Realizing there are no absolutes…but are most state colleges set up in such a way that their in-state residents are able to enter the school with lower scores & GPA than students applying from other states? My kid and I were looking at UNC Chapel Hill…his stats are solidly in the middle of their 2016 admitted class profile. But what i have to assume is that a kid from another state would have to have stats considerably above the admitted student body to get in…is that accurate or not?
It’s definitely hard for schools like UNC, UVA and Williams & Mary where the state has a cap on how many out of state students can be enrolled. So, yes, absent some sort of hook, I would think stats would need to be well above average to be considered as anything other than a reach.
I would agree with @doschicos
UNC is much harder as an OOS student. The school accepted 52% of in-state residents and 19% of OOS residents.
http://admissions.unc.edu/apply/class-profile-2/
UNC caps OOS (including internationals) at 18%. 82% of UNC students are in-state.
An exception may be if you are a full pay OOS applicant, barring any legal restriction like in NC.
Varies a lot. UNC is pretty selective, meaning they have some competitve students to choose from in state You will see this a lot with flagship schools, and I agree with other posters that caps definitely make OOS admits tough (and intl tougher).
However, when you move to less selective state schools the situation changes. You will find them eager to attract talent from wherever they can get it. These can be great places to pick up merit money for students with good credentials.
Agree with all posters above. UNC, UVA, Michigan are going to be much harder. Other schools like Alabama are actively recruiting from OOS.
We went on UNC tour in summer of 2015. I’d estimate half the visitors were from OOS. Our guide told us that UNC tries to accept at least one freshman from each of NC’s 100 counties, some with less than 10,000 people. I have also heard UNC gives a break more to underdeveloped rural areas, making it harder for students in the Charlotte, Triangle, Triad areas. I’d guess that for OOS students they are looking for the absolute best they can get. I’d bet that the OOS cohort is much stronger than in-state, which makes the 19% acceptance rate evn more lopsided than in-state.
For a state that is not known for recent progressivism (I live here), NC has one of the highest state rates for funding for its colleges. It’s 20% of operating expenses at Chapel Hill, which is not even very high. It’s 6% at UVA. I wonder how many people realize that many of these well-known publics are really more state-affiliated than state-supported?
To be perfectly honest it is a function of state finances. As noted above by several others in some cases it is considerably harder to get into a state school as an out of state student. I think the opposite is true with the University of California as their budget has been cut quite a bit over the past decade or so and they need the out of state tuition money
Is the bar held higher for out-of-staters at schools like Wisconsin, Purdue and Miami Univ in Ohio?
I know Wisconsin is harder to get into as an out of state student. Purdue is basically easy to get into for most of the students posting on CC. Not sure about Miami of Ohio. Oh, if you do apply to Wisconsin and want to compete for what limited merit aid they offer, apply early