It is also great for some Northern schools because they will have to reflect on what they did/are doing wrong to turn off these kids. Competition is a great thing.
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It should help keep pricing in check but if it also drives more money into the athletics budget that isnāt necessarily a positive (Rutgers is a great example). There are some exceptions like Rice, GT but the popularity for Southern schools that I see in my area is typical kids making decisions with lifestyle considerations being the main driver rather than kids looking for academic fit.
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The academics in the Southern flagships are comparable to anywhere. The Honors programs are especially hard to get into. Iām nervous that my DD with 34ACT and 4.5 weighted GPA may not get into places like UF and UGA.
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The academics at many Southern schools are very strong but I am not seeing the academics drive choice in my area. Some are starting to look at a few schools including those that you mentioned but moving out of my area of CA in search of academics still points Northeast. Southern schools like SMU and TCU are very popular with kids looking for solid academics and a good lifestyle with schools like OleMiss and LSU being popular for kids with average stats.
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Disagree. Itās talked about a lot here at UF and quite a few people are very passionate about it.
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Interesting. Wonder how FSU would be in this regard.
Good point, certainly there are better and worse Southern flagships with respect to academics
Not sure, but itās probably a bit less. I know UF has the reputation for being by far the most liberal campus in the state. However Iām sure itās still dicussed plenty there and most other colleges here in Florida besides PCC.
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One of my reliable indicators is how quickly the protests this spring, if any at all, were cleaned up 
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The WSJ page mentions scholarship money / lower net price for at least two example students. Around these forums, it is a big reason why some posters recommend schools like University of Alabama and University of Mississippi.
Of the students from your area who actually attend those southern schools, what do the academic demographics look like? Are they top-end students, often lured by scholarship money if heading to less selective schools like Alabama and Mississippi, or more ordinary students with enough parental money to attend a less selective flagship like Alabama or Mississippi rather than a commuter-based non-flagship in-state? Or is the focus mainly on more selective southern schools like Georgia Tech, UNC-CH, and UT Austin?
Also, are their demographics in other aspects (e.g. gender, race / ethnicity, religion, LGB, T, etc.) similar to or different from the overall demographics of students from your area?
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I think the trend of more students from the NE considering, and attending, southern schools than in the past is due to several factors, some of which were not covered in the article:
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Cost. As outlined in the article, some southern schools are trying to attract strong students with scholarships and admission to honors programs.
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Improved academics. While many southern universities like UNC Chapel Hill, Duke, Vanderbilt, etc. have had reputations for being very strong academically (with competitive admissions) for decades, other schools down south have upped their academic game in recent years. The south does not have a monopoly on this; when I applied to colleges Notre Dame had the reputation for being a respectable school with a strong football team and loyal alumni network, but now they are a top 20 school according to USNWR.
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Campus Culture. Students and their parents see what is going on at so many schools - restrictions on free speech, violent protests condoned by school administrations, etc. - and they want a more sane environment.
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Drop in Reputation. In recent years, the reputations of āeliteā schools in the NE have dropped with plagerism scandals, employers stating they will no longer recruit from specific schools and programs, out of control grade inflation, and schools being sued for discriminating to meet demographic goals.
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Haha, āplagiarismā is not the problem here. Try āwokismā and you will get it
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Well both of mine went south for academic fit. Both are not athletes and not in Greek life.
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I was trying to avoid the āwokeā third rail, but yes, that also is an issue.
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Canāt avoid it. The kids want normal
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@bluebayou I rarely encounter parents who know of CC. We have to remember that we are a self-selecting bunch of folks. I bet there is a lot of rationalizing too, even if subconscious:
āSome southern colleges are more acceptable to us than others. I.e., anywhere that has a lot of northeastern students is probably acceptable because everyone knows people who have gone to those colleges. I like those people, so that college must be okay, but maybe XYZ southern college (not really on my radar) isnāt.ā
Elon is a great example of a southern college that has become very popular in recent years in my area, and students are pretty liberal and open minded. The ones I know anyway. I know really liberal parents who are happy for their kids to apply there.
@ucbalmnus
The unsatisfying answer is all the above, with probably a bit more emphasis in the middle category. The students are predominantly ORM.
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Absolutely untrue-- and I wonder why you would post such a callous comment.
I live in the Northeast but I have colleagues, team members, friends, relatives, etc. all over the country-- and frankly, EVERYONE cares about Dobbs. Women, men, āthe kidsā (young people in their 20ās). Everyone. Iām talking religious Catholics, Evangelicals, decidedly secular, anyone who can get pregnant, has been pregnant, or knows someone who could get pregnant.
The women bleeding out in parking lots is real. No matter what YOU may think- and you are entitled to ānot really care about Dobbsā. But while the ER staff is inside, calling the hospitalās legal counsel; while the frantic husband is dialing a private ambulance service to see if his wife can get medivacked out of state; while the head of OB/GYN services is conferring with HIS personal lawyer (because no physician with 25 years of exemplary patient care will risk jail and losing their medical license)-- a woman with a problematic and potentially fatal pregnancy is suffering in her car. And if she survives-- is not likely going to be able to carry another pregnancy to term.
Ask any obstetrician who specializes in high risk pregnancies what Dobbs has done to their practice of medicine.
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Please stay on topic. The Dobbs decision can be discussed in the PF.
Further posts will be deleted.
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Appreciate the response, and the great thing is that we have options. Applicants to universities have options and they are clearly exercising them in a certain way, as the WSJ is telling us today. You clearly have a strong opinion about the subject and are by all means entitled to it.