Virginia vs. Maryland for Universities

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Virginia— William and Mary and UVA—there are no comparable schools in Maryland.

UMD is probably more prestigious than VT. It is certainly harder to get into.

What are the chances your kid is getting into UVA? Slim.

So what's next JMU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For all of the complaining about MD, I am not really seeing much difference with VA, with one exception. Remembering that VA has 85,000 HS seniors compared to MD 60,000:
UMD serves the role that in VA is served by UVA and VT (State Flagship, which UVA is a little small for, and STEM center)
ACT 25-75
UMD 28-33
UVA 30-34
VT 25-30
Pretty equivalent and could go either way depending on a student's area of interest.
UMBC 24-29 = GMU 24-30 and serves a similar role with similar strengths.
Towson 20-25 and Salisbury 20-25 are, perhaps a little behind JMU 23-28 and CNU 23-28, but not dramatically different.
For kids wanting a small, liberal arts option SMCM 23-28 = UMW 22-29.
The only real niche that MD can't match is W&M, but that is a pretty unique school that no other state can really match.

Way off. USN&WR has rated UVA no 2, 3 or 4 best public university in America for the last 27 years. UMCP is 24. https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/top-public

[Anonymous]

I do think UMD is underrated especially for STEM.
We live in maryland and DS will attend UMD. We feel very lucky he will attend such a good university’s. We did look at all the area universities including the Virginia schools. The only institution I wish we had here in Maryland is William and Mary. Such a great school and fantastic value in state.
I agree with the previous poster who said that you are really comparing UVA, VT and W and M to UMD UMD is comparable in size to UVA and VT.
You can’t compare W and M to St Mary’s in MD. The other schools in both states are pretty provincial

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do think UMD is underrated especially for STEM.
We live in maryland and DS will attend UMD. We feel very lucky he will attend such a good university’s. We did look at all the area universities including the Virginia schools. The only institution I wish we had here in Maryland is William and Mary. Such a great school and fantastic value in state.
I agree with the previous poster who said that you are really comparing UVA, VT and W and M to UMD UMD is comparable in size to UVA and VT.
You can’t compare W and M to St Mary’s in MD. The other schools in both states are pretty provincial

This 100%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Va is a huge state and UVA is a very small flagship.

MD a smaller state and college park is much larger.


Are you really going to pick a place to live based on Towson, Vatechh, umbc, jmu????

Virginia has 8.5 million people, and Maryland has 6 million. Neither is a "huge" state.

California has 39.5 million peopple. Texas has 29 million. Those are huge states.

[Anonymous]

UVA and WM are are pretty expensive for instate

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For all of the complaining about MD, I am not really seeing much difference with VA, with one exception. Remembering that VA has 85,000 HS seniors compared to MD 60,000:
UMD serves the role that in VA is served by UVA and VT (State Flagship, which UVA is a little small for, and STEM center)
ACT 25-75
UMD 28-33
UVA 30-34
VT 25-30
Pretty equivalent and could go either way depending on a student's area of interest.
UMBC 24-29 = GMU 24-30 and serves a similar role with similar strengths.
Towson 20-25 and Salisbury 20-25 are, perhaps a little behind JMU 23-28 and CNU 23-28, but not dramatically different.
For kids wanting a small, liberal arts option SMCM 23-28 = UMW 22-29.
The only real niche that MD can't match is W&M, but that is a pretty unique school that no other state can really match.

Agree with this. Another thing to keep in mind is that the MD state schools are less expensive than the the equivalent VA state schools for in-state. (and W&M is actually quite expensive for an in-state school.)

UMD vs UVA/VT/W & M is a wash. Test scores are not a good metric, and 3 points on the ACTs is huge. It is not just the quality of the schools, but the size: there are a lot more seats in the second tier schools in Virginia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Va is a huge state and UVA is a very small flagship.

MD a smaller state and college park is much larger.


Are you really going to pick a place to live based on Towson, Vatechh, umbc, jmu????

Virginia has 8.5 million people, and Maryland has 6 million. Neither is a "huge" state.

California has 39.5 million peopple. Texas has 29 million. Those are huge states.

Plus, Virginia has three "flagships", with UVA: 21000 (grad and undergrad), VT (30500), W & M 7500.: total 59000

UMD: 40,000.

In cal, when you look at flatships, is it just UCAL, or does UCLA fit in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Virginia— William and Mary and UVA—there are no comparable schools in Maryland.

UMD is probably more prestigious than VT. It is certainly harder to get into.

What are the chances your kid is getting into UVA? Slim.

So what's next JMU.

W & M and VT. Duh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For all of the complaining about MD, I am not really seeing much difference with VA, with one exception. Remembering that VA has 85,000 HS seniors compared to MD 60,000:
UMD serves the role that in VA is served by UVA and VT (State Flagship, which UVA is a little small for, and STEM center)
ACT 25-75
UMD 28-33
UVA 30-34
VT 25-30
Pretty equivalent and could go either way depending on a student's area of interest.
UMBC 24-29 = GMU 24-30 and serves a similar role with similar strengths.
Towson 20-25 and Salisbury 20-25 are, perhaps a little behind JMU 23-28 and CNU 23-28, but not dramatically different.
For kids wanting a small, liberal arts option SMCM 23-28 = UMW 22-29.
The only real niche that MD can't match is W&M, but that is a pretty unique school that no other state can really match.

Way off. USN&WR has rated UVA no 2, 3 or 4 best public university in America for the last 27 years. UMCP is 24. https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/top-public

UMD is ranked similar to VT. UVA is 4, W & M is 12. And I think this is all BS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Popcorn time!

This will get heated fast. I think in general there seems to be a slight majothat feel that while both states have great flagship schools in UVA and UMD, Virginia do had lots of other really high quality options of state schools of various sizes and strengths than MD, making VA the wiser choice.

UMD is not “great” by any measure. Mediocre-plus, at best. That said, Hogan is running circles around Old Ralph.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UVA and WM are are pretty expensive for instate

So?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Popcorn time!

This will get heated fast. I think in general there seems to be a slight majothat feel that while both states have great flagship schools in UVA and UMD, Virginia do had lots of other really high quality options of state schools of various sizes and strengths than MD, making VA the wiser choice.

UMD is not “great” by any measure. Mediocre-plus, at best. That said, Hogan is running circles around Old Ralph.

It’s ranked #10 for Comp Sci.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Va is a huge state and UVA is a very small flagship.

MD a smaller state and college park is much larger.


Are you really going to pick a place to live based on Towson, Vatechh, umbc, jmu????

Virginia has 8.5 million people, and Maryland has 6 million. Neither is a "huge" state.

California has 39.5 million peopple. Texas has 29 million. Those are huge states.

Compared to the number of college offerings. Really you want to compare VA to Texas and California offerings because VA hardly even has colleges compared to those 2.

VA has 8.5 million people and UVA is much smaller than UMCP.

You are going to choose where to live on the off chance your kid goes to UVA and then what... you lived there for JMU, it does not make sense.

UVA really needs to expand, it only stays small to keep their ranking higher. It's pathetic and they were sued and lost 10 years ago for not offering enough spots in college to in state students.

[Anonymous]

I gotta be honest, almost nobody outside of Virginia has heard of W&M. I'm a professor who lives in the DC area and even a few years after I moved here I thought it was either some kind of weird hippy school or a catholic school. I finally figured out it was part of the public system and an actual normal university only after being a VA resident for five years. I've been at top universities in the northeast, south, and now here, and know hundreds of academics. I have never heard a single one even mention W&M. I doubt most faculty even know it is a school. That's NOT to say that it might not be a good school. But a lot of getting jobs is about name recognition. Most employers in LA, Atlanta, Austin, NYC has probably never heard of the school. In addition, a quick googling of the faculty salaries shows that it does not pay competitively to attract top faculty. Some may be there for location preference but I can't imagine any top people in their field choosing to take a 33% salary cut to go there unless they were desperate