<p>I would say Penn State has a slightly better overall reputation. With such a huge alumni base it does very well in job placement. However, each school has better merits for different areas of study. Maryland seems to be viewed as a better school in the liberal arts department. Penn State seems to be viewed slightly higher in business, engineering, and premed. I do not know anyone who graduated from UMD. However, everyone I know who graduated from Penn State has had great success. </p>
<p>I think when it comes down to UMD and Penn, it also comes down to the fact that many Penn applicants don’t get into College Station as a fresh…so if you want the campus life of football and basketball games like UMD you will have to put it on hold if you are admitted to a sattelite campuse. UNC has the same system as Penn with Wilmington, Greensboro, Asheville and Chapel Hill. Many kids in NC elect to go to NCST or ECU instead.</p>
<p>AS far as not knowing successful people from UMD I think that is something nobody can judge…Bullet graduated from UMD and in my mind he is very successful.</p>
<p>Just to clear it up, I do know there are many notable UMD graduates as it is a very good school. I just meant personally, as I am from PA and know many more people who went to Penn State.</p>
<p>as a parent, I am confused. I was hoping to let my d commute in the fall and then get a dorm room in the spring. I figured the $ I save on boarding I would put into a nice vehicle for her, plus she is ok with doing the commute in fall. I do not want her in housing off campus the first year. I know some parents that have had problems. she is fairly social and makes friends easily. From reading I am getting the impression this is a bad idea???</p>
<p>As out of staters, We also were not very excited about the off-campus housing dilemma for her first semester until we got down and really dug into the FC dynamic and saw the housing. The View is the closest (but also the most expensive), BUT, they are dedicating at least 2 floors to FC students, so it is very much like a HIGH END dorm experience. (If you go onto Facebook and go to UMD class of 2014, there are still many FC students looking for roomies.) We, and my daughter, originally thought she’d do the off campus then go on, BUT, you are into a 12 month lease, and there is no guarantee you’ll be in with other Freshman. The rooms are based on where there are vacancies from drop outs, moves off-campus, etc… so she could be in with upper classmen, etc. She was also accepted to PSU but she preferred UMD because so many people from PA go there and they think the sun rises and sets over Happy Valley, and she really like the location, size and feel of UMD over PSU. </p>
<p>If your daughter is social and wants to do UMD, it seems (and we hope) like it is a 4 month non-traditional way of entering college, and for all intents and purposes, she’d be mainstreamed</p>
<p>In regards to students commuting from home for a semester then going to school: I have several friends that did this. Not only did they completely hate their lives first semester, when they got on campus for second semester they still had to adjust to being away from home for the first time. they had to learn what all their friends had learned first semester, without the advantage of everyone around them learning it too. All of their GPA’s took at least a full point hit, but some took more.</p>
<p>Living right off campus in an apartment is definitely a better option.</p>
<p>You mentioned UT Austin. We’re from Texas and I can tell you that Austin is a very warm and friendly place with a very social scene along with great academics. The majority of DS’s friends from high school were pretty much split between UT & A&M. Both are strong schools. He is VERY happy with his UMD choice though and wouldn’t change it for anything!</p>
<p>Nope, he’s resorted to just sailing while at UMD. He’s been to Ocean City, MD and said it’s a lot like Port Aransas, Texas but that’s about it.</p>
<p>He’ll be beach lifeguarding again this summer, so he is “stoked”, lol. He gets here the 19th and starts working the beach on the 24th! No time to waste!! He can’t wait!! I however am not looking forward to the lifestyle that goes along with it, which doesn’t seem to differ too much from what he’s been doing at UMD :)</p>
<p>S (MD resident) has brother in engineering at UMD. Spring 2011 admission basically knocked UMD out of running for S. He sent his deposit into Tulane and will be attending in Fall, although if he is pulled from W&M wait-list, that could be a game changer.
I have spoken with a number of students and parents of students who have done FC. They basically enjoyed the classes, but not the “secondary status” that lasts for the 1st semester. FC offers small classes (which is a good thing) in the evening (bad thing), but students from OOS frequently get locked into 1-year leases off-campus and then can’t get into the dorm the next year. S. lives in Rockville, which is too far to commute (mainly because of really bad traffic), so to try to get a dorm room for spring, he would have had to find a short term lease in CP.
UMD does a really poor job with Spring admits – entire process is off-putting. Berkeley has a program for Spring admits that is everything that UMD’s is not, including the ability of students to apply to live on campus during the fall.
I also feel that UMD is way too focused on rankings: it’s not UNC-Chapel Hill or UVA and won’t be as long as it continues to furlough its staff.</p>
<p>^Really excellent points about the necessity of finding a short term lease so that you are not “locked in” to off campus housing.</p>
<p>But, I disagree with your point about furloughs. UMD has weathered the recession waaay better than state schools far above its caliber, see: the UC system. I think they should treat their employees well and make MD a competitive and attractive place to work, but when the state is cutting millions from your budget mid-year there’s not much else you can do…</p>
and wouldn’t change it for anything!</p>