<p>Some schools do, and some schools don’t, make important distinctions between in-state and out-of-state students in their admission and aid decisions. In general, public schools do, but private schools don’t. However, the most common and significant differences are likely to be in tuition costs and financial aid, not in the admission standards. </p>
<p>Some very selective colleges may give a slight admission advantage to students from under-represented states or perhaps to students from local high schools. Some state colleges may hold out-of-state students to higher admission standards. However, it is difficult to say how significant that difference might be, because the published admission outcomes (as reported in the Common Data Set) generally don’t differentiate the average stats (GPA/rank/scores) of in-state versus out-of-state students.</p>