My son recently chose Auburn engineering over UGA and UVA. We currently live in Georgia, so it was easy to eliminate OOS UVA tuition with no merit aid. Very tough to turn down full tuition scholarship at UGA (Zell). Love UGA, but engineering is still new even though they are pouring money into the program. Auburn checked all the boxes. It was like GT and UGA had an engineering baby…but in Alabama. He wasn’t a fan of GT campus, but excellent engineering. Loved Athens, but engineering still finding its way. Auburn had the quintessential campus with established, hands-on engineering.

I thought some of the buildings at Auburn needed maintenance, paint chipping with a 70s vibe. Cute downtown area. Football team not ranked.

Auburn attracts a lot of students from Atlanta's most prestigious private school. These tend to be students from wealthy, sophisticated families. Not sure why other than it is a large Southern school within easy driving distance of Atlanta. Southerners strongly prefer to remain in the South due to the weather & to the quality of life.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s just a nice, happy place. It’s the classic college experience with good weather and life balance.

I’m noticing that gen z is not as into rankings as their parents, and more interested in quality of life. Auburn gives them that.

I agree and think this is a positive trend. Just baffled as this is true for most southern flagships yet Auburn saw a massive spike in apps according to CDS.

I think Auburn and some other schools joined common app for the first time in 2021. The acceptance rate was around 80% the year before Auburn. It will be around 42% this year. That is a huge drop. Some other schools like Va Tech that joined the common app have also seen a a drop in acceptance but not nearly as much. Va Tech pre common app was around 70% and 56% this year. Pre common app Clemson was around 50%. Sounds like it will be around 36% this year (https://www.postandcourier.com/greenville/clemson-news/clemson-received-record-applications-fewer-are-getting-in-this-fall/article_be598cba-ce5b-11ed-a594-2f61ca61663e.html). So it is more than just joining the common app.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s just a nice, happy place. It’s the classic college experience with good weather and life balance.

I’m noticing that gen z is not as into rankings as their parents, and more interested in quality of life. Auburn gives them that.

I agree and think this is a positive trend. Just baffled as this is true for most southern flagships yet Auburn saw a massive spike in apps according to CDS.

Its image seems to be more wholesome and less flashy, I think. It has a more laid back vibe than Bama or UGA. Plus good basketball and sometimes football.

Anonymous wrote:Their engineering program is decent and easier to get into than some of the other good engineering programs. And they give a bunch of merit aid to kids with reasonable GPAs/test scores that brings tuition in-line with in-state schools.

So even if you get shut out of VT, you can still get a decent education at a “name brand” school for the price of going to George Mason.

Many SEC schools have engineering

Bump

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We recently visited. If you visit you will know why

It’s no Clemson.

Weird — these 2 schools are completely different. Except that they both are big football schools.

How are they different? My DS is looking at both thinking they were similar.

Auburn and Clemson that is.