The Great Student Swap

[Anonymous]

It is the math plain and simple. VA has more high stat kids than UVA, VT and W&M can admit in any given year.

Other state flagships want to bring in the best students they can, often are much larger than VA universities and don’t have as many highly qualified students in their home state.

Many OOS flagships sweeten the pot with tuition discounts/merit aid so a win/win for both parties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is the math plain and simple. VA has more high stat kids than UVA, VT and W&M can admit in any given year.

Other state flagships want to bring in the best students they can, often are much larger than VA universities and don’t have as many highly qualified students in their home state.

Many OOS flagships sweeten the pot with tuition discounts/merit aid so a win/win for both parties.

You write this as if neither the state nor the schools has any control over the number of students they educate or the price they charge. Virginia could have enough seats to educate all their high-performing students in-state if that was something the state valued.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only Illinois kids who go to University of Missouri are those who didn’t get in to UIUC.

There are a lot of kids who go to CU-Boulder, Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan from Chicago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In-state at William and Mary costs $43k (tuition, room/board). Likelihood of getting merit is slim if in-state.

OOS at a flagship with merit for my DS is $40k (tuition, room and board). Likelihood of getting merit for OOS is high for students with decent stats.[b]

Not at the top OOS programs. Berkeley OOS is $84K and notoriously difficult for OOS to get into. UVA in-state is $40k. I have never heard of Cal or UCLA giving an OOS kid a $44k a year scholarship - because it doesn’t have to. Maybe U of Kansas. But not the top flight publics

[Anonymous]

My student was accepted to VA Tech (did not apply to UVA) and a couple of OOS flagships. With merit, the OOS schools were about the same cost of attendance as VT - one slightly lower, one slightly higher, but all three are covered by what we have in DC's 529 so the difference isn't very significant to us.

DC liked VT ok, but the decision came down to wanting to experience living in a different part of the country - different climate, different culture, new scenery, different options for outdoor activities. There's nothing wrong with Virginia, but DC has lived here for their entire life and just wanted to try something else.

I was the same way. My own home state's flagship university was less than 15 miles from my parents' home. I did not want to go to college in my own backyard, so I only applied OOS.

[Anonymous]

Didn't see this mentioned yet, but a lot of Texas students, mostly from Dallas-Fort Worth but also some from Houston and Austin, choose to go north to U of Oklahoma. One reason is they wish to study engineering but couldn't get into engineering at the very competitive UT–Austin and Texas A&M. Wanting the big-time football experience is another. Also, to lots of folks from DFW/Houston, 60k OOS at OU is quite affordable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you live in the Northeast, there are plenty of OOS flagships with merit that are comparable in cost to your instate flagship. Also, it’s generally easier to get into a similar caliber OOS flagship because they want OOS money.

Or they want the higher caliber students to improve their academic standings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the other school in a diffwewnt state has a program that is better for that major.

This is the case with our kid. DD is going to a lower ranked Midwest flagship that has a top 10 program for her major. She was admitted to Penn State and U of Tenn so far, but their programs are not as strong (no merit $$). Add to that, the Midwest flagship added enough merit to match in state tuition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP here. Same thing with University of Indiana - I’ve only heard of IL kids going there because they didn’t get into UIUC. I have heard of some kids choosing UW - Madison over U of I, but oftentimes that’s because they didn’t get accepted as a CS major at U of I but did get CS at UW.

Nah, more kids go to UW from Illinois because C-U is such a dreadful "college town"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It does seem stupid, but I guess these kids want to get as far away from their parents as possible.

The kids I know who did this want to get a fresh start away from the kids they went to school with, especially those who started in elementary and were basically with the same kids through high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It does seem stupid, but I guess these kids want to get as far away from their parents as possible.

Right. Engineering students from NoVa who choose Maryland over VT do it because they want to get as far away from their parents as possible. Perfect logic! No notes!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rutgers is relatively expensive for NJ residents as far as state schools go. And just about the entire state is within 1 hour drive... < 30 mins away is common. So lots of NJ kids feel like it's too close to home and $$$. Hence you find them everywhere else.

+1 My sister lives in NJ, and her kid went to Rutgers several years ago. Mine is at UMD, and when I told her how much tuition was, she was shocked at how cheap it was compared to Rutgers even several years ago.

DC wants to get out of MD. They had several bad experiences with the kids in her MD school and just wanted to get away from MD for their mental well being. It is expensive, but they are also willing to use some of their inheritance money from their grandparents to pay for the oos. Our state flagship also doesn't have the major DC wants.

I would prefer DC stay in state, but due to those factors above, they will be going oos, and that's fine since they are willing to help pay for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some students are more adventurous than others and prefer exploring a new location in a different state and, possibly, region of the country.

Many who attend their state flagship complain a bit about too many kids from my high school or area.

This is such a trope that some people use to slight kids that go to in-state schools and/or to feel smug about their kids going to OOS schools. As if simply seeing students they know from high school on campus is a terrible thing.

Doesn’t make it less true. A lot of kids hate high school and want to “remake” themselves somewhere else where there aren’t a bunch of kids that knew them before.

Both are true.

DC#1 at in state flagship, and their circle of friends doesn't include one kid they knew prior. Yes, some live in the same county as us, but they didn't know these people prior to going to college.

DC#2 wants to remake themselves. They were a late bloomer, so they had a negative reputation of being that annoying kid from ES through to HS. They have changed a lot since ES obviously, but that "annoying kid" reputation keeps following them. They have also had some really bad social experiences. So, they want to get away from this area. They said everything in this state reminds them of these negative experiences and just need a fresh start. Can't say I blame them.

I had negative experiences where I grew up, and moving out of the area was the best thing that happened to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why would anyone want to stay in Illinois?

My DC is headed to Chicago to work at a quant firm (two recruited DC). Lots of quant firms there, and they hire a lot from UIUC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is the math plain and simple. VA has more high stat kids than UVA, VT and W&M can admit in any given year.

Other state flagships want to bring in the best students they can, often are much larger than VA universities and don’t have as many highly qualified students in their home state.

Many OOS flagships sweeten the pot with tuition discounts/merit aid so a win/win for both parties.

You write this as if neither the state nor the schools has any control over the number of students they educate or the price they charge. Virginia could have enough seats to educate all their high-performing students in-state if that was something the state valued.

You are wrong. The Commonwealth of Virginia funds 41 public institutions of higher learning, which includes the very generous guaranteed transfer program community colleges to its four year institutions. The Commonwealth is currently pushing billions of dollars into growing those institutions like GMU (now the largest R1 University in the Commonwealth wealth) , which can still develop (you didn’t know it has five campuses, did you? One in Korea). It’s also recently opened a UVA campus in Arlington. Name one other state tge size of Virginia that does what Virginia does for its college bound residents. Only CA and Texas are more expansive but they are much larger states. Wisconsin and Michigan just offer the top flagship, not the breadth and variety that Virginia does.