Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Finding a University in DC area

HI, I went to Uni in the Dc area. I don't know where you will live but basically you can go to school in DC, VA or MD. In DC you have George Washington Univ, American and Georgetown (there are others but I personally don't like them that much). From the 3 above my favorite is Georgetown-- beautiful campus and well regarded. In VA you have Virginia Tech (far), George Mason. Again, personally I am not fond of Marymount but that maybe just a personal bias. In Maryland you have University of Maryland at College Park or University Maryland University College. Do not forget you also have the Community Colleges at both VA and MD they have lower fees and less presssure to perform. This may give your daugther something to do, and then she can transfer credits later to the institution that she really wants. Check Montgomery College. There is another in VA-- right now I forget the name.

community college in northern virginia is called NOVA, they are flexible on age, from what we have read.

George Mason University is well regarded, less expensive and has several campuses from close in to d.c. to further out in manassas, va. a lot of info online at the gmu site for international students: http://oips.gmu.edu/

Thanks for the local knowledge bina and a good idea about transferring community college credits. I was also looking at online courses to give her some options if she has to wait to enter Uni.

Thanks for the ideas and the link Chris. I am following all leads.

We re lucky that we have choice in where we live....to a degree. Not having to choose for a school district and then a Uni will make it easier.

Another thought: could she start an IB program in Australia now and finish it at a public high school, thus giving her a recognized qualification for application to regular four year colleges at the age of 17 or so? I know that one of the problems is the mismatching academic calendars, but you were planning to take a semester off for the move anyway, right?
Community college for two years and then transfer to a four year college at the age of 19 or so sounds like an interesting option, too - again a way to give her qualifications US colleges are familiar with. I'd worrying a bit about finding the right sort of challenge.

Thanks Tigerle. It's so lovely that you and others have been giving this some thought as it really helps when I feel a bit swamped by the options and logistics.

I actually looked at the option of starting the IB program now but there isn't a school near us with the program. I even considered sending DD to a boarding school or to live with relatives but DD wasn't keen. I also have a small concern with the IB that it is better for students who are good with humanities. That's just my reading of it from the research I have done. DD is currently stronger in science and Maths and finally has reached a point in school where she can play to those strengths. Because of a couple of challenges, a heavy reading/writing load wouldn't be great.

I was looking through bina and Chris's suggestions. University Maryland University College has online programs with three sessions so she might be able to do some online courses before starting at a bricks and mortar Uni in the Fall of 2017.

DD just went away on a retreat with her year 11 classmates for three days. She was anxious about it but it went well and she feels happy about the year. Apart from being exhausted due to lack of sleep she is very positive about her schooling currently. I am reluctant to disturb that with yet another move before graduation so I think I will leave her where she is unless it goes pear shaped.

I have started my spreadsheet with all options. It is growing daily.

A couple of comments on this idea:

My experience via my eldest and online courses can be summed up as caveat emptor. Be very careful. They tend to rely on multiple choice tests with questions about factoids. The questions can be badly written or deliberately written in a way that makes the question difficult to interpret. Instructor time can be minimal or non-existent. This problem is just as bad in the sciences and maths as in the humanities.

In addition, US colleges and universities have two basic routes for admission: as a first-year student ("freshman") or as a transfer student ("sophomore" or second year or higher). It's much easier (possibly much, much easier depending on the institution) to gain admission as a first-year student.

This is important: if a student takes college-level courses AFTER getting a high school diploma or its equivalent, she will most likely have to apply as a transfer student. I strongly suggest that you or your daughter check the policies at the colleges/unis you're checking before enrolling in an online course.

Other points:

US universities tend to distinguish between applicants aged 17+ and 16-. They see 17-year-olds as being basically adults like 18-year-olds. This is not the case for the 16-crowd, who are basically children in the eyes of the university. You have to fill out special forms giving your child permission to go to the university, and if you don't get all the forms filled out, the student's file won't be complete and the admissions people won't consider it. This requirement may not necessarily be spelled out up front. We have other members here who know more about this topic than I do.

You may also wish to read about problematic trends at US colleges and universities. This article in the New York Times is an excellent description of the problem.

Be aware also that many professors use online homework systems (don't know how popular these are in Australia). They can be frustrating in the extreme, because you have to format your answer in a way that the software likes (and the software isn't always clear about its expectations). Online homework systems can also mean that a human will never look at the student's work and comment on it. I now tell my son to avoid these systems whenever possible, and he agrees completely. This means checking up each course before signing up for it.

How long will you be in the United States? If you'll be here for <5 years, will you have transfer options back into the Australian education system?

Finally, how much of this legwork is your daughter doing? My son is 14 and in 11th grade and is doing 90%+ of this work himself. IMO, this is really something the student should be doing. We talk to him, but he goes to the college fairs himself, and he explores colleges online himself.

We are many years from college decisions so I have little to add. But here is one important point re larger schools: to avoid huge freshman/sophomore classes, look for schools that have honors and "majors only" classes. We visited a large public university's open house this weekend (my alma mater) and I was reminded that my freshman classes were all very small because I took only honors and (chemistry) majors-only classes. They still have this school-within-a-school option and it provides an awesome best of both worlds experience.

I've heard good things about George Washington University lately, but not enough to be able to tell you anything besides it might be worth looking into. I think it may be a pretty large public university so it might not be a good fit.

George Mason University is a well-regarded university in many fields of study.

It is a private university.

Thanks Val. All good points. My DD has been doing the legwork on local options but since this possibility was raised I am doing the prelim research. As we have discovered there are complex issues involved beyond choosing a course and a school and I need to know what those issues are. Once I have a handle on the options then DD will know what to look for. There are also issues that impact on the whole family such as cost and living zones which are factored in to everything. I have a little more time and access to resources such as this board so I am happy to get the early work done. I know she is quite capable of doing the research as she expressed interest in MIT last year and knew all about what was required.

It is interesting suevv that some Australian Unis are adopting the Honours college concept. I have looked at which Unis might offer such programs and the entry requirements.