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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I work at the University of Missouri. Admissions are guaranteed for 24 ACT / 1160 SAT and a 2.0+ GPA. This is the state flagship; other state schools are even easier. It's crazy to me as a native New Yorker that so many locals send their talented, accomplished kids to Mizzou. But then they are having a good time, graduating without debt and still getting into law and med school, so maybe I am the crazy one. Still trying to figure that out.[/quote]

I’ve lived in the Midwest & in the Northeast. Except for a few wealthy suburbs, college aspirations are indeed strikingly different in the Midwest.

After trying to explain the difference many times, the best way I’ve found to sum it up is that most Midwesterners simply don’t view college as a source of prestige. You went to Princeton, great. You went to Eastern Illinois, great. THAT you went to college is far more important than WHERE you went, but neither is directly connected to prestige.

Prestige is more likely linked to what kind of boat you have, if you shot a deer during hunting season, how well your house & yard are maintained, what your golf handicap is, and so on.

Most Midwesterners  know smart & financially stable farmers, tradesmen, and union workers who never went to college at all, so assuming there is a necessary connection between college & brains/wealth seems odd to them. [/quote]

I grew up in Ohio and it is very true there, as well. Most kids in Ohio never even consider colleges outside of the State. The only ones I know who went out of state in my class were a couple to ND (we were a Catholic school so that wasn't surprising) and maybe one or two went out of state to Michigan.

At least where I lived, it was not a wealthy area so costs (even then at a fraction of what they are now) were prohibitive to go very far from home (my college roommate gave up an Ivy that was not affordable for a full ride at our low tier state school). All of our teachers, parents, doctors, etc. all went to Ohio schools. We didn't "mix" with ivy leaguers or T10 schools.

I left Ohio for a reason but, I will say, I do miss the fact that the people there are not prestige obsessed like they are here. It's so tiresome and the cutting down of schools (and kids) that are not top 50 in the country is really, really grotesque. But people seem to have no shame about how they act and the things they say. Also gross. [/quote]

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