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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]"                Has St. Mary's overcome its issue with under enrollment...and did they solve it by lowering their admission standards?

Not dissing the school, I actually think it has a lot going for it. This concern, however, caused my child to go elsewhere.

Enrollment is up and average stats up also. Seems like they finally decided to start advertising. For many years they put no effort into recruitment.

It still has a loooooong way to go. I suspect at least another 10 years or so if ever.

until what? St Mary’s has always been a bit of a hidden gem and I hope it stays that way. If people are comparing it to ultra selective LACs, no it is probably not going to get there ever and I think most ego alumni and current students would prefer to keep it that way. So many small LACs are struggling with enrollment right now and St Mary’s is doing better than many of them.

not a hidden gem... just a hidden"

If you think SMCM should be W&M or W&L, you would call it "a hidden".

[b]At #95 National LAC, SMCM doesn't try to compete with the top private LACs, but it is solidly into the category of NATIONAL LAC.

SMCM is trying to meet a need to allow almost all students from MD a chance at a LAC education at a more than reasonable price.

They aren't trying to climb the rankings or entrap students who would be fine in the "city" that is UMD, they just want to do enough advertising so that they get the thoughtful/intellectual MD students they want.[/b]

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Agree with this. I’m the parent with a kid at UMD and another at St. Mary’s who posted way back on page 10:
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/135/784622.page

As happy as I am that they both are attending schools that are a good match (and that our family can afford!), I am especially pleased with my DC’s experience at St. Mary’s. I’m grateful that Maryland has a PUBLIC liberal arts college that is as good as or better than many much more expensive private colleges. I am an unapologetic booster of St. Mary’s because I have seen how much he has thrived there.

St. Mary’s is one of those schools that walks a fine line between being academically rigorous without having a competitive and stressful culture. My guess is that the relatively high admission rate keeps away those students who care more about prestige or bragging rights. As the admission rate starts to drop, I hope that the school does not begin to attract a different type of student.

And I do think that St. Mary’s will become more selective now that it is getting the word out and making so many improvements. It has so much going for it – location, happy students, small classes, affordability – that it is inevitable that they l will keep receiving more applications. Our youngest is still several years away from having to think about college admissions but I think he will be a great fit for St. Mary’s. I just hope that St. Mary’s doesn’t get too competitive before then. 
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