<p>Today in class we got in to a discussion regarding ease of admission into a PUBLIC university out of state-schools such as Berkely, UVA, Uconn, Maryland, etc.</p>
<p>Is it easier IN state or OOS for admissions to these schools? If two identical students with 3.6s and 2100s apply, which one is more likely to be accepted?</p>
<p>I said its much harder OOS, but my teacher even said I was wrong...he said it does not matter because schools try to get students from all states or something like that...</p>
<p>Can anyone give me any input so I am not confused when it comes time for me to apply to colleges-I do not want to shy away from schools that are not as hard as I thought they were.</p>
<p>"he said it does not matter because schools try to get students from all states or something like that..."</p>
<p>this is definitely not true, at least for the UC system. It is much harder to get into UCLA and Berkeley out of state than instate. Consider the fact that they are public universities, and thus are funded by taxpayers in that state. Thus, they must draw many of their students from inside the state, because that is where their source of money lies - just like why private schools practice legacy so much.</p>
<p>I don't know about all systems. But I know that some state schools are required by law to accept particularly high percentages of kids instate or to find a place for all instate kids with certain qualifications. If a state school is attractive to OOS students, the competition for the few available slots will be fierce. So it is much, much easier to get into, say, UNC-Chapel Hill instate than OOS. Their OOS admit rate is comparable to an Ivy. UVA is also more difficult for an OOS student, as is the UC system. I don't know about UConn; I should know about Maryland because I live in the state but my two weren't interested in the school so I never investigated.</p>
<p>It may be different with rolling admission schools. They accept candidates with the requisite stats all along. My kids' safeties were state schools not in Maryland and I don't remember the qualifications being any different.</p>
<p>UNC-CC and the UC's limit OOS admissions, so it is much, much harder, particularly at Cal and UCLA. I think PR even commented that it is easier to get accepted into Duke than it is to UNC from out-of-state.</p>
<p>btw: FinAid is hard to come by for OOS students, at least at the UC's....at $40k per year, they are pricey for OOS kids.</p>
<p>I bet you can look this information up in the "Common Data Sets". Compare the acceptance rate for in-state to OOS. I've heard this also. But I've never looked up the data. I actually heard it for UVA. Perhaps very few OOS applicants? </p>
<p>People may assume because OOS students pay a tuition surtax they are lucrative. But from those I have looked at (UNC, UCs, and UT), it is false. You might check the New College of Florida. It only has 800 students and I believe NMS from any state are "welcome". It may have few OOS applicants, but a higher percentage acceptance rate owing to the NMS applicants.</p>
<p>you learned a great lesson today. Your teacher (no doubt a graduate of your state's public school system) knows little about colleges outside that system. But he doesn't prefix anything he says by admitting any doubt or uncertainty, he says it with full confidence as if its true; in fact, he probably believes it's true. </p>
<p>And there's a lesson here. If you're planning on doing something outside the ordinary, except in a few superb public schools your teachers and GC are going to be of little real help. Much of what they will tell you is going to be misguided or plain wrong. If you're aiming at something outside of what everyone else is doing, its time to get a few admissions books because you're going to have to be your own coach. There are a number of great books out there, and they're more reliable than the guessing underlying a lot of what you read here too.</p>