PLEASE NOTE THAT STATS AND OTHER INFO POSTED IN THE FOLLOWING THREADS ARE OLD/OUTDATED, WHICH IS PART OF WHY THE THREADS ARE CLOSED - THEY ARE OLD.
I am posting these threads ONLY because they are a good background reference. You need to read through all the comments to get answers to some questions you may have. I really have nothing new to add to them as my son graduated several years ago.
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/university-maryland-college-park/2123727-the-value-and-prestige-of-living-learning-programs.html#latest
For @Cheeryred300
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/university-maryland-college-park/1743639-things-to-love-about-maryland-p1.html
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-maryland-college-park/1481313-help-with-decision-for-engineering-major-p1.html
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-maryland-college-park/1609435-how-is-umds-engineering-program-p1.html
Hope these help, for what they are worth. Unfortunately, I really have nothing new to add (my son graduated several years ago).
Please know that as stressful as it is to decide which school is the best one for you/your student, there really is no wrong answer. I love Maryland (both from alum perspective and former parent perspective), so my answer will most always be Maryland is the best!!! I wholeheartedly encourage you to visit, and see for yourself.
At the end of the day, go with you gut choice, not what others tell you. What matters most is not where you go to school, but what you do when you get there.
Best of luck in the decision process. It’s an exciting time!
One other thread to help shed some light on the whole honors/scholars confusion:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/university-maryland-college-park/1857311-college-park-scholars-v-honors-college-info-discussion-p1.html
For all these closed threads, please start with post #1 to get the most info and ensuing Q & A. Note that in this thread I reference a guesstimate of average stats for honors v scholars, which I must caution was more accurate when my son matriculated (undergrad class 2016). In the past couple of years, I have seen extremely impressive stats across the board in scholars, honors, and FIRE, (which is a newer program that was added to the mix) of special and living-learning community programs.
For some info about merit aid, take note of post #48 on the above thread. Bear in mind that Maryland is PUBLIC state school and does not have the same ability to offer the impressive merit scholarships that PRIVATE institutions can. They have a limited amount of funding and LOTS of students that have merit-worthy stats. Please don’t get hopes up for merit awards that are significant enough to make an easy decision in Maryland’s favor. That doesn’t happen for the majority of students, no matter how impressive stats are.
It’s crazy how much more my son was offered by private schools than he was by Maryland. As an OOS student, it was an even tougher pill to swallow. However, Maryland was the right fit by far, and we have zero regrets about the decision. If your decision about Maryland is dependent solely upon merit awards, then I would seriously evaluate personal finances now and have that family discussion before merit awards come out. There is NO rhyme or reason that anyone can reverse engineer to understand why some students get merit awards and others (with higher or identical stats even) don’t. Remember that no one on this thread is privy to anyone’s full application (including essays, letters of recommendation, etc). People only post a snapshot of “stats,” this thread gives info on only a small fraction of all the students that have applied, and Maryland’s decisions are indeed holistic.