For many years, Michael was certain about which university he would attend. With excellent grades, notable SAT scores, and a strong extracurricular background, he was on track to achieve his dream of an acceptance letter from Harvard.

However, this year the 17-year-old has changed his mind. Michael will now apply to the University of Virginia in Charlottesville instead of heading to Cambridge, Massachusetts, when he submits his applications this fall.

Michael, an American student living in Singapore, reflects a rising trend where gifted students are opting out of the politically divided and left-leaning universities in the northeast for the more laid-back campuses in the southern states.

This shift towards southern schools isn’t new. Over the past two decades, there has been an 84 percent increase in students from the north enrolling in southern universities, according to an analysis by the Wall Street Journal using Education Department data.

Recently, this trend of students bypassing northern institutions has accelerated. The data indicates that from 2018 to 2022, southern schools experienced a 30 percent rise in applications.

Now, the Daily Mail has spoken with students, sociologists and college counselors about what lies behind this Ivy League exodus.

For students like Michael, applying to a southern college means breaking from family tradition and expectation. 

He explained: ‘My older brother is currently at Harvard. From what he has told me, the level of activism there can be overwhelming, and it has made his college experience more stressful than it should be. 

‘He is even thinking about transferring, which made me realize it might not be worth it to put myself in that same situation.’

Harvard has been rocked by protest since the October 7, 2023, attack, with Israel’s offensive in Gaza sparking a series of pro-Palestine demonstrations.

In January 2024, then-university president Claudine Gay resigned amid criticism over her failure to call out antisemitism on campus. Students were named and shamed for their participation in protests.

Trump threatened to freeze more than $2 billion in federal research grants after the university refused to comply with his administration’s demands to limit activism on campus. Earlier this week a federal judge ruled that his move was illegal.

But for students eyeing their future alma mater, that decision makes little difference. The off-putting ugliness of the campuses’ months of activism remains.

Harvard is not alone. Columbia, in New York; Brown, in Rhode Island; Northwestern, in Chicago; the University of California in Los Angeles and University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia have all been roiled by protest.

But Harvard is the only institution to have earned the dubious distinction of having been ranked the worst in the nation for free speech by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).

The school, a perennial lightning rod, came last in FIRE’s annual list of 251 colleges. With a score of 0.00 out of a possible 100.00, Harvard was the only university deemed to have an ‘abysmal’ climate for free speech.

Meanwhile UVA, a top contender for Michael, is ranked the most relaxed and tolerant. He likes that.

‘Seeing how activism has affected my brother’s day-to-day life really made me think twice,’ he said.

‘He was even blocked from entering his dorm room at one point due to the protests. I want to be in an environment where I can focus on my academics, build strong relationships, and prepare for my career without the constant distraction of campus politics.’

Christopher Rim, CEO of Command Education, who charges $120,000 to guide wealthy students through the rigors of applications, said his clients were, ‘paying attention to what is happening on campus and in the news,’ and choosing carefully.

‘Applications are submitted a year before enrolment, so most students cast a wide net of 15 to 20 schools to have options once decisions come in,’ he said. ‘Families want to secure admissions offers first and then weigh the political and social climate when choosing where to enroll.’

He said there is a growing number of families who are, ‘uneasy about the perception of activist culture and the political spotlight on schools like Harvard and Columbia.’

Professor Neil Gross, a sociologist at Colby College in Maine, who researches higher education agreed: ‘I do think that politics is part of the story of college selection now, more than it was a generation ago.’

The appeal of better weather, cheaper living costs and the rising academic reputation of some Southern universities all play a part but, he said, it’s the ‘fraught’ political climate seen in Ivy League campuses of the north that is really fueling the ‘general flow toward the South.’

He said: ‘Students are taking politics into account in their college choices in ways that are relatively new.

‘Some are trying to get away from politicized schools. Others are trying to get out of states where they disagree with the politics.’

Dr Rachel Rubin, who got her own doctorate from Harvard before founding Massachusetts-based tutoring company Spark Admissions, agreed that an increasing number of talented students are shunning the elite colleges of the northeast in favor of more relaxed campuses in the South, Texas and Florida.

The University of Miami, where Lauren Sanchez 19-year-old son Evan started last month, and where Donald Trump Jr’s daughter Kai’s will enroll next year, had a record number of applicants for is fall 2025 admissions.

With 58,139 applicants – an 8 percent increase from last year – the school admitted just 17 percent.

Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, also set a record for applications: Gwyneth Paltrow’s daughter Apple was among the mere 4.7 percent of students accepted this year.

Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina, also saw its applications up 10 percent year-on-year, pushing their acceptance rate below 5 percent for the first time in their history.

Cost is less of a factor than many imagine: one year at Harvard costs $86,926, according to the university’s estimate – but is free for students whose families earn less than $100,000. Tuition, food, housing, health insurance and travel costs are all covered.

A year at Duke, meanwhile, costs $94,217, while Vanderbilt checks in at $94,274. The University of Miami is an eye-watering $98,118.

Rubin said those swerving the northeast fall into three categories: ‘Students who are a little bit more apolitical; those who don’t agree with a particular politics on many of the Ivy League campuses; or those who maybe would like a slightly more conservative bent to their campus.’

Some students were also alarmed about potential cuts to funding, she said – particularly those who feared their professors may have their labs shut down.

To those students, southern universities more in step with the current administration feel ‘more stable.’

Parents too have voiced concerns, and, in Rubin’s experience, the predominant one is the presence of antisemitism on campus – sadly not a new phenomenon, she admitted, but one clearly on the rise.

She said: ‘The only time it’s really the parents [who intervene] are when it’s Jewish students and the parents are concerned that their students might feel unsafe or encounter antisemitism.

‘Of course, antisemitism is obviously not new on these campuses, but I think that the degree has increased significantly, and I think there’s just much more tension to it.

‘And so, students are really rethinking because of that.’

Grace, a 17-year-old at high school in upstate New York, told the Daily Mail that her academically-gifted Jewish friends were veering away from Columbia for that very reason.

She herself is hoping to go to Vanderbilt; Tulane University, in New Orleans; or the University of Texas, Austin.

She said: ‘When I’m older I will obviously vote, but while at college I don’t really want to be into activism and protests.’

Right now, she said, ‘The northeast is a bit bleak.’ And as far as she and those like her are concerned, ‘The South is just more fun.’