Do you see southern colleges getting more popular in future as those states are now more diverse and economically sound? We see hordes of people moving to Texas from east and west coasts so it may influence college trends as well.
Definitely the trend in NJ from recent experience. Vanderbilt, Duke, Wake Forest, Rice, U Miami all drawing top quality kids this last cycle. Traditionally a hand full of kids would apply and even fewer would take the plunge. Last go round saw some of the best and brightest heading south.
Makes perfect sense. Comparable education to any of the northeastern schools, great weather, travel and communications obstacles seemingly minimized, and less local competition in some cases. Likely to continue to increase I suspect.
A bunch of the top kids from my daughter’s high school went south. That’s where the big merit is and it’s working to attract students away from more “prestigious” colleges.
Couldn’t agree more. Keep an eye on University of Florida in addition to the privates mentioned above.
Getting more popular in our area too. Think the kids like the nice weather.
Washington & Lee is a school that had not been on our radar until recently. It shows up in the top of many rankings,. Seems like a great choice for a LAC
Yeah, southern schools are doing a lot to establish themselves as legitimate competition to northern schools that are also more affordable generally. We might need to watch out for University of Central Florida. They give free tuition to National Merit Scholars, are nationally considered to be a huge up-and-comer, and this year’s freshman class had great stats (the class GPA was a 4.1, the class ACT was a 283 and the class SAT was a 1328). All of that combined with the affordability of it may make it a major player in the years to come.
Chicago area person here. It’s common to see UIUC, U Iowa, & U Wisconsin Madison stickers on cars. Next tier, in my very unscientific poll is MIZZOU, U Michigan and MSU.
In the last few years, I’m seeing more U Alabama and U Kentucky, although still not that common-- I figure those big merit scholarships are doing the trick.
U of Alabama looks like they lowered their out of state merit a lot (non-National merit finalists). I wonder if they will start to drop of in popularity a bit.
The ‘free tuition for NMF’ at UCF actually comes from a state program not from the school, and it’s a full ride, much more than just tuition. UCF does have other scholarships available to OOS students.
Texas A&M invited us for a 2-day event for out-of-state families. They paid for both nights of hotel, provided all transportation, and paid for most meals, if I remember correctly. The hotel conference room was filled to capacity, and nearly half of the families were from California, some from the east coast, and the rest from the Midwest. Most kids were interested in their engineering programs.
I love this interactive tool:
https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/where-does-your-freshman-class-come-from#id=inst_157085
I just wish Chronicle would update it (if they have, I have not found it). It would provide empirical answers to questions about regional trends (and indeed state-by-state trends) of freshman over time. Chronicle seems to say the info is sourced from IPEDS. Anyone know of a similarly helpful, and more up-to-date, tool for seeing state-by-state composition of freshman classes by institution?
@chercheur was this for NMF? And if so, when in the process did that happen? Thanks!
@mountainmomof3 There were NMF there but not all were national merit. I believe the event was in March but don’t recall when we were contacted about it. I’m pretty sure they had multiple recruitment weekends and that ours wasn’t the only one.
It’s all about the OOS merit money. When the merit money dries up, the pipeline will go with it.
Followed the money - the southern schools offered my DD the best merit packages
Follow the money is about right, interestingly the money is drying up at Alabama already.
@CU123 didn’t UA just increase the NMF package and lower the Presidential back to a 32 ACT?
I guess since Alabama won another football championship they may have…,.
Yes! The northeast is so expensive to live and the jobs can be few and far between in certain areas and fields. South is where it’s at!
I agree… a lot of kids are done with winter in the north too!
This certainly isn’t a new thing. Duke, Emory, Tulane, and Miami have had large presences of northeastern kids for several decades and certainly have strong national alumni networks and national career recruiting. Graduates aren’t relegated to staying in the south for jobs, although it’s a great option.