<p>I am wondering if any CC parent has firsthand info or any general impressions about this college, which is part of Maryland's state system. I'm helping my niece, who's now a sophomore in high school and starting to think about colleges. She's a Maine resident, but she wants to head south. Salisbury looks to be a nice size, about 7,000 undergrads, and is pretty reasonable for OOS ($14,000). Anyone with info? Is it a commuter school? The website says it has about 1,700 housing spots, which, for a school of that size, would mean that most kids live off campus. Thanks!</p>
<p>You may want to PM Dougbetsy; it's on her son's list....I'd be curious to hear about it as well......</p>
<p>I know a lot of Salisbury students. It's not a commuter school, most people are from Maryland and head over there to be by the beach. Everyone I know lives in off campus apartments, but it's still got a pretty lively party scene. It's a nice city to live in. Close to Ocean City. Their lacrosse team cannot be beat. Everyone seems to love it over there.</p>
<p>i live in MD, and a good chunk of my HS goes to Salisbury every year, so i'm pretty familiar...</p>
<p>it's not a commuter school, at least not in terms of people coming from home, because not that many people live out there. most students just live off campus.</p>
<p>academically, it's overall one of the low/mid-tier schools in the MD/DC/VA area. however, i know they have very strong education and nursing programs with state-of-the-art facilities, so if your niece wants to be a teacher or nurse she should look into it. and they really do have nice facilities and up-to-date technology around the campus.</p>
<p>the surrounding area is pretty lame as far as collegetowns go, and it's also pretty sketchy with frequent muggings, robberies, thefts, etc in the area. but Ocean City is like a half hour or so away, so that's good.</p>
<p>umm... oh yeah, it's a party school. there's really nothing else to do for fun but drink. and play/cheer for lacrosse. i personally hate lacrosse, but for people who love it (aka most MDers), its a pretty big deal there.</p>
<p>Our neighbor's D is a junior there. Lives in off-campus apartments run by the college, loves the place. Was a good student (3.5 ish) in HS, SATs did not reflect her great study skills and intensity (though I think she got some merit $$), and has made Dean's List every semester. Had the opportunity to take a spring admit to a big southern football school and decided to stay at Salisbury. Her brother is likely headed there next year, too.</p>
<p>If your niece wants to be near DC or Baltimore, Salisbury is not that close.</p>
<p>I am a parent - I know a few kids who go there. They were good students in HS, probably did not make it into UMCP due to test scores, did not want to go to Towson or UMBC due to their being somewhat commuter schools and too close to home. They are very happy there.</p>
<p>Nursing is a good program there.</p>
<p>There is a large enough population of students that you can find like-minded friends if you are not a partier. The kids I know there are not raging partiers, but they are not highly intellectual types either. Just nice, hard working kids. </p>
<p>I have a close relative who was recently a recruited lacrosse player, was booted due to poor grades - probably partying too much. BTW, his SATs were 1350 +. </p>
<p>Salisbury is definitely not a commuter school. One side of campus is quite nice, the other side backs up to a strip of fast food restaurants. The campus looks nice now; nicer then when I saw it 25 years ago. It has come a long way since then.</p>
<p>Salisbury as a town has nice parts and bad parts. Being near Ocean City would be a big plus for some kids. Moving off campus would probably be fine, once you were familiar with the area and learned of the right places to live. I would not be overly concerned about safety off campus, but everyone should always take common sense precautions. I would actually feel better about a daughter moving off campus at Salisbury than UMCP.</p>