Why are Northern Kids Flocking to Southern Universities?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cold weather is depressing and the Midwest economy and population has been slowly dying for decades. Why go to college in a place 99% of your classmates are going to immediately move 1000 miles away from?

The Midwest and the northeast near great lakes and lakes have one critical thing that other locations will eventually lack....water. climate migration will be from south to north, drought to water.

Yep

Bullish on upstate New York, UP Michigan.

Perhaps when southerners and westerners scramble in 50 years as climate/water refugees to the north, we don’t let them in.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I went to a well-respected, albeit large, university in the Northeast. I cannot fault these kids who want to attend a flagship school in the south with (gasp) an SEC football team. Living in DC, I’ve had an opportunity to accompany co-workers and friends to “real” college football games and it’s a game changer (for lack of a better word). School spirit oozes from those schools and it completely permeates everything about the college experience. Then, after college, it gives graduates something to bond over. You don’t have that with the SUNY schools, for example.

Um, have you ever been to a football game at Michigan or Notre Dame or Wisconsin or Ohio State? It's a "real" college football experience just like in the SEC, except the students may have to bundle up (which is hardly a big deal).

The PP wasn't talking about those schools. They were talking about schools like SUNY schools. Sure, Michigan, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, and Ohio State provide great football experiences. Many students pick those schools for the football fan experience. They are also much harder to get into than the Southern schools being discussed, so I'm not sure how their football culture is relevant.

What? None of those schools are harder to get into than UT Austin or North Carolina. After this year, you can add Georgia, Georgia Tech and Florida to that list, too. Probably some others. Last year, Auburn’s early acceptance rate was 25%.

Why don’t you share the overall acceptance rate for auburn with the class?

Auburn had an overall acceptance rate last year of 71%. Ohio State has an acceptance rate of 68%. OSU sends a lot of students to their “regional” campuses, which makes their acceptance rate for the main campus look lower.

Auburn received 150% more applications last year than 2 years before, and their enrollment has increased by 25% since 2012.

https://www.al.com/educationlab/2022/08/see-auburn-universitys-record-maybe-amount-of-students-hit-campus-for-first-week-of-2022-semester.html

Meanwhile, OSU got a lot of applications, but their enrollment has fallen.

https://www.nbc4i.com/news/local-news/ohio-state-university/ohio-state-university-enrollment-reaches-number-not-seen-in-years/

Ohio State University’s total student enrollment is the lowest it has been since 2016, according to the university’s enrollment reports from the past decade. In other metrics, too, the university is coming up short of recent years’ record-breaking highs, while total ethnic minority enrollment is the highest it’s ever been.

With this fall semester’s 15-day enrollment tallying 65,795 students across all levels and campuses, the midwestern school known for its larger-than-life state presence is down nearly 2,000 students from 2021. The lower enrollment follows a trend born out of the COVID-19 pandemic; Ohio State’s highest total enrollment was in 2019 with 68,262 students. Since then, numbers across education levels have continued to fall — but not quite as starkly as in 2022.



https://www.niche.com/colleges/the-ohio-state-university/admissions/

You see? You could make your argument without the completely misleading 21% early acceptance rate.

Now let’s compare the 65000 students at Ohio state with the 24000
at auburn.

Interesting that you questioned the premise, but now want to move the goal posts when the facts don't support your argument. You stated the listed midwestern universities are harder to get into than southern universities across the board. That's just not true. If you really want to change the subject, I could point out that the OSU early acceptance rate was 64% (vs. Auburn's 25%), but OSU still ended up with a declining number of students who actually enrolled. That tells me that students are still applying to OSU, but choosing to attend elsewhere after they take a closer look. The point is that Auburn is on the upswing, and OSU on the down.

Of course, you picked Auburn to dispute. You didn't even attempt to question the acceptance rates at the other schools I listed. Want to compare Texas to Michigan? Michigan accepts 47% of in state and 22% of OOS students vs. Texas at 10% in state (for non-auto admit, who have to be in the top 6% of their HS class; if you count them the overall acceptance rate is 31%), and 8% for OOS. North Carolina is 43% in state and 8% OOS. Not to mention the 17% overall acceptance rate at Georgia Tech and the 40% acceptance rate at both Georgia and Florida (last year, they got even more applications this year). By the way, Wisconsin is at 57%. You threw in Notre Dame, which isn't a state university, so not really a good comparison, but the ND 19% acceptance rate is still higher than Georgia Tech and Texas and NC OOS. If you want to make real apples to apples comparisons, look at Emory (19%), Vanderbilt (11%), or Duke (8%).

You realize more than one person can post to the thread? I just called out your BS 21% number. Of course i picked it out because it was total horsesh*t.

I can’t get too excited over fighting over which random state school is better than the other.

In other words, you’ve been proven to be wrong and have no rebuttal. You did “get excited” and asked for the overall admission data, which I provided and which all supports my initial point. The 21% EA number is actual data and not “horseshit.” It may not confirm to your worldview, but that doesn’t make it any less of a fact.

How have I been proven wrong? You presented a number in a completely misleading way and you knew it. That’s why you immediately pivoted to other schools.

I have no rebuttal because what is the point about arguing over these schools. If you’re going to waste time doing it, just do it in an intellectually honest way.

Other PP. I still have not seen a verified overall acceptance rate for Auburn for fall 2022/class of 2026. The 71% figure is for fall 2021/class of 2025.

According to this it was 43.74% for 2022.

https://auburn.edu/administration/ir/factbook/enrollment-demographics/historical-summaries/freshman-admission.html

The trend is what is important. This web site is kind of interesting — you can select states and years for enrollment and compare. If you pick DC/MD/VA, and compare 2019 to 2022, the number of undergraduates enrolling at Auburn increased from 492 to 540. Almost 10% in 3 years. In 2013, it was 421 (almost 30%). That’s enrolled, not just applied. I didn’t check every state, but every state I looked at had increased.

https://auburn.edu/administration/ir/factbook/enrollment-demographics/total-enrollment/by-state.html

If your teen is seeking a large state school, why not go to the cheapest with the best weather and have more fun? It’s a no-brainer. Only delusional northerners think a Big Ten bachelor’s is worth more than an Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Tennessee, or USC bachelor’s. A Michigan or Ohio State bachelor’s is no different than one from a southern flagship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cold weather is depressing and the Midwest economy and population has been slowly dying for decades. Why go to college in a place 99% of your classmates are going to immediately move 1000 miles away from?

The Midwest and the northeast near great lakes and lakes have one critical thing that other locations will eventually lack....water. climate migration will be from south to north, drought to water.

Yep

Bullish on upstate New York, UP Michigan.

Perhaps when southerners and westerners scramble in 50 years as climate/water refugees to the north, we don’t let them in.

Your 50 year doomsday prediction is certain to shake up the college rankings and housing market.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cold weather is depressing and the Midwest economy and population has been slowly dying for decades. Why go to college in a place 99% of your classmates are going to immediately move 1000 miles away from?

The Midwest and the northeast near great lakes and lakes have one critical thing that other locations will eventually lack....water. climate migration will be from south to north, drought to water.

Yep

Bullish on upstate New York, UP Michigan.

Perhaps when southerners and westerners scramble in 50 years as climate/water refugees to the north, we don’t let them in.

Your 50 year doomsday prediction is certain to shake up the college rankings and housing market.

So true. PP sounds unhinged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cold weather is depressing and the Midwest economy and population has been slowly dying for decades. Why go to college in a place 99% of your classmates are going to immediately move 1000 miles away from?

The Midwest and the northeast near great lakes and lakes have one critical thing that other locations will eventually lack....water. climate migration will be from south to north, drought to water.

Yep

Bullish on upstate New York, UP Michigan.

Perhaps when southerners and westerners scramble in 50 years as climate/water refugees to the north, we don’t let them in.

We’re ok if you don’t let us on now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cold weather is depressing and the Midwest economy and population has been slowly dying for decades. Why go to college in a place 99% of your classmates are going to immediately move 1000 miles away from?

The Midwest and the northeast near great lakes and lakes have one critical thing that other locations will eventually lack....water. climate migration will be from south to north, drought to water.

Yep

Bullish on upstate New York, UP Michigan.

Perhaps when southerners and westerners scramble in 50 years as climate/water refugees to the north, we don’t let them in.

Rust belt is so great you’re spamming a regional forum you don’t live in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LOL. Smart northern kids are not doing this. This is a cope by parents of kids settling for a second-rate college.

Sure. Keep telling yourself that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok? Other than being in VA, the northern VA burbs are not like the rest of the south in any way.

That said, I grew up in Delmarva and live in (I have lived in all 3), which most people know as the mid-Atlantic. I think most would consider it neutral territory.

Northern Virginia is very very similar to the atlanta suburbs!

So not accurate. I grew up in Atlanta suburbs and family still lives there (brother w/3 kids in HS). I live in NOVA with kids in HS and college. These 2 areas are worlds apart. NOVA is far more worldly, informed, intense and wealthy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok? Other than being in VA, the northern VA burbs are not like the rest of the south in any way.

That said, I grew up in Delmarva and live in (I have lived in all 3), which most people know as the mid-Atlantic. I think most would consider it neutral territory.

Northern Virginia is very very similar to the atlanta suburbs!

So not accurate. I grew up in Atlanta suburbs and family still lives there (brother w/3 kids in HS). I live in NOVA with kids in HS and college. These 2 areas are worlds apart. NOVA is far more worldly, informed, intense and wealthy.

Hahahahaha

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok? Other than being in VA, the northern VA burbs are not like the rest of the south in any way.

That said, I grew up in Delmarva and live in (I have lived in all 3), which most people know as the mid-Atlantic. I think most would consider it neutral territory.

Northern Virginia is very very similar to the atlanta suburbs!

So not accurate. I grew up in Atlanta suburbs and family still lives there (brother w/3 kids in HS). I live in NOVA with kids in HS and college. These 2 areas are worlds apart. NOVA is far more worldly, informed, intense and wealthy.

Depends on which suburban area of Atlanta, and I don't view intense as a positive

[Anonymous]

Also grew up in Atlanta suburbs - near Emory - and live/raising kids in nova suburbs. They are very very different. Nova is as pp described wealthier and more intense — and not always in a good way

[Anonymous]

Ok so I will pick on Alabama. It’s ranked 147, has almost 40k undergraduate students, and seems to be mostly known for its football team. Even if my daughter got a full ride, no thank you. I don’t want her to be just a number and the party school Greek life is not a draw for her at all. It’s truly the last place in this country I would recommend for her. Although she’s a junior, I’m encouraging her to find a school with strong academics (isn’t that the priority?) and a stimulating environment with students who go to college to work hard and make friends and get involved with clubs, etc. She will buy some warm clothes if that school ends up being in a colder climate. The world is competitive. Strive to get into a college that is academically challenging and this will help in the long run with professional opportunities and networking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LOL. Smart northern kids are not doing this. This is a cope by parents of kids settling for a second-rate college.

Its height of ignorance and delusional arrogance to think all northern colleges are good and all southern colleges are second-rate.

[Anonymous]

Southren schools have good ranking colleges, good merit scholarships, good weather, good sport scene, abundance of internships, good job market, affordable housing, low COA, low COL and a different experience. Who can blame applicants to favor schools there.

[Anonymous]

I think access to internet started this shift, its easy to research colleges, costs, towns and other things. Before that, people didn't have enough information to make smart decisions. They flocked to local schools or popular schools doing good marketing.