Are the Northeast colleges not as popular in the DMV?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Families don't have enough money for those schools. The military folks in northern virginia are use to a free education, so they aren't paying a cent more than they have to.

What an ignorant post!

It's true, though. DH is an O-6 and even we can't justify $80k a year plus grad school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Southern schools are more popular at the moment, but there are still plenty of kids applying to schools in the northeast.

-Northeast was always most popular and still is in terms of raw numbers of applications, but Southern schools have gotten more popular than they used to be (in part because plenty of kids were shut out of the schools they wanted in the Northeast so looked further afield and now some of those have improved reputations).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are too expensive. And rightly or wrongly, many parents are categorically opposed to paying $350k for an English degree.

English degree? Nothing wrong with that, but you seem woefully ignorant of the fact that LACs (yes, we know you mean LACs) do teach...other subjects. My DC just graduated from an NE SLAC alongside plenty of students with degrees in neuroscience, biochemistry, biology, economics, environmental sciences and math. And kids who had Wall Street and consutling internships and jobs lined up too. If you're one of DCUM's "only STEM or Wall Street are valid career fields" people, well, you're welcome. Now go forth and stop blathering your ignorant stereotypes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are too expensive. And rightly or wrongly, many parents are categorically opposed to paying $350k for an English degree.

English degree? Nothing wrong with that, but you seem woefully ignorant of the fact that LACs (yes, we know you mean LACs) do teach...other subjects. My DC just graduated from an NE SLAC alongside plenty of students with degrees in neuroscience, biochemistry, biology, economics, environmental sciences and math. And kids who had Wall Street and consutling internships and jobs lined up too. If you're one of DCUM's "only STEM or Wall Street are valid career fields" people, well, you're welcome. Now go forth and stop blathering your ignorant stereotypes.

NP. Why are you so agitated? Appears you are taking this personally.

[Anonymous]

Given acceptance rates are between 5-15% at these schools and going down every year, and that mid-Atlantic kids make up at least a fair share of the student body, I'd say that the claim simply isn't true. I think most people just hate on these schools because they are expensive, and the kids who do well at them end up as successful professionals and/or academics. Standard tall poppy syndrome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Given acceptance rates are between 5-15% at these schools and going down every year, and that mid-Atlantic kids make up at least a fair share of the student body, I'd say that the claim simply isn't true. I think most people just hate on these schools because they are expensive, and the kids who do well at them end up as successful professionals and/or academics. Standard tall poppy syndrome.

The question from a full-pay perspective is whether the poppy would have grown just as tall if they went to State U for a fraction of the cost.

[Anonymous]

University of Vermont was the "it" school last year, not sure about this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I cannot believe that only one poster has commented on the FACT - not fiction - that most kids everywhere tend to go to college closer to home, and all that poster did was disagree with this FACT.

Am I on a Trump website where “alternative facts” are ok?

I just think the posters are in such a bubble and they don't realize it.

No, most families don't send their kids a plane ride away for college. It's only this area that seems to have many students going far away for college.

I grew up in DMV and most of the high achieving students went a plane ride away to college - and mostly to NE and Michigan/Chicago. A few went to UVA, Duke. Others who had money (or aid) stayed closer to home within driving distance: Delaware and smaller schools in PA, OH, NC. And a bunch went to MD. Now, all those kids are skewing far more to warm places in the south and west coast. I see so many more South Carolina, Georgia, Auburn, Ole Miss, Florida than existed in my time. In all cases, they wanted warmer weather.

This is total and 100 percent unadulterated bullshit unless you went to an expensive private school, which again puts you in the minority and doesn’t make you even slightly typical or in any position to talk about the majority of the “high achieving students.”

It’s never been the case - never - where only a “few” high achieving students went to UVA, for example. Many of the top graduates of NOVA high schools have been going there for generations. That’s the most obvious example of what you clearly have gotten wrong.

So - not bullshit - we weren't NOVA. I went to a bottom tier MoCo HS that also happened to have a sizable cohort of very high achieving kids (it was not a magnet). At that time you had to be top 1 or 2 in class (or URM top 20) to be accepted to UVA or Duke. Nobody got into Duke. A couple got into UVA and went. Two went to Stanford & Princeton. The rest of the high stats kids went to places like Wash U, Emory, Carleton, Grinnell, Tulane, Michigan, NY (upstate and NYC), and a bunch went to schools in Boston. The only high achieving kids that didn't go far went to College Park for affordability. Otherwise - kids who were smart (but not elite) or middle of the road went to within the NC, VA, WVA, PA, DE, OH corridor if they could afford to or to UMD-CP if they couldn't (or didn't want to) pay to go away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My oldest is only starting high school this fall and I went to college over twenty years ago. It seems like the kids we know from the DMV go to Ivy, UVA, UMD and other publics. We hear of students going to Penn State or UC schools but not so many going to Tufts, Swarthmore, Amherst, Colby, Fordham, Vassar type schools. DH and I are both from the Northeast. My high school had lots of kids going to NYU, Tufts, BC, BU and liberal arts colleges in the Northeast.

Wondering if these Northeast colleges just aren’t popular from the DMV.

Are kids not applying or not getting accepted or not going after being accepted?

The issue is cost. The schools you note are very, very expensive. My child will be looking at those schools but I don't know if we can afford for her to go there.

The issue is both - cost and selectivity.

+1

I suggest focusing on obtaining an acceptance first, and then you can consider the tuition fees. Sometimes, the initial sticker price is not indicative of what you'll actually end up paying. As long as you're not under any binding commitments, there's no need to commit if the expenses are too high.

In our case, we fall into the upper-middle income bracket, which means we don't receive any financial assistance from state schools. However, we were fortunate enough to receive a very generous financial aid package from one of the schools in the Northeast. In fact, we're paying less than what we would for a state school education.

The school is quite far away, but there are options such as taking a nonstop Amtrak train or a flight that conveniently drops you off at a T connection point, which is Boston's subway system.The monthly unlimited T pass priced at $90, and there's a possibility of student discounts that could make it even more affordable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I cannot believe that only one poster has commented on the FACT - not fiction - that most kids everywhere tend to go to college closer to home, and all that poster did was disagree with this FACT.

Am I on a Trump website where “alternative facts” are ok?

I just think the posters are in such a bubble and they don't realize it.

No, most families don't send their kids a plane ride away for college. It's only this area that seems to have many students going far away for college.

I grew up in DMV and most of the high achieving students went a plane ride away to college - and mostly to NE and Michigan/Chicago. A few went to UVA, Duke. Others who had money (or aid) stayed closer to home within driving distance: Delaware and smaller schools in PA, OH, NC. And a bunch went to MD. Now, all those kids are skewing far more to warm places in the south and west coast. I see so many more South Carolina, Georgia, Auburn, Ole Miss, Florida than existed in my time. In all cases, they wanted warmer weather.

This is total and 100 percent unadulterated bullshit unless you went to an expensive private school, which again puts you in the minority and doesn’t make you even slightly typical or in any position to talk about the majority of the “high achieving students.”

It’s never been the case - never - where only a “few” high achieving students went to UVA, for example. Many of the top graduates of NOVA high schools have been going there for generations. That’s the most obvious example of what you clearly have gotten wrong.

NP here. Wow! A little too passionate!!

Yea maybe. I just hate when DCUM posters offer opinions and personal anecdotes as fact. It’s so annoying.

But reading her post a little more closely, the poster is likely from Maryland. That would explain why relative few of her “high achieving” classmates didn’t go to UVA and went elsewhere. Still, the large majority of MCPS graduates don’t and never have hopped on a plane for college either. It’s just inaccurate to suggest that there ever was a time where large numbers of DMV graduates hopped on planes to go to little private colleges in the NE.

But if you’re in Md, you don’t have to hop on a plane to get to the northeast. You can drive to many LACs. And one thing is applications and another is attendance. Lots of kids apply to top colleges but may not advertise it if they think they won’t get in (most kids don’t want to publicize their rejections) or if their parents have clearly said they can’t afford them. It will let them apply (not that that reasoning makes any sense but it’s common).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I cannot believe that only one poster has commented on the FACT - not fiction - that most kids everywhere tend to go to college closer to home, and all that poster did was disagree with this FACT.

Am I on a Trump website where “alternative facts” are ok?

I just think the posters are in such a bubble and they don't realize it.

No, most families don't send their kids a plane ride away for college. It's only this area that seems to have many students going far away for college.

I grew up in DMV and most of the high achieving students went a plane ride away to college - and mostly to NE and Michigan/Chicago. A few went to UVA, Duke. Others who had money (or aid) stayed closer to home within driving distance: Delaware and smaller schools in PA, OH, NC. And a bunch went to MD. Now, all those kids are skewing far more to warm places in the south and west coast. I see so many more South Carolina, Georgia, Auburn, Ole Miss, Florida than existed in my time. In all cases, they wanted warmer weather.

This is total and 100 percent unadulterated bullshit unless you went to an expensive private school, which again puts you in the minority and doesn’t make you even slightly typical or in any position to talk about the majority of the “high achieving students.”

It’s never been the case - never - where only a “few” high achieving students went to UVA, for example. Many of the top graduates of NOVA high schools have been going there for generations. That’s the most obvious example of what you clearly have gotten wrong.

NP here. Wow! A little too passionate!!

Yea maybe. I just hate when DCUM posters offer opinions and personal anecdotes as fact. It’s so annoying.

But reading her post a little more closely, the poster is likely from Maryland. That would explain why relative few of her “high achieving” classmates didn’t go to UVA and went elsewhere. Still, the large majority of MCPS graduates don’t and never have hopped on a plane for college either. It’s just inaccurate to suggest that there ever was a time where large numbers of DMV graduates hopped on planes to go to little private colleges in the NE.

bingo

And - at my school it was absolutely the case that the high achievers mostly went far. (And sorry, but I do mean like 90+% most). But our school isn't really like what you are considering MCPS to be like now. It was a very mixed school in every way and there was a defined cohort of the highest achieving students. There were very few in that group who didn't have $$ to start or grades to get generous financial aid to go outside of UMCP. It's been a while I can think of about two that went to UMCP. In the next tier down of really smart kids or average kids - yes - more went to UMD because they didn't have $$ or didn't have quite the grades to get as generous aid packages. But the ones who had money went away (but closer away).

Either way - you seem pretty agitated. I never claimed my anecdote provided "fact", it was just an example. And how is an anecdote any less valid than you sharing your (angry) personal opinion? They are both equally singular and neither provides some sort of definitive answer for the OP.

[Anonymous]

East Asian and South Asian parents don't consider LACs in the Northeast to be prestigious. They have never heard of them. Good luck convincing them otherwise and getting them to drop the prestige obsession for five seconds. It is possible to live this experience. So many applicants are part of these groups now that the unimpressed parents may be having an effect on the overall desirability of such institutions. But the high costs are the most important deterrent to applying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I cannot believe that only one poster has commented on the FACT - not fiction - that most kids everywhere tend to go to college closer to home, and all that poster did was disagree with this FACT.

Am I on a Trump website where “alternative facts” are ok?

I just think the posters are in such a bubble and they don't realize it.

No, most families don't send their kids a plane ride away for college. It's only this area that seems to have many students going far away for college.

I grew up in DMV and most of the high achieving students went a plane ride away to college - and mostly to NE and Michigan/Chicago. A few went to UVA, Duke. Others who had money (or aid) stayed closer to home within driving distance: Delaware and smaller schools in PA, OH, NC. And a bunch went to MD. Now, all those kids are skewing far more to warm places in the south and west coast. I see so many more South Carolina, Georgia, Auburn, Ole Miss, Florida than existed in my time. In all cases, they wanted warmer weather.

This is total and 100 percent unadulterated bullshit unless you went to an expensive private school, which again puts you in the minority and doesn’t make you even slightly typical or in any position to talk about the majority of the “high achieving students.”

It’s never been the case - never - where only a “few” high achieving students went to UVA, for example. Many of the top graduates of NOVA high schools have been going there for generations. That’s the most obvious example of what you clearly have gotten wrong.

NP here. Wow! A little too passionate!!

Yea maybe. I just hate when DCUM posters offer opinions and personal anecdotes as fact. It’s so annoying.

But reading her post a little more closely, the poster is likely from Maryland. That would explain why relative few of her “high achieving” classmates didn’t go to UVA and went elsewhere. Still, the large majority of MCPS graduates don’t and never have hopped on a plane for college either. It’s just inaccurate to suggest that there ever was a time where large numbers of DMV graduates hopped on planes to go to little private colleges in the NE.

bingo

And - at my school it was absolutely the case that the high achievers mostly went far. (And sorry, but I do mean like 90+% most). But our school isn't really like what you are considering MCPS to be like now. It was a very mixed school in every way and there was a defined cohort of the highest achieving students. There were very few in that group who didn't have $$ to start or grades to get generous financial aid to go outside of UMCP. It's been a while I can think of about two that went to UMCP. In the next tier down of really smart kids or average kids - yes - more went to UMD because they didn't have $$ or didn't have quite the grades to get as generous aid packages. But the ones who had money went away (but closer away).

Either way - you seem pretty agitated. I never claimed my anecdote provided "fact", it was just an example. And how is an anecdote any less valid than you sharing your (angry) personal opinion? They are both equally singular and neither provides some sort of definitive answer for the OP.

PS - it is also true that the kids of all of these classmates are skewing more to warm locations than their parents did. Yes, some still go northeast, but so many are going south.

[Anonymous]

You are from the NE, so those schools are familiar to you, and your classmates would have attended them. I'm from the midwest, so at my high school most kids chose colleges in the midwest including the midwestern and PA LACS. Same for the South and West. Other than Ivy and big TV sports colleges, most kids never hear of the other schools outside their region.

It is different today as it is all on line now, but the old patterns may remain due to local reputations and legacy decisions, plus the tendency of many to want a school you can drive to fairly easily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Over half of students nationwide live less than 100 miles from where they go to college and only 16 percent go to college more than 500 miles away.

A school like Amherst is nearly 400 miles away.

This alone is why you see comparatively fewer kids from the DMV than NYC attending NE colleges. It’s not so much a matter of preference. It’s simple geography.

You all basically live in a bubble.

Wrong - it is 2023 - not 1940.

+100

It is (current year) - !

DP, but those stats are correct from a 2019 survey.