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Dealing with this now as DS is a senior in high school. USC is popular, but even with an additional $4k in annual merit aid on top of the out of state tuition waiver, USC is 2-3k more than UNC and NCSU. That makes it a competitive option if you want to "go away" to school, but not a slam dunk financial you have to go here. Alabama and Auburn do similar things with a lower bar for honors admission.
I would suggest if your income is low (or you can make it appear low legally), investigate private schools, as with their endowments, that 50k+ price tag will evaporate quickly. UNC/NCSU do not offer large sums of merit aid compared to other public colleges in the southeast and apparently dont need to as tuition is relatively reasonable.
I'd also add, that competition is fierce for UNC/NCSU from tier 3 counties (Rtp and charlotte areas, etc). Stats that got me admitted to UNC out of state 30 years ago, cause you to be waitlisted from wake county this year. If you absolutely want your degree to be from UNC/NCSU, then it is easier to transfer in, than to be accepted out of HS.
My oldest had the head to get into UNC but not the work ethic. Thanks to his girlfriend he found inspiration once he started attending UNCG, compiled a 4.0 GPA through his first three semesters and then transferred into UNC to begin his Junior year.
My youngest hated High School and literally aimed for doing the least amount of work possible in order to graduate. He decided going into his Junior year that he'd attend Wake Tech for a few semesters and use that as a springboard to get into a better four year school. And that's exactly what he's currently doing.
As a professional who has interviewed literally hundreds of college graduates over my career I can assure you, no one cares where you started college, only where you finished it. And even then, that's often not as critical as having actually finished.
My oldest had the head to get into UNC but not the work ethic. Thanks to his girlfriend he found inspiration once he started attending UNCG, compiled a 4.0 GPA through his first three semesters and then transferred into UNC to begin his Junior year.
My youngest hated High School and literally aimed for doing the least amount of work possible in order to graduate. He decided going into his Junior year that he'd attend Wake Tech for a few semesters and use that as a springboard to get into a better four year school. And that's exactly what he's currently doing.
As a professional who has interviewed literally hundreds of college graduates over my career I can assure you, no one cares where you started college, only where you finished it. And even then, that's often not as critical as having actually finished.
I would also add that the traditional university process may articially deny opportunities to people who may make fine doctors, nurses, lawyers, etc through their weed out process. Freshman Chemistry or Organic Chemistry may be more difficult at UNC/NCSU (or larger class so less individualized attention), so the person taking the class there gets a "C" where the person taking it at the local community college gets a "B+". Uphill climb for the UNC/NCSU to get high GPA for med school. Community college student transfers in with the credits and doesnt have the "C" on their transcript.
Students from rural NC counties don't like to hear it but it is true....the emphasis on class rank for UNC/NCSU undergrad admission makes it quite a bit harder to get in from a "big league" high school.
I went to the grad ceremony for East Chapel Hill High in 2015 and there were over THIRTY valedictorians.
And with a strategic plan to increase graduates from rural areas, this will make it tougher to be admitted from "big league" high schools.
objectively though why would anyone consider it a good thing for triangle graduates to monopolize triangle colleges
Not necessarily monopolize, but it is weird that I’d be better off getting my son a worse education in Chatham than a better education in Wake, at least as far as college acceptances go.
Not necessarily monopolize, but it is weird that I’d be better off getting my son a worse education in Chatham than a better education in Wake, at least as far as college acceptances go.
maybe its the case college admissions have other goals than admitting students with the highest numbers
also thats a very hard thing to quantify on an individual basis
it's also classist to expect because you were well resourced enough to be supported and achieve the higher SAT you deserve access to better school than someone who struggled without that
in the sense of the goodness of the world/state it also makes wayyyyyyyyyyy more sense to spread the triangle graduates around to lift up students attending the other schools
i know that's a hard pill for parents but we're blessed in NC with a good state college system
Not necessarily monopolize, but it is weird that I’d be better off getting my son a worse education in Chatham than a better education in Wake, at least as far as college acceptances go.
I looked at that since Chatham is 1/2 mile from my current house and Chatham is a tier 3 county, so same weight as Wake, Durham, Orange. Now how a child would do at Northwood compared to western Wake high schools is a different question, but county tier weighting wont impact that.
I looked at that since Chatham is 1/2 mile from my current house and Chatham is a tier 3 county, so same weight as Wake, Durham, Orange. Now how a child would do at Northwood compared to western Wake high schools is a different question, but county tier weighting wont impact that.
That’s good, but it changed then since when I graduated from school (and my cousin graduated from Chatham Central). And obviously there is a lot that goes into how universities decide to spread the wealth, but certainly as my so gets into that age to start worrying, I’ve become acutely aware that there are real headwinds involved because of where he went to school.
Not necessarily monopolize, but it is weird that I’d be better off getting my son a worse education in Chatham than a better education in Wake, at least as far as college acceptances go.
Define better “education”. I think your defining it as “higher performing High School.”
Does the average Pittsboro student have a lower GPA, higher dropout rate, etc at UNC-CH OR NCSU?
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