<p>to go to UMD.</p>
<p>Looking at options for son for Engineering.</p>
<p>My son was accepted at Drexel, VA Tech, UMBC and Colorado School of Mines. He chose MD. He’s very happy there. He’s especially impressed with the R@M (Robotics @ Maryland) Robotics Team.</p>
<p>Our DS is not engineering, but govt and politics. He turned down, AFA, NYU, UMiami, UPenn, UNCCH, and would have turned down ND, but was waitlisted. He loves it, but hates it right now (ticked at the football team :D:D:D:D) oh well maybe he’ll be happier during bball season ;)</p>
<p>I applied as an Engineering student (but switched to English after a semester). Turned down Stanford, Pitt, Santa Clara, Villanova, and USC.</p>
<p>^ I looked up some of your old threads, and apparently you got a major scholarship. Are you happy with the decision?</p>
<p>I’m now three weeks into my senior year at Maryland, and I am extremely happy with my decision. I know that I could have succeeded and grown into myself at any of the universities I had wanted to attend, but Maryland has given me opportunities that I probably could not have gotten at any other school. Also, the freedom that comes with receiving a full scholarship (I received the full COA Banneker/Key award) has allowed me to take chances and do things like study abroad that I might not have taken if I had to pay full freight at a private or out of state school.</p>
<p>If you want me to go into more detail about what particular things have made my experience at Maryland really unique, send me a PM or read my old threads. :)</p>
<p>Congrats on your sr yr…remember to take some time to indulge yourself while you prepare for the real world!</p>
<p>Who said anything about the real world? I’m planning on teaching abroad for a year in Spain (Fulbright or a grant from the Spanish govt…fingers crossed) and then going to graduate school for applied linguistics/TESOL. Applications are a pain, especially since I’m applying to almost twice as many graduate schools as I did undergrad institutions.</p>
<p>Out of anyone, you don’t need to tell me to indulge myself 
I’m taking tango classes once a week and organizing beginner lessons/practices twice a week.</p>
<p>Villanova, UNC, Pitt, JMU, and if this matters I was waitlisted at UVA and Davidson. And I was applying as a math major, now i’m a business major with math minor</p>
<p>somebodynew, what made you change from engineering? Hopefully not because of the program there :)</p>
<p>D1: UNC-CH, Williams, Boston U…she was waitlisted at MIT and has been infinitely glad that she did not get accepted there. She loves UMD.</p>
<p>D2: UNC-CH (only applied because we “made” her). She knew she wanted to go to UMD since Thanksgiving of her Jr. year (first time sister came home to visit and begun her focused campaign to get little sister to College Park)!!!</p>
<p>Astro…your DD is too pretty to be at MIT 
…nobody scream at me that my comment was rude, it is all in fun!</p>
<p>I switched from Engineering because it definitely was not me. I came into college loving both the sciences and English. I went took the intro to engineering class, which made it clear to me that engineering was not my destined profession. The program here is very good, but you have to “want it,” that is, you have to know that engineering is for you.</p>
<p>D turned down Yale, Duke, UVA, William & Mary, Hopkins. Waitlisted at Penn (her first choice); not accepted at Harvard. Was excited about majoring in history at Yale, but no financial aid was offered. Decided that being burdened with $200K debt at graduation was not an attractive proposition. Decision to attend UMD turned out fine - she double majored in Govt & Politics and Accounting. Turned out that she loved accounting (Yale doesn’t have accounting), and she is now working for one of the Big 4. </p>
<p>S is in his 3rd year at UMD. He turned down Duke and Hopkins, and was waitlisted at MIT. He wasn’t that attracted to Duke or Hopkins…parents insisted that he apply to more than 2 schools. He is happy with his decision to attend UMD, as many of his friends (and current roommates) are alo Terps. He is a Computer Engineering major.</p>
<p>Mom & Dad are happy with their decisions too. They both received the full Banneker-Key scholarships and Maryland Distinguished Scholar awards, so their decisions helped out financially too. None of us has regrets about these decisions. I believe our children are learning as much (or even more) as students at other “prestigious” schools. When I compare some of their class materials with what I remember from my days at UC Berkeley, I am impressed. UMD has come a long way, and it continues to improve.</p>
<p>I agree, UMD has really come a long way in the past 2 decades (when Bullet grad) I think a lot has to do with the allure of their LEPs. Many kids enjoy the fact that at an early start they have smaller class sizes, but yet the big school feel.</p>
<p>I think the biggest complaint that turns students off from UMD, is housing. Very frightening that they are still the same 20 yrs later, while other colleges have converted 90% of their dorms into suites with AC, we still have too small of dorms, small amenities, no AC and pay a hell of a lot for them, while being told don’t even think about getting a dorm for your last 2 yrs.</p>
<p>The building of new dorms is great, but they need to step it up.</p>
<p>Lafayette, Case Western, Wash U, RPI, Rutgers, Stevens, Carnegie Mellon and Cornell. (I was also rejected at Olin College of Engineering and MIT, in case it matters.) I came to UMD because of scholarship. 200K in debt didn’t appeal to me either. I don’t regret it for a second. UMD has presented me with many opportunities that other schools might not have. Not only does it have a great location with respect to DC, but there are so many smaller more tailored programs here.</p>
<p>Also, the engineering program at UMD is great. I do agree with somebodynew, though. You have to know that engineering is for you. I love engineering, so it’s worked out great for me, but students who are in it for anything other than because they enjoy being there will not do well, no matter how smart they are.</p>