<p>Is it true that public colleges, like U Michigan Ann Arbor, U Wisconsin Madison, and the UCs favor in-state kids more/ is it harder for out-of-state kids to get into those schools, all grades and ECs aside?</p>
<p>I don’t know about Michigan and Wisconsin. In CA, assuming that your grades, SAT and ECs are competive, you would have a good chance to be admitted to the UC’s. I don’t believe it is harder for out of states applicants to be accepted. The UC’s want your money in higher tuition. Out of state people are charge out of state tuition. Out of state tuition with living expenses and books, etc. will make 1 year college costs to be over $50K, which is almost the cost of private colleges. Look at the UC websites.</p>
<p>Also, the UC’s are tiered:</p>
<p>Elite status- UC Berkeley, them UCLA a tad below UCB</p>
<p>UCSD, UCD a tad below or = UCSB</p>
<p>UCSB = UCI</p>
<p>UCSC</p>
<p>UCR, has a new medical school, which should enhance its rankings soon</p>
<p>UCM</p>
<p>Sorry about the grammer above. I am rushing and writing this during my lunch at work.</p>
<p>The majority of the UC’s will accept in-state California students since they are funded by the California tax payers. UCBUSalum is correct that the UC’s like OOS since the they pay the additional $23K OOS tuition charge, but UC’s will give little to no financial aid to the OOS, so many will not apply. With all applicants being equal in scores, GPA, EC’s, essays, if you are OOS and can pay the high price tag, you have just as much chance as in-state.</p>
<p>Well UCLA’s common data set states that “State of Residency” is “Not Considered.” See section C7 of</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.aim.ucla.edu/profiles/cds.aspx#cdsC”>http://www.aim.ucla.edu/profiles/cds.aspx#cdsC</a> </p>
<p>For other well known state flagships (UT e.g.), successful out of state applicants have much higher average test scores, so presumably state of residence is considered as a more important factor. Unless merit aid is expected (e.g. National Merit Finalists applying to University of Alabama, Texas A&M, University of Oklahoma etc.), the combination of stricter admission and higher price relative to in-state and private alternatives makes going to an out of state public less practical for many despite the obvious name recognition of some of the large out of state flagships.</p>
<p>Baseline UC eligibility requirements are higher for out-of-state applicants than in-state applicants (3.4 HS GPA versus 3.0 HS GPA). However, this baseline minimum tends to be irrelevant for many or most UC campuses (including UCLA), where an applicant with a 3.0 to 3.4 HS GPA would have little or no chance of admission in any case. Where it matters is at the least selective campuses like UCM, where an in-state applicant with a 3.2 HS GPA may be admitted but an out-of-state applicant would not be admitted. In-state applicants may also qualify for systemwide admission guarantees (currently to UCM) based on having certain stat thresholds that approximate the top 9% statewide or within one’s high school.</p>
<p>Other than that, the main difference between in-state and out-of-state is the cost and financial aid. There is an out-of-state additional tuition of about $23,000 per year which is not covered by need-based financial aid grants (see the net price calculators).</p>