My D20 is considering FSU as her only real out of state option at this point because of the OOS wavier and being accepted into Honors. Most of her viable options are in-state.
@MommaCat We only considered applying OOS to some of the known schools that offer a great program AND are known to offer merit. The problem with merit is that it can be a hit or a miss depending on how competitive the school and the applicant are. It is sort of winning the lottery. LOL Having said that, I am a big believer in going OOS and having these kids expand out of their comfort zone. Then again it is not for everyone and financials and fit do take precedence over anything else.
My D applied to everywhere that seemed to tick her boxes, irregardless of location. She knew that when she started college we wouldnât live where we currently live, which isnât really home anyway since weâve only been here two years. D19 applied similarly. Itâs pretty freeing in its way.
I guess since we moved while our D was in middle school from one side of the country to the other and she finally feels settled and âat homeâ, she did not want to go OOS. If we had stayed in our original state perhaps she would have looked OOS. However, I would say that cost was probably the biggest influence over that for us. She has slightly above average GPA and SATs but not enough for merit at most schools she was interested in.
Not the only one. My S20 is going to be staying in-state (Minnesota). It makes the most sense financially (he got a small scholarship which makes the price hard to beat) and for his major (because itâs a land-grant university), and he insists he wants to stay pretty close to home. Plus he got into the honors program. We did insist he apply a couple of other places but they never stood a chance in the end.
@MommaCat For us, the OOS schools D applied to are far cheaper than our in state schools. We are in CA, where tuition+ room and board are pricey and schools rarely offer enough merit aid to bring the cost under our OOS options. However, most of Dâs classmates donât seem to consider any OOS schools, whatsoever. They typically apply to all the UCs and a handful of CSUâs and call it done.
You donât necessarily have to go OOS to do that though. My kid is probably going to end up in-state for financial reasons, but 50K students in Minneapolis is way out of the comfort zone of my kid that grew up on a farm and is in a high school with a class of 45 students. His first choice OOS option is way more like âhomeâ to him and he really wants to go there, but the cost difference is about 24K over 4 years which is really hard to stomach.
@MommaCat I donât think this group (parents on College Confidential) is a representative sample. Those who are seeking information and opinions about college admissions are more likely to be considering farther-flung options.
DD20 applied both in and OOS. She really wants an adventure and as long as it is within her budget, and some other parameters we set when she was deciding where to apply, we are ok with it. Our in state publics tend to be very large and our in state private options are very expensive.
Judging by the âSenior Spotlightsâ in the newspaper from the public and private high school here I would say at least 90% of all the students either stay in state (most to one of the three colleges right in town) or go to the neighboring reciprocity state.
^^ cshell2 - thatâs really spot on to what weâre seeing in the midwest in my sonâs public school class. Out of his buddies, one is looking at a neighboring state; 9 staying in state; one (with an big budget!) is looking all over; one kid got a partial sports scholarship out of state. most of these kids are mid-stats; without much merit prospects; and mid-EFCs so very little in grants. So . . . state colleges! OH - and one of his buddies is going to trade school.
Yup, same here. The OOS waiver and honors makes FSU a high contender. Mine applied to 3 in our home state ¶ and 2 in Florida. Even our local in state school with merit is about $3,000 more than FSU.
My son is friends with an FSU sophomore from the Lehigh Valley. I believe his major is Actuarial Science (coincidentally). He is really enjoying his time there and they seem to be managing the logistics. The only reason my DS did not apply there is because they didnât have his major (Nuke Eng). But I was sure looking to figure out how to make it fit because of OOS waiver, etc. 
Best of luck on the rest of the journey.
FSU for an OOS is a real gift if you can get that waiver. Even without the waiver, it comes close to many in State Flagships. I have a feeling that this is going to start to change. As much as I hate to say this, rankings increase demand. It seems that total applications increased to almost 60K and admissions will continue to become even more competitive Just in the last two years, it takes much higher stats to get the OOS waiver.
As far as sending a kid OOS, it probably comes down to affordability. Many would love to have this option. This is the reason the majority of us are chasing the merit. Unfortunately, it is getting harder and harder to get the merit at the top 100 schools and getting a 50% tuition scholarship at a private school such as Tulane or Miami, is really not a deal. Sounds nice, but you are still looking at a $50K bill when everything is said and done.
Tons of kids go out of state from my DSs school. Weâre in CT, and UConn is so competitive and gives so little aid to middle class in-state candidates that we really had no choice but to cast a wide net. DS20 got a conditional acceptance to UConn (1 semester at a branch campus then xfer to flagship), but received no aid. However, he got into several out of state schools (UMass, URI, College of Charleston) with enough merit to bring them in line with the cost of UConn. Tough decision. UConn is a fabulous school, but for basically the same price, he can also have to OOS experience and spread his wings.
Still nowhere near a decision, and starting to get nervous that upcoming accepted students days may start to be cancelled due to coronavirusâŠ
Myrna97 - Sounds similar. Just curious did you also consider Madison? Finding it difficult to compare.
@CTCape yup youâre right about upcoming accepted studentsâ days being cancelled - my daughter received an email today that LMU (Loyola Marymount U in LA) Preview Day has just been cancelled. Weâd been planning to attend and are a bit bummed but understand the reasoning. They said it attracts around 3,000 people typically. They said no one in their community is sick but theyâre doing so out of an abundance of caution and they will offer multiple other opportunities for admitted students to visit in April and see campus and residence halls, have student panels, visit campus facilities and meet faculty and theyâll share that schedule next week but itâs not quite the same as one big day.
In many larger states going the flagship is definately broadening their horizons. West Texas to Austin or the farm land of Southern California to UCB, is nearly as far away as going from Mass to DC. And I bet culturally even further.
I think a kid from western mass going to UVM is more similar than if they attended UMass Boston.
We are in an expensive area in the Bay Area - between the UCs being so hard to get into now - and the fact that people have money I bet 75% of kids at our high school go out of state.
We should start a thread elsewhere for revisit day cancellations as they get announcedâŠ