Thanks for the discussion everyone. I am reading everyone’s posts and taking in the information. Ironically, my daughter did apply to 2 city schools as well, Georgetown and GW, because she is drawn to the city. We’re still waiting on those. Georgetown is her top choice. It has everything she wants other than the huge campus which both VT and UMD have. I came on here to get comfortable with her decision and also provide her new insights because she is relying on my guidance. So appreciate the discussion. It’s a whirlwind of mom guilt if I don’t get the information right.
The choices might not be between UMd and VT, if I understand correctly? I am now seeing UIUC, GW, and Georgetown added to the discussion.
It seems to me that your daughter is drawn to UMd and it falls within budget. Maybe wait for the DC schools to come in, FA packages etc, and then discuss? It might become clearer.
We’re signing up for UMD and VT admitted day visits. I’ve talked to some people offline about UIUC and GW, and its more and more off the table. Georgetown, she applied early action and was deferred, so it’s more likely a no. She has a 10%-15% chance at this point because she applied to their business school, and she didn’t have any new academic changes to her application that would probably sway the admissions committee in the Regular Decision. She’s leaning more towards UMD, but she wants to see VT again to be sure. Fortunately, their admitted day visits are back to back, so she’ll be able to compare. Thank you to the forum for giving me a heads up on those. I heard those fill up quickly.
We chose an OOS public for one kid because it was significantly smaller than our flagship instate and had his major. Yes, it was more expensive. We had him take the direct student loan three of years to help with the difference. He turned down some private schools because the cost difference just didn’t seem worth it. Honestly, once he chose we did not second guess the decision. It turned out to be good fit for him. Of course impossible to know if the state flagship would have been just as good for less money!
More and more kids every year are going into DC somewhat regularly. My son goes in once a month with friends for museums or other culturally activities. Others go in for baseball games, discounted tickets at the Kennedy Center and quite a few live in College Park over the summer and have internships in DC.
Hopefully, the ever delayed Purple Line will be finished before this young lady graduates. If so, a metro stop will be on campus.
You just reminded me of why my daughter wants to go to UMD. The living learning community she was invited to already has a field trip planned into the city. I’m particularly excited about the FBI headquarters moving next to the campus too. The FBI recruits accounting majors, so that’s going to be a huge opportunity for internships for her. With every passing day, my daughter has zero interest in seeing VT. Meanwhile, my co-worker’s daughter who lives in MD has zero interest in going to UMD and is considering UVA. I think kids really want a change at this age.
Thanks for sharing. That actually happened with my son. I had to send my son to a small out-of-state college, and he thrived there. I always pictured him going to a big in-state school, but I started to notice a positive change in him as early as the orientation. I have a feeling at my daughter’s orientation, I’m going to see that she picked the best place for her.
The first time my son visited UMD he said he felt no emotionless, UMD had taken them all away (he’s a bit dramatic). He started the application process with no intention of attending UMD. Accepted student’s day changed that, he left being able to see himself there and like most of the kids in his HS realized it’s very hard to turn down UMD in-state (esp for CS or Engineering). He’s only a second semester freshman but is discovering new things to do and like everyday. Son also went to a diverse HS so diversity was important in his college criteria.
His identical twin was admitted to UVA as an Echols Scholar but he choose a LAC, easier to do when your not a CS/math major or accounting major for that matter.
A friend was an FBI lawyer and always told kids who where interested in getting a job with the FBI to major in accounting.
Yep, exactly why I majored in accounting, to become an FBI agent. But I ended up in a different agency. You’re so right. UVA is more of a LAC.
I was an in-state UMD student, and I didn’t appreciate it until I reflected back on college memories. I did really love it there. And after visiting all the VA schools with my two kids, I appreciate it even more. Honestly, I think I just had my kids tour UMD thinking they’re going to hate it and want to go to UVA, but now I see UMD in a different light. It’s a great school for kids that want more of the things UMD offers.
Georgetown works a little differently. Their approach to early action is to skim the students they know they will want regardless of how strong the regular decision applicants will look. Then they defer literally everyone else. Students still need to be strong candidates — it’s Georgetown, after all, so your reach mindset is still warranted, but a deferral is not a soft rejection.
Thanks for the clarification. There was one girl who got into Georgetown last year from her school with the similar stats as my daughter, so we haven’t committed to UMD just yet.
My daughter applied to UMD, Georgetown, and a few public schools nearby (UofSC, Temple, Pitt, Stony, etc …) 3 years ago. We are in-state for UMD and I went to UMD many years ago, so I wanted her to go UMD, but also wanted her to have choices of picking the school she would attend for 4 years.
She got accepted to most of the schools she applied, but chose UMD for its diversity and location. As for Georgetown, she applied regular decision and was deferred. She did not want to pursue Georgetown after that, since she was committed to UMD. During that time, we were also debating between UMD and Pitt since she wanted to study medicine, and Pitt does have very strong premed path with a medical school. The cost to attend is not much higher than in-state with Pitt’s scholarship, but she did not care much for the campus setting or lack of.
She is now in her third year at UMD and thriving there. The school provides great education and many extra activities for her. She got good grades and he was able to do summer research in her freshman year and got semester credit for research in her sophomore. She also was able do volunteer work in campus and/or got referral to shadow/MA with local doctors. Last November, she had completed her ILS honors and received her citation. We were invited and very impressed with the ceremonies (both school honors and ILS).
Overall, we are very fortunate to live in-state and not far from UMD. For us, to be able to drop by and take her to lunch or bring her a home cook meal is PRICELESS.