University of Maryland would be a fantastic college for me, I love the size, the proximity to a city, and the academics. Also it’s a match for me academically. The only problem is it’s like 40 minutes from my house and I don’t want to be that close. I’m looking for other colleges that are on the same tier with their math/physics programs, are about the same size or bigger, are close to or in a city, and have a moderate or liberal college culture. Public or private doesn’t matter and athletics/Greek life are pretty irrelevant to me. Thanks.
I think that if UM is perfect for you, the fact that it is 40 minutes from home is a plus and not a negative. I went to school about forty FIVE minutes away, and it might as well have been 10 hours. I rarely went home, but when I did it was a casual visit, with no pressure to stay for 2 weeks, no need to visit everyone I ever met. One of my kids goes to school about 2.5 hours away and she has to plan her trips. The other is about 5 hours by plane, and she just never comes home.
Positives? You can keep all your same dentists and doctors, you know all the places you like to eat, shop, run. No new sports teams to learn about. Everything is easy. You can go home for your mother’s birthday without having to plan it months in advance.
With a school the size of Maryland, you can hang with old friends or make all new ones. But if you want to go away, the other state universities are going to be similar - UNC, USC, several Virginia schools. The farther south you go, the more into athletics the schools may be, and maybe the cities and towns more politically conservative. The farther north, the colder the temps. Want to stay in the Big 10? Rutgers.
Thanks but my dad also works close enough to take a run on his lunch break around the campus which he sometimes does so it really is too close. I’d welcome 2.5 hours of distance. As shown by my having to look up what the big ten was, athletics are not a priority. The most important factor would be at the same level in math/physics academically followed by a liberal (more aptly an LGBT friendly and open-minded) environment
Can your parents, the ones you are trying to distance yourself from, pay the out of state or private tuition? Are they willing to pay it?
If your dad can drive over on his lunch and find you on the College Park campus, he’s very skilled indeed.
Go to Rutgers or Penn State. Go to one of the Virginia schools.
My parents have a college fund set up for me and have told me to see what colleges I want to go to before I look at cost although that is a very significant concern. Right now I’m just trying to figure out what are some other matches for me. Everyone in my family is pretty independent and we’ve all agreed that going to a college far away would be fine as it’s a time for me to learn to be on my own.
Penn State is a bit less academically competitive than I can swing, but I’ll definitely look into Rutgers and the colleges in Virginia, thanks so much
Penn State is the most remote big campus in the country, forget it.
Consider Boston University or if you are adventurous, McGill in Montreal.
Have a look at other state flagships, such as:
Michigan - Ann Arbor
Wisconsin - Madison
Minnesota - Twin CIties
Colorado - Boulder
UPittsburgh
These are all located in lively college towns or in cities.
However, you’re likely to pay a significant price premium to attend an OOS public college, and the FA usually isn’t too great (unless you can find one you like that offers merit scholarships to OOS students).
Private schools that might be worth a look include:
Tufts
Boston University
Northeastern
Villanova
George Washington
These are all located in/near cities in the Northeast.
To see if they might be affordable, run the online net price calculators on any that interest you, then discuss the estimates with your parents. Or ask them nicely to run the NPCs for you (since they’ll know the needed numbers better than you). Typically, the most selective private schools give the best need based aid (but not the most/biggest merit awards).
I suggest going to ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ site. They have a feature where you can put in a college name and it will give you a list of similar colleges.
Get a specific amount from your parents. Otherwise you could end up with an entire list of unaffordables.
Each place has a Net Price Calculator right on its website. Run those with your parents to see which might possible fall within their budget.
I always got the impression that kids from the Northeast who apply to Maryland also apply to U of Delaware. If you want a liberal school that is in a cool city then maybe U of Vermont. I think it’s smaller than Maryland though.