Just a little firsthand info about Tennessee since i felt a little insulted by the "nontraditional SEC" comment. I have one daughter there (and another in high school who will apply). My daughter had NUMEROUS friends who did not get in and ended up going to Alabama or Ole Miss. These were both back up schools for my daughter also. I was actually quite surprised when the guidance counselor shared the stats with me. Apparently Tennessee has gotten very competitive since the HOPE scholarship. I am not putting down these other great schools, but it irks me a little that people have an incorrect perception of Tennessee!

Obviously the sorority house are only now in the process of being built (they did break ground!), but the greek system there is very traditional and very competitive. There were over 900 girls signed up for recruitment this year.

Just my two cents! I attended another SEC school too many years ago to count. I can also tell you that my daughter's recruitment experience was every bit as stressful as I remember mine being. :) I've enjoyed reading these threads as I've had several rec girls, especially last year and this year...and I expect next year too!!

Oh, I didn't explain myself well. I read your post, but it came out all huffy. I should have checked your profile before saying anything because I honestly saw that you are in Chicago and thought to myself "What the heck does she know about the SEC?" The noob learns a GC lesson - you know, the one about assuming. :o

What I was trying to express were mainly these things:

1. Students from Georgia (at least the hundreds that I worked with over the past decade) are/have been pursuing Tennessee along with Auburn & Alabama since UGA became more competitive due to the Hope Scholarship.

2. Since Tennessee began offering the Hope Scholarship a few years ago, it has become more competitive academically a la UGA, which has led to slightly smaller PNM groups and quotas. When I was at UT, there were 15 NPC groups. Now there are 13.

3. Because UT is becoming more competitive academically due to the Hope Scholarship, it really isn't going to be as viable an option for those students who are seeking an SEC-like experience but may not be able to get into UGA.

OK....really this was all off the original topic anyway, so 'nuff said.

More bid lists, please. Monmouth Duo love, dear Barbino! :)

I think y'all are both saying the same thing.

When barbino and I attended UK - and I should add I had family (black sheep of course ;)) who attend that school down in Knoxville around the same time - both schools didn't always get a lot of students from other states within the SEC footprint - like Georgia, Florida or Alabama. However, I happened to know quite a few Mississippians who attended Kentucky. Go figure. :confused:

To be clear, UK and UT are now - and have always been - SEC schools through and through. And when it comes to rush, both are competitive. However, perhaps not at the level of say Bama, Ole Miss and Auburn. At least not yet.

However, over the years, more and more students attending UK now come from other states within the SEC footprint. As such, some of the so called "uber-competitiveness" that some may feel is the "norm" at their "home" SEC school, is now being brought to Kentucky. And I suspect to Tennessee as well.

At least that is how I interpreted barbino's posts.

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/530303/SECFamily.jpg
^^^ Now this is Old School. :cool:

Except, my experience at Tennessee was that a ton of students attended Tennessee who are from Georgia, the Georgia kids that I worked with were more often likely as not to be trying to get into Tennessee (the fact that I had attended UT was serendipitous), and now this same demographic is having a more difficult time getting in because of the Hope Scholarship now being in place in Tennessee. My expectation is that UT is going to be increasingly challenging from an admissions standpoint, just as has happened with UGA. I have no clue as to what's happening at UK, even though I am friends with some alums.

LOVE the old school photo!

More bid lists, please!

I understand. The state of Georgia is pretty much "just south" of Knoxville. As such, it would be expected that a good number of out of state students at Tennessee would come from an adjoining state like Georgia. A majority of Kentucky’s out of state students come from her boarder states as well – Tennessee, Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana to name a few. However, Kentucky has seen increases in students from all over as well partly due to higher admissions standards and the proximity to their home states/towns. Lexington is located within 600 miles of two-thirds of the U.S. population. So for some who might like the so called “SEC experience” UK provides an attractive choice.

All that is good and well. However, and I may be way off base (it won’t be the first time, nor the last), I interpreted barbino's comments to be directed toward or about the NPC recruitment experience at UK and UT and how that compared to other SEC schools.

My position is that as the admission standards increased at UT and UK, more “quality” out-of-state students enroll (as you noted at UT). Add to that, many in-state students – who might have elected to attend college out of state – are also staying in state (again as you noted at UT). Thus the overall “credentials” of the PNM pool might be considered “better”. And because they are overachievers, these PNMs are - again generally speaking - more competitive than their predecessors.

Now add that many of these out of state students come from areas where the so called “uber-competitiveness” recruitment is the norm. Then over time, the recruitment experiences at UK and UT become even more competitive. More along the lines of some of the other SEC schools.

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And yeah, I love the "Family Portrait". It is from around 1969 so it needs to be updated.

I know someone who looks EXACTLY like the Volunteer in that picture. He even wears a hat all the time.

If someone can get their hands on the Texas A & M bid list they will be my new best friend forever . . .

I'd like to run the data for UT and the other big Texas schools to compare/contrast the in state/out of state differences with Auburn and Bama, the schools we do have the data on. And yes, I know that makes me an out of the closet geek. I own it.

Ditto to this. Please let me know if you hear anything!

Tease!
 

Oh, AggieAXO - I saw that you had posted and thought "YES! She will have the bid list!". :(

My Gamma Phi contact was told that releasing it was a privacy issue . . . but I just know SOMEONE here can get it.

I have a hard copy of the bid lists from North Texas, but it doesn't list anything other than their recruitment id #'s and their names. However, I'm gonna go see if irishpipes has her annual thread up and go put some numbers up there for y'all.

Nope, I wish. It seems A&M does not like to release lists like the other schools. Most of the time to find out where girls pledged, we had to read the Battalion (A&Ms newspaper-many soroities will take out an ad with their pledges names).

Which ones do you want? I put in a sprinkling for comparison of big greek schools.... These are the overall percent of out of state students (including international) for undergrads.

University of Georgia: 10% (Athens, GA)
University of Kentucky: 12% (Lexington, KY)
University of Tennessee: 14% (Knoxville, TN)
University of Alabama: 21% (Tuscaloosa, AL)
Mississippi State University: 21% (Mississippi State, MS)
Auburn University: 30% (Auburn, AL)

University of Arizona: 24% (Tucson, AZ)
University of California -- Berkeley: 14% (Berkeley, CA)
Clemson University: 30% (Clemson, SC)
Indiana University Bloomington: 28% (Bloomington, IN)
University of Oklahoma: 18% (Norman, OK)

University of North Texas: 10% (Denton, TX)
Texas Tech University: 6% (Lubbock, TX)
University of Texas -- Austin: 5% (Austin, TX)
Texas A&M University -- College Station: 4% (College Station, TX)

- also not a closeted geek.....

:D

Where did you find those numbers? They're drastically different from what I found on collegeboard.com, at least for Auburn and Alabama.

Alabama http://quickfacts.ua.edu/demographics.html 67% from Alabama, 31% out of state, 3% international (check your math Bama, that's over 100%)