<p>My dream has always been to attend Binghamton University. It's a tiny bit of a reach but certainly nothing unattainable. However, with the current fiscal troubles of America, Binghamton's seeing a 50% increase in applications already. </p>
<p>This is being seen at every public school; especially top-tier publics.</p>
<p>Is it just me that is seriously distressed that this is the absolute worst year to apply to a public school?</p>
<p>/vent</p>
<p>Yeah lol from what I hear my 32 act is gonna be like average at binghamton for accepted applicants this year lol. We'll see what happens.</p>
<p>gl to ya</p>
<p>Oh crap, I didn't even realize this! It would make sense that everyone who was going to apply to expensive, private colleges might actually attend their backup state public schools instead. </p>
<p>There go my dreams of a nice scholarship from the U of MN</p>
<p>My daughter has been stressing over this. For a couple years she's had this plan to go to the honors college at the flagship state U. Now she's hearing and reading about all the students who would have opted for selective privates swamping the honors college at the state school. It's making her feel so anxious.</p>
<p>She got her app in already. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for her. She wants to go there so much! It was always her first choice school.</p>
<p>Oh man, what about the UCs? Tuition has been steadily rising every year already..has there been any concrete reports from them about this situation?</p>
<p>University of Connecticut has always been a reliable safety for everyone at my private high school. However, because of the exact situation the OP described, the college advisors have been categorizing it as a match or reach for the bottom 50% of the class and have been discouraging people from applying if they don't have at least a 3.5 and 2000 SAT.</p>
<p>My parent's lost $40,000+ due to this crisis, but they are still willing to help pay my way through any school I choose - all my schools are private schools (except 1). Though now I'm on the brutal hunt for outside merit scholarships as well, and in-school scholarships too. I love my parents</p>
<p>I suspect that a lot of these applications are financial safeties-- That is, if students can't get funding for the expensive private that they are probably still applying to, then they will reluctantly attend state flagship. In the end, most of them will attend the first choice private school, thus leaving most of the public slots for the students who typically attend.</p>
<p>I think SUNY Binghamton is going to have to admit exactly the number it needs for a freshman class then have a waitlist double that number; I don't know any kids in my daughter's high school who haven't applied!</p>
<p>I think it will be more competitive this year. However, I agree with Muffy. More kids will be applying to state schools just in case their aid package is insufficient from private universities but then will end up attending a private school in the end. This will create a bigger waitlist at state schools but a much higher attendence rate off the waitlist. I just heard a news report that people are overreacting about this because private schools will be giving the same amount of money to individuals as it always has because they will be more willing to tap into their endowment funds. One thing is for sure, state schools will be getting much more applications.
Ex. Kid from my school appying to Yale, Harvard, Oberlin, Princeton and then SUNY Binghamton.</p>
<p>If the economy wasn't this bad, he wouldnt be applying to Binghamton.</p>
<p>well, he would...that's his only safety. the rest are UBER-reaches and a reach (Oberlin).</p>
<p>sean256, you are right that the private schools will be giving the same amount of money to individuals as they always have. The problem is that families may not be able to make up the difference as they have in the past. If a parent loses a job, or is even worried about losing their job, or the college savings plan took a big hit in the market, these things will force families to rethink the risk/benefit ratio of a $200k private school. Most students don't get 100% financial aid.</p>
<p>Binghamton shouldn't be the only safety for anyone. They're overwhelmed with apps and short staffed and are getting lots of applicants who could also get into Ivies and if some very bright kid's app is read at the wrong time by a tired and hungry reviewer...</p>
<p>Its not his only safety but its his top safety which is in the public univertsity system. Blankmind you are right. Muffy, how do you know about the admissions situation at Binghamton?</p>
<p>I'm not an insider. I know kids with very high stats that were waitlisted last year and I know from news reports that Binghamton was absolutely innundated with apps last year which was over the year before and now they are up 50%. A lot of kids were tripled this year even though when we toured this summer the guide said that freshmen don't usually get tripled in a double sized room. The budget news from Albany is horrendous for the SUNY system, so I would not assume that the admissions process at Bing is moving along seamlessly (my daughter's personal experience with her own application would indicate it is not) They do want out of staters, though, so that would be an advantage if you are one. I also think they are very sensitive to increasing the number of URM students. My daughter is using another SUNY as her safety, and her stats are way above their average, but their apps are also up 30% so I'm not so sure, I want her to be ready to send more applications in if she is deferred EA.</p>
<p>Then how is the admissions situation going for other even more prestigious state schools, like UCB, UCLA, or Michigan? I would expect that more people with Ivy League stats would be applying to these schools if they couldn't afford something like HYSP.</p>
<p>I'm not surprised about Binghamton.
As a New York resident, I can say that it is New York's premier state school.
I don't understand New Yorkers who apply to $50,000 a year private schools as safeties like Drexel/Dickinson when you can get a better education at Bing for a much lower price.
Two years back, I would have turned down any college not in the Top Twenty for Binghamton in a heartbeat and my friends' current experiences with Binghamton (all positive- I know some really smart people at Bing) would have moved that list up to only not turning down Top Ten schools.</p>
<p>Well, I hope this takes some of the pressure off expensive privates. It'd be nice to have a better shot at these.</p>
<p>I'd think that some public schools would be affected less than others by all of this...UMich is so prestigious out-of-state and so expensive, it's really almost treated like a private in some cases. This may be one of them. Others like Umich, but maybe less prestigious include Miami(OH), which likes to pretend it's private by keeping the focus on UG and charging as much in-state as out.</p>
<p>RE post #16 -SUNY is a huge bargain OOS, only about $25,000 total. I think the UCs and Michigan are more like $40,000 OOS?</p>
<p>less money = more competition :(</p>