<p>I know UMD is not the most prestigious university in the world, but I am aiming to go to a more prestigious engineering school like Stanford. I made it to the UMD Gemstone program for the Honors College and will be majoring in Electrical Engineering. I know people who have not chosen to go to more prestigious colleges like Princeton and Caltech to go to Gemstone at UMD, but how will colleges like MIT view Gemstone? Some people on College Confidential say that Gemstone is not as valuable as it seems and some people say the program is more basic than other research programs. Are these assertions true, and is it still possible that I can attend a prestigious graduate school like MIT if I do well at UMD?</p>
<p>Not exactly sure about engineering and Stanford specifically, but I am almost certain you have about as good a chance as anyone to go where you want to go. I know personally UMD is sending students, who turned down similar undergrad offers, to Yale Law School and Harvard Business School. </p>
<p>Maryland is a very good University that will provide you with plenty of opportunities to separate yourself and stand out to elite graduate schools. You will also find that there are plenty of very bright people here. </p>
<p>Hopefully someone can give you a description of Honors Gemstone.</p>
<p>Good luck next year!</p>
<p>I turned down Cornell and Hopkins for UMD’s Honors Program (ECE major). </p>
<p>Stanford is my dream destination for graduate school, so I have done a great deal of research on graduate school admissions. You can get into a prestigious grad school from basically any college, but having an undergraduate degree from a college that the admissions officer recognizes is definitely an advantage. People have generally heard of UMD, so name recognition won’t be a problem. </p>
<p>I have also gotten the impression that academic standards will be higher at a “lower prestige” school like UMD. Basically, you need to be at the top of your class to be competitive. This means a 3.8+ GPA in the engineering program. </p>
<p>I was originally in the Gemstone program in my first semester of college, but I decided to drop it. Seeing some of the past Gemstone projects, I felt like the research resembled more of a high school science fair project, rather than legitimate real-world research. Personally, I thought that dropping Gemstone and pursuing research in an actual lab would be a better use of the time. But I think you should give it a chance, and you could potentially find it rewarding? </p>
<p>Let me know if you have any more questions.</p>
<p>@OMGItsJustin: What were previous Gemstone projects and what were your impressions on them? What honors program did you change to?</p>
<p>You can view some of the projects here and make your own judgments:
[2014</a> Teams, Gemstone, Honors College, University of Maryland](<a href=“http://www.gemstone.umd.edu/teams/2014-teams.html]2014”>http://www.gemstone.umd.edu/teams/2014-teams.html)</p>
<p>The only option if you decide to drop Gemstone is to enter the University Honors Program.</p>
<p>Any other opinions?</p>
<p>Yes, you absolutely CAN attend a prestigious graduate school like MIT after graduation from Maryland. Here is the specific info of schools for students of Clark School of Engineering from the survey of just this year’s graduates…</p>
<p>Further Education After Graduation:
Top Educational Institutions Accepting UM Students</p>
<p>Answer
University of Maryland
Johns Hopkins University
Georgia Institute of Technology
University of California, Berkeley
University of Michigan
Stanford University
University of Pennsylvania
The George Washington University
The University of Texas at Austin
University of Maryland, College Park
Columbia University
Cornell University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
University of California, San Diego
University of Maryland College Park
Carnegie Mellon University
North Carolina State University
Princeton University
University of California Berkeley
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Maryland University College
University of Southern California
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Arizona State University</p>
<p>If you want to see the source of this info that includes other interesting info, here is the link
<a href=“http://www.careers.umd.edu/C4T/WDGG.cfm?school=The+A.+James+Clark+School+of+Engineering&major=&matriculationlevel=Undergraduate&filter=Select[/url]”>http://www.careers.umd.edu/C4T/WDGG.cfm?school=The+A.+James+Clark+School+of+Engineering&major=&matriculationlevel=Undergraduate&filter=Select</a></p>
<p>Obviously, this survey does not address your question of how GEMSTONE will help admission to graduate school as much as it addresses the positive value of your education at the University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering…</p>
<p>S1 graduated w/ engineering degree and was in the Gem program and S2 is a current gem student. When S1 was applying for his grad/PhD programs in engineering, the factors that mattered the most were - gpa, LOR, and lab work/research experiences (and publications, if any). While gem program is nice, I don’t think you will get “special recognition” from top tier grad program schools for being a Gem student. There are simply too many students with excellent grades, LORs, and experience. And they don’t pick too many at that level.</p>
<p>Also, does doing well on the Putnam Exam help with admission to engineering graduate schools? I like math and am particularly interested in math competitions.</p>
<p>Tho not an engineering student, D1 had her choice of Ph.D. programs as a UMD grad. She turned down the Gemstone offer as an incoming Terp, and instead focused on her own research interests/experiences. It was her own initiative/drive that mattered. I agree with FromMD on the factors that mattered the most in Ph.D. applications. Her summer REU programs, her undergrad research with UMD professors, (and associated LOR’s) and her 4.0 GPA were her strong suits in her grad applications. She had a respectable (but not spectacular) GRE scores. She is now entering her 3rd year in the Ph.D. program in Astronomy/Astrophysics at Harvard (and an incoming grad student there for the fall was recognized at this year’s graduation at UMD). She also knows several UMD grads at top programs across the U.S…It’s not the school or the “programs” that determines your chances at Grad schools…it’s what you do with the opportunities and how seriously you take your classes as an undergrad. Good luck!!!</p>
<p>To astrophysicsmom,
I’ve noticed that you are a very dedicated member of the UMD forum on college confidential. I just wanted to thank you for all of the valuable help and advice you give to people. You seem to know A TON of useful information! Thank you so much, your help is really appreciated!!!</p>
<p>Tz2013 Remember Sergey Brin, one of the Google founders, is a University of Maryland graduate. Maryland sends plenty of their graduates off to prestigious engineering programs. UMCP may not be highly ranked on the USNWR but they have an excellent program. So shoot for your coveted school.</p>
<p>^^thx yellowdogg!</p>
<p>@astrophysicsmom: Thank you for your enlightening post! What is the REU program that the person attended and how did S1 find professors to work on research?</p>
<p>tx, my daughter did 2 REU programs…one at NASA/Greenbelt, and the other at the Harvard/Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. She worked with the professor who taught her first Astronomy class, first semester freshman year. She introduced herself to him right away and took 2 or 3 more classes with him. Between him and her awesome advisor, she had great letters of recommendation by her sophomore year and began to work part-time at NASA then. She was also a TA for this professor, and he was certainly her first choice to do research with…she started during Junior year, but it was primarily work during her senior year. Also, via UMD’s undergrad research program, she volunteered 2nd semester of her freshman year and worked under a professor in a different (unrelated) science field (she created a web site for him). He also was a great reference right away… Also, she finished the work to get her Honors citation by sophomore year, but it was by being recognized in department honors (and her GPA) that was far more important in the long run… I had suggested originally that she try the Gemstone program since she was invited, but she’d had way too many group projects from hell in high school…Of course, I readily admit that she made the correct decision for her.</p>
<p>Good luck at UMD!</p>