I’m not sure a school exists that fulfills all of my daughters preferences! She wants a liberal, culturally diverse (but Jewish-ish) and large student population (15,000 +) with many options for majors and class selection. She loves cities so wants to be in a city or have easy access to a good-sized city. Northeast/mid-Atlantic region but she’s flexible on that. Financial restraints probably means a state/public institution. She likes the rah-rah school spirit scene also. And academically challenging but not sooooo challenging that she doesn’t have any playtime., Some of the options so far include McGill, Univ. of Cincinnati, Univ of Minnesota Twin Cities, Rutgers, Northeastern. Thoughts on these or any other suggestions?
Maryland ? What is your flagship?
I second Maryland. It’s exactly what she’s looking for.
But it’s not easy to get in, especially from out of state.
Tulane if she qualifies for merit aid.
OOS publics are expensive. And NEU is a private school and very expensive unless she gets aid. Are you certain you won’t qualify for financial aid?
Maryland is our flagship!! Too many kids go there from her high school. She won’t even consider it.
I guess NEU isn’t an option.
NEU has merit scholarships. The NMF scholarship is $30,000.
What is your budget for paying for each year of college?
What are her stats? Maybe she could get merit at some schools.
Miami-Ohio
Mizzou
Jewish-ish? The only one Jewish-ish is Northeastern IMHO. Is she thinking about a decent Hillel program perhaps?
How about UMBC? Great honors program from what I understand.
University of Central Florida
Indiana Univ
Univ of Florida
Univ of Wisconsin
Penn State
FSU
UIUC
Rutgers
Ohio State
Arizona State Univ
However, some of these have pricey OOS price tags…some as much as privates. What is your budget?
Rutgers is a very vibrant place but I wouldn’t describe it as Jewish-ish. You would pay $50,000 a year for Rutgers when you have Maryland?
Explain to your daughter that at really large schools she might have to take a bus to class or to the dining hall. Her freshman classes could have 200-300 students.
She might change her mind.
. Hillel also has a strong presence on the UVM campus. It’s estimated that around 2,000 UVM students are Jewish, making up about 20% of the undergraduate student body.[2
Michigan
Syracuse
But the nearby city is Detroit.
Michigan is a good option. Not sure what aid they may give.
Ohio State (Wow. Put them in the same post) is also a consideration. They gave my D a scholarship that gave us in-state tuition.
If Jewish-ish is what you seek I would not consider Miami University (although an excellent school).
University of Georgia has a fairly large Jewish student body.
University of Delaware.
I wouldn’t consider Northeastern as rah-rah. Or McGill. Neither school is very sports oriented. Northeastern, in fact, is somewhat unusual: 5 year programs usually, very pre-professional, with many students disappearing off campus for months at a time while they’re on co-op.
Michigan is pretty pricey for out-of-state residents–almost 3x more than instate.
I never understand the argument for not wanting to go to the state school because ‘it will be just like high school.’ How many kids from her class will be heading to UMD? Say her high school has 200 graduating seniors. How many of those does she really know or care who are going? 100? Probably not, but let’s just pretend. The UMD freshman class will be about 7000 students. And she’ll know 100 so that would be a problem? Sorry, but a ridiculous argument and not a good reason to pay twice as much at a similar school such as Rutgers or Delaware - where I bet there will be other kids from her school attending also.
^^
I agree that kids tend to say, “everyone from my high school will be going,” but that’s not likely true…even if the univ is within commuting distance.
When the flagship is not within commuting distance, then the numbers start dropping a lot because many can’t afford the cost, can’t get accepted, and/or will be applying elsewhere.
Seriously, unless the high school is affluent, then many won’t be able to afford the $25l+ per year to attend. And, if it is an affluent school, then likely a good number will be focused on attending privates.
Even if 50-100 go to UM-CP, the univ is so much larger with all these different majors that likely the student rarely even sees any former high school classmates.
I think that oftentimes it’s just that the student wants to be able to say that s/he is “going out of state” because that just sounds more exciting or adventuresome than staying instate.
I wouldn’t ordinarily push the idea of asking students to consider a school they don’t want to have on their lists, but perhaps this is an exception. Maryland is just so exactly what your daughter is looking for.
It is liberal and diverse. (Given the state it serves, how could it be otherwise?)
It has a strong Jewish community. (The university is far more Jewish than the state it serves, and a large proportion of the out-of-staters are Jewish kids from NY and NJ.)
It has easy access to Washington, DC.
It has big-time sports.
It’s a good school academically but not a powerhouse/pressure cooker sort of place.
Isn’t this what she wants?
As for the large number of kids from high school, this is something that a student can take advantage of or ignore. Some people room with their high school classmates and continue to participate in social circles that they’ve already established. Others never see a high school classmate except to wave to when walking across the campus. It’s up to the individual student.
Full disclosure: Maryland is my son’s alma mater, and seven years after graduation, he still has a positive impression of his experience there. He would choose it again.