Why isn't St. Mary's College of Maryland a hot college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because the people in the market for SLACs are not looking for a public school. Most people would prefer a research University. SLACs are preferred by the wealthy who have immature children they feel need sheltering.

I'm not a St. Mary's grad and did not go to a SLAC (went to a research university), and I can say that nobody should listen to this PP, who is biased and appallingly ignorant. Students should go to whatever school has the majors and programs they need, whether that's a SLAC or someplace else. It's ridiculously snobbish to assume that SLACs offer nothing academically desirable but exist only to coddle rich kids. It's equally snobbish (and incredibly ill-informed) to assume that research universities are what "most people would prefer." Do some research to understand why large research universities are not good for certain programs, especially if the university focuses on grad students to the detriment of its undergrads. That was not an issue in my program at my university but it is a problem in many undergrad programs. Do some reading about education today, rather than perpetuating stereotypes about both SLACs and research universities.

I hope that this PP's kids get real-world college selection advice from a good counselor, not from PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn't it a College That Changes Lives?

St. Mary's College in California is one of the CTCL, not St. Mary's of MD.

[Anonymous]

Is that the one you drive right through when heading up to Lancaster? Terrible location (bisected by highway).

[Anonymous]

Nope. That's Mount St. Mary's University. This one is in southern Maryland, Stz Mary's county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is that the one you drive right through when heading up to Lancaster? Terrible location (bisected by highway).

that's mount st. mary's.

[Anonymous]

I'm as surprised as the OP about this.

I think the location is a plus (especially for kids in MoCo who want to go "away" to school, hard for College Park to feel like you're really "away").

It's small and therefore not the right fit for kids with very specific interests (such as foreign languages that aren't taught there or only beginner classes; or engineering/architecture/etc).

But, if your kid is interested in liberal arts, studying something like English or History, then wouldn't St Mary's be a much better option than College Park?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm as surprised as the OP about this.

I think the location is a plus (especially for kids in MoCo who want to go "away" to school, hard for College Park to feel like you're really "away").

It's small and therefore not the right fit for kids with very specific interests (such as foreign languages that aren't taught there or only beginner classes; or engineering/architecture/etc).

But, if your kid is interested in liberal arts, studying something like English or History, then wouldn't St Mary's be a much better option than College Park?

Because it's smaller?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm as surprised as the OP about this.

I think the location is a plus (especially for kids in MoCo who want to go "away" to school, hard for College Park to feel like you're really "away").

It's small and therefore not the right fit for kids with very specific interests (such as foreign languages that aren't taught there or only beginner classes; or engineering/architecture/etc).

But, if your kid is interested in liberal arts, studying something like English or History, then wouldn't St Mary's be a much better option than College Park?

Because it's smaller?

smaller class sizes, more individualized attention, higher quality instruction (professors vs TAs).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm as surprised as the OP about this.

I think the location is a plus (especially for kids in MoCo who want to go "away" to school, hard for College Park to feel like you're really "away").

It's small and therefore not the right fit for kids with very specific interests (such as foreign languages that aren't taught there or only beginner classes; or engineering/architecture/etc).

But, if your kid is interested in liberal arts, studying something like English or History, then wouldn't St Mary's be a much better option than College Park?

Because it's smaller?

smaller class sizes, more individualized attention, higher quality instruction (professors vs TAs).

Not sure. CP classes for English and History are pretty small, taught by professors. My kids got plenty of individual attention - one English major, one history major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm as surprised as the OP about this.

I think the location is a plus (especially for kids in MoCo who want to go "away" to school, hard for College Park to feel like you're really "away").

It's small and therefore not the right fit for kids with very specific interests (such as foreign languages that aren't taught there or only beginner classes; or engineering/architecture/etc).

But, if your kid is interested in liberal arts, studying something like English or History, then wouldn't St Mary's be a much better option than College Park?

Thanks, PP. OP here. That's exactly what I was thinking. St. Mary's would be perfect (at least I would think) for kids who are studying the humanities and want the small classes for discussion and close cohort. But, I'm still perplexed. Maybe it's a marketing thing as so many people had never even heard of it and thought it was a number of different schools!

[Anonymous]

My dd is headed there for her first year from a rigorous DC private. She did very well in school, and wanted a SLAC. SMCM checked all the boxes, including financials. She's very excited and loves the campus and the programs the school offers. I'm not sure why the school isn't considered "hot" - maybe because it doesn't have the brand name cache? Or the glam dining? Or flagship performing arts center? My guess is that it will become more known and more popular as parents and students start looking past names and start realizing that 60k COA per year isn't feasible.

[Anonymous]

Little reputation outside of MD, unless you want to be a teacher. Very isolated, not very diverse.

[Anonymous]

That was my first choice when I applied to colleges way back in the day. I was waitlisted. It was pretty popular back then. I remember reading they had some financial issues a few years back because they were under enrolled.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/st-marys-college-of-maryland-joins-troubling-trend-too-many-empty-freshman-seats/2013/11/22/2fd1f8c0-489a-11e3-b6f8-3782ff6cb769_story.html?utm_term=.3195570fde54

[Anonymous]

I don't understand why you think it should be a "hot" school. Yes, school is small and beautiful. Yes, it focuses on liberal arts majors. Yes, it's out of nowhere... But those factors don't make the school "hot." It's been struggling to attract kids for a number of years with limited to no success - admit rate goes up, quality of kids goes down, money for FA/merit aid dries...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why you think it should be a "hot" school. Yes, school is small and beautiful. Yes, it focuses on liberal arts majors. Yes, it's out of nowhere... But those factors don't make the school "hot." It's been struggling to attract kids for a number of years with limited to no success - admit rate goes up, quality of kids goes down, money for FA/merit aid dries...

sources?