We’d both like to see our son check out Towson, and I hope he’ll at least look at McDaniel. Shepherd in WV is trying to lure students from a few MD counties, and we see some things to like there (the low 4 year graduation rate isn’t one of them). He’s open to going further away than those schools, but probably not west of the Mississippi. Any school without a football team will probably be a tough sell.
Are any of your DCs in a NASA-sponsored program where they take a college course. I’m currently taking a Physical Geology course through them.
@ShrimpBurrito What else can you tell me about McGill or Toronto? I looked into McGill very quickly but have not heard any personal experiences from US students there.
Hi @mom2cats.
I do not have any children at Canadian schools, yet. Even though my D has never lived in Canada, she is a Canadian citizen. Her tuition will be relative pennies (less than our state flagship’s sticker price). She loves The Big Three Canadian schools, so it’s about 95% sure that she will attend one of them. Given that, we have mainly focused our college trips to those three cities, spending lots of time on each campus.
McGill and U Toronto are similar in layout: beautiful, compact campuses in the best part of downtown. Housing is limited, but guaranteed for freshmen, and student-friendly apartments are very close to both campuses (sometimes closer than the dorms). Extremely safe cities, both. Drinking age is 18 in Quebec, 19 in Ontario. That puts the partying out in the open.
Canadian schools are not as concerned about customer service as American schools. Students are not coddled. You can get a world-class education, but maturity and independence are a must. Students are treated as adults, for better or worse. Classes are tough and drop out rates are high (but then again, admission standards are not as tough as here in America). No such thing as grade inflation. Most lower level classes have two hours of lecture with a hundred (or two, or three…) students, then one hour a week in a smaller setting (~30 students) with a TA.
UToronto has first-year seminars, to help ease the transition. They also operate as a federation of different colleges. Each college has its own residence halls, bursar, advisors, etc. Think Hogwarts. That also helps to shrink the school.
McGill is a bit smaller. Instruction in is English. You do not need to know French to study at McGill. Even when you venture outside the “McGill Bubble,” most people in the service industry are bilingual. Montreal is a fascinating, enchanting, young, and incredibly fun city. I can’t imagine a better place to be a student.
Even though these are big public schools, students don’t seem to care all that much about varsity sports. Not much of a Greek scene, either. But, clubs and intramural sports are HUGE. Both campuses are very, very international. Not just because of students who come from abroad, but because of the overall diversity of Montreal and Toronto (something like 50% of Toronto’s population is foreign-born).
As an FYI, McGill is now offering a Summer Academy. My D will attend this year. https://www.mcgill.ca/summeracademy/home
There are some veteran posters here on CC who know a lot more than I do. Browse McGill and UToronto’s forums and you will find lots of good info. I am also happy to share what I know.
Thank you @ShrimpBurrito! I love the idea of it and appreciate the insights. I wish my kids were Canadian LOL! I checked out the McGill Summer program but my son wasn’t as interested as I was. I’m thinking this is a better option for D21, as she is very independent and wants to go somewhere cold.
UBC is quite different from the other two, but is very appealing as well. Talk about beautiful, surrounded by forest, mountains, and ocean. It’s paradise for the outdoor enthusiast, and the academics are on par with U of T and McGill. Massive campus with massive student body though. Would be easier to feel lost and overwhelmed.
@Astro77, at this point I think if our D18 goes in-state, it would be public rather than private just because we want to keep it as affordable as possible. She might look into VA state schools, like JMU or others, since we could potentially change our in-state status to make that work out. We live in Montgomery County, so the trek to Salisbury is usually only about 2 1/2 hours each way…and the drive is nice usually. We like that we can quickly get to/from campus (like the time when S16 drove himself back to school for the first time, then got their realizing his laptop was still in our kitchen!), but he is far enough away that he only came home twice and we visited once during his first semester. I was worried he’d live here each weekend if he went to UMBC. My husband went to UMBC and I went to UMCP…after touring UMBC I liked it better than UMCP, and the dorms seemed pretty nice - a lot like Salisbury. Towson’s dorms seemed about the same. I felt like the campuses for Salisbury, UMBC, and Towson are also pretty similar. Students seemed happy there and active on the campus grounds (studying and catching up with friends outside).
If engineering might be an option, though, I think UMBC or UMCP are the best bet, or Salisbury with the option to transfer to UMCP after completing the first two years…a few people in our area are looking into that since it’s so hard to get into UMCP as a freshman.
If we could find a private school that came back with enough merit aid to match close to what we will pay in-state, public for D18, I’d definitely be interested, but the difference without merit aid is just too great with 2 kids in college. Good luck with your search!
@lifegarding
Thanks! Sounds like we are in similar situations, except we are in Frederick County. I would love to have the option of in-state in Virginia! Are you considering relocating? The Maryland schools are also very good though.
Frostburg is also an option, I think, for the in-state then transfer to UM-CP if needed, in addition to Salisbury. Frostburg would be closer for us.
We are very interested in UMBC as well as UM-CP. Towson not as much because of the lack of engineering majors. I know they have some other very good programs.
We also want to narrow down the list of some privates that might be doable with good merit aid.
Thanks for your feedback!
Question for you all: When setting up college visits, have you ever contacted your AO to be like, “Hey we’re going to be on campus if you’re around?” Or is that waaaay too much?
@odannyboySF - when my son set up his visits last year he called and asked if he could speak with someone in his particular intended major and was able to meet with some professors that way. He hasn’t ever tried to get a one-on-one with his particular admissions rep, but I will say that when he visited Gonzaga, they give everyone the opportunity to meet with an admissions person after the tour.
When he called to set up his visit there in November, it was late notice but they were so friendly and set him up with an interview (he claims it was “just a chat”, but we told him anytime you are “chatting” one-on-one with someone from admissions, it is an interview!)
The woman he spoke with is in charge of the admission to their Honors program and told him not only should he apply, but she would personally nominate him for their Ignatian Leaders Scholarship on top of other merit aid they usually give. The IL program only takes about 8-10 men each year, so to have her personally nominate him would be awesome.
Long story to say it might sometimes work out and will most likely work out more often at smaller schools. What time of year are your visits? If they are soon, I would say not likely to meet someone as they are so busy with admission work, but if they are in May-July, you have a much better chance.
@RoonilWazlib99 We’re visiting in mid-April, so after some (at least the worst part) of the 2021 Admissions craziness.
@odannyboySF, it’s not at all unusual to call admissions before a visit. My D17 called to request sitting in on classes (very useful – I highly recommend doing so when possible) and interviews with those colleges whose CDS’s say they “consider” interviews in the admissions process. Definitely have the kid make the call so it doesn’t look like Mom or Dad are leading the process (even if you are!)
A few pages back, I gave a link to SAT test #5, with instructions to to change the url for 6 and 7. T
My instructions work for test 6, but test 7 is actually at Khan Academy (along with the other 6), here: https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/sat/full-length-sat-1/paper-sat-tests/a/full-length-sats-to-take-on-paper
So I think you can send 4 SAT scores for free within 9 days of taking the test, does anyone know if you don’t do that (since you don’t know the score yet), and the child later takes another SAT and you do take advantage of these free scores, does it send all other previous SAT test scores as well?
@mommdc, my guess is that they would only send the score for that particular test, but I’d call CB and make sure.
@Mommdc I think @suzy100 is mistaken, unless you use “score choice” ALL previous SAT scores will be sent.
Thank you both. Since this is the first SAT he ever took, I thought I might just wait.
With my D we qualified for the two SAT test fee waivers and got to send 4 score reports for free anytime, and I do believe those included scores from both SATs.
Ooh I’m glad @scoutsmom chimed in!
Our DD’18 used her free ones for her safety schools. She will wait to see the scores in February before sending them to the other schools.
Can anyone point me to info on things to do when planning college visits? Or give us some suggestions? We did one info session locally, one small college fair, and 2 local visits, but we’re going to start travelling a bit and I want to make the most of our time. What things beyond tours should we look for or should I have my kid do?