<p>My D has her heart set on going to a school near DC. Aside from the obvious (Georgetown, GW, American, Maryland) what are some schools in the area that she could consider? We aren't from the area so are not as familiar with other schools. Even if the school was not in the heart of the city, a place where students access DC a lot would be fine. Also, she would like to play a sport, so a smaller Div III school may be a better fit than one of the larger schools. Thanks for any suggestions.</p>
<p>We live in rural Virginia, about two hours from D.C. We can suggest George Mason, the U. of Mary Washington (about an hour away), Marymount, St. Mary's, which is in Southern Maryland. There are also some good schools in the Baltimore area, which is about an hour away.</p>
<p>How about the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg? We found a lot to like about it when we visited. It's just over an hour from DC by car - I did a quick search on their website and didn't come up with info on public transportation. However, many of their students do DC internships.</p>
<p>It's a relatively selective public institution. Mean high school GPA for admitted students is 3.6; 25th/75th SAT (Math/CR) percentiles for admitted students is 1090/1340. About 4,000 students. Very highly ranked in its category (I think it's considered a regional Master's granting institution?). Absolutely drop-dead beautiful campus. Even for an OOS resident, tuition, room/board and fees are under $22K.</p>
<p>What we didn't like: no dance program, less-than-inspiring surrounding area, very snotty tour guide. The last sufficiently so to get my d to leave without completing the tour. Still, it's a great school and your d might want to take a look.</p>
<p>Trinity, Catholic U.</p>
<p>If you're going an hour away, that would include Hood and Baltimore schools, and the honors campus of U of MD (UMBC).</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins and Loyola in Baltimore - although most of those students probably don't go into DC regularly; it is a reasonable Amtrak ride away.</p>
<p>Goucher, also in Md.</p>
<p>James Madison in Va.</p>
<p>Howard University, Virginia Tech (they have campuses closer to DC than their main campus in Blacksburg; I don't know what's offered at each campus, though).</p>
<p>Catholic U</p>
<p>Mt. St. Mary's in Emmitsburg, Md is 1.25 hours away. It's a small, Jesuit college. Beautiful hilltop campus about 30 mins south of Gettysburg. </p>
<p>Don't confuse private Mount Saint Mary's in Emmitsburg with public St. Mary's College of Maryland in St. Mary's City. People get them mixed up all the time. "The Mount," as many of us call it, is a good school but slightly less selective than St. Mary's.</p>
<p>GW has a MT Vernon campus for females as well as the main Foggy Bottom location. Mary Washington is on the train line for DC, one of the last stops and is less than an hour away, I hear. Catholic U would be a great in town location and has D-3 sports.</p>
<p>Mount Vernon was once a women's college but the Mount Vernon campus of GW is not for women. It is mostly for freshmen.</p>
<p>McDaniels College is about 50 miles north of DC. It is one of the "40 colleges that change lives". Our friends have a sophomore there. She loves it and is playing a sport. I don't know if it's too far away from DC but it may be worth some investigating.</p>
<p>GW, UDC, AU, Howard, Maryland, and Catholic are the schools close enough to have metro stops. (I could be missing one; Georgetown is in DC but doesn't have one because... it's Georgetown.)</p>
<p>George Mason is pretty close to DC, and Towson is a college in Maryland other than the ones already named.</p>
<p>I don't think kids in JMU go to DC much, and I <em>know</em> kids at Virginia Tech (in Blacksburg) don't. They're both more VA schools than they are DC schools.</p>
<p>The schools already mentioned are basically it, except for the mediocre commuter school UDC, the district's only public school. Keep in mind that GW doesn't have that much of a "campus" as it's more of a collection of buildings in DC, so you could say the whole city is your "campus." Georgetown has more of a defined campus (and no metro station), and UMD is more removed from the city, but you can still take the metro into DC pretty quickly.</p>
<p>I know my kids prevail upon me for all sorts of things so it is natural to want to satisfy your daughter's desires. </p>
<p>But I see no intrinsic value in going to a school near "DC" just because its DC. </p>
<p>I live here and it certainly is a fine city (although the quality of its public schools, except for a few magnet high schools, pale in comparison with the smaller northern school districts to which I am used). </p>
<p>There are very few academic programs that are better or different merely of a school's proximity to DC - Georgetown's Foreign Service School, for example, is an exception. </p>
<p>And note DC is expensive and not an easy place for college students to get by. </p>
<p>This is one of the reasons why Virginia Tech is so very popular with Virginia residents - 80-100 students from the best Virginia High Schools go in each class - opportunities abound for practical majors and programs, the cost of living is very low and availability of various forms of aid is remarkable. And many Tech grads make their way back to DC - hardly surprising. </p>
<p>This is not to say that there are not good opportunities in DC - but I think a focus on geography may not be the wisest thing.</p>
<p>UVA and Va Tech do have suburban VA campuses but I think they are mostly for Graduate students. JMU and UVA are both 2 + hours from DC - but UVA is actually closer if she is looking that far away.
Annapolis is also less than an hour from DC which is where St John's is (but it is also a very specific program - won't interest everyone)</p>
<p>I think geography is a fine way to narrow down school choices. My D looked mostly in Boston and DC, and decided on Washington because of her interest in international affairs (and the fact that Tufts rejected her). She is very happy in DC, and there is a wide range of schools to choose from.</p>
<p>My child went to DC for NAIMUN as a high school junior, fell in love with DC and said she wanted to go to college there.</p>
<p>We visited DC and Boston on a college tour. We didn't even have to go to Boston. Once she saw Howard University, that was that. She is at Howard now. She is happy. She is thriving, and she absolutley loves Washington DC.</p>
<p>Of course, she is from an urban area and undestands what that means. She had no interest in schools in suburbia or schools in the middle of cornfields. </p>
<p>Geography was a huge part of the decision.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of your replies. Although Catholic would be a nice fit in many respects, I think that it would be too religious for my half Jewish daughter. I can't seem to much on CC about Trinity. Of those that were suggested outside of the city, do you know if there is a shuttle from any of the schools to bring students to DC? Thanks so much for your help.</p>
<p>Mary Washington is in Frederick, MD which is the last stop, I believe, of the mass transit system that goes directly into DC. At least that was what I was told when I visited the school about 10 years ago. THough GW is a tough nut to crack in terms of admissions, the standards are lifted a quite a bit if you apply to the Mt Vernon campus and, yes, there is regular shuttle service to the main campus which is right in the middle of things. American is another school that is worthy of consideration.</p>