<p>My d plans on majoring in exercise science/kinesiology and got into both schools. udel gave her 6000/year merit but we didn't get anything from umd. d really wants to go to umd. How do we decide?</p>
<p>What state do you live in?</p>
<p>My son got a merit scholarship from UDel also, but because we were Maryland residents, that meant that there was little difference in the cost of attendance between UDel and Maryland. He chose Maryland.</p>
<p>Another consideration (besides money). Did your daughter get into any of the special freshman/sophomore programs at Maryland – like University Honors or College Park Scholars? If she did, that’s a plus in the Maryland column. Those programs are a good way for Maryland students to meet people of similar interests, and they help to make the huge campus feel smaller.</p>
<p>I can’t comment on the programs in your daughter’s major. My son was in a different field.</p>
<p>Embrace the Turtle.</p>
<p>Does the nj in your user name indicate you are in NJ? I think there are more similarities than differences between the 2. I would focus on cost - I am assuming you are OOS for both - and the specific department - which I am sorry, but do not know anything about at either school.</p>
<p>We are from NJ so we are out of state for both. Just left my d crying in her room because she really wants to go to umd and doesn’t understand what it will be like to come out with an extra $24000 in loans.</p>
<p>Has she visited the two schools?</p>
<p>Maryland has many virtues (my son had an excellent experience there), but the surrounding community is a borderline slum. The University of Delaware is in a more attractive area.</p>
<p>As I mentioned before, my son was accepted to both schools and had to choose between them. He had visited both campuses, and after visiting, he came away with a very positive impression of Delaware and a neutral impression of Maryland. He went to Maryland not because he loved the place but because it had a much better program in his major (computer science).</p>
<p>If your daughter hasn’t visited the University of Delaware, perhaps she should. It’s very nice.</p>
<p>My BFF’s DD goes to UMD for kinesiology. From what I understand, it’s a top school for kinesiology. She had been accepted to UD and then was accepted to UMD for Freshman Connection. Because of the kinesiology program at UMD, she did not hesitate to go there.</p>
<p>(FYI - And I am very pro-UD because my DD goes there!!)</p>
<p>We visited udel in the spring and my d did like it until she saw umd. As soon as we finished the tour of umd, she said this was where she wanted to go. My husband didn’t see either school last year so we just did the admitted students day at umd. He was not impressed, I guess because of the cost. I convinced my daughter to do an accepted students day at udel so he can see it and she can take another look. Maybe she’ll change her mind when we are there. As far as the program goes, I’m not sure how they compare. Hopefully, I’ll have a better idea after we go. What tugs at my heart strings is that I think she will be happy at udel but I think she’ll be happier at umd.</p>
<p>linymom,</p>
<p>thanks for the reply. About udel, how does your d like the tri-semester? Does she take classes during the winter session? If not, what does she do at home for 2 months?</p>
<p>abmnj1: It was kind of a novelty this year, her freshman year, to come home for winter break. She works out of state at a sleepaway camp for the summer so this was the longest she was home since last June (and this had no stress as compared to back in June!).She hung out with friends for a couple of weeks, went to FL with me for a week to visit my parents, even got some hours at her old job (wish she had gotten more). Went for a weekend to Temple Univ to visit a friend. By the end of January, she was really ready to go back. She just applied for a study abroad program for next January and I really hopes she gets it. If not, i will encourage her to do something related to her major (even if it’s unpaid, just to get experience). I know one of her UD friends took a class at a local community college over the break (much less $$). It’s not ideal, but I wouldn’t pick a school or dismiss it based on the winter break (IMHO).</p>
<p>My DD was up and down on UMD. When we did our visits to UD and American, we drove through the UMD campus and she said she was completely not interested bc it was too big. Then my friend (who I previously mentioned) told me the tour was amazing. So we went back to do the tour (and see Towson while we were down there). DD absolutely loved UMD!</p>
<p>When decisions came, she got in to Freshman Connection (and accepted for spring semester) and took that as a rejection (which it really wasn’t). She was beyond ecstatic about UD. In the Fall, she got a mailing from UMD about registering for spring and she laughed, saying I could throw that in the garbage; she was happy at UD. </p>
<p>My friend’s DD met the head of the kinesiology dept on her visit there senior year. That really sold her. (That and the athletic facilities, I’m sure!)</p>
<p>I don’t think you can go wrong with either school. Congrats on the great choices!</p>
<p>I’m still back at the $24,000 diff between UMD and UDEL? is it really that much of a difference??? Or are you assuming that the difference will remain at $6,000/yr for four years?</p>
<p>I’m confused…</p>
<p>UMd is one of those schools I just don’t get why everyone loves. Maybe I just didn’t like the tour or tour guide. UDel was so much nicer. But, there is no doubt some kids have an instant connection to UMd.</p>
<p>“We are from NJ so we are out of state for both. Just left my d crying in her room because she really wants to go to umd and doesn’t understand what it will be like to come out with an extra $24000 in loans.”</p>
<p>You need to get your own head straight about the money, and then you will be able to deal with your daughter. You need to be able to look her in the eye and say, “This is what our family can pay.” If she would already be borrowing the maximum Stafford Loan amounts for UDel, just exactly where would she be able to borrow even more money for UMD? Chances are that she couldn’t do that without a cosigner, and from the sound of it, you aren’t able to cosign for this. Even if she could get a cosigner for one year, that doesn’t mean the cosigner would be approved in subsequent years.</p>
<p>There are nice loan repayment calculators at [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org) and at [Student</a> Loan Calculator - Calculate Your Student Loan Repayments](<a href=“http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/sla.jsp]Student”>http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/sla.jsp) There also are plenty of true-life sad stories about college debt gone bad at [Project</a> on Student Debt: Home](<a href=“http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org%5DProject”>http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org) Sit down with her, read through these websites, and run the calculators. Show her what the difference would mean to the quality of her life.</p>
<p>rodney -my d got $6000 in merit scholarship from udel so that is where I get the 24,000 over 4 years from. I’m assuming as long as she maintains a specific gpa she will get the scholarship every year but I will make sure to look into it</p>
<p>happymomof1 - we’d be co-signing the loans for her but would hope that after college when she gets a job, she would be making the payments.</p>
<p>abmnj1: oh so the $24,000 is from the merit scholarship…</p>
<p>assuming that she hadn’t gotten that, where would you have liked her to go? or would you have had to take out the $24,000 regardless?..sorry; just trying to clarify…</p>
<p>If she hadn’t gotten a merit scholarship from udel, she probably would have ended up at umd and we would have taken a loan for most or all of the 24000</p>
<p>Then in my humble opinion, that is how you explain it to her…and decide together what is best…</p>
<p>We are instate for Maryland, and I know a lot of kids who have happily attended. I also know a lot of happy kids at Delaware. Why does you daughter like Maryland better? The schools are really pretty similar. They both have pretty campuses, large classes, lots of academic choices, greek life and D1 sports. Maryland has proximity to DC in it’s favor, but the town of College Park is very seedy. I prefer the college town setting of Delaware.</p>
<p>I don’t think that Maryland is worth the difference in cost if you or your daughter has to take out an extra $24,000 on loans. I know that it’s hard to see your daughter’s disapointment, but it will be harder watch her stuggle to repay the loans after she graduates.</p>
<p>OP - Perhaps you’re comparing the wrong two campus’. Take your D to UDel … and on the way home stop in at Rutgers. Smile, and tell her that she can chose either place. (Hey $24,000 is real money in our household.)</p>
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<p>Thanks for all the advice and input. My d preferred umd because it is bigger and seems to be more into the sports even though udel is also d1. She won’t even consider Rutgers even though that would be the cheapest for us. She got in but only applied because I made her as a safety school. She doesn’t like how spread out Rutgers is where you have to take a bus from your dorm to some of the campuses. Hopefully, decision days at udel will go well. She signed up on some admitted students facebook page last night for udel and she said within a few minutes, about 10 people asked to be her friend. I think that made her feel good.</p>