<p>For high-performing, intelligent out-of-state students, what is the allure of attending one of the more "prestigious" state schools, such as UNC or UVA?</p>
<p>The reason I say this is that, at UNC-Chapel Hill, for example, the out-of-state acceptance rate is somewhere under 20%, maybe 10%, on par with many Ivy League schools. </p>
<p>Although I don't have the statistics, since only about 20% of the student body is from out of state, that means that many of the remaining 80% from NC are probably students who are not nearly on the same academic level as their out-of-state peers, and the in-state acceptance rate can't be any lower than 40% or 50%.</p>
<p>Basically, I am wondering, why are students attracted to a state school where most of their peers are probably academically inferior?</p>
<p>the programs and the schools overall are still worth pursuing is what i think. there’s a difference between wanting to go to uva or chapel hill, which are still highly ranked schools, and some random school that’s out of state that most people have never heard of.</p>
<p>This is not entirely true. The SAT gap between IS and OOS students at UNC, for example, is only around 40 points. That is next to nothing. Plus, everyone in North Carolina applies to UNC, and only the best students from local high schools get in. In-state admissions are quite competitive as well, so when OOS students arrive they are grouped with many of the highest-achieving students from all over North Carolina.</p>
<p>As far as what draws people to OOS publics like UNC over privates, my guess is the atmosphere. Big-time sports, great college town, and good academic reputation to boot. It is hard to find too many privates that offer the same things to their students.</p>
<p>I don’t live in Virginia, and I’m applying to UVA. It’s a top school (something like 24, if ratings meant a lot), has great programs, founded by Thomas Jefferson (this is what got me to research it, not the main reason I want to go), and has a reputation for producing great graduates. It has such a pull because it is a top school, state or not. But being a state school does have some positive characteristics attached, too.</p>
<p>Every private also has a pretty wide range of students. With most publics being much larger there are virtually as many smart students as you would find at most privates. Are there also more average students, yes. But you won’t have to associate with them and sully your intellect.</p>
<p>Sure you will. You’ll be in class with them every day and your instructors will have to teach to the mean level of the class, which means that you may not go as far as fast as you would at, say, Swarthmore. You may not be as challenged or inspired by those average students in your class as you could be at Chicago. And that’s a pretty reasonable thing to take into consideration about Average State U. But it shouldn’t be a major concern at UVA or UNC.</p>
<p>^gadad, most of the students I interact with were top students in their high schools in South Carolina who were baited by the low tuition rate and state scholarships. I found more people than I expected who were valedictorians or in the top 10% of their high school class. Especially at flagship universities, you can’t assume that students are “average”.</p>
<p>What does it take to rank in the top decile at a typical high school in the United States? Not much besides a solid work ethic and a strong will. These kids are a dime a dozen.</p>
<p>But, to answer the OP’s question, “For high-performing, intelligent out-of-state students, what is the allure of attending one of the more “prestigious” state schools, such as UNC or UVA?”:</p>
<p>A comprehensive merit scholarship that covers tuition, room, board, and expenses, on top of “enrichment” talks, seminars, and events, make UVA highly appealing to the best of the best all over the country.</p>
<p>Two of my fellow H.S. classmates are recipients of this scholarship, and they’re brilliant–don’t know what schools they may have turned down for this scholly, but this was before the Ivy League and other elite privates revamped their financial aid programs for low-income families.</p>
And I wonder why students would be attracted to a cramped campus in the middle of a city (Columbia), a tiny all-male college in the middle of nowhere (Deep Springs), or a college that requires more layers of clothing than I own to survive winters (Cornell). There are 2700 colleges in the country, and it may surprise you to learn that people look for different things. </p>
<p>The top public universities are all excellent, and a motivated student can do well at any of them. I didn’t attend my own state flagship (UNC), but I have a tremendous amount of respect for it and would have happily chosen it over a number of top privates.</p>
<p>“What does it take to rank in the top decile at a typical high school in the United States? Not much besides a solid work ethic and a strong will.”</p>
<p>Well consider this, only 10% are in the top decile. That’s one out of ten people so I would say it isn’t as easy a task as you think it is. And if you go to a competitive high school, sometimes a solid work ethic isn’t good enough when there are tons of people who deserve to be in the top 10%.</p>
<p>For the true academic, it doesn’t matter where she goes to college. She will learn at a different level than her peers and will benefit mostly from self exploration and delving into topics of interest. I am always amazed by the number of students on CC who somehow think that their education will somehow be thwarted by attending a college where lesser human beings attend. And the true academics do not complain about being academically superior to their peers because they just look at things differently than the rest of the population. Most state flagships have enough options available that even the very top students in the country will be challenged if they choose to be.</p>
<p>Choosing a college means balancing financial cost, educational quality, exit opportunities, and quality of life.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Cost. With the exception of UMich, the UCs, and a few other schools OOS publics tend to be less expensive than top privates for those of us without financial need. They also tend to provide more merit aid.</p></li>
<li><p>Education. It’s difficult to quantify educational quality. I could challenge myself with a trip to the library. A well-structured curriculum and varied course offerings are both important, and many publics offer both. As a prospective engineering or accounting student, many of the top programs are housed at public universities.</p></li>
<li><p>Exit opportunities. This is going to depend on the individual. My areas of interest don’t tend to be immensely prestige-conscious, and as such many OOS publics offer excellent corporate recruitment.</p></li>
<li><p>Quality of life. I have a preference for the West and Midwest, and the number of top private schools is much lower in those areas. Also, I’m frankly not entirely comfortable with the “high achievers” who are tracked for top colleges from age 6. I don’t come from a background where you go to private high schools or expensive summer camps, regardless of your family’s financial abilities. And if my “academic and intellectual equals” are all as pretentious as you are, I’m not sure why I would want to spend time with them.</p></li>
</ol>