@freezycool how did you find out who’s reading your application?
@eligarar regional counselors read your application 
@freezycool Really? I can’t seem to find anything on the umn site that confirms this.
@eligarar it’s what my umn counselor told me, and I trust him
@freezycool So each school has people that go through applications specifically for that school?
@eligarar seems much broader than just a single school- they are regional after all!
Where can I find the contact info of my regional counselors? can you give me a link?
@freezycool Oh nevermind. I’m from Minnesota so each school seems to have it’s own counselor. I think it’s because most of U of M’s applicants are from Minnesota. Other states seem to be clustered together and have a single counselor for that whole region because of the small number of OOS applicants.
@eligarar I think you discovered that each MN high school has been assigned to a particular counsellor. But the admissions office in general is very helpful and my kids have actually never needed to contact their “assigned” counsellor with their questions. And I think all assigned counsellors are familiar with the applications that come their way. I’m not sure that means they make the final decision but they probably are able to bring up unique features, extenuating circumstances, etc. to the adcom. At least that’s the way I’ve always envisioned the process.
Also, I found out something interesting because I’ve heard from others that UMN enrollment is so heavily weighted towards in-staters. The truth, per College Navigator, is that at 64%, UMN actually has a lower in-state enrollment than Cal and UCLA (and Santa Barbara, Davis, and San Diego), University of Washington, UIUC, University of Maryland, UNC, Ohio State, University of GA, University of FL, and probably some other well regarded flagships that I haven’t thought of. It’s a bit higher than UW-Madison and about equal to Pitt. I’d say there are probably a bit more non-Minnesotans attending than many people think.
@mamelot Yes, but not as many OOS as UA (Alabama). They are at 60% OOS. They are also aggressively courting OOS high stats students. 32 or higher ACT gives full tuition scholarship to OOS students.
Interesting @CyclonesGrad. Looking all this info. up has been enlightening for me - I always assumed that Cal and UCLA would have sizable OOS #'s. Of course, there are a LOT of kids in CA (and I think you can actually establish residency and get a tuition adjustment after a year or two so that has to factor in as well).
Other thing @mamelot is that UC system schools give very little money to OOS students. They are bound by Cal system to educate their own students. The UC system loves OOS because they pay mostly full freight. UIUC also brings in OOS students to help defray costs because IL does not give much to the university due to the fiscal issues.
@Mamelot & @CyclonesGrad, those numbers are even more striking when you consider that some schools include in their OOS enrollment figures international students as well. For example, the enrollment figures are simply reported as resident and non-resident students and the latter category oftentimes includes an appreciable number of international students. The UC schools (especially Cal & UCLA) have to deal with the same set of unique circumstances faced by the two large flagship schools in my home state of Texas - UT-Austin & Texas A&M.
UT is on most people’s list as one of the top public schools in the country with an undergraduate engineering and business program ranked in the top 15 nationally, and highly regarded graduate and professional schools including a top 15 law school and a top 20 MBA program. UT’s student body is composed of 95% Texans and it gives little, to no merit aid to non-resident students.
A&M is not too shabby either with an undergraduate engineering program ranked #15 nationally and the #29 ranked undergraduate business program. Its graduate level engineering & business programs are ranked #12 and #27 respectfully. A&M’s student body is composed of 97% Texas residents and the most generous merit aid packages are reserved exclusively to national merit kids.
The common thread between UCLA/Cal and UT/A&M is that they offer nationally regarded programs at a reasonable price for in-state students, and they are in states whose population base could fill each and every freshman seat with highly qualified in-state applicants and still turn away two to three times as many other in-state kids who likely are academically prepared to handle the rigor of their programs. Based on the preceding, both institutions are under extreme political scrutiny by their respective legislatures to ensure that they admit as many in-state residents as possible.
The University of Alabama proudly proclaims that while its last entering class was composed of 60% out-of-state applicants, not a single qualified in-state applicant to Bama was denied admission. Neither the Cal/UCLA or UT/A&M could ever admit a freshman class where 60% of the cohort was OOS students and credibly claim that not a single qualified in-state Californian or Texan applicant was denied admission. Just to be clear, I’m in no way mocking the quality of the education offered at Alabama high schools, its just a reality of the difference in the population bases of the home states.
@texlaker Agree with what you say above. UIUC is a different story though. They actually do reject qualified IS applicants because they need the OOS students that pay significant $ to help a budget gap created by the state legislature.
UIUC has also raised the tuition/R&B to a level where IL kids can go OOS at lower rate than staying at the home flagship. That is why UM-TC, Alabama, OSU, Missouri, Iowa all heavily recruit the Chicago area.
The population base/qualified students are available in IL but money is the issue and this has created a huge outcry in the state. There is a huge brain drain here in IL.