My son was admitted to both schools 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 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). However, it’s not as well ranked.
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 trees growing around here! 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).
Fox was just ranked much higher for its MBA program. I assume your S got a big scholarship and Honors there. I personally think Fox is a great program and I think there is more opportunity for a business grad in the Philly/New York corridor with a degree from Fox. Did you attend the Experience Temple Day yet? If not, you should definitely do that.
^Yes, he has full tuition and honors at Temple. Right now, I think he is still trying to pick himself up and dust himself off from lack of scholarship from his state flagship school. He is warming up to the idea of Temple, it just was not a school he had given serious consideration to until now that the merits have been posted (or not posted 
). He’s been in touch with a professor from Temple recently who has been VERY encouraging. My son is meeting with him on Monday. They have also arranged for my son to tour the dorm, sit in on a class, and I think maybe talk to another student (I’m not sure what all they worked out). I do know that my son does like the fact that Temple has been great about returning e-mails promptly. We will probably stop in to talk to the Study Abroad office as that’s something he is also interested in. If there are other things we should make it a point to do while we are there, could you please let us know. Thanks so much for your info about the MBA program!
For Finance and Law UVA is no doubt the best choice. Look into transferring into the McIntire school of Commerce and then going into UVA law.
I agree with you about UVA law school being such a great choice. I guess my question though would be the best way to afford it. We have limited resources, so I would think transferring to UVA for undergrad as an out of state student would not be worth it, since he has 2 other options that are more affordable. Wouldn’t it make more sense to keep costs at a minimum, try to keep a high GPA and high LSAT, then apply to UVA?
I guess it depends on your situation but I was thinking about the law program. Basically if you go to the Smith business school and make very high marks then you have a shot of getting into UVA law. If you go to McIntire and get high marks you have a good shot of making it into Harvard law school (UVA law may also be easier to get into since you are an alumni of the University and their business program is really top notch). McIntire is a feeder into the top law and MBA programs so it will also expand your opportunities just in case you decide to get an MBA. In addition, a Finance degree at Mcintire will give you a better chance of going into high finance. I think that Umich is also a great place but I am not sure if they are good at both law and finance. I am saying this as a Smith student because I’ve looked at what some of the past students have done. But this is just my opinion.