Kids Are Giving Up on Elite Colleges—and Heading South
‘Even if I could’ve gotten into Harvard, I wouldn’t have gone.’
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Kids flocking to southern colleges
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They're welcome to go to Gomer Pyle University. Good riddance.
Bill Simmons wrote for ESPN and I read his content pretty regularly about 15 years ago. Loved his Mailbags.
He always said he'd tell his kids to go West or South for college. I agree with that. You can always come back if you want to.
He always said he'd tell his kids to go West or South for college. I agree with that. You can always come back if you want to.
While rankings can be dubious, realize that most southern state schools are about the same as most midwestern state schools.
They aren’t ivies, but they’re not shit.
The arrogance from a guy living in Iowa working at a state school is astonishing.
I’m not sure I agree with you using the word most in that statement if referring to the big ones. There are several good southern schools. But a lot that are far worse than Iowa who historically was the bottom of the Big Ten before Nebraska joined.
If we’re including all of the podunk state schools then, sure I’ll agree.
State flagships have a role, and with few exceptions they play it pretty well. I think the “difference” you may be perceiving is that people stay home on graduation rather than moving, often starting nice local businesses.
Ole kiss is probably the only one that really is below average among the flagships
it seems like all the high school kids here are going to Arizona State, Grand Canyon, or Montana State. I think kids don’t care about academics and just want a change of scenery.
Yep, Gomer was supposedly from North Carolina and I'll put UNC up against any public school (and almost any private school) in the country.
As someone who froze his ass off waking over the Iowa River overpass to go to a 7:30 am rhetoric class in January, I should have flocked to a southern school.
Something something racism Caitlin Clark something.. but damn those southern hicks amirite?!
The common app has made it way easier to apply to more schools - especially for low-income kids that get the application fee waivers. It costs them nothing but maybe a little more time if a school has additional essay prompts. So there are a ton more applications than there used to be when kids would have to individually apply to each school. Now schools that didn't used to be very "competitive" can brag about their low acceptance rates, and kids that would've been a "sure thing" 10 years ago, now have to cross their fingers and hope.
I just looked up acceptance rates. Liberty U scores 99% 🤣 . How bad do you have to be to be declined there? I'm guessing it's just kids who call themselves Satanists.
If you’re white or Asian applying to, or attending an Ivy League school is a waste of time. Businesses will pick up the fact that the best and brightest do not necessarily attend the Ivy League schools anymore do to systemic discrimination.
out of curiosity, how is elon regarded? I actually hear about it a fair bit up here in the dc area, but don't know whether that's because its a decent alternative for the reasonably smart kid who hasn't solved pi to 150 digits by 9th grade, or because it's a good party school.
Liberty is not a good school. That said, it's one that has fully embraced online education. I wonder if schools that do that (UNH, ASU, etc.) have materially different numbers, because enrollments are crazy high in that model.
Hey look, they want to go to Gomer Pyle U. Why should I stop them? If they feel Emory is as good as Harvard, bless their ignorant hearts.
They are but they aren't Harvard or MIT. No one is saying southerners shouldn't go to those schools but if going to such institutions is so antithetical to them, go to UNC and Duke. The world will continue to spin.
Southern schools like Alabama and Georgia who had struggled mightily from an academic ranking perspective have made it a point over the past decade or so to offer full rides to northern kids coming from better school districts. I knew of no one or their kids going to those schools until the last 10 years as the number has swelled and they are all getting full rides where options like that at B1G schools were virtually non-existent.
Probably didn't want to get in the path of BM's.Kids Are Giving Up on Elite Colleges—and Heading South
‘Even if I could’ve gotten into Harvard, I wouldn’t have gone.’
I almost went to UAB for MD/PhD. Great school but town was whacked, racial segregation was apparent, I am brown, and the faculty I wanted to do my dissertation with were all bailing for northern schools.
I interviewed for MSTP at Florida in Gainesville also. Big school, great incentive package, cute girls, shit hillbilly town. Miami doesn't count since that's basically Cuba
One guy at the interview literally asked me whether I would stare at models all day? I should have said, umm yeah.
I interviewed for MSTP at Florida in Gainesville also. Big school, great incentive package, cute girls, shit hillbilly town. Miami doesn't count since that's basically Cuba
One guy at the interview literally asked me whether I would stare at models all day? I should have said, umm yeah.
TBH, at the undergraduate level, among the top, say, 40% of schools, I'm not sure that there's a material difference in terms of the education, as things like motivation, the goals of the output, and the like can be wildly variable. Grad schools are a different story entirely
Totally agree. If I had a kid, I would honestly send them to a tiny private school where they get 1 to 1 attention etc. Cornell, Grinnell, Luther etc., in Iowa come to mind.
While Iowa was a cheapo option for me, as an undergrad, I had partial scholarships to Ivy league schools. I couldn't afford the school plus cost of living. As a graduate/professional student, I received a stipend and tuition waiver. That made things more affordable even though I lived an austere existence.
I don't regret going to Iowa for undergrad but I never saw most of my professors and my TA's ranged from decent to woefully incompetent. I wouldn't send my kids there even if they love the Hawks.
Eff that. I would have missed out on 5 years of student tickets for a B.A
Georgia has not suffered from an academic ranking perspective. It’s literally one of the top public universities in the country.
I don't think Elon is that highly ranked. It's a good school but it's definitely mid-tier. A very good friend was a professor there for 20+ years and celebrated wildly upon his retirement - he called it a "toxic waste site" from his perspective. Gorgeous campus, though.
ah yes, the "inverted maslow pyramid" of college selection criteria that my wife employed when we were looking at schools with our kids, where the "base" is 'beautiful campus" and the pinnacle is "outstanding academics in your desired field"
As someone who is New Haven educated, I would have loved to have attended somewhere like Virginia Tech or Ole Miss or UGA, etc. And I always tell kids that wherever they are is always a good place to come back to after college.
This. Niece from Texas got a full ride to LSU and Nephew from Texas the same to Bama. It’s tough to get into UT with the whole top 8% thing and they didn’t have any desire to go anywhere else in Texas. Say what you want but the big fraternity/sorority thing plus football attracts a lot more people than you think. Both did extremely well and are back in Texas making very good money. Tons of kids from the KC area end up at Arkansas. I don’t really get it, but it’s working for them.
great point
only a little over 75% of harvard students are white or asian
what's even the point, right? barely any
