George Mason as alternative to UMD for Marylanders

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is considering GMU as a safety to UMD as he preferred some of their programs and location over UMBC or Towson. Have any other MDers done this and received merit that would make it comparable to a MD in-state COA which are typically ~ $30k? Appreciate any info about your experience with the school.
TIA

A great not well know option for Marylanders is SUNY. They want more out of state students. My daughter got accepted SUNY Binghamton and they offered her none of this Merit Aid of Financial Aid nonsense that comes with tricks. They offered her straight up pay instate tuition all four years. That is only $10,363 a year.

And some of the SUNY colleges lesser than SUNY Universities guarantee instate tuition for out of state students.

Delaware and New Jersey have very limited Public Universities. So only offer merit aid. But the merit aid amount is fixed and they raise OOS tuition every year. So less valuable over time.

Just a wild thought. It is a fairly easy app as SUNY has no suplemental essays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is considering GMU as a safety to UMD as he preferred some of their programs and location over UMBC or Towson. Have any other MDers done this and received merit that would make it comparable to a MD in-state COA which are typically ~ $30k? Appreciate any info about your experience with the school.
TIA

A great not well know option for Marylanders is SUNY. They want more out of state students. My daughter got accepted SUNY Binghamton and they offered her none of this Merit Aid of Financial Aid nonsense that comes with tricks. They offered her straight up pay instate tuition all four years. That is only $10,363 a year.

And some of the SUNY colleges lesser than SUNY Universities guarantee instate tuition for out of state students.

Delaware and New Jersey have very limited Public Universities. So only offer merit aid. But the merit aid amount is fixed and they raise OOS tuition every year. So less valuable over time.

Just a wild thought. It is a fairly easy app as SUNY has no suplemental essays. [/

quote]
But then you have to go to SUNY. GMU has great internship and job placement

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What majors are well regarded at GMU?

NP but we are looking at Schar school of Policy and Govt and on paper the faculty, majors and course offerings are more interesting than those at UMD and the location is great for internships, networking etc. We are going to visit schools when we get final acceptance and merit offers so I cannot speak to the culture (or "vibe" as my kid would say). My kid is not interested in football so not sure that matters.

Same here- everything you said! I am not sure if it just how the course offerings and descriptions are laid out on the UMD vs. GMU websites but the classes look way better on the GMU website. Almost hoping kid doesnt get into UMD just because I think getting an internship will be much harder but I am purely speculating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is considering GMU as a safety to UMD as he preferred some of their programs and location over UMBC or Towson. Have any other MDers done this and received merit that would make it comparable to a MD in-state COA which are typically ~ $30k? Appreciate any info about your experience with the school.
TIA

A great not well know option for Marylanders is SUNY. They want more out of state students. My daughter got accepted SUNY Binghamton and they offered her none of this Merit Aid of Financial Aid nonsense that comes with tricks. They offered her straight up pay instate tuition all four years. That is only $10,363 a year.

And some of the SUNY colleges lesser than SUNY Universities guarantee instate tuition for out of state students.

Delaware and New Jersey have very limited Public Universities. So only offer merit aid. But the merit aid amount is fixed and they raise OOS tuition every year. So less valuable over time.

Just a wild thought. It is a fairly easy app as SUNY has no suplemental essays. [/

quote]
This is helpful - thank you! I have a younger kid is wants to leave MD and loves NY. This could be an affordable option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is considering GMU as a safety to UMD as he preferred some of their programs and location over UMBC or Towson. Have any other MDers done this and received merit that would make it comparable to a MD in-state COA which are typically ~ $30k? Appreciate any info about your experience with the school.
TIA

A great not well know option for Marylanders is SUNY. They want more out of state students. My daughter got accepted SUNY Binghamton and they offered her none of this Merit Aid of Financial Aid nonsense that comes with tricks. They offered her straight up pay instate tuition all four years. That is only $10,363 a year.

And some of the SUNY colleges lesser than SUNY Universities guarantee instate tuition for out of state students.

Delaware and New Jersey have very limited Public Universities. So only offer merit aid. But the merit aid amount is fixed and they raise OOS tuition every year. So less valuable over time.

Just a wild thought. It is a fairly easy app as SUNY has no suplemental essays.

Thanks for this- could be a great option for my younger NY-loving kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What majors are well regarded at GMU?

NP but we are looking at Schar school of Policy and Govt and on paper the faculty, majors and course offerings are more interesting than those at UMD and the location is great for internships, networking etc. We are going to visit schools when we get final acceptance and merit offers so I cannot speak to the culture (or "vibe" as my kid would say). My kid is not interested in football so not sure that matters.

Same here- everything you said! I am not sure if it just how the course offerings and descriptions are laid out on the UMD vs. GMU websites but the classes look way better on the GMU website. Almost hoping kid doesnt get into UMD just because I think getting an internship will be much harder but I am purely speculating.

Much harder at UMD??????? GMU's reputation is not on the same level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What majors are well regarded at GMU?

NP but we are looking at Schar school of Policy and Govt and on paper the faculty, majors and course offerings are more interesting than those at UMD and the location is great for internships, networking etc. We are going to visit schools when we get final acceptance and merit offers so I cannot speak to the culture (or "vibe" as my kid would say). My kid is not interested in football so not sure that matters.

Same here- everything you said! I am not sure if it just how the course offerings and descriptions are laid out on the UMD vs. GMU websites but the classes look way better on the GMU website. Almost hoping kid doesnt get into UMD just because I think getting an internship will be much harder but I am purely speculating.

Much harder at UMD??????? GMU's reputation is not on the same level.

Yes but the connected faculty and networking opportunities appear to be better at Schar vs. UMD. I think of UMD as more of a sink or swim environment. We will visit and ask specific questions but this is my impression.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What majors are well regarded at GMU?

NP but we are looking at Schar school of Policy and Govt and on paper the faculty, majors and course offerings are more interesting than those at UMD and the location is great for internships, networking etc. We are going to visit schools when we get final acceptance and merit offers so I cannot speak to the culture (or "vibe" as my kid would say). My kid is not interested in football so not sure that matters.

Same here- everything you said! I am not sure if it just how the course offerings and descriptions are laid out on the UMD vs. GMU websites but the classes look way better on the GMU website. Almost hoping kid doesnt get into UMD just because I think getting an internship will be much harder but I am purely speculating.

Much harder at UMD??????? GMU's reputation is not on the same level.

Yes but the connected faculty and networking opportunities appear to be better at Schar vs. UMD. I think of UMD as more of a sink or swim environment. We will visit and ask specific questions but this is my impression.

UMD has standards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What majors are well regarded at GMU?

NP but we are looking at Schar school of Policy and Govt and on paper the faculty, majors and course offerings are more interesting than those at UMD and the location is great for internships, networking etc. We are going to visit schools when we get final acceptance and merit offers so I cannot speak to the culture (or "vibe" as my kid would say). My kid is not interested in football so not sure that matters.

Same here- everything you said! I am not sure if it just how the course offerings and descriptions are laid out on the UMD vs. GMU websites but the classes look way better on the GMU website. Almost hoping kid doesnt get into UMD just because I think getting an internship will be much harder but I am purely speculating.

Much harder at UMD??????? GMU's reputation is not on the same level.

Yes but the connected faculty and networking opportunities appear to be better at Schar vs. UMD. I think of UMD as more of a sink or swim environment. We will visit and ask specific questions but this is my impression.

UMD has standards.

?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is considering GMU as a safety to UMD as he preferred some of their programs and location over UMBC or Towson. Have any other MDers done this and received merit that would make it comparable to a MD in-state COA which are typically ~ $30k? Appreciate any info about your experience with the school.
TIA

A great not well know option for Marylanders is SUNY. They want more out of state students. My daughter got accepted SUNY Binghamton and they offered her none of this Merit Aid of Financial Aid nonsense that comes with tricks. They offered her straight up pay instate tuition all four years. That is only $10,363 a year.

And some of the SUNY colleges lesser than SUNY Universities guarantee instate tuition for out of state students.

Delaware and New Jersey have very limited Public Universities. So only offer merit aid. But the merit aid amount is fixed and they raise OOS tuition every year. So less valuable over time.

Just a wild thought. It is a fairly easy app as SUNY has no suplemental essays.

Isn't offering in state tuition to a SUNY the same as giving some merit aid?

What were her stats to get that in state tuition at SUNY?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What majors are well regarded at GMU?

NP but we are looking at Schar school of Policy and Govt and on paper the faculty, majors and course offerings are more interesting than those at UMD and the location is great for internships, networking etc. We are going to visit schools when we get final acceptance and merit offers so I cannot speak to the culture (or "vibe" as my kid would say). My kid is not interested in football so not sure that matters.

Same here- everything you said! I am not sure if it just how the course offerings and descriptions are laid out on the UMD vs. GMU websites but the classes look way better on the GMU website. Almost hoping kid doesnt get into UMD just because I think getting an internship will be much harder but I am purely speculating.

Much harder at UMD??????? GMU's reputation is not on the same level.

Yes but the connected faculty and networking opportunities appear to be better at Schar vs. UMD. I think of UMD as more of a sink or swim environment. We will visit and ask specific questions but this is my impression.

Why would internships be harder from UMD over GMU? What makes the networking opportunities at GMU better than UMD?

Genuinely asking because I have one kid at UMD (who has an internship this summer) and another kid looking at GMU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Townson is in state and if you live in Maryland a way shorter commute to pick up and drop off kid.

If price a issue and want to stay close look at Loyola my daughters good friend has medical issues where she needs to see a doctor a lot and lives in Bethesda. She wanted a school not that far away she could live on campus and her budget was only the MD in state rate. That was what her parents agreed to pay.

She was suprised when she got accepted to both Towson and Loyola that with merit aid Loyola tuition was lower than Towson. She also applied JMU but even with merit aid it could not beat Loyola offering below in state tuition.

So on the second tier schools Loyola for folks wanting to stay close is a great option. She did not want to apply, but my older daughter got a 100k merit offer from their (25 a year four years) and when we talked to school cause on fence they liked my daughter and threw in an extra 1K a year and said that was it. So 104K off tuition! She still turned it down the stinker.

My DC is looking at Loyola, too, but even with $25k/yr merit, it's much more expensive than Towson, though cheaper than GMU oos without merit. The current COA for Loyola is knocking on $80k/.

Loyola is also so different from the other two. It's a tiny college.

Just want to provide an update to this thread. This week DS received $20k/yr merit from GMU and $40k/yr from Loyola bringing both very close to instate UMD (under $40k). We will visit all after we hear from UMD but excited to have options that are affordable for us albeit very different schools.

PP here.. that is awesome. Can I ask what the stats were? We would also need merit.

Sure- Poli Sci/International Relations major
UW 3.85/ W 4.67 MCPS
12 APs
SAT 1330 did not send to UMD but sent everywhere else

also received :
$16k at U of AZ honors (think we missed $20k by a fraction of a point); ruling this one due to recent cuts to program and cost/travel
$20k Mich State- JMC & honors college (considering)
Loyola and GMU both honors college (considering)

waiting on a few others outside of UMD but overall relieved to have some options we can afford other than UMBC/Towson/SMCM. I was fine with those but kid was less enthusiastic..

congrats. That's amazing. We would be super happy if DC got that. But, I don't think their GPA will be as high (getting a C in AP stem class), but mostly As and a few Bs. Waiting for SAT score tomorrow. 🤞

[Anonymous]

For Government, compare faculty, curriculum, and courses between GMU Schar and UMCP and wherever else. Draw your own conclusions. Apply to whichever you think is best fit for the student.

No need for a food fight, folks.

[Anonymous]

There should be no question between a triple digit school and a t50-60 school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There should be no question between a triple digit school and a t50-60 school.

In general yes, but it would also depend on the major. But for PoliSci, UMD > GMU. I know someone who got full ride at GMU but chose UMD in state for PoliSci.