<p>My daughter has her final decision down to these two. She "thinks" she wants to major in International Relations....any feedback parents who've had kids at either or students themselves????</p>
<p>CS, I'm not sure where youre from, but I know the local perception of Towson is not necessarily as good one. In all honesty, most of what I know about TU generally stems from rumors and potentially extaggerated stories coming from friends I know who attend there., so I'm not sure how valid it is. However, I'm sure there is some truth in it all.</p>
<p>Personally, I would choose Mason.</p>
<p>A son of a friend of ours attends Towson and loves it, he is a history major and intends to teach at the college level. He has done very well there. My son has also been accepted at Towson and we intend to go to the accepted student day event next month. Perhaps if you and your daughter attend that it will help her decide if it's a good fit. </p>
<p>OTOH, George Mason did just beat CT..... What a game!</p>
<p>Hi csdad- I'd like more info too, so I'll help bump this post up. GMU is still in our Final 4 (well maybe 5). My gut feeling is that studying International Relations and GMU's proximity to DC would be a hard combo to beat. My d's major concern about GMU was that the campus emptied out on the week-ends --but now with its new found fame it may be a totally different environment next year. One of d's classmates is going to GMU and at least one other kid applied, so the school is getting a bit more popular on Long Island. I have a feeling alot more NY kids may be applying there next year. We'll be visiting some SUNY's next week, and then my d will make her final decision- or we may be visiting GMU again during Easter/Passover break. What did your d think about the campus? Good luck with your decision.</p>
<p>Please let us know what SUNYs you liked and your impressions of them _ esp. for out-of-staters .</p>
<p>
[quote]
GMU is still in our Final 4
[/quote]
what exactly are we talking about??</p>
<p>Perhaps Marny is referring to narrowing down their D's college choices, and GMU made it into the Final 4. Still gotta knock 3 out though...</p>
<p>..reference is to GMU being in the Final 4 in NCAA Basketball tourney. Something like this could really spur school spirit which my daughter was disappointed in on her visit to GMU. The publicity they are getting from their "Cinderella" run in this tournament can not be equaled in any other way. I would predict that their enrollment will rise along with next years applicants. Everyone at the school wins!!</p>
<p>My Final Four comment about GMU referred both to my d's final 4 (plus 1) choices ( GMU-Tampa and a few Suny's) and the NCAA Final four status of GMU. Though I think this will greatly add to the school spirit at GMU and may bring alot more OOS interest to the school, I think the school still has a "commuter" atmosphere. I must have read at least 5 sport stories today, and in each one they characterize GMU as a "commuter school". csdad- my d was also disappointed in her 2nd visit. On our first visit last Easter break, my d's initial impression was very favorable. It's a lovely & new campus. My d seemed excited about it. We returned in November for the Fall Open House. Unfortunately, when we checked the campus out that Fri PM- it seemed rather dead. At the Sat. Open House, we checked out the license plates and saw that almost ALL were from Va. It just sort of reinforced the stereotype that GMU draws locally and that most kids leave on the week-end. Now this may change with their new found fame. But I don't know if my kid wants to take that chance. As I type this, I'm listening to the Colbert Report on Comedy Central- He starts the show talking about the GMU win. Keith Olbermann also had it as a top story. This GMU win has taken on an incredible life of its own. Easydoesitmom- I'm a big fan of SUNY's. But the main drawback is that they're mostly upstate in cold rural areas- but you can get a very decent education and our OOS tuition is reasonable. My d is looking at Cortland (big in phys ed), Oneonta (education) and Albany. If you're interested in pre-med & science, Stony Brook is a great choice. PM me, if you want specif info, on a particular school. Stony Brook is in the process of buying the land from South Hampton College which is apart of LIU. So they will be expanding and I think has the potential of becoming a great university. csdad- good luck with the decision-</p>
<p>Marny,</p>
<p>Perhaps GMU doesn't allow freshman to have cars on campus? I know Towson doesn't. With the highest percentage of students living on campus being freshamn, this may account for no out-of-state plates?</p>
<p>Our friends son that attends Towson was allowed a car on campus freshman year (we're oos) but it was after all the other students got their parking permits. He had to call a certain number at a certain time and was lucky enough to get a spot. So, while most freshman don't have cars on campus - some lucky ones do. BTW, we just got our financial aid package from Towson- zippo!</p>
<p>I will add that we got zippo from Towson too. There was no merit or financial aid offered.</p>
<p>Just wanted to bump this up again. Coach L (Laranga- I can't spell his name) was just named person of the week on ABC Nat'l news. I can't tell you how much play this is getting in NYC. Coach L is a "Bronx boy" and all the local papers are giving this story alot of ink. Even the NY Times had a big article on the sports pages this week. In that article, they quoted the GMU Dean of Admissions, who said that on a regular Saturday, about 100 kids tour the campus. Last week-end 300 kids did the tour. It's amazing, but I think GMU is going to have alot more OOS kids looking at it next year. Congrats to all on your kids acceptances. I guess by now, we all sort of know what schools are in play. We're touring some SUNY schools this week-end. Maybe I'll know by next week where d is going (then again-maybe I won't) Congrats Northeastmom your son did good.</p>
<p>marny, Your D did well too! Lots of choices for her. Is she now considering GMU again? The GMU/UConn game was so much fun to watch. I am not one to watch b-ball, but I enjoyed that game.</p>
<p>She didn't rule it out but I think that if she finds one of the Suny's satisfactory, she's not going to look any further. Tampa is still an outside shot but I really don't think she wants to be that far away from home. I guess I should be glad as we will save a bunch of money if she goes to one of the state schools. I think Towson is out of the running as she never really liked it too much. This is going to be an interesting and fun week-end. As we're looking at SUNY Cortland, we'll be staying in Ithaca for 2 nights and use that as our base to travel-- so we'll be seeing d#1 too. As the 4 of us will be together, it'll sorta be like old times. Okay enough of this- I gotta get packing. Good luck to all-- with your choices.<br>
OMG-watching Larry King with Bill Clinton- even he was talking about George Mason (but he did mentioned the other 3 teams too). Gotta go-</p>
<p>Enjoy your time together!</p>
<p>My Daughter is now leaning towards GMU..with me being a college basketball coach...the NCAA tourney gets alot of play in our house and has effected her decision. Of course now I am worried that GMU's yield will overflow this year and she'll end up with 3 girls in a room designed for 2!!!! We got zero aid from Towson ( they are going to "let" us borrow up to $28,000), GMU hasn't come in yet but I'm 99% sure it will be the same!</p>
<p>Georgetown University had a fine academic program, but in terms of popular opinion very few folks outside of the east coast gave much thought to the place until the men's basketball team began to win and gain notoriety in the 1980s. At Georgetown (and at Gonzaga today, by the way) sports success lead to a great increase in the number of undergraduate applicants, which opened the door to a closer look at their academics.</p>
<p>Well my daugher's made it offical and we've sent in her room depsoit for George Mason! Thanks to everyone who helped give me some insight into the whole search process! Hopefully my daughter will be happy (she's usually easy to please) and I won't have to go through this again until my younger D is there (she's 12 now). One thing I already know is that I'm going to have her start taking the SAT / ACT earlier than spring of her Junior year.</p>
<p>Congrats! I think it is a very fine choice. GMU has a lovely campus and the proximity to DC can't be beat. One of my d's classmates is going and I believe he got a ROTC scholarship. Also noticed a GMU bumper sticker a few days ago so there are definitely NY kids going. I do believe with their new "fame", a lot more OOS kids will be giving GMU a look. We're still waiting for my d to make her final decision but my gut feeling is that she will decide between SUNY Albany or Cortland. Best wishes to you and your d.</p>