So currently, I’ve been offered admission to both UVa and UMD (also UCLA and UCSD but… cost). My intended field of study is Bioinformatics or computational bio, which means that I’ll probably dual major in Biology and Computer Science. I have been offered College Park Scholars for UMD, and Echols with College Science Scholars over at UVa. Maryland is in state for me, but it isn’t too big a factor, and my family is willing to move to Virginia if UVa’s programs are better. Which do you think is better for me?
If UMCP is in state for you, then I guess UVA is OOS. And if cost is a concern at UCLA and UCSD, then it will also be a concern at UVA.
Neither Echols Scholars nor College Science Scholars have tuition and fees covered. The OOS estimated cost of attendance for 2014-15 was about $57k, and will probably be higher this year. http://sfs.virginia.edu/cost/14-15
Your family would have to move to Virginia 12 months before you start college, for you to get in state privileges. See www.schev.edu (State Council of Higher Education for Virginia) for more information on establishing residency here.
I suppose your family might be able to move soon (before fall classes start), and you could possibly pay the OOS rate for your first year and then inherit their new residency starting with your second year; but I’m not sure whether that would be accepted as proof of intent to remain in Virginia permanently. You’d best check with UVA Student Financial Services to get a definitive answer to that; it may be that you’d have to pay the OOS rate all four years if they think your family moved only for the tuition benefit (for example, your parents remain in the same jobs). They (intentionally) make it difficult to establish Virginia residency.
Alright, I’ll contact them about that. But assuming I’m able to get in state status from soph year forward, do you think UVa would give me a significantly better education/experience compared to Maryland?
Given the scholars programs you are offered at each school, and given the high quality of Computer Science at Maryland, I think UVA might be a better education and experience for most, but not significantly better for you. In a different major, or not selected as a scholar, I might think differently.
If the costs are close enough to each other I’d go with UVA, but that’s a pretty big “if”.
I think the key here might be to think about what you might want to see yourself doing after graduation. If you’d like to set yourself up for a job in the tech industry or a bioinformatics firm, there probably won’t be too much of a difference between the two and I’d factor in the cost as a major tie-breaker here. if you’re interested in bioinformatics as a segue to medical school, there again wouldn’t be a ton of advantage for UVA over Maryland.
Given your interests, though, a career to work in finance-related computer programming or consulting work, UVA might have the significant edge over MD.
Does the Maryland scholarship come with any money? I know the Echols program does not (unless that has changed since I was a student).
I’d like to go to med (maybe another form of grad) school after college. But my focus would be more on the bio end, but with SIGNIFICANT usage of computers/programing.
In that case, it’s not clear that UVA would give you a very large advantage over UMD, particularly when you take into account price. Overall, UVA does have a stronger “brand” attached to it and in all probability has some companies at its OCI than does UMD (particularly for the areas I mentioned before), but that brand might be an insignificant factor (certainly will be compared to how well you do at either school).
My advice would be to go to the school that you feel would actually do better at in terms of your grades and research opportunities. If pricing is very different between the two schools (even a half scholarship at UMD versus OOS at UVA is probably looking at more than 100k) consider pocketing that and using it for graduate school instead. If you are a top performer at either college, I’d say getting your masters from a top flight grad school would be more important than having MD or VA after your B.S. on your resume.
Students need to frame their question this way: Is a degree in X from UVa worth $ Y thousand dollars more than a degree from U.Md?
Also, if you need a large amount of debt to make up the difference in price, that can really matter, particularly for those planning grad or professional school.
Im currently a business student studying MIS and Finance at UMD with UVA being my in-state school. Im going to be honest and say that going to UVA for biotech and computer related fields will not yield any significant advantage. UVA is known for business and law. Believe me when I say that it will not make that big of a difference when you come out. I am not trying to be bias towards UMD but if I were you and UMD was my in-state school, I would be happy with going to UMD.
I think I understand that these universities have similar level programs then. (If anything UMD might even be superior)
But I want to ask now how the “scholars” programs compare. UVa’s “Echols” and “College Science Scholars” is very intriguing. Can any UVa person say whether they think that these programs are worth it?
The Echols program doesn’t add much. There’s really two things: (1) housing with other Echols- which doesn’t matter one bit really (2) priority registration- but its only within your class year so it’s not very helpful.
Echols is really a name only program and really its not visible after first year. I wasn’t in CSS but I believe there is a special seminar with that but again not a game changer.
College Science Scholars is a HUGE deal. The program is extremely small and selective. Read more about his here: http://sciencescholars.clas.virginia.edu/
Have you visited UVa yet? You seem to be gathering a lot of information about many different schools on CC and a visit might really help. 
The biggest difference between UVA and UMD is that UVA is in the ACC and UMD is now in the the Big Ten.
If you can live with watching Big Ten athletics for the rest of your life than by all means to go to UMD. If you’d rather watch REAL college sports, ACC athletics, go to UVA.
Other than that the schools are pretty similar. You should probably save your $ by going to UMD.
-A UVA alum
@“Dean J” I just wanted to know about the school as much as possible, thank you for the help! I have visited Charlottesville a couple times, and will attend DotL next week. I have also signed up for an overnight the night before, but have yet to receive any confirmation.
In terms of my history here on CC, my broad net of questions may be a bit misleading. Right now, I am more or less set with either my state flagship Maryland or the ever more attractive UVa. The others are expensive/far, waitlists, or old posts that were about schools I ended up being rejected from.
I hope you are kidding about moving to Virginia? Not worth it.
Why not? I live in Maryland close to there and our current apartment isn’t anything sentimental