<p>We've been through the exhaustive college search process with our daughter. It seems that UMD has really moved up in stature over the past 10 years or so. I am a Marylander and when I was coming of age, it was considered solid, but nothing special. Now, in looking at SAT data, the middle 50% SAT range is right in line with UNC (and better than many schools that are considered "better"). Couple that with top-notch Engineering and Business schools and it seems that UMD is getting closer and closer to the top tier of national public universities. I realize that it in not in the same discussion (yet) as UVA, Cal, Michigan, UCLA, etc. , however, in your opinion, what is its reputation academically?</p>
<p>UMD has a very Good Academic reputation. It’s Graduates (and I am not one, but my D will be) can hold their own with the best of them. I say this a Systems Engineer with many years of experience.</p>
<p>Speaking from a student admitted to UMD, UVA, and UNC CH (all three mentioned in the OP), I’d say they all give an equal education. UVA is a public Ivy (w/ Cal, UMich, UCLA), UNC CH is top tier (w/ USC, UC Davis), and UMD follows UNC CH in the second tier of public uni’s (w/ UPitt, UConn, UDel, etc.). However, UMD’s slowly catching up to the top tier (below the public Ivy’s). </p>
<p>Vctory, </p>
<p>UMD is also listed as a Public Ivy (follow-up from the original list: The Public Ivies: America’s Flagship Public Universities 2001). IMHO, Maryland is now nipping at the heels of UNC and William & Mary (public but a completely different experience) but above the 2nd tier that you mention. I think you meant UCLA, not USC. USC is private (and a very good school). </p>
<p>@Vctory - UMD follows UPitt and UDel? Really? No way! 20 years ago, yes. Now they are behind UMD (or at least UDel is). </p>
<p>@maryversity - Sorry about that! Didn’t mean it in that order. I meant that UMD was leaving their tier and on its way to join UNCch (slowly catching up to the top tier) :)</p>
<p>yeah, I like UMD over UDel for sure, and right there with UPitt. Probably will surpass UPitt soon because of financial problems in PA being much more serious than MD’s.</p>
<p>When my son got into UMD engineering in 2012, UMD engineering was harder to get accepted to than Georgia Tech. It’s a very respectable school… Much better than when I went there in the Stone Age.</p>
<p>Georgia Tech switched to the common application this year, so they are much harder to get into this year than last year.</p>
<p>UMD is a great school, but I think UNC and UVA are still harder to get into for OOS applicants.</p>
<p>Pitt has a big endowment from wealthy donors, even though they don’t get much money from PA. </p>
<p>Pitt is also becoming much more selective.</p>
<p>@DavidHopkins - is your question about UMD’s general academic reputation or specific to a major such as engineering? To be fair, while UMD has a great, on-the-rise, nipping-at-the-heels-of-top-tier-schools academic reputation, I think its reputation for engineering is even higher …but that’s coming from a mom of an engineering student 
However, even when I attended (back in the Stone Age when Maryland was known more for its party reputation than its academics) it still had a very reputable engineering program that stood apart from the rest of the school as being tough/impressive…</p>
<p>@maryversity - my daughter was accepted into the Scholars program and will probably be an Engineering major eventually, although she will probably start as undecided Science. Her strength is math / science. (Separate note: she wasn’t pleased with the Scholars program she was put into. Anyone know if that is easy to change?)</p>
<p>@maryversity, ya know I have to add that Smith is also fantastic!!!</p>
<p>@terpmom7, you are 100% right - I have to agree with you on that! We can also add some others to the list as well - CompSci, Journalism, and many others as well…Maryland is just awesome!</p>
<p>@DavidHopkins - yes, she can absolutely change the scholars program. The only problem is if she wants to get into one of the more “limited” ones like STS, SDU, BSE - limited only due to popularity if I recall correctly. However, she can absolutely ask and you never know. People drop out and change their minds all the time. Honestly though, based on what my son has said, the science ones require more writing than the arts ones (like arts or the media one), which are more project based (and therefore “easier”) so depending on what she was put in and what she wants to transfer to, she might want to take that into consideration…</p>
<p>The most important thing is that by being in the scholars community, your daughter will be the closest she can be to all the math/ science/engineering classrooms, which will make her very happy :)</p>
<p>Thank you for the great responses. Another question if I may: does the school feel huge? My spouse is concerned that my daughter will be in lectures with 300 students and will get lost in the shuffle. I am thinking that while that may be the case with introductory level classes, by the time you matriculate further into your degree (especially in science), class sizes are smaller. Any color around this would be helpful.</p>
<p>@DavidHopkins: Yes, the place feels huge and cramped; if you can, spend a day mid-week on campus, especially around the Stamp Union and in/around McKeldin Library to get a feel for how crowded it feels. It’s about the same as 20 or 30 years ago, despite the facelift to Stamp. However, once work on the oh-so-purple line begins, all bets are off - it’s only likely to get worse. </p>
<p>Some freshman classes/sections could be large but not quite 300-large; and even those that are near 200 strong for the lectures, are split into say 10 recitation/discussion groups each with 20 students, which meet at least once a week. In the physical sciences and engrg most senior classes have around 20 in all, so there’s only one recitation group for whole class.</p>
<p>Regarding UMd itself, I cannot see it being called a public-ivy in my lifetime for a host of reasons including the state’s core polity. Notwithstanding the fact that those who love UVa or UNC will always mock UMd, I must say that as someone else noted above, UMd has been very strong in Math, Physics, Computer Science, and Electrical Engrg for the past five to six decades. In the last 20 years, it has further strengthened its academic reputation in these departments, competing directly with Michigan and Illinois which are the two public universities right below Berkeley in these areas, and where Georgia Tech, Purdue, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Hopkins now actually trail UMd. (Apparently UMd has risen in Econ and Business too.) </p>
<p>UVa, UNC, Penn State, Duke, and Rutgers are all good but are not quite in the same class as any of the other universities mentioned above for the physical sciences, math, and engineering.</p>
<p>@MD0058: Are you a current student or a parent of a student? Thank you for your insights.</p>
<p>I know quite a few UVA and UNC alumni and have never heard them mock Maryland. My own brother has a bachelor’s in physics from a top 15 ranked college, but chose to get his phd from UMD, for the reasons that you site.</p>
<p>This may sound strange, but one of the litmus tests that I use for the academic reputation of a school is to look at the rosters of the sports teams (especially lacrosse, tennis, golf). If there is a fairly good sprinkling of kids from expensive prep schools with excellent reputations, than the college has at least met a minimum standard of quality. Of course, it is inexact and anecdotal but I can be enlightening. </p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Along with Illinois and Michigan I should have mentioned UT-Austin which has become an academic powerhouse in many science departments.</p>
<p>@MD0058:</p>
<p>Lets use the current girls lacrosse team as an example:</p>
<p>Maryland:</p>
<p>Thayer Academy
Roland Park Country School
McDonogh (2)
Bullis
St. Stephen & St. Agnes School</p>
<p>UNC:</p>
<p>Bryn Mawr School (3)
St. Stephens & St. Agnes School (2)
Loomis Chaffee</p>
<p>They both have an identical number of players from expensive, well-regarded prep schools. Of course, this fluctuates from year to year. I also know that a very well-regarded male prep school in Maryland sends more than a few of their graduates to UMD, usually into the honors or scholars program. I certainly do not believe that UMD has reached UVA’s reputational cache, but it is nipping at UNC’s heels. Let’s not forget too that many UVAers look down on UNC. </p>
<p>UMd’s Econ Pgm looks very good, including Nobel winner on faculty. </p>
<p>I wonder how good UMD would be if we had the same numbers of students as UVA and UNC and controlled for population. UMD had 26,826 undergrad students with a state population of 5,884,563. Virginia has only 15,822 undergrad students with a state population of 8,185,867. and UNC has 18,503 undergrad students with a state population of 9,752,073. </p>
<p>What I can not understand is why both Virginia and North Carolina only have 29.55 and 27.59 admit rates. With that much more population, why are they not getting more applications?</p>