DC residents receive a $10K grant (TAG) toward out-of-state tuition to any state school. I WISH we got in-state tuition. And yes, cost was the major driver of my DD's college choice. She was accepted to her first choice private SLAC, but didn't receive enough merit aid etc to make it work. So she's headed to SMCM. She's very excited, and I am very grateful that she is not blinded by name brand schools that will put her and me in debt for years. |
| What is SMCM? |
St Mary's College of Maryland |
This why we moved from Maryland to Virginia. Virginia has a much deeper bench of high quality higher education institutions, probably second only to California. Of course, DD ends up OOS b/c she got a much better deal on financial aid OOS that makes it cheaper to attend OOS than in Virginia. Her only regret was not applying to Tech. We visited CNU, but she did not like it. |
| The college counselor said the Blair's stats for college acceptances are way under-reported. MBHS does not require its students to report acceptances, unlike other HS in the county. Lots of magnet kids choose the honors college at UMD, thanks to generous merit money, but most of these kids are getting into the highly selective schools. |
I completely disagree. I have a daughter going to one of the HYPS next year and complete strangers are in awe, acquaintances want the name of the test prep tutor, and friends are beyond proud of her. I am amazed at the number of people who upon hearing of where she is going to college tell her "you must be very smart." It is really weird. |
Well, lets be honest; she probably is very smart. |
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One reason is that MIT interviewers have been know to tell applicants to go to UMd for undergrad and then try for MIT for grad school.
They do this because it is harder to get into MIT grad school from MIT undergrad than from anywhere else. "Why bother to go to Blair Magnet if a kid ends up in those Colleges? You don't need to be an Ace to go to UMCP etc. This is a waste of resources. If you plan to go to MIT that is another story." |
You are missing the point, which is that there are students who are equally smart and qualified who didn't even apply to Harvard because they cannot pay for it, and don't qualify for financial aid. Or who applied and got in but cannot pay for it. |
Not 100% true. Only for certain engineering majors. |