Wow–that really makes it clear just how hard these kids are working and how much the bar for admissions is moving. My daughter has taken a couple of great electives at her high school that have helped her shape her career goals–and yet, those might have hurt her in the admissions game.
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what major is she applying for again?
I wonder what her first year coursework would be and how many she would test out of.
I think OOS enrollment is low because very little aid (merit or otherwise) is given to OOS students, unless you are one of the few OOS recipients of the Park scholarship.
In-state tuition is 9k+.
OOS tuition is 29k+.
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NC tries to ensure students from all counties have a fair chance at attending the flagships (UNC and NCSU.) The state realizes students from urban areas have several advantages when it comes to factors like standardized test prep opportunities, AP offerings, and more. A kid from a county with 4000 kids might be brilliant, but won’t have 12 AP classes, etc because their high school might offer only 3 AP classes in total - while a student in a more populous county might be able to take 4 APs each year.
If this was purely a stats race, the enrollment at UNC and NCSU might be half full of students from Wake and Mecklenburg (Raleigh and Charlotte.) The state recognizes these unbalanced opportunities and works hard to ensure all counties’ students have a fair chance at being admitted to UNC and NCSU.
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OOS enrollment is low because the state of NC restricts OOS enrollment to <18% of total enrollment.
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Both points are true. State limits AND there is not much if anything taken off the sticker price. My daughter is looking at both NC State and Clemson. Unfortunately, Clemson’s Statistics program is not near what NC State has so even though we would be paying more, it would be in the field she wants to work. The NC State Statistics program looks very good. It’s too bad the reciprocity agreement between the two states has all but diminished.
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My point is, even with an 18% enrollment set by the state, the reality is the actual enrollment of OOS students may be even lower than that percentage because many OOS students decline the offer when faced with a sticker price of $47,757 to attend! 
Understood. That’s a definitely a lot of $$$
However, there is no reason for the state of NC to provide discounts to OOS whose families’ taxes did not pay to support the university system. And because the state of NC has no trouble filling enrollment counts, there is even less reason to try to persuade OOS applicants to attend.
Some states have various reasons to offer discounts to OOS students. None of those reasons apply to NC. The OOS students who recognize the quality of the institutions and can afford it will attend, and the state will fill out a robust class with in-state students. I think that’s a win-win.
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the problem with that argument is Wake was one of the last schools to reopen. With the districts forced to close and going remote many students in rural counties now have access to the AP curriculum online. I also know of instances where, for example, a child lived in Ohio but because he visited his other parent in NC during the summer, that child could claim NC residency (in a rural county) as well as Ohio residency. Also, some schools have fully remote option and can live anywhere in the state. Example, the NC School of Science and Math.
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I’m not arguing with you about the economics of NC State or the state of North Carolina. I’m just stating the facts.
The issue is why is OOS enrollment low at NC State? It’s a combination of the state mandated percentage of OOS offers AND the high cost of attendance with very little aid provided to OOS students. I’m sure that’s not a unique situation to NC State.
But there are other state flagships that give a lot of money to attract out of state students to increase student diversity - despite the residents of those states paying taxes to support those universities.
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I think if you dig deeper, you’ll find many of the states who have higher percentages of OOS students are doing it for reasons other than increasing diversity. Alabama does it to increase the average stats of incoming students, thus to increase the perception of the in-state universities. Some states do so just to ensure a critical mass of enrollment to keep their schools viable. And some states (Florida for one, but there have been others) have reversed some/all of their OOS incentives as they decided the state could achieve those goals without discounting the price for OOS applicants.
But I agree NC has lower percentages of OOS students than some other states. And I agree it is by design.
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I agree there are always exceptions.
i def understand the argument with rural counties…but don’t know anymore when I hear of stories like I mentioned above.
Just a reminder that NC has plenty of additional state universities besides “The Big Two” that offer many highly regarded programs and are located in very desirable areas of our state. While merit might not be huge from these colleges either, it may be easier to get in from out of state. I will also say that after having lived here for 25 years and seeing all the changes over the years, it is getting increasingly more difficult to get into MANY of the NC public universities (even for in-staters) as the demand and reputation of these schools continues to rise.
As far as OOS costs go, it’s still a better deal than going OOS to public flagships in California or Colorado (both very stingy with OOS merit) and probably some other states as well. One can always do as many have already done, move here before your kid hits high school. Those of us living in Wake or Mecklenburg Counties can also choose to move to a nearby, more rural county that may give an applicant a better chance. I’ve seen people do that, and I’ve also seen them switch from a high performing private school (where they may be a small fish in a big academic sea) back to their lower performing public school where they may be a bigger fish in a smaller academic sea.
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Great Point! I know California has the highest Out of State College Applicants. I wonder does the state in which the applicant is coming from have any effect on the success rate of Out of State Admissions?
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If you want to go to an OOS public and get merit, it needs to be a safety school. NC State is not a safety school for a majority of applicants.
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NCSU was my daughter’s safety school but she was deferred. Upon receipt of the decision, she withdrew her name from consideration. In other words… The term “Safety School” is quickly becoming Obsolete!!
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My daughter applied to NCSU because she was nominated by her school for Park.
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When should we hear back about honors college decisions? Anytime soon?
NCSU isn’t a safety school…for anyone
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