<p>With just about 2 weeks to the May 1 decision date I thought I would start a thread again this year for students/parents to indicate the reasons why the student decided to attend UD instead of other schools; and if not UD, why they elected to attend another school rather than UD. This info might also be of some benefit to others still on the fence about where to attend. Anybody wish to share?</p>
<p>My d chose to attend. She fell in love with the school the first time she visited in April of Junior year. She thought the population was the perfect size. Not as big as some State flagships, but not so small as to be boring over 4 years. She thought the campus was beautiful, and the layout perfect. She spent a night in a dorm, went to a greek party, and really liked the kids. As she is undeclared, I can not offer reasons as far as major pursuit.
MY d, and I must agree, also liked the proximity to many large cities. As a west coast girl, she likes that she can get from NY to DC with ease. Lastly, the winters in delaware are a bit better than some other midwest and northeast schools she considered.D2 visited 12 schools, the moment she walked on the campus, she said Del was her first choice. It did not change.
We look forward to the next four years at U Del.</p>
<p>My DD is a sophomore at UD. She liked a lot of the same things as socaldad’s DD.</p>
<ul>
<li>beautiful campus, great layout, loved Main St. and all it has to offer</li>
<li>happiest student body we saw at any campus (and we went to many!)</li>
<li>as she was undecided when she entered, she liked the various options for majors - and it has a lot of majors that you don’t see at any other schools</li>
<li>study abroad opportunities, especially winter session (she already went in January this year)</li>
<li>suburban location, proximity to east coast cities, ease of transportation home (Long Island)</li>
<li>size of school- not too big, not too small</li>
<li>better weather than the northeast</li>
<li>right amount of school spirit, Greek option, Jewish opportunities</li>
</ul>
<p>The first time we were there was February of her junior year of HS. We had already seen so many college. But this was different. She looked at me and said, “Mom, do you think I can get in here?” I knew she was hooked.</p>
<p>I cant believe she is almost halfway done. She invited me to a sorority luncheon next weekend and I am looking forward to being back on campus!</p>
<p>My son decided not to attend Udel. It was a tough decision for him, since he had identified Delaware as his top choice years ago. As a junior, Delaware was the first school he visited, and he fell in love with it…the campus, the town, the size, etc. etc. He visited many other schools after that, and thought that some schools had a lot of opportunities for him, but still kept Delaware as his top school. He revisited Udel, and while he still liked it, he wasn’t as much in love with the school as he thought. He applied to 12 schools, and was accepted by 10. He immediately narrowed the list to 4. We went back to each of the four schools for their Accepted Student Program, and he narrowed it down to 2…Udel and Penn State. </p>
<p>Although they are quite different in size, he felt at home at both, although he was leaning towards Penn State. The Accepted Student Program at PSU wowed him. As an undecided student, our meeting was conducted by the DUS (their undecided program), and they were thorough in their presentation, explaining that they work with each student individually for several hours during the “advising and registration” to ensure that classes aren’t taken randomly, and that each class has a purpose towards earning a degree. Each department followed with an indepth presentation on housing, dining, security, financial aid, etc. etc. The day was flawless. Udel on the on other hand, had a useless Accepted student program that was conducted by 2 students that basically covered everything we knew from our previous two visits. They showed us two dorms, one in Russell and one in Harrington, but we later found out that Russell is only for Honor students, and that only 25% of the freshman end up in Harrington. When asked where the other 75% go, we were told that they are in Rodney or Dickinson. Since this was our third trip and we hadn’t seen either one, we took a walk over…over the railroad tracks. Rodney and Dickenson have the railroad in their backyard. We called Housing to ask a question and were told that Rodney is being knocked down after this year (new freshman dorms are being built for Fall 2013), and Dickinson is being converted to office space. Since college is more than selecting a dorm, this didn’t weigh heavily in his final decision.</p>
<p>What did weigh heavily in his final decision…he felt that Penn State “won” with a better advising team, strong academics, active alumni association which helps secure internships, strong history of getting a job upon graduation, and school spirit. This was the toughest decision he has had to make, and I am sure he will always wonder what Udel would have been like. I think that either school would have worked for him.</p>
<p>Good luck to all.</p>
<p>My D chose (today!) to attend UD. She got a good vibe there on her first visit after Junior year in HS, but was undecided due to some very good offers at other great schools. After her Decision Day visit she was convinced. I believe the factor that clinched it was the Q and A session with other honors students. She said they just semed so enthusiastic and positive about the program that she felt confident she would enjoy living and studying with them. Other factors were UD’s beautiful and easily accessible campus, their encouragement of study abroad and service learning, their facilitation of multiple majors and minors, the “right size” feeling, and the consisitently positive reports of current students and alumni.Let’s hope it lives up to her expectations!</p>
<p>After an agonizing week of comparing the pros and cons of UD and Rensselaer Polytechnic, my daughter just picked the Honors Program at UD as her home for the next four years.</p>
<p>Rensselaer has a well-established and respected biomedical engineering program while UD’s program is in it’s infancy. She took a leap of faith that UD’s program will be ABET-accredited in 2014 and that grad schools will look favorably on the program based on UD’s engineering reputation.</p>
<p>The Honors Program, the beautiful campus, Main Street, and opportunities for undergraduate research were all factors in her decision. Opportunities for continuing her dance activities, winter session study abroad and language classes were also important.</p>
<p>I think she made an excellent decision!</p>
<p>MY son can’t decide between UConn and UDEL.<br>
Facts: Business Major
Very involved in sports
From NYC
My feeling is that UConn might be better academically, but UDel socially. Uconn is 80%in State while UDel is only 35%.
Both campuses are beautiful
Any thoughts?</p>
<p>I had the same problem. I narrowed my choices to Udel, UConn, and Penn State. I went back to each school, set in on classes, met with different depts (academic, housing, dining), and walked the entire campus. I saw everything. After all that, I chose Penn State. If I had to choose between Udel and Uconn, I don’t know what I would have done. Unless you are an honors student at Udel, you might be better going to UConn. I’m going in undecided, so I had to decide you had the best advising dept. Check to see who has the best program for your major.</p>
<p>Actually UConn and UD are on a par academically overall. UD’s Business School is very good (It is steadily improving in reputation with the relatively new President at UD being the Dean of the Wharton School at Penn before he came to UD). From past years this decision between these two schools has been a common one for many students. Sports at both schools are big but UConn (at least for Football) is at a higher level of competition. But UD’s football team is frequently in the hunt for the FCS level championship. Intramural sports are very big at UD. The overall campus environment and local town area are IMO much nicer at UD. You can’t go wrong with either school from an academic perspective. Socially IMO UD gets the nod. Others may have different perspectives. Best of luck to your son in his decision.</p>
<p>My D also narrowed her choices to Penn St and UD. Her brother graduated from UD and she did the tour as a sophmore certain until this past fall that UD was “her” school. After looking at her planned major at both schools she decided that Penn St was the best option for her. She was also very impressed with THON, the alumni network, Penn State’s grad school for her major. Both schools are wonderful and I think you would be happy at either.</p>
<p>My son had the UD/UConn decision to make 2 years ago. He opted for UD because, among other things, he felt UConn was very isolated. There was no easy way to get anywhere without a car, whereas there’s an Amtrak/commuter rail station at UD. </p>
<p>He also, and this is a completely subjective POV, felt, after a full day at each school spent with students, going to classes, lunch, etc. that the kids at UD seemed happier than the kids at UConn. As we left UConn, he said “No one was smiling. Everyone at UD was smiling.” Of course this is an exaggeration, but it was the vibe he got.</p>
<p>UD isn’t accredited?</p>
<p>We also felt as though students at UD appeared happy. How accessible do you or anyone out there feel the profs are?</p>
<p>UD is 60% in state, at least that’s what they said in the parents forum on decision day</p>
<p>The earlier poster (Fauster) was referring just to the biomedical engineering program at UD, which is a relatively new engineering program. All the other major engineering programs at UD are ABET accredited, and have been for some time.</p>
<p>My D was a student at UD for 4 years. It was her experience that, as a general rule, professors were highly accessible with most all of them having office hours available to students in their classes. In fact in a number of her classes her professors repeatedly would make students aware that this help was available. My D also communicated via e-mail as well with many of her professors and usually got prompt responses. She only had one professor in her 4 years whom she felt was not very accessible. I suspect most all major universities have some professors who are not accessible but overall I don’t feel this a significant issue at UD. IMO this high professor availability is a factor which contributes to the sense of elan that tends to permeate the campus and student body at UD.</p>
<p>Almost two-thirds of the student body at UD is made up of OOS students. This really gives UD the feel more of a private university than a public one. Perhaps you misunderstood what was being said.</p>
<p>You can see statistics for the IS/OOS population at UD at this link [Where</a> Does Your Freshman Class Come From? - Facts & Figures - The Chronicle of Higher Education](<a href=“http://chronicle.com/article/Interactive-Freshman-Class/129547/#id=130943]Where”>http://chronicle.com/article/Interactive-Freshman-Class/129547/#id=130943)</p>
<p>UConn stats here <a href=“http://chronicle.com/article/Interactive-Freshman-Class/129547/#id=129020[/url]”>http://chronicle.com/article/Interactive-Freshman-Class/129547/#id=129020</a></p>
<p>On our tour, our guide mentioned that most of the OOS come from New Jersey. So much so, that some people call it the second College of New Jersey. LOL.</p>
<p>OOS, yes, but largely from NJ, PA and MD. You will see this in the stats and my D says it really feels like that as well. So, largely OOS, but still relatively “local.” Fewer students from places further away (and many of those come on generous merit scholarships) and very few students from urban backgrounds. The school has a very white, upper middle class feel to it - which is probably not ideal in terms of preparing students for their adult lives and relationships, but is also typical for many similar schools.</p>
<p>I noticed that over the last few years, Udel has stepped up their recruiting on the west coast. Have a california admission rep. This year I know of more students going there from Southern Ca. I hear they will have more ca. kids than years past. That doesn’t change the primary demo make up on the link above. Thought I would share my perspective.</p>
<p>The midweek midsummer orientation day speaks to the fact that many students do not travel a great distance. I spoke to a rep for quite a while at the admitted students event on how this is logistically difficult for those coming from a distance, but he didn’t seem to care. He said international students have orientation right before classes start.</p>
<p>My D decided against UD. Although it was high on her list for some time and the honors perks and merit were tempting, the lack of a coop program and much vaguer answers about internship and job placements tipped the scales. And no one from career services would meet with us the day before the program. The person who answered out request was “out of town”</p>
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<p>Am I being overly sensitive to find this slightly insulting? I was OOS but not from MD/PA/NJ and def not upper middle class and from a more rural area. I don’t seem to find any of my friends from UD struggling in the urban areas where they work or with people who are different from them in some way.</p>