High school seniors aren't just choosing colleges anymore—they're choosing Instagram locations. Vox reports that as application season winds down, students from the Northeast are increasingly enrolling at large Southern public universities, particularly schools in the Southeastern Conference, drawn by campuses that promise spectacle, community, and a highly shareable version of college life. From 2014 to 2023, undergraduate enrollment from the Northeast rose 91% at SEC schools, with the University of Alabama, the University of Tennessee, and Ole Miss each seeing Northeastern enrollment jump more than 500% between 2002 and 2022.
"Young people are more aware that attending college will likely come with decades of student debt, so the mentality is trending towards one of fun, enjoyment, and community," Kaley Mullin, founder of cultural relevance consultancy Cool Shiny Insights, tells Vox. Social media has acted as the accelerant. TikTok's #RushTok—videos chronicling sorority recruitment at Southern campuses, most famously Alabama's Bama Rush—has turned Greek life into a national spectacle and, in effect, a marketing tool.
The trend also reflects how Gen Z now evaluates institutions more broadly. Recent research from enrollment consulting firm Ruffalo Noel Levitz shows social media plays its biggest role at the start of the college search, with students using platforms like TikTok and Instagram to assess culture and belonging long before visiting campuses or weighing academic rigor. The Vox piece by Kyndall Cunningham suggests the trend is particularly relevant for a generation shaped by pandemic isolation.
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
