<p>Which state flagships to look into? This is from a family that did not know what the Southeastern Conference was until today. </p>
<p>The kid is from the northeast (a rather preppy, Lilly Pulitzer, personalized stationery type of kid) who is culturally drawn to the south, seeking a self-contained, pretty campus with a lot of school and sports spirit, and what she regards as southern traditions and graciousness. Greek is a possibility, not a necessity. </p>
<p>SATs are projected in the 500s, per section. She has mentioned Ole Miss and Bama, but there must be more to consider. She is turned off to WV by the recent sports fan disturbance. (That is said with no disrespect to the vast numbers at WV who would undoubtedly never get involved in such bad behavior, but it's also understandable that it could turn off an outsider.)</p>
<p>I urge you to visit Ole Miss. Some things that won over my out of state daughter were the handwritten notes from Admissions Counselors, the Honors College, and professors in her field urging her to enroll, the manners that the students (especially boys) have, and the beautiful campus and town. Google Ole Miss tailgating - the girls wear dresses and the tables are set exquisitely.</p>
There are no southern traditions or graciousness at Florida Atlantic University. Not a lot of sports spirit, either. It’s a suburban campus in the middle of Boca Raton, Florida!</p>
<p>@fieldsports…I, too, am from the Northeast and have a daughter who is super interested in the Southern schools. She (and I) loved Auburn. She’s been accepted to Ole Miss, Alabama and Auburn, and while we have not seen the first two, she made Auburn a top choice. We also looked at Clemson, but did not love the school as much as Auburn–maybe it was just the day we visited.</p>
<p>I’m amazed at the trend of kids from the Northeast wanting to attend the big Southern state flagship schools–we know many kids looking at the above schools (Georgia and South Carolina as well).</p>
<p>For my level of comfort in wanting to make sure she doesn’t feel too much like a fish out of water in the south, we focused on schools with OOS student populations of 40%+ (or close to that).</p>
<p>I have a son at Vandy and I can tell you that while I never watched an SEC game before he attended–I am now obsessed and love watching all of these schools play! When Verizon didn’t have the SEC Network in HD, I was calling everyday looking for an ETA :).</p>
<p>What about a school that isn’t in the deep south but has some of the same traits? My D loved University of Kansas when we visited. There’s a strong Greek system, gorgeous campus, fantastic school spirit. Missouri is similar, from what I hear. Or how about Arkansas? </p>
<p>Is she going to visit any of these schools?</p>
<p>Alabama has a very high OOS attendance, so she may like that. The campus is gorgeous, people are friends, and they, too, send out hand-written notes. </p>
<p>The University of Oklahoma is pretty much the same school as KU albeit with a different major sport and slightly better weather. It’s also much better funded than the University of Arkansas.</p>
<p>Both school pride and sports derived spirit abound, as does Greek life, although it’s certainly not requiree to have a social life. The campus is pretty nice. Not nearly as photogenic as UAlabama, but a much nicer town IMO. However it’s not stereotypically Southern in the sense that students sit around drinking mint julieps and speaking with a deep Southern twang. A majority of students come from the larger Southwestern cities or their suburbs(OKC, Dallas, and Tulsa are the most common), although some do hail from smaller OK towns. </p>
<p>Academically, Vanderbilt is the elite school in the SEC, and the smallest, and the only private university.</p>
<p>For the public flagships, academically, it seems the general consensus is that the best two SEC colleges are U.Georgia and U.Florida. Of the two, Georgia is the more culturally “southern” and is much smaller. U.Florida and Texas A&M are the two largest SEC schools.</p>
<p>University of Alabama gives the best out-of-state scholarships and has a lovely campus.
Auburn has well mannered, down to earth, students who say “hi” to total strangers.</p>
<p>For some reason, it seems like the University of South Carolina is very popular among “yankees.”</p>
<p>I will go out on a limb and suggest that LSU is the biggest party school in the SEC. </p>
<p>Haven’t visited Mizzou so I can’t say. But we loved Lawrence! whenhen, OU is a good suggestion too. As for Arkansas, it may not be as well funded as some other schools but it has great school spirit and is in a fun college town in a beautiful part of the country. </p>
<p>Admission to UGA is getting more competitive- Don’t think 500’s on the SAT will do it.<br>
Ga schools- not flagship but Georgia Southern or Valdosta State? </p>
<p>I didn’t suggest GA schools or the Florida Flagships as I don’t think the student’s scores would get her in. I live in Florida and very few students at my daughter’s high school talked about GA at all. The out of state money isn’t there, and UGA/Ga Tech take very few OOS students (at least compared to other state flagships). There were a dozen or more students who went to Alabama, Auburn, Miss State, Clemson, but none to UGA or GaTech.</p>
<p>Thank you for all the input. We will continue watching for more. About the south, per se – the mint julep reference is a metaphor, an effort to quickly capture what appeals to D. I think the midwest might offer the same tradition and spirit. I think we should probably look at Indiana Bloomington, too, if she can solidify the academic side a bit. I welcome comment on the midwest as well as the south. As a wider net is cast, you begin to see higher academic standards and prices. But neither of those is final yet, either. At this stage of the game, we just want to know more about what’s out there. We also need to get a sense of where sorority life fits into the experience at the various schools. It seems like it could range from essential to peripheral, in terms of participating in the traditions.</p>
<p>I’m only commenting here because you said your daughter is interested in Greek life. Indiana is the hardest Greek school of all because unlike other schools, they only take the number of girls who can actually live in the house. It’s a tightly competitive system. Read about it on
Greek. Chat. </p>
<p>Good to know. It is still early in the game for D, and at this point, I don’t think she has any real idea what Greek life entails (or the extent to which it may be essential to what she thinks she envisions). I’m not sure it will really be her cup of tea. We will definitely have to make some visits and master lots of details if this interest persists. You guys are all helping to get the basic ideas established, for which I’m grateful</p>
<p>I must also allow for the fact that kids can surprise you. I thought AP physics would be a disaster for my other one, and thank heaven I didn’t kibosh it, because it worked out really well. At a certain point, you have to let them take their best shot at what they think they want. You just want it to be an informed decision.</p>
<p>I agree completely. I had one go Greek and then drop it sophomore year due to other interests. No regrets. Youngest is a sophomore and loves Greek life. Both surprised me. Plus, kids who want to go far from home are typically more open to new adventures anyway. This can be good or bad !!! </p>
<p>Collegeboard.org describes Auburn as a commuter school. Same with U of Kentucky (Lexington). Does this sound correct? Traveling such a distance to school, you don’t want it to be a commuter school or suitcase school when you get there. </p>
<p>Can anyone tell me anything about U Tennessee (Knoxville)?</p>
<p>South Carolina has two major state us, Clemson and USC? How are they different? Clemson doesn’t list SAT scores on collegeboard.org – what does that mean?</p>