I would love to hear people’s experiences? Was it hard at the start of freshman year when people hung out with high school friends? Was the size overwhelming? Any flagships seem particularly welcome to out of staters?Any other thoughts? Smaller schools would probably fit my daughter better, but I’m trying to explore different options. Thanks:)
OOS kids tend to gravitate to each other–esp in midwest and south. Some schools have been OOS friendly for decades-Uva, UW, UM, Oregon, Ind U, Iowa and others are recent–UCs, Udub, Bama, etc. Getting away from HS friends is a bonus.
I would first look at the OOS numbers. Which school is this? If it’s a school like UGA, then most will be instate, and that could be an issue becaue of your mentioned concerns, PLUS the possibility that many will go home on weekends when there isn’t much keeping them on campus.
Which school is this?
This might sound silly, but it’s something my daughter is very interested in: is it harder to get into a sorority/fraternity at a large flagship if you come from out of state? i remember reading that was an issue at Indiana U where it helped if you knew people from your hometown/high school when pledging.
@mom2collegekids Thank you. I’m just asking in general. No particular schools at the moment. I’m reasearching small liberal arts colleges, medium size private universities and now large flagships in case the cost of privates become outrageously expensive. Even if cost isn’t the biggest factor, it’s not clear yet if my daughter wants a big, exciting school or a smaller intimate school. Two things she is sure of: she wants to be in a sorority and she wants a beautiful campus that’s not in a big city. We still have a ways to go, so I’m sure her priorities will change.
You make a good point about looking at the percentages. I think schools like Iowa, Colorado and Purdue, and Wisconsin have lots of out of staters
I transferred to my OOS flagship as a sophomore so I can’t comment.
I’ve found the size overwhelming only in my large lecture classes, and typically that’s because I don’t sit in front (dealing with that right now in my computer science class where my ex sits in front and I sit very far away from him). Fortunately, I’m in a very small major, greek life, and in a number of clubs, so I rarely notice the fact that tens of thousands of people attend. However, when I do want to be anonymous, it is rather easy to do so. I simply have to go into a building devoted to majors where I know few people in.
At the liberal arts college I transferred from, I literally had to either bike into the middle of nowhere Georgia or take a shuttle into a large city just to escape into anonymity. As someone who went to a large high school (almost 3000 people) where it was impossible to know everyone, particularly since I did not live on campus with them, I didn’t realize how much I would miss being able to not be recognized everywhere I went.
I would look for flagships where more than 30% of students come from out of state. Alternatively huge states which have selective flagships are likely to be great for an out of state student. To get from my house in CA to UC Berkeley it takes seven hours of driving, assuming no traffic, and I don’t live near the US-Mexico border. Thus it is often impossible for students in a state like CA or TX to go home on the weekends without booking a plane ticket, which often forces them to stay on campus.
I probably would have felt socially suffocated after a couple of years at a smaller school, especially one that did not have easy access to a large city.
I know plenty of OOS students in fraternities and sororities at my school, but I do know that a few of the scummy ones (you’ve probably heard of this one) recruit high school seniors.
@whenhen Wow! So incredibly helpful. Thank you.
Recruiting HS seniors? Unbelievable!
Yea, this frat also got on international news for a [little racist ditty](2015 University of Oklahoma Sigma Alpha Epsilon racism incident - Wikipedia), so I don’t know if they are representative of how mainstream Greek organizations do things.