I mentioned several SUNY schools earlier in this discussion. They might be affordable, she may get merit (Binghamton seems to be generous with OOS merit), there is a Jewish population which was important to this family, active social scene which is also important to this family, smaller than UMd, etc. Binghamton is half the size, the smaller SUNY schools have about 5000 kids.
The OP doesn’t want to add any public schools other than UMD (doesn’t like UMD due to size). I am not sure why, but that’s the way it is I suppose. This is not the place to debate private versus public.
While I strongly believe that there are affordable schools that this student would like and get into, I also believe that they have settled on this particular list and will not send this student to a safety school. IMO they will choose a match school - hopefully she is accepted to one.
Every family does what is best for them. I wish them well.
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Clark University in Worcester, MA. Research opportunities at UMASS Chan Medical School. I’m local to the area if you have any questions. My daughter will be applying similar stats to your daughter but is interested in pre law.
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I just stumbled across this thread. Did she decide??
My DC also did not want to go to UMD because of its size. A number of LACs came in at basically the same cost as UMD in-state (a thousand or two less) - Juniata, Dickinson, Allegheny, Susquehanna.
A couple came in at about $5,000 less per year than UMD - St. Mary’s and McDaniel.
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I haven’t read all 543 posts of this thread, so I may have missed something. When I had read posts from OP asking why the family should pay OOS prices for public schools when they had the UMD schools, I didn’t see any responses pertaining to the class size of the university at large. I saw posts about honors colleges or smaller student bodies. I wanted to make sure that the OP knows that there are OOS publics that would probably be around the UMD in-state price after merit aid where she could hit the size OP’s daughter wants AND get smaller classes without needing to be a part of the honors college, as OP’s impression is that honors classes are only a small percentage of the classes her daughter would take.
I agree, though, that if OP still remains firmly opposed to public, that is their family’s choice. I just wanted to make sure that OP was aware that there were publics that were going to hit on the aspects that were desired for OP’s daughter. There is probably still about 6 months before OP’s daughter submits her applications. This is the time to be throwing out other options to consider, not when application deadlines are looming or are past. I would hate for OP or the daughter to end up at a school that the family is less than excited about and then find out about a different option and feel like, “If we had only known.”
OP’s daughter is a junior and they’re crafting/finalizing a list of schools to apply to in the fall. Thanks for the feedback on the schools (and prices) your child received, as several of these schools are on OP’s list. Would you mind sharing your child’s stats for OP’s reference?
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I recall the OP stating that UMD is too big for her daughter, and that it may be difficult for her to achieve a high gpa (student plans to apply to med school). They continue to have it on their list as a safety. This family is not interested in other public schools within their state system (several were suggested) and they are not interested in OOS publics.
My take from this mega thread is that the OP is mostly afraid that her DD can’t survive the pre-med grind at a big, public flagship school like UMD. She is predicting her DD will maybe get a 3.5 GPA which is not enough for a MD program.
The OP has a belief that smaller schools like a LAC will be easier for her DD to get the grades and support needed to make it to a MD school.
The OP ignored the sagacious advice of the pre-med folks about not taking pre-med reqs in community college, which her DD did. A memory from 30+ years ago, “they” said not to take
the pre-med reqs at CC. Now, the message still remains.
The 2021-2022 cycle the acceptance rate was 36.2% (22K/62K) for MD programs. GPA 3.74 total Science GPA was 3.67 ~ A- in all science. Non-Science = 3.83 GPA. MCAT 511.9.
As an example of a good school like UPitt, median GPA was 3.83, MCAT = 516! 8601 applicants for a class of 158. Those who can turn lead into gold need only apply.
Water walkers a plus.
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A Top 10 Med School Dean told his audience (including us) in 2011 that he’s glad he wasn’t applying to med school now or he’d have never made it in. He said he’d be lucky to be the janitor at a med school (humor there, of course, not at all with the first statement).
It’s why he was adamant at letting future med school wannabies know what road was ahead of them - adamant enough that his school offered these sessions for high schoolers to give them advice.
His advice was 100% the same at another school’s sessions we went to. All US med schools are tough to get into. As you pointed out, stats are stats and we’ve gone from 42ish% down to 36ish and almost all are “worthy” candidates.
I sure wouldn’t try to be “average” or meet minimum requirements personally.
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I am not sure if this student still plans to take the SAT/ACT, but it was mentioned earlier that she expects a 1400. While this is certainly a respectable score, I do not think it is high enough to receive significant merit to some of the schools on this list. The students I see who receive merit to schools like GW etc have much higher scores.
While there is nothing wrong with students having medical school aspirations while in HS, I also think it’s important to have a back up plan, to recognize that taking classes at a CC might be (is) problematic, and to understand the importance of test taking throughout the process (as mentioned, lots of tests). One must live in reality despite having aspirations. Part of this reality is having a back up plan and understanding the process.
I am not quite sure why this student would reportedly not do well at UMD, but she would do well at GW (or a similar school). That doesn’t make sense to me. GW has very strong students- very strong.
I think there should be more safeties, and I don’t buy into the notion that there aren’t any.
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Has this student looked at Goucher College?
ACT mid 50% is 22-30 which suggests she will fit in academically
Average gpa is lower than this students (possible safety)
Tests are not required for merit scholarships
It’s small and not far
There is a Hillel on campus
There is an affiliation with a DO school, which is advantageous. She could add this DO school to the mix of med school apps, if she still goes that route.
The school has relationships with many hospitals and clinics in the area
Seems to be a good location for non-medical volunteering
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I think Goucher is way too small. It is even smaller than Ursinus…
Just around 1K students. Unfortunately that would not fly at all.
Ok adding to safety schools like Juniata (too rural), Wooster (too rural), and St. Mary’s (again too rural) will do nothing. We may apply for sake of applying if no extra essay will be necessary since they all have 0 app fee (but St. Mary’s) and EA. But DD will not go to any of these schools…
She probably in that case will go to UMD.
To apply to so many schools we will probably have to split some from Common App to MyCoalition (like Wooster and St. Mary’s). I am not sure how difficult/time consuming to have schools in both systems.
If she won’t go, don’t apply. It is a waste of resources and energy.
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I am confused as to why you don’t think she will do well academically at UMd, given that she has a 3.95 unweighted gpa with course rigor (I think?).
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How many schools are you planning to apply to (total)?
Agree! it is a waste of time not just for the kid, but also the parents and the staff at those schools.
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Did Dickinson come up in the thread? (About 2500 in a suburban setting.)
Or St. Joseph’s in Philly? (I think 6,000 so not too big and not too small.)
I don’t know about Jewish life on campus for either of these schools.
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Yes. Dickinson, Gettysburg, and Muhlenberg are all on match list. Visit all 3. Liked all three.
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Because she is a shy person and does not like classes of 400 students. She will be fine in class of 45 students. All introductory classes in state colleges are huge. She is not afraid of challenge, but she is very polite kid with good manners who will not run over other kids to get research or access to the teacher…
I have too many on my list now… Some will be eliminated depending on visiting and SAT score.
My goal is around 15.
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I didn’t realize that UMd had 400 students in the intro classes. My daughter attended a well known public university and her intro classes had about 200 (still big, but not 400), and once those classes were finished all of her classes were under 50.
It is not necessary to run over the other kids to speak with teachers or get a research position. My daughter did research throughout all 4 years of college. A simple phone call, email, or knock on an office door was all it took.
Students at large universities speak to profs all the time without problems. They stay after class, attend office hours, meet them for lunch, dinner, etc. . My D is still friends with her profs now…meets them for coffee, speaks with them often about careers, etc.
It sounds like UMd is not a fit for your daughter at all, which makes me think it should come off the list and be replaced with a school she likes. Is there a state school in Md that is smaller? TCNJ was mentioned earlier- there are about 7000 students and it might be affordable. There are also smaller (5000 students) SUNY schools with an active Hillel on campus that might come in at your price range. I don’t see these schools waitlisting your daughter.
Hopefully this process improves by the time your daughter applies. This year was crazy- kids getting rejected and waitlisted to so many schools that they were expecting to get into.
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