Why is this the last thing I thought of...Who's paying for this (college)?

[Anonymous]

Not sure why she won't go to a local school. I wouldn't even pay for her college if she decided to go out of state.

[Anonymous]

Another MD resident here...I don't know of any white, average B students from my DS's school who have been admitted to College Park, either, so the PP is not the only one who wondered if there are different standards for minority students!

[Anonymous]

My mont co career counselor in a public high school told the kids they needed 3.8 UNweighted 4.5 weighted with 6 AP's and a 1850 SAT or a 29 ACT to be a good fit for UMD CP

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for the responses. I have decided that my daughter will also apply to UMD-CP, UMBC and Towson. If she gets more for staying in state, we'll go that route. Especially since UMD-CP ranks highest out of all of her choices.

To reiterate: I don't really have an aversion to staying IS. I just wanted her to experience a different environment, city, etc. Probably because I went to school the non-traditional route (married, commuter student) and I have these fantasies about what it would have been like to "go away to school". My daughter is open to staying IS, and we're going to apply and explore our options.

To poster re: UMD's acceptance policies. The school is over 50% white. Do you honestly believe all of these students are top students? UMD accepts students across many grade points. While they are a great school, they aren't Harvard and I'm sure being an IS student carries a lot of weight when it comes to being accepted (similar to UNC-CH).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mont co career counselor in a public high school told the kids they needed 3.8 UNweighted 4.5 weighted with 6 AP's and a 1850 SAT or a 29 ACT to be a good fit for UMD CP

She's probably going with the "top of the pack" theory. Meaning, if you want to guarantee that you'll get in. Believe me, there are plenty of B students with 1600-1800 SATs getting into UMD-CP. Being IS counts for a lot. So does applying for early admission.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mont co career counselor in a public high school told the kids they needed 3.8 UNweighted 4.5 weighted with 6 AP's and a 1850 SAT or a 29 ACT to be a good fit for UMD CP

I find this very hard to believe. State schools are perpetually trying to make themselves seem more competitive than they are. I guess if your kid goes to kind of a crappy montgomery county school, though, maybe umdcp requires more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mont co career counselor in a public high school told the kids they needed 3.8 UNweighted 4.5 weighted with 6 AP's and a 1850 SAT or a 29 ACT to be a good fit for UMD CP

I find this very hard to believe. State schools are perpetually trying to make themselves seem more competitive than they are. I guess if your kid goes to kind of a crappy montgomery county school, though, maybe umdcp requires more.

I can only assume that you haven't experienced the admissions process as a parent recently?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mont co career counselor in a public high school told the kids they needed 3.8 UNweighted 4.5 weighted with 6 AP's and a 1850 SAT or a 29 ACT to be a good fit for UMD CP

I find this very hard to believe. State schools are perpetually trying to make themselves seem more competitive than they are. I guess if your kid goes to kind of a crappy montgomery county school, though, maybe umdcp requires more.

I can only assume that you haven't experienced the admissions process as a parent recently?

Have you? What are your child's stats?

[Anonymous]

OP...PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE get in the drivers seat on this. I know you want your kid to be happy, but you will ultimately be the one responsible for keeping up the payments.

I am a parent of a college freshman and our situation is similar to yours I think. We went thru the whole college road trip thing last fall, visited several schools that were chosen by both myself, my child and the school counselor. We live in DC and are offered extra financial aid based on dc residency provided the kid goes to any public/state school. I explained to my kid all during the process that a public college would be the best choice for us given our circumstances. We got acceptance letters from 2 private and 2 public schools. Well, my kid decided that the ritzy, expensive private college was the best choice. And even though I knew I should have put my foot down and insisted on the public option, I agreed to allow her to accept the offer at one of the privates. The tuition cost is 24k a semester. Our EFC was $4000, which left a 20K gap, but the school offered no need based aid--only merit based aid and my kid didn't have a top-notch gpa (3.0 and no AP classes) so we got very little money from them (as a matter of fact, the few pennies they gave I actually had to beg (and I really mean beg) them for). In addition to the federal aid, she also had to take out 2 loans and we had to get on a payment plan and we still owe money for the fall semester. As it stands, she cannot register for next semester until we pay off the fall balance and even if we can pay it off...were a faced with having to go thru the same financial nightmare for the spring semester.

All of this could have been avoided if I would have been firm and not let a 17 yr old have so much say so in the matter. Now she is faced with the possibility of having to sit out a semester due to finances and possibly transferring to a different school for next year and maybe even losing some of the credits she earned in the fall.

I feel awful that her college journey has been disrupted this way and if I had to do it all over again I would have her to go to a school we could comfortably afford. It may not have had all the bells and whistles, but at least she would have been able to stay with no disruption to her studies and no financial worries. Had she refused and insisted on going to the expensive private college, I should have told her to figure out a way to pay for it herself.

Your kid is lucky to have opportunity to go to college at all and to have willing parents to help pay...being choicy is not an option. Please realize that you will be putting out way more than your EFC...college necessities, books, transportation to/from school during breaks, spending money..etc. Start off with a college that you can afford to stay with for the entire four years. There will be so many costs involved so please don't get overburdened with just the basic tuition,room, board expenses...you will regret it. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mont co career counselor in a public high school told the kids they needed 3.8 UNweighted 4.5 weighted with 6 AP's and a 1850 SAT or a 29 ACT to be a good fit for UMD CP

I find this very hard to believe. State schools are perpetually trying to make themselves seem more competitive than they are. I guess if your kid goes to kind of a crappy montgomery county school, though, maybe umdcp requires more.

I can only assume that you haven't experienced the admissions process as a parent recently?

Have you? What are your child's stats?

I have twice, in fact. My kids' stats were much closer to the pp here that to OP's DD and one was not accepted and one did not bother trying. What firsthand recent relevant info do you have?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: OP...PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE get in the drivers seat on this. I know you want your kid to be happy, but you will ultimately be the one responsible for keeping up the payments.

I am a parent of a college freshman and our situation is similar to yours I think. We went thru the whole college road trip thing last fall, visited several schools that were chosen by both myself, my child and the school counselor. We live in DC and are offered extra financial aid based on dc residency provided the kid goes to any public/state school. I explained to my kid all during the process that a public college would be the best choice for us given our circumstances. We got acceptance letters from 2 private and 2 public schools. Well, my kid decided that the ritzy, expensive private college was the best choice. And even though I knew I should have put my foot down and insisted on the public option, I agreed to allow her to accept the offer at one of the privates. The tuition cost is 24k a semester. Our EFC was $4000, which left a 20K gap, but the school offered no need based aid--only merit based aid and my kid didn't have a top-notch gpa (3.0 and no AP classes) so we got very little money from them (as a matter of fact, the few pennies they gave I actually had to beg (and I really mean beg) them for). In addition to the federal aid, she also had to take out 2 loans and we had to get on a payment plan and we still owe money for the fall semester. As it stands, she cannot register for next semester until we pay off the fall balance and even if we can pay it off...were a faced with having to go thru the same financial nightmare for the spring semester.

All of this could have been avoided if I would have been firm and not let a 17 yr old have so much say so in the matter. Now she is faced with the possibility of having to sit out a semester due to finances and possibly transferring to a different school for next year and maybe even losing some of the credits she earned in the fall.

I feel awful that her college journey has been disrupted this way and if I had to do it all over again I would have her to go to a school we could comfortably afford. It may not have had all the bells and whistles, but at least she would have been able to stay with no disruption to her studies and no financial worries. Had she refused and insisted on going to the expensive private college, I should have told her to figure out a way to pay for it herself.

Your kid is lucky to have opportunity to go to college at all and to have willing parents to help pay...being choicy is not an option. Please realize that you will be putting out way more than your EFC...college necessities, books, transportation to/from school during breaks, spending money..etc. Start off with a college that you can afford to stay with for the entire four years. There will be so many costs involved so please don't get overburdened with just the basic tuition,room, board expenses...you will regret it. Good luck!

Very well put. We just went through the same procedure. My old alma mater is now $55K a year, including everything. Remember that is in after-tax dollars. So we have to make $110,000 just to send one kid to my old school. And we have other children in private. Isn't going to happen. We're going state. FINALLY, my property taxes will pay off!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many people go to state school, get a great education and job, and can afford their lives when they graduate. Try it!

Agree! Big name schools are such an east coast thing, much like a Coach or Gucci handbag (or whatever people wear).

[Anonymous]

Op, those schools are for the ruling class. Stop dreaming

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op, those schools are for the ruling class. Stop dreaming

Rutgers and UNC Charlotte are for the ruling class? And the OP already came back and said her DD will apply to 3 MD schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mont co career counselor in a public high school told the kids they needed 3.8 UNweighted 4.5 weighted with 6 AP's and a 1850 SAT or a 29 ACT to be a good fit for UMD CP

I find this very hard to believe. State schools are perpetually trying to make themselves seem more competitive than they are. I guess if your kid goes to kind of a crappy montgomery county school, though, maybe umdcp requires more.

I can only assume that you haven't experienced the admissions process as a parent recently?

Have you? What are your child's stats?

I have twice, in fact. My kids' stats were much closer to the pp here that to OP's DD and one was not accepted and one did not bother trying. What firsthand recent relevant info do you have?

You still fail to give hard evidence. Vague info on one kid and another who didn't even bother applying.

But to counter your experience, I know *several* in-state white kids with GPAs between 2.8-3.5, SATs in the 1500-1800 range, with no ECs who were accepted into UMD-CP. Did they get into the Honors program? No. But they certainly were accepted.

UMD-CP has roughly 30,000 students with half of them being white. Do you honestly think that 15,000 of their students entered the university with the high marks that the pp's school counselor suggested? If so, you're kidding (or deluding) yourself. Stop playing the "poor little white me" card.