Why are Northern Kids Flocking to Southern Universities?

[Anonymous]

I’m the mom of the trans daughter. So, let me restate. I would not LET my kid go to a school in the south right now unless she had some intense desire to go to one, and even then I would be nervous. Not really about the college but about the state. There are a few exceptions, and I know that many major cities are liberal…but even so I would not send my kid to Texas or Florida right now. The politics of the states are just too ugly. And many more of the deeply southern states are just as bad but not getting as much news coverage.

But for your typical straight cis kid who wants a Greek life experience (or even doesn’t), I can see the appeal. A lot of the southern schools are offering more merit aid to strong students, and I believe many are easier to get into.

Also, DC is not the south. I have one parent who grew up in DC and one in Richmond, and there was a lot more official racism in Richmond than in DC. DC is basically the line for where the south ends and the north begins.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m the mom of the trans daughter. So, let me restate. I would not LET my kid go to a school in the south right now unless she had some intense desire to go to one, and even then I would be nervous. Not really about the college but about the state. There are a few exceptions, and I know that many major cities are liberal…but even so I would not send my kid to Texas or Florida right now. The politics of the states are just too ugly. And many more of the deeply southern states are just as bad but not getting as much news coverage.

But for your typical straight cis kid who wants a Greek life experience (or even doesn’t), I can see the appeal. A lot of the southern schools are offering more merit aid to strong students, and I believe many are easier to get into.

Also, DC is not the south. I have one parent who grew up in DC and one in Richmond, and there was a lot more official racism in Richmond than in DC. DC is basically the line for where the south ends and the north begins.

Racism determines if you are in the north or south? Funny, I have never met more racist people than I did living in Boston.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Lots of red states the south. DCUMers are saying their kids will NEVER attend a southern/red state. Hmm…interesting.

MD, DC, and VA are in the South.

This. I went to elementary school in Prince Georges County. We lived in Bowie. In clearly remember in first and second grades at Elementary School in Bowie singing "Dixie." I would classify VA as deep south. I've worked throughout Virginia and eaten plenty of biscuits and gravy throughout the state.

Metropolitan Northern VA and the rest of VA are very different.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Lots of red states the south. DCUMers are saying their kids will NEVER attend a southern/red state. Hmm…interesting.

MD, DC, and VA are in the South.

DMV area is not South.
One thing though is they send their kids to actually South, UVA VT W&M

Yes it is. Dmv is very different from tri state or New England.

The south starts in York, Pa / Hagerstown md / Frederick md

You think Washington DC is South?
I don't think so.

DP. You must be new here/a transplant. Of course DC is considered the south - not "deep south," but mid-Atlantic south.

This forum has authority to decide that? Lol

I'm from "up north" and DC is definitely the South. As the prior pp said, not "deep south" but still south. It's south of Mason Dixon. Weather is more southern than northern. Some cultural things are very "southern" here too (food, wearing of seersucker suits in summer). And it was part of the confederacy. All southern.

Uh apparently you do not know that the Union controlled DC throughout the civil war. It was never part of the confederacy. Maryland also was south of the Mason-Dixon line but remained in the Union throughout the civil war, not part of the Confederacy. The parts of Virginia right outside DC were Union controlled for almost the entire war.

If you want "southern" food in the DC area you have to go looking for it. But you can find any kind of cuisine in this area so this is a dumb argument. Go to someone's house and they are not going to serve you pan-friend chicken and hush puppies FFS.

You might see a seersucker suit if you try really hard to find it but that's not common at all either.

Stop it with the dumb arguments. The DC area lost its southern-ness a long time ago.

DP totally disagree. It depends on one's point of context/reference. If all you know is this area or below on the map (call it what you wish) - then, that is very southern to a northerner. There are intangible southern "ways" that you do not realize, which are puzzling to non-southerners. Northerners know it when they see it.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Lots of red states the south. DCUMers are saying their kids will NEVER attend a southern/red state. Hmm…interesting.

MD, DC, and VA are in the South.

DMV area is not South.
One thing though is they send their kids to actually South, UVA VT W&M

Yes it is. Dmv is very different from tri state or New England.

The south starts in York, Pa / Hagerstown md / Frederick md

You think Washington DC is South?
I don't think so.

DP. You must be new here/a transplant. Of course DC is considered the south - not "deep south," but mid-Atlantic south.

This forum has authority to decide that? Lol

I'm from "up north" and DC is definitely the South. As the prior pp said, not "deep south" but still south. It's south of Mason Dixon. Weather is more southern than northern. Some cultural things are very "southern" here too (food, wearing of seersucker suits in summer). And it was part of the confederacy. All southern.

Uh apparently you do not know that the Union controlled DC throughout the civil war. It was never part of the confederacy. Maryland also was south of the Mason-Dixon line but remained in the Union throughout the civil war, not part of the Confederacy. The parts of Virginia right outside DC were Union controlled for almost the entire war.

If you want "southern" food in the DC area you have to go looking for it. But you can find any kind of cuisine in this area so this is a dumb argument. Go to someone's house and they are not going to serve you pan-friend chicken and hush puppies FFS.

You might see a seersucker suit if you try really hard to find it but that's not common at all either.

Stop it with the dumb arguments. The DC area lost its southern-ness a long time ago.

DP totally disagree. It depends on one's point of context/reference. If all you know is this area or below on the map (call it what you wish) - then, that is very southern to a northerner. There are intangible southern "ways" that you do not realize, which are puzzling to non-southerners. Northerners know it when they see it.

Y’all are southerners. Deal with it.

[Anonymous]

Covid is a huge part of it. Kids wanted to have a normal college experience and the southern schools were offering it. And the threat of schools being effected by surges is lot less in the south.

Anti-wokism is another part of it. A lot of kids want to have a college experience where they can have open conversations and discussions, and not have to constantly be aware of something innocent resulting in censorship or cancellation. Did y'all know you can no longer say "grandfathered in"? It's racist. https://medium.com/@nriley/words-matter-why-we-should-put-an-end-to-grandfathering-8b19efe08b6a

[Anonymous]

Grew up in Atlanta - went to college in Boston. Way more racism and close-mindedness in Boston. No reason to knock off major southern cities. Some rural southern schools, I get it.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Lots of red states the south. DCUMers are saying their kids will NEVER attend a southern/red state. Hmm…interesting.

MD, DC, and VA are in the South.

DMV area is not South.
One thing though is they send their kids to actually South, UVA VT W&M

Yes it is. Dmv is very different from tri state or New England.

The south starts in York, Pa / Hagerstown md / Frederick md

You think Washington DC is South?
I don't think so.

DP. You must be new here/a transplant. Of course DC is considered the south - not "deep south," but mid-Atlantic south.

This forum has authority to decide that? Lol

I'm from "up north" and DC is definitely the South. As the prior pp said, not "deep south" but still south. It's south of Mason Dixon. Weather is more southern than northern. Some cultural things are very "southern" here too (food, wearing of seersucker suits in summer). And it was part of the confederacy. All southern.

Uh apparently you do not know that the Union controlled DC throughout the civil war. It was never part of the confederacy. Maryland also was south of the Mason-Dixon line but remained in the Union throughout the civil war, not part of the Confederacy. The parts of Virginia right outside DC were Union controlled for almost the entire war.

If you want "southern" food in the DC area you have to go looking for it. But you can find any kind of cuisine in this area so this is a dumb argument. Go to someone's house and they are not going to serve you pan-friend chicken and hush puppies FFS.

You might see a seersucker suit if you try really hard to find it but that's not common at all either.

Stop it with the dumb arguments. The DC area lost its southern-ness a long time ago.

Hey Jerk, it was controlled by the union, but surrounded by the confederacy (who came a breath's way from taking it over). I was using "DC" as in DC area, not DC proper, also. And I live near Manassas, with confederate markers and graves everywhere. Signs of the Confederacy. Descendants of confederate soldiers.

You most definitely do NOT need to search for southern food. And Seersucker is very common in the summer, seeing it with my own eyes. My southern raised Bro In Law wears it in the summer in DC.

I'm not sure why you're being such a defensive a-- about this. People have different opinions and to many people, esp. northerners, DC is southern. Very southern. Even my friends born and raised here consider themselves "southern." So, no, Mr./Ms. anonymous defensive person, I don't agree. Sorry, you're southern.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Lots of red states the south. DCUMers are saying their kids will NEVER attend a southern/red state. Hmm…interesting.

MD, DC, and VA are in the South.

DMV area is not South.
One thing though is they send their kids to actually South, UVA VT W&M

Yes it is. Dmv is very different from tri state or New England.

The south starts in York, Pa / Hagerstown md / Frederick md

You think Washington DC is South?
I don't think so.

DP. You must be new here/a transplant. Of course DC is considered the south - not "deep south," but mid-Atlantic south.

This forum has authority to decide that? Lol

I'm from "up north" and DC is definitely the South. As the prior pp said, not "deep south" but still south. It's south of Mason Dixon. Weather is more southern than northern. Some cultural things are very "southern" here too (food, wearing of seersucker suits in summer). And it was part of the confederacy. All southern.

Uh apparently you do not know that the Union controlled DC throughout the civil war. It was never part of the confederacy. Maryland also was south of the Mason-Dixon line but remained in the Union throughout the civil war, not part of the Confederacy. The parts of Virginia right outside DC were Union controlled for almost the entire war.

If you want "southern" food in the DC area you have to go looking for it. But you can find any kind of cuisine in this area so this is a dumb argument. Go to someone's house and they are not going to serve you pan-friend chicken and hush puppies FFS.

You might see a seersucker suit if you try really hard to find it but that's not common at all either.

Stop it with the dumb arguments. The DC area lost its southern-ness a long time ago.

Not sure where pp got the thing about DC being part of the Confederacy, but Maryland was only kept from seceding (thereby preventing DC from being surrounded by the Confederacy) by Lincoln rescinding the right to habeas corpus and arresting the Maryland legislature. DC may be less culturally Southern these days, but that is true of any major city in the South. If you actually get to know anyone who is from a family that has actually been native to DC for more than one generation, you’d believe this. But most DCUM people only know transplants.

Jesus. I'm not writing a dissertation here. DC = DC area. You're parsing it on a technicality. Yes, DC was union controlled. Barely. But was surrounded by confederates and confederate sympathizers (e.g., in MD). Take a Stroll through NOVA. LOTS of confederate markers, names, graves, etc. People used to search for war artifacts in the woods by my house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m the mom of the trans daughter. So, let me restate. I would not LET my kid go to a school in the south right now unless she had some intense desire to go to one, and even then I would be nervous. Not really about the college but about the state. There are a few exceptions, and I know that many major cities are liberal…but even so I would not send my kid to Texas or Florida right now. The politics of the states are just too ugly. And many more of the deeply southern states are just as bad but not getting as much news coverage.

But for your typical straight cis kid who wants a Greek life experience (or even doesn’t), I can see the appeal. A lot of the southern schools are offering more merit aid to strong students, and I believe many are easier to get into.

Also, DC is not the south. I have one parent who grew up in DC and one in Richmond, and there was a lot more official racism in Richmond than in DC. DC is basically the line for where the south ends and the north begins.

Racism determines if you are in the north or south? Funny, I have never met more racist people than I did living in Boston.

LOL. No. Read what I said. I have one parent who grew up in DC and one parent who grew up in Richmond. They were born in the 40s. So, they grew up in those areas during the 50s and 60s. I am not an expert on history, but from what my mom told me, Richmond had Jim Crow laws while DC did not. I believe that DC was that dividing line. There was definitely still racism in DC, but I don't think it was "official" like it was in Virginia and below. Someone can feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

https://www.culturaltourismdc.org/portal/a-brief-history-of-african-americans-in-washington-dc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Covid is a huge part of it. Kids wanted to have a normal college experience and the southern schools were offering it. And the threat of schools being effected by surges is lot less in the south.

Anti-wokism is another part of it. A lot of kids want to have a college experience where they can have open conversations and discussions, and not have to constantly be aware of something innocent resulting in censorship or cancellation. Did y'all know you can no longer say "grandfathered in"? It's racist. https://medium.com/@nriley/words-matter-why-we-should-put-an-end-to-grandfathering-8b19efe08b6a

This is all your fantasy.

[Anonymous]

Actually, I will correct myself. Maybe there were Jim Crow laws. Maybe my mom just wasn't paying attention because she was white. Anyway, I do still think most people consider DC the line. But I will admit that my mother told me things that were not true.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-forgotten-fight-to-end-segregation-in-dc/2016/01/15/1b7cae2a-bafc-11e5-829c-26ffb874a18d_story.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Covid is a huge part of it. Kids wanted to have a normal college experience and the southern schools were offering it. And the threat of schools being effected by surges is lot less in the south.

Anti-wokism is another part of it. A lot of kids want to have a college experience where they can have open conversations and discussions, and not have to constantly be aware of something innocent resulting in censorship or cancellation. Did y'all know you can no longer say "grandfathered in"? It's racist. https://medium.com/@nriley/words-matter-why-we-should-put-an-end-to-grandfathering-8b19efe08b6a

This is all your fantasy.

more like her paranoia. she probably sees 'wokeism' around every corner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of red states the south. DCUMers are saying their kids will NEVER attend a southern/red state. Hmm…interesting.

MD, DC, and VA are in the South.

This. I went to elementary school in Prince Georges County. We lived in Bowie. In clearly remember in first and second grades at Elementary School in Bowie singing "Dixie." I would classify VA as deep south. I've worked throughout Virginia and eaten plenty of biscuits and gravy throughout the state.

I grew up in New England (about as "Yankee" as you can get) and the DC area, including northern VA, is not at all what we associate with "the south."

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Anyone in 2022 who says their local kid at a local university doesn’t talk to any high school friends is either lying to pushback on how insular and ruthlessly cliquish public colleges are or is inadvertently revealing their passive kid struggled socially in high school. High school cliques do in fact control the social scene at public universities. The top frats and sororities are fortified pipelines to certain schools, towns and networks. Good luck rushing when your kid doesn’t talk to anyone who controls these houses. Arriving at a state school when you grew up 20 minutes to 2 hours away with no friends is a really challenging spot to be in. Going to a public school in a different state would at least give you a valid reason for not knowing anyone on campus when you arrived.

So if you go to an OOS public that's controlled by high school cliques, of whom you know no one, that's better?

+1
What is this fixation with "high school cliques"? Obviously, the PP is projecting her own terrible high school experience onto universities on which she has never even set foot. My kid attends a large state school and sees one other person she went to high school with regularly because they have a shared class. They weren't even friends in high school, but now are - so bonus. Other than that, she sees virtually no one from her large NoVA high school. And that is just one plus of attending a large college.

It is very odd that someone would think that people cling to the people they knew in high school. Maybe one or two close friends, but it certainly wasn't my experience, or anyone else I knew, that we hung out regularly with their former high school classmates who happened to attend the same large school. You meet a lot of new people very quickly in college, and people start to find themselves, try new activities, and branch out socially.

It's the kids who cling to the same group of friends from high school that are missing the point of college.