Anonymous
Post 01/21/2025 12:07     Subject: OOS experience at flagships?
Anonymous wrote:I don’t get it either, particularly if you already live in a state with a “public ivy”. I see appeal of UofM Ross or GT for engineering or a kid that wants to explore a different region, but UNC/UVA I could never justify. I’m also admittedly biased as my DC didn’t want to attend their own flagship so hard to comprehend others paying that much oos.


Not sure if upstate NY and Michigan qualify as the same region. The weather is certainly similar.

Either way, it should be very clear to all that SUNY Binghamton offers a very different student experience than University of Michigan. Very different alumni network, as well.
Anonymous
Post 01/21/2025 12:00     Subject: OOS experience at flagships?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Joining a fraternity is the solution to the social challenges of attending an OOS public. The forced togetherness of pledgeship will help him forge bonds quickly and potentially assimilate into pre-existing friend groups (given that high school friends often rush the same house). Within 8-10 weeks, he'll go from being the awkward new guy that no one knows to being a god on campus who gets into the best parties and has the best girls wanting to date him. Statistically, he'll also have a higher GPA and better networking opportunities than if he remains a GDI.


Ugh, this advice was the absolute wrong thing to convince me that OOS flagships are a good idea. My DC is not the greek type.

Thanks so much for your response, though! Very helpful.


Slow down on that thought. I have heard from many people that the frats at GA Tech can be very different than what you or your DS is thinking. They have some typical frat-boy type frats, but I've also heard there are a lot of frats for the more academic and not what you would typically think of frat life. IF he does get into GT, do some further research and don't rule it out. He might be suprised.


This is true, my friends son is there and he said some are focused on certain types of engineering, etc. Some may be typical but others definitely are not.


My friend also told me that there was a frat where lots of people play dungeons and dragons. This is what I mean - different interests for different kids and not all "Animal house"
Anonymous
Post 01/21/2025 11:55     Subject: OOS experience at flagships?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Joining a fraternity is the solution to the social challenges of attending an OOS public. The forced togetherness of pledgeship will help him forge bonds quickly and potentially assimilate into pre-existing friend groups (given that high school friends often rush the same house). Within 8-10 weeks, he'll go from being the awkward new guy that no one knows to being a god on campus who gets into the best parties and has the best girls wanting to date him. Statistically, he'll also have a higher GPA and better networking opportunities than if he remains a GDI.


Ugh, this advice was the absolute wrong thing to convince me that OOS flagships are a good idea. My DC is not the greek type.

Thanks so much for your response, though! Very helpful.


Slow down on that thought. I have heard from many people that the frats at GA Tech can be very different than what you or your DS is thinking. They have some typical frat-boy type frats, but I've also heard there are a lot of frats for the more academic and not what you would typically think of frat life. IF he does get into GT, do some further research and don't rule it out. He might be suprised.


This is true, my friends son is there and he said some are focused on certain types of engineering, etc. Some may be typical but others definitely are not.
Anonymous
Post 01/21/2025 11:50     Subject: OOS experience at flagships?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Joining a fraternity is the solution to the social challenges of attending an OOS public. The forced togetherness of pledgeship will help him forge bonds quickly and potentially assimilate into pre-existing friend groups (given that high school friends often rush the same house). Within 8-10 weeks, he'll go from being the awkward new guy that no one knows to being a god on campus who gets into the best parties and has the best girls wanting to date him. Statistically, he'll also have a higher GPA and better networking opportunities than if he remains a GDI.


Ugh, this advice was the absolute wrong thing to convince me that OOS flagships are a good idea. My DC is not the greek type.

Thanks so much for your response, though! Very helpful.


Slow down on that thought. I have heard from many people that the frats at GA Tech can be very different than what you or your DS is thinking. They have some typical frat-boy type frats, but I've also heard there are a lot of frats for the more academic and not what you would typically think of frat life. IF he does get into GT, do some further research and don't rule it out. He might be suprised.
Anonymous
Post 01/21/2025 11:45     Subject: OOS experience at flagships?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Joining a fraternity is the solution to the social challenges of attending an OOS public. The forced togetherness of pledgeship will help him forge bonds quickly and potentially assimilate into pre-existing friend groups (given that high school friends often rush the same house). Within 8-10 weeks, he'll go from being the awkward new guy that no one knows to being a god on campus who gets into the best parties and has the best girls wanting to date him. Statistically, he'll also have a higher GPA and better networking opportunities than if he remains a GDI.


Ugh, this advice was the absolute wrong thing to convince me that OOS flagships are a good idea. My DC is not the greek type.

Thanks so much for your response, though! Very helpful.


Greek god guy posts that all the time. It's quite possible to find friends at Michigan without going Greek.

I don't think Greek god guy went to Michigan.

I've never heard a Michigan person use the expression "foyine girls".
Anonymous
Post 01/21/2025 11:41     Subject: OOS experience at flagships?
Anonymous wrote:My DC is waiting to hear from Michigan and Georgia Tech -- both of which have much lower acceptance rates for OOS applicants and, to varying degrees, enroll a (small) minority of out of state students.

What's the OOS experience like? Tuition is much higher for OOS and the median OOS student more qualified. Seems like a bad deal to me, especially if you think that part of what you are paying for is a peer group. Am I wrong?

DS enjoys CS at UMD alot. Would have likely attended UVA if accepted, but I think things worked out for the best.
Anonymous
Post 01/21/2025 11:39     Subject: OOS experience at flagships?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I don’t get it either, particularly if you already live in a state with a “public ivy”. I see appeal of UofM Ross or GT for engineering or a kid that wants to explore a different region, but UNC/UVA I could never justify. I’m also admittedly biased as my DC didn’t want to attend their own flagship so hard to comprehend others paying that much oos.


I don’t understand this line of thinking. Public flagships have very different feelings and vibes, serve different constituencies. You don’t understand why a kid in Michigan would want to go to UF over UM?


I said I did understand a kid wanting a different region, but harder to me to justify a UNC/UVA. I know they aren’t same, but UNC is a steal for in-state so couldn’t justify that one easily.
Anonymous
Post 01/21/2025 11:35     Subject: OOS experience at flagships?
Anonymous wrote:I don’t get it either, particularly if you already live in a state with a “public ivy”. I see appeal of UofM Ross or GT for engineering or a kid that wants to explore a different region, but UNC/UVA I could never justify. I’m also admittedly biased as my DC didn’t want to attend their own flagship so hard to comprehend others paying that much oos.


I don’t understand this line of thinking. Public flagships have very different feelings and vibes, serve different constituencies. You don’t understand why a kid in Michigan would want to go to UF over UM?
Anonymous
Post 01/21/2025 11:29     Subject: OOS experience at flagships?
I don’t get it either, particularly if you already live in a state with a “public ivy”. I see appeal of UofM Ross or GT for engineering or a kid that wants to explore a different region, but UNC/UVA I could never justify. I’m also admittedly biased as my DC didn’t want to attend their own flagship so hard to comprehend others paying that much oos.
Anonymous
Post 01/21/2025 11:26     Subject: OOS experience at flagships?
Anonymous wrote:It's not a bad deal if you are full-pay because OOS is still less than full-pay private which is now approachong $96k at privates like USC


Michigan is 80K, which sure that's cheaper than 96, it's still on par with a great many private institutions.
Anonymous
Post 01/21/2025 11:24     Subject: OOS experience at flagships?
Anonymous wrote:Joining a fraternity is the solution to the social challenges of attending an OOS public. The forced togetherness of pledgeship will help him forge bonds quickly and potentially assimilate into pre-existing friend groups (given that high school friends often rush the same house). Within 8-10 weeks, he'll go from being the awkward new guy that no one knows to being a god on campus who gets into the best parties and has the best girls wanting to date him. Statistically, he'll also have a higher GPA and better networking opportunities than if he remains a GDI.


Ugh, this advice was the absolute wrong thing to convince me that OOS flagships are a good idea. My DC is not the greek type.

Thanks so much for your response, though! Very helpful.
Anonymous
Post 01/21/2025 11:18     Subject: OOS experience at flagships?
Joining a fraternity is the solution to the social challenges of attending an OOS public. The forced togetherness of pledgeship will help him forge bonds quickly and potentially assimilate into pre-existing friend groups (given that high school friends often rush the same house). Within 8-10 weeks, he'll go from being the awkward new guy that no one knows to being a god on campus who gets into the best parties and has the best girls wanting to date him. Statistically, he'll also have a higher GPA and better networking opportunities than if he remains a GDI.
Anonymous
Post 01/21/2025 11:17     Subject: OOS experience at flagships?
Anonymous wrote:It's not a bad deal if you are full-pay because OOS is still less than full-pay private which is now approaching $96k at privates like USC


OK, but aren't the resources available for students at state flagships significantly lower than at top privates?

And how does it matter that the peer group (and eventual alumni network) is so geographically focused?
Anonymous
Post 01/21/2025 11:14     Subject: OOS experience at flagships?
It's not a bad deal if you are full-pay because OOS is still less than full-pay private which is now approachong $96k at privates like USC
Anonymous
Post 01/21/2025 11:11     Subject: OOS experience at flagships?
My DC is waiting to hear from Michigan and Georgia Tech -- both of which have much lower acceptance rates for OOS applicants and, to varying degrees, enroll a (small) minority of out of state students.

What's the OOS experience like? Tuition is much higher for OOS and the median OOS student more qualified. Seems like a bad deal to me, especially if you think that part of what you are paying for is a peer group. Am I wrong?