Would love some advice

Marian
Fri, 19 Jan 2007 17:43:02 +0000

You won’t know whether Tufts is a reach until your daughter takes the SAT. Certainly, her GPA won’t keep her out. They might appreciate her interest in foreign languages, too; they’re so into international stuff there.

I have a son at Maryland. Most of the out-of-staters are from your area, so your daughter would probably feel quite comfortable there. If she decides to apply to Maryland, make sure that she does it EARLY (before November 1). There are a lot of interesting special programs for entering students (Gemstone, Honors, College Park Scholars, other stuff), but those who apply after November 1 may be excluded from consideration for these things. It’s a good idea to be in one of the special programs, at least at first, because the people in each program live together in the dorms, and that makes the huge campus seem smaller. If the program turns out to be more trouble than it’s worth, a student can always drop out later. Maryland is great for people who like Washington, DC; students can get there easily using a campus shuttle bus and the Metro. However, the community around the campus isn’t the nicest; this is Maryland’s biggest drawback. If your daughter hasn’t visited Maryland yet, she probably should, so that she will understand that College Park is nowhere near as nice as its name suggests.