re: Forbes America's Best Colleges

Looks like Bama has already transitioned to this type of approach.... at least the in-state focus.

IN-STATE NEW FRESHMEN ENROLLMENT BY YEAR:
2011: 2,848
2012: 2,857
2013: 2,585
2014: 2,474
2015: 2,508
2016: 2,412
2017: 2,406
2018: 2,271
2019: 2,533
2020: 2,701

In 2011, Alabama took 572 more in-state kids than Auburn did.... but by 2014, Auburn was taking in more kids from in-state. Auburn enrolled more students from inside the state for six consecutive years until 2020, when Alabama finally pulled back ahead by just 67 kids.

I wish I could see how many kids from Georgia were going to Alabama. For decades, Auburn got far more kids from the state of Georgia, but that has changed in the last decade. Auburn probably gets slightly more still, but Alabama has really made a push and its probably fairly close now.

Here's how many kids from Georgia Auburn pulls in each year (new freshmen):

2011: 596
2012: 523
2013: 500
2014: 635
2015: 669
2016: 626
2017: 739
2018: 705
2019: 784
2020: 760

Alabama doesn't release individual state numbers from outside of Alabama, but I bet they are up to 600+ or so kids a year from Georgia.