I posted this under a different forum before but thought he might get more feedback under UMDs forum:
My son was admitted to both schools - honors program for both and is trying to make a decision.
UMD: The biggest advantage here is it’s ranking over Temple. The disadvantage is that even though it’s in state, it will cost about $20,000/year. Crime rate reported (I forget the site) seems to be the similar to Temple when considering number of students on campus (which I thought Temple’s would be higher).
TEMPLE: The biggest advantage here is cost - about $10,000/year (plus two $4,000 stipends for study abroad or internships). Also admitted to Fox Honors - not sure how much of a plus that is. However, it’s not as well ranked as Smith.
Would one school put my son in a better position for job in finance/law school than the other? Any advantages of one over the other. While my husband and I are willing to pay for either school, we don’t have money growing on trees! That being said, we also want our son to be able to land a job when he graduates (whenever that will be as I can’t say for sure if he’ll still want to go to law school four years from now).
^ ummm,… I’m not completely crazy!(Well, my husband might disagree! I thought I could avoid North Philly altogether. Is that not possible? From looking at the maps, it appeared possible. I looked at the stats of crimes reported for both UMD and Temple and the types of crimes. When considering the number of students at each school, we were actually shocked to see the improvement in recent years at Temple. Perhaps this is not true? Could people shed some light on this as well? We are from a rural area and this is a concern. In fact, my son didn’t even consider the generous scholarship from Temple at first because we assumed the crime rate would be horrible. When he didn’t get a scholarship from our state school it sort of twisted our arm into considering looking elsewhere.
I realized my response may have seemed flippant. We may also end up in a situation of multiple admissions and cost differences. What I really would recommend however is to take a thorough tour of the area, and make sure everyone is comfortable with your son attending. Certainly acting responsibly - staying on campus especially at night, walking in groups etc. will help your son be in the strong majority that graduate from an inner city college without problems. Best of luck.
^Actually I didn’t take it to be flippant - but I did think it was funny. I imagined me taking my family through the bad parts of Baltimore near UMD at night when we looked at it before my oldest son started there! He would never have gone there had we done so!!! lol!!! You’ll be happy to know he has graduated from UMD and survived! Seriously though, I DO worry about the safety factor at both schools. My older son told me he just learned not to tell me stuff because he KNEW I’d worry! Overall though, he felt it was pretty safe. He’s the one that showed me the different statistics comparing the two different schools and encouraged us to consider at least looking at Temple - as much as he loved UMD! You are fortunate that your son had a B/K interview. Our middle son didn’t make out too well in the scholarship area from UMD. We are still considering it, but it REALLY needs to be head and shoulders above the other options and frankly I’m not sure it is. Right now,I’ve tried calling and e-mailing UMD with a few questions and they have yet to return my calls or even open my e-mails. Disappointing for such a great school.
Er, UMD-CP is a good distance from Baltimore, bad parts or good parts. Were you perhaps thinking of Washington DC which is very much closer and also has some bad parts, although any student practicing basic common sense should be able to avoid trouble?
Wow, really? I had to email people at UMD like 3 times now, and they’ve always responded within 2-3 days It’s bizarre that they haven’t responded to you.
@noemii,I agree. That has not been my experience either in the past. Perhaps it’s just a fluke. I’m not sure what to think. I guess time will tell. Regardless, I’m glad it’s not been your experience.
I’ve known several kids at Temple. All but one have hated it because of the gritty area and several have transferred The other one loves her communications program and looks the other way wrt the neighborhood. Temple has no sense of campus vs UMD has a beautiful campus. They are very different schools.
Seriously though, I DO worry about the safety factor at both schools. My older son told me he just learned not to tell me stuff because he KNEW I’d worry! Overall though, he felt it was pretty safe. He’s the one that showed me the different statistics comparing the two different schools and encouraged us to consider at least looking at Temple - as much as he loved UMD! You are fortunate that your son had a B/K interview. Our middle son didn’t make out too well in the scholarship area from UMD. We are still considering it, but it REALLY needs to be head and shoulders above the other options and frankly I’m not sure it is. Right now,I’ve tried calling and e-mailing UMD with a few questions and they have yet to return my calls or even open my e-mails. 
Disappointing for such a great school.
It’s bizarre that they haven’t responded to you.