Anonymous
11/27/2025 09:15
Subject: UMW or St. Mary's MD?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Commute from where? St. Mary's is a rural residential college. OP should ignore the daft PP.Anonymous wrote:St Mary's is a tiny school. I suspect it was a commuter school. We did a virtual meeting with an admissions counselor and weren't impressed with their offerings at all nor her answers to basic questions, for the ones she could anwser. If you want small, it may be ok but its tiny.
They said it looked like it WAS a commuter school, not IS a commuter school.
Huh? What does that even mean? The person “suspected” SMCM was a commuter school (apparently based on a virtual admissions event) and other posters have made pretty clear it isn’t.
Anonymous
11/27/2025 09:04
Subject: UMW or St. Mary's MD?
Anonymous wrote:Commute from where? St. Mary's is a rural residential college. OP should ignore the daft PP.Anonymous wrote:St Mary's is a tiny school. I suspect it was a commuter school. We did a virtual meeting with an admissions counselor and weren't impressed with their offerings at all nor her answers to basic questions, for the ones she could anwser. If you want small, it may be ok but its tiny.
They said it looked like it WAS a commuter school, not IS a commuter school.
Anonymous
11/27/2025 08:01
Subject: UMW or St. Mary's MD?
DD applied to both. We're in state for UMW. Liked that UMW had more near campus, walkable to a cute downtown area. Has a pretty big environmental department (her priority). SMCM being on the water was appealing and it's also good for ES but she didn't like that you'd have to drive to do anything off campus (she wouldn't have a car).
Cost after merit was cheapest at UMW ($17k) vs about $30k at SMCM (merit made it similar to other VA in state schools and LACs where she got merit)
Ultimately went to a different LAC.
Cost after merit was cheapest at UMW ($17k) vs about $30k at SMCM (merit made it similar to other VA in state schools and LACs where she got merit)
Ultimately went to a different LAC.
Anonymous
11/27/2025 00:38
Subject: UMW or St. Mary's MD?
My MD student got enough scholarship to make UMW cheaper than SMCM. It also had better options in their major. They had really liked the St Mary’s area when we visited in the past, but when it came down to it, the campus itself just really didn’t feel right.
UMW is easily accessible from the DC area by train, and Fredericksburg has a cute, walkable downtown town. And all the usual chain shops and restaurants are a short drive/bus ride away.
Neither school is a big party campus. My kid has some friends who do go home or to visit friends at other VA campuses on weekends, but plenty who don’t.
UMW is easily accessible from the DC area by train, and Fredericksburg has a cute, walkable downtown town. And all the usual chain shops and restaurants are a short drive/bus ride away.
Neither school is a big party campus. My kid has some friends who do go home or to visit friends at other VA campuses on weekends, but plenty who don’t.