College decisions: UMD Smith ($60k/y) vs GW School of Business ($60k/y) vs ASU WP Carey+Barrett Hons ($45k/y) vs Cal Poly SLO Business ($53 k/y)

College Search & Lists
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Decision time - lots of good admissions, narrowed down to 4 and visiting all of them before deciding this week. We were wowed by GW School of Business today - cost is still a consideration, UMD - has been challenging to talk to someone to register for the accepted students day - wonder if they really care, ASU/Barrett/WP Carey - one of the best in terms of access, location and offering and Calpoly - a bit unknown, we will visit next week.

Any perspectives? We are from Washington State (Seattle area), distance to DC is a con…

ASU/Barrett/WP Carey was our first choice, today’s tour at GW has made that decision harder - money aside, great experience today and they did a fantastic job selling the value of the institution, cost of tuition is more than ASU/combo - hard to weigh the location of DC with their plethora of opportunities vs any other city?

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Congrats on your acceptances.

I think - visiting the four is the right thing to do.

If you loved GW and hopefully it was more than the admitted student day, then you love GW - and all it entails - which is DC - smack - right there - not a traditional campus.

UMD is excellent - I would not say it doesn’t care. I understand but worry when people make a decision based on the admissions office, etc. You’d think - admissions everywhere would be “strong” because they are the salespeople - and here they are failing. But you cannot hold UMD as a whole accountable - you could - but I wouldn’t. UMD is loaded with applicants and acceptances - and I imagine admissions is not a well funded area. So they might just be - behind.

As you are there - so you can certainly self tour - and you can likely reach out to someone directly in the b school - an advisor or the department can likely set you up with a professor and / or student ambassador - to chat - so you can likely make up your own visit - even if the meetings happen on zoom because you are gone…after you’ve walked the campus.

ASU - you have Barrett - if what it offers matters, then great - and Cal Poly is great.

GW is so different than the other three - how did he feel on the campus?

DC is a super cool city - I just walk for hours and hours - I love it - but there’s everything from weather to cost to more. Many schools, including ASU, have a DC semester. My daughter just did one (different school) and was awesome. It looks like they have a variety of programs and terms.

Why is distance to DC a con? Flying to Phoenix or DC - add a few hours and oola. It’s a flight either way. SLO is a bit harder to get to - but still flyable - I see an Alaska flight non stop to Seattle - and another to Portland (if you are south).

You have four and need to reduce it - so if you need to remove UMD, that makes it three - but hopefully you can walk it. If the sell of GW besides their salesmanship is DC, then another reason to eliminate UMD - as you have two more traditional schools out west and cheaper.

What is the student looking to study in business? Do they know yet?

It could be all are great choices - but hopefully after the visits, one will stand out to the student (sounds like it already has).

Best of luck.

Education Opportunities | ASU in Washington D.C.

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Visit Cal Poly, and you’ll know one way or the other. It’s very different from the rest.

It’s isolated, and sometimes flights are cancelled, but there’s a ride-share FB group where you can always hitch a lift to SFO.

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IMO, about Maryland , generally, it is what it is - a large state university with a significant bureaucracy to navigate.

The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

One becomes versed in university policies and working to stay on track with enough credits to graduate or add minors.

We have met many caring and helpful people, but maybe not on the first try. And some moved on after a couple of years. There are a lot of levels of staff and departments, including for dining, housing, health services. I’ve seen that the staff in admissions has turned over in the past six years or so.

People who value what Maryland offers, in this case, what the Robert H. Smith School of Business offers, do put up with impersonal bureaucracy of other areas and go after it.

(At Maryland, one learns to persist and persevere, fearlessly. )

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We visited GW yesterday and felt the same way. We really liked the school, the programs, the students, the location, the housing. GW has so many great unique positives that the rankings don’t capture. We think the rankings don’t do it justice. My daughter is a business major as well.

We’re visiting UMD on Monday, and I’m an alumni from there. UMD is a great school, and I’ve done really well with my degree. GW is a solid contender though because it aligns with my daughter’s goals a lot more. I’ve heard great things about GW so far from those that are doing well there.

I think for us, its going to come down to where my daughter thinks she’ll be the happiest and most successful at. For us, GW and UMD cost the same after scholarships, but they are the most expensive on our lists even though they are the closest to home.

Your impression of GW was helpful, since this is going to be a hard choice for us.

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wow! really appreciate the detailed perspective. We are almost landing similarly - seeing is believing and feeling first hand how the student will thrive. We want the student to be excited and we want to ensure there is a support system when things are not going great. Cost is definitely a factor but everything else trumps that. thanks

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good to know, I keep hearing that it is a great location for post employment into the bay area. My son is keen the bridge business with engg/computing minors/majors to enhance employment and bay area is a great location to jump start that…

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fair point, for us first impressions were important. Especially coming from a further location and not being able to speak with a human. Most interesting for me was there is no assigned admissions representative even for an accepted student - that means I have no specific contact. That was a concern once a student is admitted, whether this is the way the large bureaucracy is…

the B school has been kind, easily connected with someone and was able to set up some meetings…

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Hi there - would love to meet up on Monday at UMD if you are around. Our son was admitted to Carillon Communities and we will be visiting them in the afternoon. We plan to show at the admitted student open day to see if they will let us in in the morning.

Awesome to hear that you were at GW yesterday and also keen on business majors… the ranking does bother us… the location and housing were surprising great, we felt very good about the campus yesterday. the support system also seemed strong after hearing from the experts in the parent forum.

ultimately our decision will be based on our impression after visiting them.

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I do empathize with your concerns, especially being from out of state.

Hope Smith may exceed your expectations! Hope it is an enjoyable visit.

Lots of great choices! Best wishes to find a good fit.

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Have you looked at minors at each school. It looks like CPSLO, as an example, as a CS minor (no clue on ability to get the classes - another concern) but not engineering except civil and architectural - civil likely works (they call it heavy civil). GWs are different, etc.

I’d probably look at curriculum but also ask the departments about the ability to get those classes required - at least once you narrow down to a top choice.

GW to me is just so different - that if the student truly feels home vs. a traditional campus…well that means a lot. You’ll know more after UMD - and it’s great you are taking advantage of your time to visit!!!

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Carillon will be our last event too. If its not too big, we should be easy to spot. I will send you a pm. I tend to talk to people around me, so you might end up talking to me earlier in the day without realizing it. The ranking only really bothers me because some people around me put so much weight on it. I’ll be happy when we finally commit and get away from that noise. The schools get caught up in rankings too because of how people respond to them. But I think UMD was 55 last year and GW was 62, which wasn’t that far apart. These spots can flip flop based on the methodology, and who knows when US News or these other school rankings will change their methodology again. When the methodology favors a school, the schools love it. When it doesn’t, they threaten to stop sending data. Also, I try to keep in mind that the methodology doesnt really measure what might be important to us.

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I think they are looking at b school rank. with Smith at 21 (11th public). I think GW is ranked much lower except for international business but I can’t find it.

For most students, the rank shouldn’t matter - other than a few major. For example, supply chain hires well from everywhere - but ASU is a clear “rank” leader amongst this group. For Wall Street, of course, a rank matters. For a regular marketing guy or accountant - likely not.

That the student is interested in more technical things perhaps they should look at minors and other available curriculums that will be used to supplement their education.

But to me, a student who loves GW and it’s compact and urban campus - will have a totally different love or like - vs. any of the other schools.

For my kid and she ended up at an urban campus - we left the GW tour. It’s that polarizing a school. For OP’s kid, they obviously loved it - and that will be a different feeling, my guess is, from the other three - which they might like - but not fall in love with if they truly were jazzed for GWU.

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Agree with the comments here around rank and how it often does not matter.
UMD vs GW - Same level students, same level outcomes, same level reputation… and for the overly competitive IB crowd on CC neither does too well.

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Which urban school did your kid end up at?

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Mine isn’t doing business.

The one who looked at GW goes to College of Charleston. While it was ranked #16 of the #17 admittances she had, I knew form the day we visited (Thanksgiving week Junior year), she was done. We visited 30+ and she liked many - U of SC, UF, UGA, FSU, AU, W&L even though it was rural- but she cast all those admittances aside for the one she truly loved. She has extra enrichment via a small subgroup in Honors and I think for her it was the right choice. She did do a semester in DC and that was great too - she loved DC …I do too - what a cool city.

That said, no matter where your student goes…they have to be there, four years, day after day. And that matters - and in the end, they are getting only one job - so maybe UMD is “better”, etc. and maybe there are more employment possibilities - but they can only accept one!!!

So take rank out - and make it the right choice for them.

In this subgroup of four, I think four reasonable people could choose four different schools quite honestly - they’re all very solid. But the technical bent of this student does make me want to look further at other possibiities academically - including minors, availability of those classes, and who knows - even potentially a major change into something more STEM like.

Whos is flexible in all these regards - because guess what - kids interest change.

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very thoughtful perspectives. Much appreciate each of you taking time to write such long posts and offer great suggestions. This is such an important milestone and a significant financial commitment that you want to make the best decision for the student.

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The other important thing to remember - there may be multiple or even four right answers. They could excel at each and every. We all try to get the right school - as if there’s only one - but truth is there’s likely several that would be great - maybe even all four!

Let us know how your UMD visit and CPSLO go.

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And the plot thickens - we loved the Smith business school tour today and the overall feel at UMD was great. The accommodations were pretty average. The opportunity they offer with their plethora of options is both fascinating and overwhelming… going to be a fascinating week!

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AWESOME - I think :slight_smile: Choices. ugh!!

You can go to UMD - and then hang out at Foggy Bottom on the weekends :slight_smile:

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