Fairly shocking admissions news from UT

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

I guess it's because we don't have anything like this in CT, and I didn't apply to any state schools for undergrad, but I don't see this being a big deal (beyond changed expectations for those students who want to go to UT). Doesn't this just turn into the same issue that every high school student will have in assessing their college choices?

The Northeast as a whole is not as committed to keeping their students in-state than the South, Southwest, and West. I don't understand it. Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana offer full-tuition scholarships for in-state students who do well. New Jersey and New York lose more 18-year olds to out-of-state colleges than any other states in the country. I guess when you think of a top state school, nothing in the northeast comes to mind other than say, Penn State and Pitt.

Not every kid from Michigan feels like Ann Arbor is "owed" to them; the same is true for California, Virginia, and now Florida and Texas. Georgia's headed that way. I think the best thing to do is just realize that other schools have to be an option for the kids who can't stay within the top 10%.

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

I guess when you think of a top state school, nothing in the northeast comes to mind other than say, Penn State and Pitt.

That's true; UConn has gotten much better over the years for undergrad, but when it comes to Northeast state schools, in general their graduate programs (like UConn law and UConn and University of Vermont medicine) have better reputations than their undergrad programs. People I talk to who have high-achieving kids (high in their class and good SAT scores) tell me that more and more of those students are considering UConn, so perhaps things are starting to change, at least in CT. For the top 5% or so in my high school class, I think only one person considered UConn. The rest of us applied only to out-of-state schools and the private colleges within the state (Yale, Wesleyan, Trinity, etc.).

As to the rest of your post; it's just an interesting mindset for me, for someone to feel that a school is "owed" to them. Again though, as you said, it's just a far different mindset up here when it comes to state schools for undergrad.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

As to the rest of your post; it's just an interesting mindset for me, for someone to feel that a school is "owed" to them. Again though, as you said, it's just a far different mindset up here when it comes to state schools for undergrad.

I think it's a legacy thing, and how much the identity of some state residents is tied up in one or a handful of universities. Even though I grew up in Florida, where I grew up is close enough to Alabama that a lot of people have parents and grandparents who went to Alabama and Auburn; it's pretty much a given that they're going to get in, so if they don't, it's a big deal. I have a HS classmate who didn't go to Auburn, although her whole family did...she's pretty much the biggest Auburn booster I know!

I suspect it's even stronger in Texas, given that Texans seem to have a very strong identity related to the state.