<p>I go to an average public high school in MD. Last year, only around 7-10 seniors went to UMD. Over 100 went to CC. Over 25 went into the military. Over 50 are entering the workforce. Classes are around 325 students each…</p>
<p>This is at an upper-middle class school. #2 and #3 in the class went to an unknown LAC and Clemson, respectively. If I go to Miami, it’ll be the #1 or #2 highest ranked school out if my class…</p>
<p>That’s what I’ve seen. That’s why when kids say “everyone” or “nearly everyone from my high school goes to” UWisc, UFlorida, Rutgers, or UFlagship, I don’t believe it. </p>
<p>some kids on CC have a flair for the dramatic or they think that what their own social group is doing represents the whole school. </p>
<p>Even at my kids’ good private high school, about half commuted to their local state school or CC. Lots of parents can’t/won’t pay for the ‘sleep away’ experience.</p>
<p>My daughter is now a freshman at Emory U, but the following book was very helpful in comparing public university honors programs. She was accepted to both Pittsburgh and South Carolina honors colleges, both of which have good merit aid.</p>
<p>A Review of Fifty Public University Honors Programs (2012.)</p>
<p>[Public</a> University Honors | The site for public university honors colleges and programs](<a href=“http://publicuniversityhonors.com%5DPublic”>http://publicuniversityhonors.com)</p>
<p>what//////////////////////</p>
<p>I go to Clemson University and in the southeast many top high school students in their class will just go to their in-state flagship university (which in South Carolina is kinda weird because there are two: Clemson and South Carolina - and then College of Charleston is the state liberal arts college. All are great schools).</p>
<p>I am an engineering major and I have found that outside of your MIT/Cal Tech schools, most of the schools highly ranked in engineering are public schools (Georgia Tech/UC-Berkeley/Purdue). </p>
<p>So don’t discount flagship state universities. You’re still getting a great education if that is what you’re looking for.</p>
<p>And mom2collegekids, you’ll be surprised at how many people are from certain SC high schools (usually the one in Clemson, and some in the Columbia/Charleston/Greenville area) - one school in the Charleston area this year had 94 freshman going to Clemson…well their school has 3,000 students but that’s still a lot.</p>
<p>The OP isn’t entirely wrong. The main goal of a state university is to educate the next generation of young people in that state. This is not always the same goal as Private universities. As a result most public universities are generally less selective on in state applicants than equally prestigious private schools, at least for undergraduate school. This is also because the reputation of the prestigious state universities is usually linked to their research generated by their graduate programs (ie. UMichigan, Berkeley, UCLA), and prestigious undergraduate focused institutions are rare like a counterpoint to a school like Dartmouth college (although one or two like William and Mary might be an exception). With the different overall objectives between public and private universities, and the reputation of the prestigious state flagships being built on graduate research rather than undergraduate education, I think it is true that public universities tend to be a little easier to get into then private universities with a similar reputation at the undergraduate level for in state students (this changes at the graduate level however).</p>
<p>That is not to say that the top state schools are necessary easy to get into, even for in state students. There are plenty of private universities out there that would be easier to get into than public schools such as those listed above.</p>