Okay, thanks. Those are all good points for me to consider.
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Money is personal. Some might spend more to go OOS. Others wouldn’t. You’ve already heard that.
Diversity - both are actually quite diverse - but yes UMD moreso. Is that related to the in state population or admission practices? If admission practices, that may change over time with the recent supreme court decision. It’s too hard to know.
With both accounting or medical school, there will be future educational costs. You note extra money can be for grad school. But $20K less each year equals $80K.
Not really sure why she applied to Va Tech if it wasn’t right for her to begin with - vs. say a George Mason - which would fulfill both pre med and accounting desires. In essence, if there was no interest in the school (mountains vs. near city), why apply? Did she apply to GMU - it might cover your need - savings financially and still close to DC with diversity.
Not sure of your race or what would make it comfortable but here is the diversity from section B2 of the Common Data Set for each - both UMD and Va Tech very diverse overall.
UMD
| Degree-Seeking First-Time First Year |
||
|---|---|---|
| Nonresidents | 188 | |
| Hispanic/Latino | 536 | |
| Black or African American, non-Hispanic | 725 | |
| White, non-Hispanic | 2,122 | |
| American Indian or Alaska Native, non-Hispanic | 7 | |
| Asian, non-Hispanic | 1,621 | |
| Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic | 4 | |
| Two or more races, non-Hispanic | 267 | |
| Race and/or ethnicity unknown | 351 | |
| TOTAL | 5,821 |
Va Tech
Didn’t copy well. 7,196 first year with 4,056 caucasian, 933 Asian, 762 Hispanic, 454 black, and then other categories with lessening amounts including 370 non-residents. In most places, that’d be seen as very diverse.
GMU
| Degree-seeking First-time First year | Degree-seeking Undergraduates (include first-time first-year ) | Total Undergraduates (both degree and non-degree-seeking ) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nonresidents | 161 | 1324 | 1471 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 596 | 4524 | 4572 |
| Black or African American, non-Hispanic/Latino | 581 | 3157 | 3215 |
| White, non-Hispanic/Latino | 1409 | 9057 | 9217 |
| American Indian or Alaska Native, non-Hispanic/Latino | 3 | 28 | 29 |
| Asian, non-Hispanic/Latino | 1039 | 6102 | 6193 |
| Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic/Latino | 0 | 28 | 29 |
| Two or more races, non-Hispanic/Latino | 230 | 1405 | 1427 |
| Race and/or ethnicity unknown | 125 | 825 | 864 |
| Total | 4144 |
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If you can afford both without any hardship and there is a legitimate difference, then let her choose. Both are peers academically but their environment is indeed different. Check out any secondary entrance to major requirements, living-learning communities that may be a good fit, any scholars programs she may be able to apply to.
Are some more decisions pending?
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She applied to VT in case she didnt get into UMD. UMD was considered a reach school, and VT a target school. If she didn’t get into UMD, then it would’ve came down to GMU and VT, and that would’ve been a tough decision too. She got into GMU, but that was always just a safety school. We ruled out applying to UVA because there wasn’t a direct admissions to the accounting program there from high school. And W&M was small and colonial. Numerically, VT may seem diverse, but the campuses feel very different when you tour. Those extra few people in each subcategory, make the UMD campus feel more diverse than VT.
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We’re just waiting on a decision from Georgetown. But for Georgetown, we have to definitely wait to see what they offer financially. Thats going to be harder to manage without something from the school.
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So - in my opinion - your mistake is - giving preference to schools by “reach, target, safety” status vs. like status.
Put in other ways, kids choose safeties over reaches - each and every day. My kid is at #16 of 17 she got into - College of Charleston. Her bff there got into Penn, Vandy, and Rice. My other kid chose safety Alabama over target/reach Purdue.
Yes, we rank schools based on certain factors - in this case admissions.
But that doesn’t mean you have to attend the highest ranked one. It just means you ensured you had one you could attend. Safety doesn’t mean lowest desired.
You have two pre-stated paths.
Accounting - Va Tech, UMD, or GMU - won’t matter. My nephew was at UNLV and they had all the big firms. Accounting is a hot field.
Pre-med - the where also won’t matter.
I’m not saying GMU is right - it’'s more commuter - but threw it out as a possibility to cover both sides. JMU would be another - but is far less diverse.
But the decision should be made - yes on money - but if it’s not an issue - than comfort and fit. And a school that isn’t comfortable - unless the only one affordable - doesn’t seem a good fit.
On the flipside, I have a feeling VT is more “on campus” vs. UMD where people will leave on weekends due to proximity to home and DC. And given VT has the highest rated food in the country and UMD dorms and campus food are rated blah (I can’t personally speak to them) - maybe that’s another plus…gotta eat, might as well eat well 
Good luck whatever you decide.
I have not heard that UMD kids go home on the weekends.
It seems to me that this student is choosing based on fit (among the affordable options) and not based on safety v reach.
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FYI, so we’re not choosing based on reach, target, and safety. As I said, if she didnt get into UMD, it wouldve came down to VT and GMU and that wouldve been a tough decision. Now that you mention it, there’s distance and housing issues at VT too. Im going to let my daughter decide. But The more I chat about VT, the more Im put off by it. Thanks for your help.
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I heard that about GMU, but not UMD. UMD has tons of clubs and Division 1 sports and an active campus, similar to VT.
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Yes, I agree with you.
I would let her decide among the schools that are affordable for your family.
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Sorry - I meant more that there’s more in the immediate vicinity - that would take them off campus - like DC and it is close to home.
Mom or student don’t like VT. If UMD is affordable and it sounds like it is, then the student should choose -I agree.
But the initial thread topic was asking about the two - and I simply was showing a comparison. The initial concern was about how do you handle paying more and then diversity was brought in
I was just trying to answer the questions. Truth is, many parents are never comfortable with stroking a check 2x a year, no matter the amount. It’s not a fun thing to do.
And I noted this:
“But the decision should be made - yes on money - but if it’s not an issue - than comfort and fit. And a school that isn’t comfortable - unless the only one affordable - doesn’t seem a good fit.”
Best of luck to the student.
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VT fits all her needs. Unless you are wealthy, why pay an extra 80k total for OOS U Md?
The OP indicated that UMD is a better fit for this student due to its diversity.
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And distance as well.
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We gave our kid a budget and said he could choose any school that came in under budget. Almost all of them did. He decided that the cost was also important to him, so he eliminated the ones that were on the high end of the budget. He ended up picking one of his cheapest offers but we would have happily supported him picking any of the others.
You can decide what your real budget is if you haven’t already. Sit down with her and go through the pros and cons and then tell her to listen to her gut while she’s deliberating. She still has lots of time to make this decision (even if you need to put down a deposit to secure housing she can change her mind).
Thanks. Both schools are in budget. But I think you hit on something important. I need to make sure she does her due diligence and trust her judgment. The decision was so much easier with my son. He only got into one school, so he just went there. It didnt occur to me my daughter would have options. So now I need to learn to do that.
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It could be worse, DD had 4 acceptances to choose from , and DS had six.
Actually, my daughter was accepted to 7 out of her 8 schools, now she’s strongly considering UIUC. But I’m not sure if UIUC is worth the distance. Apparently, Gies is a great business school but I’ve never met anyone who went there. I might have to pose a separate question on that one.
UIUC is a wonderful school, and she should give it full consideration. But based on what else you’ve said in this thread, I don’t think she’s going to love the environment. I don’t want to bash it because I frankly like those little midwestern cities, but… it’s isolated, the campus is not known for its beauty or diversity (though the Asian and international proportions are pretty big), and it’s far away from you.
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UMD is our flagship and I live 15 min from campus. Most kids do not go home on weekends - not even the “local” ones I know there. They local ones can home for the weekend, and I am sure some do more frequently than others, and some do on occasion, but the vast majority of kids stay on campus.
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