<p>As a New Yorker it is somewhat disconcerting to read about how competitive admissions are for out-of-state students at universities in other states. At North Carolina, Virginia, William and Mary, Florida and Texas, for example, it is more difficult to gain admission if you are an out-of-stater than if you are a resident. </p>
<p>In the case of the SUNYs, it seems to be the opposite. Admissions chances at Binghamton, for example, favor the OOS resident. This despite SUNY's extremely competitive price structure (it will soon be, if it's not already, cheaper for a Pennsylvania resident to attend Binghamton than Pitt or PSU). </p>
<p>Is it just big time sports that make the other state universities so much more attractive to OOS students, and therefore more competitive. I'm sure its not; academics and rankings and weather certainly play a role as well. However, I do wonder what the impact might be if one or two SUNY schools played in one of the D1 money conferences. I'm not advocating that Buffalo dump tens of millions into football in an effort to join the Big East or ACC, but I do wonder occasionally what impact sports could have in making the SUNYs more attractive to good OOSstudents?</p>
<p>Not only admissions, but in many cases scholarships, are skewed toward the OOS candidates which is why I often recommend SUNY schools to students who are looking for a lower priced alternative to their instate schools. IIRC, Cortland has a scholarship that they give to every OOS kid and I think it can be stacked with merit aid. Outside of Binghamton and Geneseo, I think that name recognition is a concern, followed by weather/location. I’m under the impression that SUNY doesn’t do much in the way of selling themselves or increasing name recognition in general…but maybe we just don’t see that effort as we’re instate! But, at the same time, I don’t see a big diversity problem (at the SUNYs I’m familiar with) since NY is such a melting pot and has significant regional variations anyway. Really, would another student from PA, Ohio, or Mass be any different than a kid from NY? </p>
<p>Interesting that you mentioned UB as I hear different languages spoken every time I visit and sit in one of the cafes there and my D says a lot of OOS and international students are there. I think I saw a report recently that said UB has the 10th highest international student population in the country so I’m not sure that the figures they report on College Board are accurate, or perhaps they don’t reflect the student body as a whole. At any rate, though UB football is popular with the students/Buffalo community, the current focus is to expand research and the medical complex and I’m sure that any big money for athletics would have to come from private donors.</p>