For acceptances, I have been accepted to university of Delaware, Florida state university, Michigan state, university of Illinois, Towson university, and Penn State. I was deferred from Georgia and NC State, but I’m not greatly considering either of the schools if I get accepted. I live in maryland, and I got denied regular admission from University of Maryland, but I got into the institute of applied agriculture and I submitted an appeal, because I did want to attend there for a while but now I’m unsure. Illinois is the best school I applied to for agriculture, but I’m unsure of all of the good points of these schools and I would like some input. I live in Maryland so many of these schools are far for me, so I want to be sure I’m making the best decision. Thanks!
Have you received any scholarship money? What is your intended major (agriculture what?) ? What were your stats, (GPA, SAT)?
I received money from Delaware, Illinois, Towson. Towson is obviously the cheapest because I’m in state, but Delaware is close. I’m haven’t picked a concentration for my major yet, and some schools I applied as an environmental science major. Should my stats influence my decision…?
I don’t think your stats should influence your decision. You’ve already been admitted. You can compare the general quality of education and rigor at the schools, but that’s not perfectly correlated with stats. Your major matters somewhat, but many students change their focus or their major altogether so as long as all the schools you’re considering have a good program, I think you can focus on the environment you’d like to be in and the costs.
What is your family’s financial situation like? If you are in-state to Maryland and you only got aid at Towson, UDel and UIUC, that sounds like Penn State, Florida State and Michigan State offered you nothing AND you would be paying OOS fees. I don’t see ANY reason to pay out-of-state tuition to any of those three schools when you’ve got other excellent options on the table, so I’d cross them off.
How much money did you get offered at each of the three remaining schools, and how much would you have left to pay at them? And then how much of that would be paid by your family vs. you taking out student loans?
Right now it’s sounding like Towson’s the best bet unless UDel and/or Illinois are really close.
Which of these places are affordable for you and your family? Start with that. If you need to borrow more than the standard student loans, drop them from your list.
How hard would it be for you to transfer from that program at UMD to another one after you have started?