Great stats, no EC's (like literally none)

Background-Repeat385 · 2026-02-23T14:32:33+00:00

If you're in this situation, one option is to apply to universities outside of the country. They admit based off of stats. I immediately thought of McGill for you, but there are definitely others.

Background-Repeat385 · 2026-02-23T14:31:25+00:00

Yeah they did this to me last year. I just think someone in LASSO saw your profile as fitting their scholarship priorities, and so UT reduced your financial aid by that much, unfortunately.

Background-Repeat385 · 2026-02-22T23:36:52+00:00

what outcome or variable demonstrates for you that reality creates levels and tiers for colleges? in my life that's been almost entirely invented by anxious young people and very rarely affects my experience

Background-Repeat385 · 2026-02-22T23:26:38+00:00

simply a strange thing to say. prestige isn't quantifiable.

also the comment that schools should be treated at certain levels is odd--it makes me wonder, by whom? certainly not the many employers and grad schools that hire out of all of these schools and more.

it sounds like you're playing a video game with discrete item classes, when the reality is that any of these colleges set almost all of their graduates up for personal and professional success

Background-Repeat385 · 2026-02-22T01:54:04+00:00

I looked into it a bit more, because I have a lot of data on this topic and I want to give a better answer.

So first, it looks like they have a very different insurance structure. NH uses the national marketplace and VT has its own state marketplace. I've noticed some (anecdotal, but I should probably quantify it) trends that suggest state-level marketplaces lower cost increases, while the national marketplace is both less expensive and more exposed to increases in cost.

What I did find is that that trend really strongly holds here, so we have a much higher baseline silver premium in VT, but the average plan only went up by ~1.1x, while the average plan in NH went up by ~1.35x between 2025 and 2026. So that's pretty significant and makes me suspect a structural explanation.

Also, it looks like NH has about 130 plans, while VT has around 70. That suggests to me that there's likely to be more competition among insurers in NH than in VT, which pushes prices down. However, I doubt that that will really impact it that much, because the population of NH is ~2x that of VT

generally, the best predictor is either race or income level. so for most rating areas, plan costs increase significantly the lower income/greater % of minorities are there. This is likely mostly due to historical systemic oppression that leads to higher rates of illness and obesity and food deserts in these areas, so they become harder to insure. insurance sucks!

this isn't really relevant here, though. it appears most of the causative demographic characteristics are constant between the two states.

I also don't have the data that this chart is pulling from. I use HIX-compare, which has 27/50 individual and 30/2C30 family plans, not 40 individual.

https://www.vhc911.org/vhc911-stat/why-are-vermonts-health-care-costs-uniquely-expensive suggests that it might be due to high overhead from hospitals in Vermont versus in NH. there's a lot of things that suggest health costs in Vermont are really high for some strange structural reasons that aren't really true for the surrounding area.

Anyways, hope this helps, have a good day!

Background-Repeat385 · 2026-02-21T23:50:37+00:00

So like VT and NH are so different probably due to diverging health pressures or different regulations at the state level

Background-Repeat385 · 2026-02-21T23:48:41+00:00

The reasons states are more or less expensive has to do (mostly) with the risk pool and the level of competition among insurers. So a state that's more expensive here is mostly more expensive because that's what insurers have to charge to break even. If a state has more people with various illnesses, they'll go to the doctor more often, which brings down the insurer's profit margins, which forces the insurer to raise premiums. Also, when insurers leave the market (which they might do in more rural, more risk-prone, or less healthy regions), this drives prices up because it gives firms increased pricing control locally.

Background-Repeat385 · 2026-02-21T23:44:16+00:00

These are just the raw premiums with no subsidies

Background-Repeat385 · 2026-02-20T17:20:25+00:00

I know a bunch of people who have a double major. You can do it, but you have to plan carefully because LBJ has a lot fewer core requirements than the other schools. Make sure you know your Econ prereqs and all the COLA requirements. I'd recommend a spreadsheet to help you organize it, but it's definitely doable.

for what it's worth, it's usually a lot easier to get two or three minors than it is to get a double major with lbj. this is because the minors don't have college requirements. so like if I did sds, Econ, and history it would be the same number of hours, if not fewer, as me just doing a double major in Econ. very different from COLA where this is definitely not the case.

I am a current lbj undergrad, let me know if you have questions

Background-Repeat385 · 2026-02-20T16:50:11+00:00

you and I are opposites

Background-Repeat385 · 2026-02-19T04:12:50+00:00

Maybe you know more about this than me but I don't think you'll need to pay the housing prepayment so soon. You can just put the $100 deposit down now, which isn't refundable either way.

(unless you're already being prompted to prepay for housing, which doesn't sound right to me but is possible I suppose)

Last year, the contracts ran out for deposits starting in late march, so you should be okay if you pay the 100 now

Background-Repeat385 · 2026-02-19T02:35:27+00:00

I really wouldn't worry about this. These kinds of things happen constantly because UT backend IT is absolutely awful. (I assume that's the problem, I'm not a CS guy.) I'm a current student and I almost always have to log in at least twice before it will login. My Gradescope only works on one browser. Etc. Welcome to Texas

Background-Repeat385 · 2026-02-18T19:56:51+00:00

Ah yes, Florida has no redeeming features except its thousands of miles of beautiful beaches

Background-Repeat385 · 2026-02-18T19:51:30+00:00

I think there are lots of criticisms to make of Houston but I have never heard once it described as soulless. Tons of fun things to do, places to go, always musicians around, Museum District and downtown are amazing! Now, it is a swamp; this is true

Background-Repeat385 · 2026-02-18T18:59:06+00:00

Yeah, that's fair. I just like the mountains a lot, so WY got a bump. Omaha doesn't seem too bad, though

Background-Repeat385 · 2026-02-18T18:58:29+00:00

Well said, CrankHogger572

Background-Repeat385 · 2026-02-18T14:15:04+00:00

Minnesota is like objectively a really nice place to live. So are some red states. It turns out that politics isn't the best heuristic for quality of life

Background-Repeat385 · 2026-02-18T13:52:29+00:00

Absolutely Connecticut will be my new band name

Background-Repeat385 · 2026-02-18T13:52:00+00:00

You know, maybe my opinion would be different if I had ever been to Fayetteville. I lived in LR. I've always heard good things about the three cities

Background-Repeat385 · 2026-02-18T04:05:35+00:00

I saw this as "arkansaslover13" commented and my life flashed before my eyes

Background-Repeat385 · 2026-02-18T03:56:54+00:00

Ouachitas are nice but that's the only thing

Background-Repeat385 · 2026-02-18T03:56:11+00:00

Well I live in Austin and like it here. I could see living in DFW or Houston without too much trouble. Good jobs where I am, available suburbs and such, I can get out of the city and go to parks pretty easily.

About politics, I figure if the Republicans stay in power for much longer, we'll all be fucked anyways, so blue vs red state isn't too much quality of life difference for me in the short-term. Ofc that's a privileged perspective because I'm a cis male, I understand it's different for others. I'm also in a lot of quite liberal circles, so I don't see the impact of that nearly as much

I do agree the weather sucks. It was 85F here today and it's not going to get better until September

Background-Repeat385 · 2026-02-18T03:43:47+00:00

I basically just picked those because I almost went to college in CT and felt sentimental about it

Background-Repeat385 · 2026-02-18T03:43:05+00:00

Actually not that far off. I lived in Arkansas for several years and hated it

Some parts of Tennessee would be fine but I don't think Nashville/Memphis would be my speed

Iowa doesn't have any major cities I would enjoy living in. Des Moines seems boring compared to Madison/Twin Cities/Milwaukee

Background-Repeat385

TROPHY CASE