<p>As far as comparison is concerned, you can start here:</p>
<p>[Honors</a> College & College Park Scholars | University of Maryland](<a href=“http://www.excellence.umd.edu/]Honors”>http://www.excellence.umd.edu/)</p>
<p>You can then click on the links to each umbrella page. Honors is probably the more prestigious of the two (if for no other reason than seniority).</p>
<p>@FastNeutrino - As promised, I am pasting a copy of your post here:
I’m currently deciding between UMD and Lehigh, both of which are comprable in cost and (to me) quality of education in my major (ECE).
I just have a few questions regarding the school to help my decision along:
<p>1) Generally, the large core classes have a lecture 2-3 times a week that are taught by actual professors. There is an associated discussion section, where there is a small number of students. That meets once a week for the opportunity to ask specific questions and review more complex subjects in a more personalized setting which is taught by TA’s. I can tell you that sometimes TA’s can be better at explaining things at times or they can be not so good. </p>
<p>Typically, the classes specifically needed for your major are taught by actual professors. As for the general education classes required for graduation, that can be a crap shoot, depending on what the class is. If it is specialized, you’ll likely get a professor. If it is broader based, liked COMM107 (the university requires an oral communication class and this is the one taken by a majority of students) you are more likely to get a graduate student. Some are great, some not. </p>
<p>Hopefully, some current students can add to that…</p>
<p>2) That I can’t answer…maybe some current students can…but you can use ourumd.com to check out other students’ reviews of professors and see the grade distribution. Understand that only those very happy or very upset with any given teacher will be motivated to write a review, so you take the comments with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>3) Read my post #9 - near end I address this question about honors classes.
Note: ACES is a brand new program and is the first of its kind in the nation. It’s a unique opportunity to get in on the ground floor of something very big…</p>
<p>As for Lehigh v UMD, I read a lot/lurk on the engineering forum and had seen this
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/1485142-penn-state-lehigh.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/1485142-penn-state-lehigh.html</a>
So, that is an interesting perspective and not the first time I’ve heard a comment like that. Lehigh is an outstanding school, but it is very, very different. The other comment I have heard is that it is less…diverse. You might want to pose your question on the engineering forum since there are actual engineers there.</p>
<p>@krug
“Can you tell me the difference between Honors and Scholars?”</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the person best suited to answer this probably won’t see this because of the title of the thread being specific to engineering. Astrophysicsmom has two Terp daughters - one graduated and is now at Harvard, and the other is graduating this year. One daughter was in honors and the other in scholars. She is extremely helpful but I could only find one of the many threads she contributed to about this - see post #17 on
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-maryland-college-park/1283252-college-park-scholars-vs-honors-college-2.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-maryland-college-park/1283252-college-park-scholars-vs-honors-college-2.html</a>
Wish I could find the others she addressed this question, but hopefully this helps.</p>
<p>“The engineering curriculum looks very intimidating and tight with not much “wiggle” room and when we looked, we didn’t know how those Honors LLC’s course requirements can be squeezed in. Clark Engineering sample course work for 4 yrs put many of the elective requirements in the last 2 yrs but kids in Honors LLC are required to begin electives right away. How do they manage it all with extra curricular activities (clubs, sports) along with research, volunteering, etc… and we heard from some engineers that are double majoring? Wow!”</p>
<p>Actually, the very definitively defined 4-year plans are very helpful and make planning a lot easier! So, to clarify, there are different types of electives - those required by the university for general education requirements, those required by a specific program like honors/scholars and those required by your major. </p>
<p>The first two actually overlap if you plan it right, so you are not taking more classes, just finding the ones that double count for your program and the GenEd reqs. I’m not going to confuse the issue too much by referring you to testudo (where they list all the classes), but I’ll take an example:
HONR208I Why Good Managers Make Bad Decisions Credits: 3
The second line says General Education: DSSP, SCIS
DSSP stands for Distributive Studies, Scholarship in Practice and
SCIS stands for Signature Course - I-Series
With one course, you knock out 2 GenEd requirements while fulfilling one honors class requirement.
With engineering, you don’t start electives till upperclass years because those elective are actually technical electives so they are more advanced.
I hope I am explaining it clearly…if you look at the 4 year plan for MechE, for example <a href=“http://www.eng.umd.edu/sites/default/files/images/current/forms/4yrplan/2012-2013/enme-4yr-acadplan-2012.pdf[/url]”>http://www.eng.umd.edu/sites/default/files/images/current/forms/4yrplan/2012-2013/enme-4yr-acadplan-2012.pdf</a>
and you look next to some of the courses on page 1, you will see abbreviations in parentheses. For example, in year one fall, MATH140 has (AR) which stands for Analytic Reasoning. Assuming your daughter took or will take the CalcBC AP exam and place out of CalcI & II, she can start with MATH241. That means since she gets credit for MATH140, she also gets credit for the AR requirement. That frees up her schedule…make sense? That’s why a lot of honors kids have more free time to take more classes/double major - they start off with a lot of credits and reqs done. My son started in MATH241, so he obviously didn’t follow the 4 year plan exactly - that’s the wiggle room. If you place out, you get to pass go and collect $200 (not really, couldn’t resist the joke though). The only time it’s not flexible, per se, is when there are prerequisites for a class. So, the 4 year plan is really just a suggestion/guideline and does not have to be followed to the tee regarding which class you take which semester.</p>
<p>Remember, kids are used to taking more than 5 classes at a time, so when they only take 4-5 classes a semester, as long as they have good study habits, they do have plenty of time for clubs and the like.</p>
<p>I hope I explained it clearly…? I <em>think</em> I’m explaining it clearly, but that doesn’t mean that’s what’s actually written is clear…ha ha. Let me know…</p>
<p>Our son is deciding between Va Tech and UMD. We live in MD so we really vote for UMD ($) but he seems to just feel like VT is the right one for him. Much of what we are learning in this thread is how much we don’t know and I am panicking that we havent learned enough. Does anyone know if we attend an admitted students day if there is the option of visiting the engineering school or hearing more about it?</p>
<p>@maryversity: Thanks a lot for the help! But yeah, ACES is a big reason why I’m leaning towards UMD… it just seems to have a lot of potential.</p>
<p>@dowzerw…DS attended admitted student day last week. The answer is Yes, if you attend admitted students day you will be seperated into groups by admitting college at the time of check-in (they have a nice complimentary spread of coffee, tea, and muffins so don’t worry about eating breakfast before arrival). You will get more in depth information regarding the college of engineering and get a tour of the engineering facilities (neutral boyancy tank etc.) as well. You will also have the opportunity to do a general campus & residence hall tour, as well as attend info sessions for Honors or Scholars programs if either of these pertain to your child. There will also be an opportunity to chat with the various organizations in the ballroom where they will have tables set up and knlowedgeable students and staff to answer any questions you may have. Lunch is on your own. You basically break off and eat in one of the dining halls (this is not complimentary). You are choosing between two fine schools and I don’t think you could go wrong either way, but UMD being In-state, that would be hard to pass up. Good luck!</p>
<p>@FastNeutrino, you said you hadn’t done a whole lot of research yet, so not sure if you saw this site (which is separate from ACES program). So, in addition to the unique training you will have inside the classroom with ACES, you also have access to lectures and events at the University on a regular basis. Being so close to DC is a huge advantage for this field…
[About</a> the Maryland Cybersecurity Center (MC2) | Maryland Cybersecurity Center](<a href=“http://www.cyber.umd.edu/about]About”>About MC2 | Maryland Cybersecurity Center)</p>
<p>DS is deciding between Va Tech and UMD engineering. He really wants VA Tech and was impressed w their engineering school presentation. </p>
<p>Thanks so much 3BOYSRUS for sharing that. He will have to miss a day of school to attend since they do them on Fridays and this Friday is last day of the quarter so he def cant miss then but will def plan to take him next week and will hope that by then he has not completely mentally gone over to Va Tech! VT is offering him scholarship money but UMD still costs less for instate. I think someone wrote a song about it: “It’s all about the Money, Money, Money…It’s all about the Money, Money, Money…” !!</p>
<p>@dowzerw
What discipline is your son interested in?</p>
<p>What was it on this thread that you weren’t aware of that made you “panic”?</p>
<p>Not sure yet. He is looking forward to exploring. He is more likely to gravitate towards a mechanical than a chem or civil but beyond that, he doesn’t know. He has mentioned nuclear but don’t see it being where he ends up.</p>
<p>Panic because of all the different program elements and acronyms and realizing we know none of any of that and simply that he is going to college to study engineering. Flexus and Virtus and LLC and Denton and honors and scholars and such. So many program elements. Concerned that we didn’t dig deeply enough and he may start farther behind than others who have the lay of the land already…</p>
<ol>
<li><p>No worries about being undecided, but if he has expressed interest in nuclear, he might be interested to know about the minor available
[Minor</a> in Nuclear Engineering | A. James Clark School of Engineering](<a href=“http://www.eng.umd.edu/current/nuclear-minor]Minor”>http://www.eng.umd.edu/current/nuclear-minor)</p></li>
<li><p>LOL, not knowing acronyms is not a big deal, honestly. That’s kind of what these forums are for. I had a lay of the land as a whole because I am an alum, but certainly not in engineering! I always knew engineering was good at Maryland, but honors and scholars and living-learning communities did not exist in my day. I had to do a lot of digging and comparisons among schools also, and got a lot of guidance on this forum myself. Kinda why I am posting a lot now…paying it forward, so to speak.</p></li>
<li><p>Not knowing acronyms or program elements will NOT make a student start farther behind than others!!! When you think about it, only a small number of students/parents are on college confidential, so there are a whole lot more who don’t even know what they don’t know! Ask away…</p></li>
<li><p>So, start with describing what it is about the program at Va Tech that your son finds so appealing. Maybe Maryland offers similar opportunities?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Here is a question that I asked Engineering that gave me pause… The graduation retention rate for engineers from freshman to seniors, 55-60%. Does that seem low to anyone?</p>
<p>That’s a little higher than national average ~50% (need to fish out report cited by Dr. Hrabrowski at NAS summit in 2012). I know purdue had something like a 25% rate for 4 year graduation, up to 58% for 6 year. I was quoted 2/3 for clark engineering freshmen graduation rate by the associate dean. I thought he meant 4 year, but could have meant 6.</p>
<p>Sent from my SCH-I535 using CC</p>
<p>Wow, I did not know it’s so low… I heard from someone at WPI that their number is around 70% but I guess it’s a self selective group since it’s a tech school.</p>
<p>The other thing to take into consideration for engineering “retention rate” is that if someone switches from say electrical engineering or computer engineering to computer science, which is quite common, that involves two different advising schools at Maryland (some schools may include computer science as part of engineering school if they don’t have a specific computer engineering major like Maryland does). </p>
<p>Since computer science falls under the department of CMNS (Computer, Math, Natural Sciences) at Maryland, that student (formerly electrical or computer engineering and therefore part of Clark school) cannot be counted in the retention rate for Clark engineering. </p>
<p>Another thing that is common is for engineering students to take one extra semester (or more), so they can take less credits per semester and perform better. Therefore, even those students are still being retained in engineering, they cannot be counted in the traditional four year retention/graduation rate.</p>
<p>So, lots of fuzzy lines, which does not make it any easier…</p>
<p>Thanks for the clarification. The LEP makes the number of engineering students look constant but as some transfer out, others are coming in. Does anyone know if one engineering type typically takes more than another to finish up?</p>
<p>Hmmm, good question…I think it may open a can of worms, though, as every engineer will argue that their field is the most difficult, ha ha.</p>
<p>Technically/theoretically, they all can be completed in the four year/eight semesters. I think that’s why Maryland’s engineering has such “tightly” defined four-year academic plans compared to other majors/departments. If you follow them as laid out, you finish in the allotted time frame, no problem. </p>
<p>As I said earlier though, some students will opt to spread out their courses a little more so that when they are taking the tougher classes, they can focus more on doing well in those, but not every student needs that extra time. 15-16 credits a semester is very reasonable. If you come in with a lot of AP credits and place out of some courses, you actually will have a few 12 credit semesters if you want.</p>