Girlie AGDee's College Search Thread

[southbymidwest]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

Innnnnteresting....Do most public schools publish their standards, though? I know that Illinois pretty much said "if your rank is this, and your ACT score is this, you will be accepted". So, if Illinois was your safety school, and you had the numbers they said you should, you didn't need 3 safeties.

Not that I am aware of anymore- they will publish 25%-75% ACT/SAT spreads, GPA averages for the current freshman class, etc., but you can never be sure until you get the notification that you are in. In this day and age, especially with the larger, nationally recognized state universities, there are more kids with the right numbers than there are seats for them at the schools. Schools also want a diversified student body, so that also is taken into account. That can mean ethnicity/demographics/sex, but also where the kids reside within/outside the state, and niche interests (i.e.," I have a passion for studying jellyfish, and have done so since I was in 4th grade").

Ahh, found the term I was looking for regarding a university trying to figure out if they are of importance to an applicant-they look for "demonstrated interest" in the form of visits, requests for information, discussions with admissions officers, etc. They track this stuff. Read it in a "Chronicle of Higher Education" article a few years back, was also echoed by daughter's high school counselor.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by AGDee

Unless you need to be able to compare financial aid packages.

Got it. I guess the days of the state school being the cheapest option by default are long gone.

Originally Posted by southbymidwest

Not that I am aware of anymore- they will publish 25%-75% ACT/SAT spreads, GPA averages for the current freshman class, etc., but you can never be sure until you get the notification that you are in. In this day and age, especially with the larger, nationally recognized state universities, there are more kids with the right numbers than there are seats for them at the schools. Schools also want a diversified student body, so that also is taken into account.

Illinois used to just open up more seats, so they never turned away qualified applicants. My freshman year, this meant that there were people living in the study lounges because there were more freshmen than anticipated.

UT guarantees admission to anyone in the top 10% of their graduating class, so I guess those students have a load off.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

Got it. I guess the days of the state school being the cheapest option by default are long gone.

Pretty much. Obviously it's cheaper for in-state kids, but one of the factors in why I didn't apply to Berkeley as school #5 was that, after all was said and done it would have ended up being more expensive than Brown or Emory.

I think the high amount of applications is more of a coastal thing--kids in DC, NYC, Boston, LA, and SF are in a super-competitive pool and they have to cast a wider net. Like I said, in 1998 I applied to 4 schools. In 2008, I interviewed kids who applied to 14. I was in a smaller school district and had an excellent state school to fall back on. The kids I interviewed? Not so much.

[southbymidwest]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

My freshman year, this meant that there were people living in the study lounges because there were more freshmen than anticipated.
.

That can still happen if the yield is higher than anticipated-makes college administrators' hair turn grey. It is a less than ideal situation, and just plain upsetting all around.

[LAblondeGPhi]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

Illinois used to just open up more seats, so they never turned away qualified applicants. My freshman year, this meant that there were people living in the study lounges because there were more freshmen than anticipated.

This happened my freshman year at UCLA, too. But I think it was because they were behind schedule on building one of the newer dorm buildings. I didn't even realize we had a large study lounge until the six boys living there moved out spring quarter.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

Pretty much. Obviously it's cheaper for in-state kids, but one of the factors in why I didn't apply to Berkeley as school #5 was that, after all was said and done it would have ended up being more expensive than Brown or Emory.

True. The out-of-state tuition + room/board at my alma mater = same tuition as any number of private schools. Although I think a lot of state schools around here give in-state tuition to kids from neighboring states (PA, WV, etc.) to try and pull kids from other states.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

True. The out-of-state tuition + room/board at my alma mater = same tuition as any number of private schools. Although I think a lot of state schools around here give in-state tuition to kids from neighboring states (PA, WV, etc.) to try and pull kids from other states.

Some states have formal agreements with other states to count their students as in-staters. WI and MN had this for years, but I think it is ending soon.