My son and I traveled from Baltimore to UMaine to attend the accepted students day in March 2019. UMaine has been my sons top choice all along and this was our first visit to campus (no pressure or anything!). We arrived late the night before and we so excited the morning of the event to arrive on campus. We were impressed from the get-go! Directional signs on campus helped us find the spacious parking lot, enthusiastic students greeted us a the entrance to the Arts Center, easy check-in, then directed to a large alcove for my son’s intended college - Natural Science, Forestry, and Ag. Inside the open-air alcove, we found hot drinks, pastries, goodie bags, maps and brochures, free school gear (shirts, socks, and hats). We browsed around a bit, then took our seats in the auditorium. The presentation lasted about an hour and included a film, musical performance, two engaged speakers, and a student speaker - all were great! The large audience was then divided up into smaller groups by major and we filed along with the other marine bio majors upstairs to a smaller conference room. Here, families self-seated around tables and at each table was an upper-class student who spent the next 30-40 minutes answering student and parent questions. This was a great format for my son who would never ask questions in a large group and we got to meet 2 other families attending the event. After this, all the families were invited to a tour at the Aquaculture Research Center, which was very interesting (touch tank!)
My son and I took a break and had lunch at the Bear’s Den in the Student Union (delicious) and shopped at the school store for more Maine gear. Sidenote: this is the first school we visited that my son wanted to buy a sweatshirt, so I was starting to think he was liking UMaine! After stowing our purchases in the car, we joined a campus tour. Our guide was Daniela, a bright engineering student and had the standard tour. Although the campus was covered with lots of snow, all the walkways were cleared and everything was accessible. We visited the library, academic buildings, student rec center, dorm room, etc. After the tour, we hit the Honors College presentation and tour. We left the campus with very positive feelings and we both felt like it would be a good home for the next four years. Go Black Bears!
