Morning - My daughter is finishing her Junior year, and is looking at big “rah-rah” state schools, primarily in the Southeast.
I notice some colleges have very small out of state populations (Florida, Georgia) … how I can determine which States cap OOS admissions? And are there any State schools that would like to attract the OOS crowd?
We are in PA, competitive high school in suburban Philly. Excellent grades/ok scores, full pay. Toured and liked Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia … open to other suggestions.
Thanks!
Hmmm…think you will have to check out the individual school’s sites to find the OOS caps. UNC and UVA cap OOS. UGA is certainly hard to get in OOS, especially since their HOPE scholarships draws so much in state interest now. South Carolina actively recruits OOS students and they have some great OOS merit scholarships with transparent criteria on the web site, same with Ole Miss. Alabama has great scholarships and is now 60% OOS. UF traditionally has not recruited OOS students but with Bright Futures its attracting the state’s best students so not many OOS there. Also new NMF OOS scholarships (Benacquisto) will attract more OOS interest and make it harder to get in. Check out FSU. It does not take a super high ACT to get OOS tuition waiver, in state tuition is cheap, it has a great honors program, and a traditional, beautiful campus. FSU is on the rise.
Some states’ public flagships are not that hard to get into, in-state or out-of-state. For example:
Louisiana State University: https://sites01.lsu.edu/wp/admissions/become-a-tiger-2/freshmen/freshman-admission-requirements/
University of Mississippi: https://admissions.olemiss.edu/applying-to-ole-miss/freshmen/
Of course, non-flagship state universities are often less difficult to get into, even for out-of-state students (although fewer out-of-state students are interested in the non-flagship state universities).
You might look at Clemson. It’s pricier than USC or Alabama due to limited merit and also a tougher admit than several of those mentioned above, but it has its fans.
Thanks for replies.
When we toured UGA, info session stated they absolutely do not evaluate OOS differently than IS, so I’m not sure what to make of low OOS attendance. I could not find any information on UF’s site, but it is a realistic “reach” according to data on Naviance (our school shows last 3 years admit history).
Sounds as if Florida State should be on our radar.
I toured Ole Miss with my 2014 son. It’s beautiful and seemed to offer many attractive programs, but my daughter is not interested.
Currently, Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia are the only schools that excite her … but I would really like her to consider a few others!
Perhaps out-of-state attendance is low because it is expensive?
Although Alabama does not post automatic admission criteria on its web site, it does post (presumably higher) automatic scholarship criteria.
https://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out-of-state.php
We discussed Clemson, but my daughter is a Social Sciences kid, and did not feel Clemson would meet her interests.
UGA’s tuition doesn’t look unreasonable to me - maybe because Penn State & Pitt (our in-state schools) are no bargain, and the reality that we are surrounded by very expensive privates,
Thankfully, merit aid (D will qualify for small scholarship at Bama and SC) will be a luxury, not a necessity.
As you can see, I’m new to posting (but have followed advice on this site for years) so I haven’t figured out how to reply directly to posters.
Thanks again for the feedback.
University of South Carolina HS GPA information is reported with a weighted GPA and may use SC standardized HS GPA calculations.
https://ed.sc.gov/districts-schools/state-accountability/uniform-grading-policy/
You may want to check with the admission office to verify and check how to convert out of state grades.
Thanks. Looks as if most/all schools recalculate GPA. I will have my D look at the South Carolina link you sent. She does have good grades with a pretty rigorous curriculum (mix of honor/AP and just plain-ole math).
I don’t remember this from 2014 S … maybe the mind forgets pain. And the self reported grades feel new as well.
The percentage of out of state students may be set by statute in some states, so a google search can help identify the percentage limits. For instance, Wisconsin, which is where my kid went, instate students must make up not less than 60% of the student body; Minnesota students, through reciprocity are either capped at another 10-15%, I can’t remember, and then other, out of state students cannot exceed either 10 or 15%.
In contrast, Illinois for years required 90% Illinois students, and only within the past several years brought that down to, I think, 60%.
Iowa and Indiana offer merit awards to out of state students, which is one way to identify whether a school is looking for OOS students.
Auburn might check some of the boxes, in addition to the already-suggested LSU, Ole Miss, and Mizzou.
I might be an idiot, but I cannot determine whether or not Florida has a formal cap on out of state students.
For reasons I cannot explain, she keeps avoiding Auburn when I bring it up. I seriously doubt I can entice my D to look at colleges in the Midwest, i.e… Mizzou.
It’s a big trend in our area to head South - so much that I fear her “match/safeties” may not work out. I was a little shocked to run into many families from our high school and area when we toured over Spring Break. If I’m not mistaken, our packed info session at U South Carolina did not have a single South Carolina family in attendance!
My D only wants to apply to schools she really likes - and I support this. No need to jump on the 15+ application bandwagon. However, I do want her to be realistic about what appears to be a trend heading to big Southern U’s.
I know you want the south, but ASU brings in a lot of OOS kids, and it’s a great school. Great sports, great city, great programs, easy to fly into. I know five OOS kids that got good money to go there.
Bet she would love to look at ASU. I’ll need to think over how we would feel if she was that far from home. Gonna take a look at their website. Thanks
If Alabama is one of her preferred choices, and she qualifies for an automatic scholarship, and it is affordable on that basis, then wouldn’t it be a safety?
Yes, Bama is her safety. Really this is about me obsessing and wanting her to have options when acceptance/rejections roll in next Fall/Winer.
Her guidance counselor agrees it is a safety, with South Carolina a solid match and Georgia a reach. Students with similar stats have been admitted to UGA (and UFL which we have not seen) - just not many.
@houndmom My daughter is from PA as well and she is going to study social sciences at Clemson. Clemson is a large public university that offers many majors and has many students studying in the social sciences.
With OOS merit money Clemson is the same cost for us as if she went to Pitt or Penn State.
She got into the Honors College which provides lots of benefits as well.
Another large public university she considered was U of Delaware. Beautiful campus also offer very good merit money in fact more than Clemson, but daughter wanted the vibe of the big sports that UDel didn’t have.
Good luck
Another state school that’s great for social sciences is William and Mary. As with UVA, it’s expensive and harder to get in OOS though.
One other thing about Clemson is they give lots of college credits for AP classes. My Daughter will go in as a Sophomore based on them giving her about 35 credits from her AP testing. Because of that she could finish in 3 years instead of 4 go to graduate school in the 4th year. Nice savings.
Of course my daughter planning on staying all 4 years and doing a double major…