Why do so many kids attend public schools out of state?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:UMD is the main option for strong students in MD and it’s too close to home for many MoCo kids. They might also prefer a more rural or urban city or a smaller school.

It frustrates me so much to see MD kids say that. My VA would love to go to UMD but $$$$ (if she could even get in).

And my MD son would have killed to get into UVA or W&M. Virginia has way more great options compared to Maryland.

Meanwhile my VA son got into UVA (we made him apply) but mainly chose UMD because it has better racial diversity for African-Americans. I'm white. He is black. He had no desire for a VA school due to racial demographics. So to answer OP, there are reasons you may not have even considered why students choose OOS publics. He's very happy there. Will graduate next year with a duo degree in electrical enginnering and physics and a minor in computer science. Has had fantastic internships since the summer of his freshman year. Not sure he would have been as successful at UVA as he wouldn't have been as happy or felt as welcomed.

VCU isn’t good enough, huh?

For engineering and physics, no!

For what it’s worth, GMU y it s the most racially diverse institute ig higher education in Virginia and has an excellent balance engineering school

Yes, but GMU doesn't have the feel of a traditional college. I'm sorry, but that's a fact. It is a huge commuter school and it feels like that when you're there.

You are quite wrong. DS lived on campus all four years. Do you have any idea how large GMU has become or how many campuses it has? It’s somewhat difficult to commute to Mason Korea

Ditto. Huge shift since the purely commuter days, which the PP would know if they spent any time there in recent years.

+1. GMU was reclassified by Carnegie as a residential university over 15 years ago. First year students must live on campus unless they file for and receive a waiver

[Anonymous]

my kid is one of them here are the reasons

We saved money fort them to go where they want
Their grades got them a lot of merit money-so the saved money can now go to grad school if they want to go
They liked the school
They didn't want to go to college with a lot of their high school classmates
They wanted to get away and we wanted them to go where they wanted
The liked it better than Maryland, which they got into
They like warm weather
They are happy
It is their decision, not ours.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I was just looking at some instagrams of some high schools and see so many students heading to public schools out of state. While I absolutely understand why students would choose UVA, VT, W&M, UMD, etc if you are in state, why would you pick schools like Penn State or Clemson?

Because you can't get into your top state schools.

It has become really hard to get into UVA, W&M and engineering at VT.

Yes, true. But I can't think of any good reason to go to Clemson.

Have you been there?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I was just looking at some instagrams of some high schools and see so many students heading to public schools out of state. While I absolutely understand why students would choose UVA, VT, W&M, UMD, etc if you are in state, why would you pick schools like Penn State or Clemson?

Because you can't get into your top state schools.

It has become really hard to get into UVA, W&M and engineering at VT.

Yes, true. But I can't think of any good reason to go to Clemson.

Have you been there?

The message board college “experts” are almost always shut-in weirdos who’ve never been anywhere.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I was just looking at some instagrams of some high schools and see so many students heading to public schools out of state. While I absolutely understand why students would choose UVA, VT, W&M, UMD, etc if you are in state, why would you pick schools like Penn State or Clemson?

Because you can't get into your top state schools.

It has become really hard to get into UVA, W&M and engineering at VT.

Yes, true. But I can't think of any good reason to go to Clemson.

My kid is going to Clemson and we are thrilled. Didn’t even apply to an in state. We have plenty of money to pay the tuition and what is not to like about a beautiful campus, great football program, and good weather.. Yes, i know, only ranked 75 out of 1,800 schools. I guess we will take our chances!

ditto and our kid got into a few top 25 schools. If they don't feel the fit at even the top school, they won't be happy. what's more important, their health and well being or going to a top school? I would rather my child go to the 1800th ranked school and be happy than the top schools and be unhappy. Go Tigers

[Anonymous]

Yeah, just the same I'm pretty sure DC can do a but better than that. No reason to go that far down the list. Even a U.of Georgia or Florida State would be a lot better

The homeless people all over Athens are a huge problem. The school brushes it under the carpet saying they don't come on campus but the kids don't stay on campus. It sucks' that you can't go the Chic fil a right across the street without being harassed by homeless people.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, people are really hung up on “top 25 or bust”

What if your kid doesn’t like the schools? The campuses? The programs? The people? The climate?

This obsession with rankings is ridiculous

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:If you are in VA, most probably could not get into UVA, especially if they are in NOVA. They may or may not have gotten into WM. WM is a great school but expensive for an in state school and somewhat quirky/bookish. It might not be a fit for everyone. They were probably waitlisted at VA Tech because their scores were too HIGH!

We have two out of state and both got enough merit where it was significantly cheaper than WM. A tad more than VA Tech.

Neither applied to UVA

One got into WM, one did not (waitlist). The one who got into WM was adamant about not going there and would have gone to JMU before WM (which we would have been ok with).

Both were waitlisted at VA Tech with gpa and test scores significantly higher than the 50% mark for VA Tech. We do not know what VA Tech is doing with admissions but know of students that got into schools like UF, ND, Carnegie Mellon, GA Tech, Fordham, Villanova, BC that got waitlisted at VA Tech.

We looked at a lot of schools, including PSU and Clemson. We were really close to pulling the trigger on Clemson. The suggestion that you are slumming it to head out of state at one of those schools is ignorant. PSU main campus and Clemson will both have lower acceptance rates than VA TECH for the class of 2026. PSU is the flagship school for a bigger state with nationally recognized programs. Both have a better campus and sports than VA Tech. WM is great but not a fir for everyone.

We have two more and they will both be applying PSU and Clemson. We think they will apply to UVA but they have already said WM and VA Tech are out. WM is too small and they have no desire to play the admissions game with VA Tech.

Op here. I was curious why one would pick a public out of state vs a private out of state? Did your kids not apply to any private universities?

I am from NY and many kids went to private colleges in the Northeast. You normally wouldn’t choose public unless you couldn’t afford the better private.

NP here- my dd is at an OOS public university. Her major is not available at most smaller schools and she focused on schools that had large land grant forests since this directly impacts the research options for her. Her in state option did not have her major on the main campus (Penn State) but rather only at a small satellite campus that was smaller than her high school. That is not the college experience she was looking for. So, she is OOS and received enough merit aid that makes her current school significantly cheaper than the in state options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some families have sold their kids on their notion that if you can't gain admission to the in-state jewels, then OOS colleges are better. For example, I know one who chose Ole Miss over CNU. Sure Ole Miss has a bigger name nationally due to its sports programs, but there is no way Ole Miss is worth an OOS premium. But for some, familiar college names matter.

I would venture to guess that your acquaintance did not pay the OOS premium for Ole Miss. Like Alabama, I think they are pretty generous with merit aid. 3.0 and 1330 gets you $10,000
https://finaid.olemiss.edu/scholarships/#8

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure I understand OP's motivation. Is OP upset that people might prefer other choices to Maryland or have the financial ability to send their kids to schools the kids would rather attend?

It's not all about ROI. Many kids would like to get away from their high school classmates or avoid universities that they perceive to be dominated by similar kids. And, yes, kids going to OOS schools may not have been accepted to UVA or even to UMD, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't have other in-state options. But a lot of kids just can't get excited about a W&M, which is a great school but one that mostly appeals to a niche, much less a UMBC, and their parents have the ability to provide them with alternatives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, people are really hung up on “top 25 or bust”

What if your kid doesn’t like the schools? The campuses? The programs? The people? The climate?

This obsession with rankings is ridiculous

Ridiculous and often leads to unnecessary anxiety and heartache.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was just looking at some instagrams of some high schools and see so many students heading to public schools out of state. While I absolutely understand why students would choose UVA, VT, W&M, UMD, etc if you are in state, why would you pick schools like Penn State or Clemson?

Because you can't get into your top state schools.

This.

Have you looked at some of the results on this board? On the VT waitlist thread someone whose kid had a 4.2 GPA and 1500+ (sorry, I can't remember the exact score) SAT did not get into VT.
What's a 3.8 1400 SAT student going to do?

Also some kid's don't want to stay in state. Some want to go to a specific part of the country.

Be careful of reading too much into single stat posts like that. I assure you that 3.8 1400 students also DID get accepted to VT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, people are really hung up on “top 25 or bust”

What if your kid doesn’t like the schools? The campuses? The programs? The people? The climate?

This obsession with rankings is ridiculous

Ridiculous and often leads to unnecessary anxiety and heartache.

It actually makes me glad my kid is not high stats. I will be thrilled if she goes to a 4 year school from the beginning, but I have already prepared myself mentally for possibly starting at community college. She might even stop there, who knows?

But I did just have a nice conversation with the department head at Rhode Island College in Providence and I think my girl would flourish in that environment.

I also have Sweet Briar and Meredith as options.

My list for her looks insane, but there is a method to my madness

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are in VA, most probably could not get into UVA, especially if they are in NOVA. They may or may not have gotten into WM. WM is a great school but expensive for an in state school and somewhat quirky/bookish. It might not be a fit for everyone. They were probably waitlisted at VA Tech because their scores were too HIGH!

We have two out of state and both got enough merit where it was significantly cheaper than WM. A tad more than VA Tech.

Neither applied to UVA

One got into WM, one did not (waitlist). The one who got into WM was adamant about not going there and would have gone to JMU before WM (which we would have been ok with).

Both were waitlisted at VA Tech with gpa and test scores significantly higher than the 50% mark for VA Tech. We do not know what VA Tech is doing with admissions but know of students that got into schools like UF, ND, Carnegie Mellon, GA Tech, Fordham, Villanova, BC that got waitlisted at VA Tech.

We looked at a lot of schools, including PSU and Clemson. We were really close to pulling the trigger on Clemson. The suggestion that you are slumming it to head out of state at one of those schools is ignorant. PSU main campus and Clemson will both have lower acceptance rates than VA TECH for the class of 2026. PSU is the flagship school for a bigger state with nationally recognized programs. Both have a better campus and sports than VA Tech. WM is great but not a fir for everyone.

We have two more and they will both be applying PSU and Clemson. We think they will apply to UVA but they have already said WM and VA Tech are out. WM is too small and they have no desire to play the admissions game with VA Tech.

Op here. I was curious why one would pick a public out of state vs a private out of state? Did your kids not apply to any private universities?

I am from NY and many kids went to private colleges in the Northeast. You normally wouldn’t choose public unless you couldn’t afford the better private.

My kids have gone to both private and public elementary and high schools over the years. It has never once crossed my mind to consider public vs private as a way to choose a college.

I recognize your NY private school fascination from other posts. Private is not always better (and it can be much worse.) You sound like a 12 year old who wants to be with the rich kids and looks at their uniforms with envy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To be fair, Cal State schools are not serious contenders for us, but I just want to have as many options as possible on our list, especially with the scotus disaster looming. I think I have Dominguez Hills and San Jose on there? I’m not done researching.

I also need to go back through the list for New York schools, which would be a much more serious contender.

Hell, I’m so desperate for a “safe” place for my daughter, I added Winnipeg to the list

Only about 18% of freshmen live on campus at Cal State Dominguez Hills. About 56% of freshmen live on campus at San Jose.

I don't know if you are the same poster that also mentioned Cal State Fullerton, and says it has "a lot of dorms." About 19% of freshmen live on campus.

This is where I am finding these numbers
https://www.calstate.edu/attend/campuses/fullerton/Pages/student-life.aspx

Chico and San Diego have more students (specifically freshmen) living on campus. Monterey Bay has a lot of students on campus--and it's on the smaller side (about 7,000 students.)