that glides past the details relying on “vibes.”

The growth of interest in Southern universities is real! But it’s not coming at the expense of the Ivy League.

The new mid-Atlantic trend toward southern colleges is real, and the parents and kids want to feel self-satisfied. Good weather, frats and football! But again: Long Island 1340 SAT kid isn’t going to cold Cornell or Harvard because HE negged THEM.

This. Lower scoring or lower income kids are going where they can afford or where they are accepted..

[Anonymous]

Duke is Duke!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The article and trend are populist anti-elitism, the kind that glides past the details relying on “vibes.”

The growth of interest in Southern universities is real! But it’s not coming at the expense of the Ivy League.

The new mid-Atlantic trend toward southern colleges is real, and the parents and kids want to feel self-satisfied. Good weather, frats and football! But again: Long Island 1340 SAT kid isn’t going to cold Cornell or Harvard because HE negged THEM.

In my circle I’m seeing this go up the SAT scale all the way to the 1560+/800 math zone, maybe not for the SEC but certainly for the ACC and Big Ten.

Honestly it seems to me more like a mutual parting of the ways. The very last thing Ivies want on their campuses is even more white and Asian kids with high stats from affluent suburbs. Plenty of those kids hurl themselves at Ivies anyway, but it seems like a growing number of kids have gotten the message that they aren’t wanted and decided to go somewhere they’re welcome instead (especially if it allows them to graduate with a nest egg).

[Anonymous]

Aren't we at/just past the peak college age population? So of course lots of top students headed to schools other than Ivys - where else were they going to go?

And I also think there is something to a larger alumni network in the future. If AI succeeds in taking jobs, it's going to be harder and harder for college grads to find those entry-level jobs. Those large schools also produce lots of alumni.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The article and trend are populist anti-elitism, the kind that glides past the details relying on “vibes.”

The growth of interest in Southern universities is real! But it’s not coming at the expense of the Ivy League.

The new mid-Atlantic trend toward southern colleges is real, and the parents and kids want to feel self-satisfied. Good weather, frats and football! But again: Long Island 1340 SAT kid isn’t going to cold Cornell or Harvard because HE negged THEM.

In my circle I’m seeing this go up the SAT scale all the way to the 1560+/800 math zone, maybe not for the SEC but certainly for the ACC and Big Ten.

Honestly it seems to me more like a mutual parting of the ways. The very last thing Ivies want on their campuses is even more white and Asian kids with high stats from affluent suburbs. Plenty of those kids hurl themselves at Ivies anyway, but it seems like a growing number of kids have gotten the message that they aren’t wanted and decided to go somewhere they’re welcome instead (especially if it allows them to graduate with a nest egg).

Generally this is the kids who might have been Ivy material ten years ago but aren’t any longer. The tip top kids still going for the usual suspects. I have personal experience here, one kid in each of these categories.

[Anonymous]

"• Is America’s Ivy League obsession finally cocming to an end?"

Thanks, The Times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Aren't we at/just past the peak college age population? So of course lots of top students headed to schools other than Ivys - where else were they going to go?

And I also think there is something to a larger alumni network in the future. If AI succeeds in taking jobs, it's going to be harder and harder for college grads to find those entry-level jobs. Those large schools also produce lots of alumni.

USC enrollment is up 50% Columbia is up 20% with 20% more coming. Ivy schools and other elite schools COULD choose to expand undergrad size.

[Anonymous]

Duke and Vandy are hot and offer things

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Duke and Vandy are hot and offer things

Vandy mom is back,

[Anonymous]

Our SCOIR shows apps by year and plots overall choices over many years. Students always choose ivy if they get in. Most do not get in. Sure some top students ED to UVA but most shoot for ivies. SMU, Clemson, UGA, Ole Miss are selected less than 20% of the time when the applicant also gets in to UVA in state. SEC is chosen less than 10% of the time when the applicant gets into any private in the T20.