Help!

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Maryland - College Park
1

<p>I was recently admitted into UMD, and their Honors Program (Gemstone). However, I was not directly admitted into my major (Civil E) because it is an LEP. Now, I know that I could attend Maryland and reapply into civil, but I'm afraid I will be behind. I also got accepted into Drexel, with a scholarship, and if I go there I can start out with my major. </p>

<p>Any body think one option is better than the other? I havent recieved money to go to Maryland but I'm in state, so its way cheaper. Drexel is very expensive even with scholarship money! I'm conflicted :(</p>

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<p>Here’s the way I would approach this: you need to get really specific. Look at U MD’s engineering school website and see if you can figure out what classes you would be taking the first 2 years. From a quick glance, I’d say there are going to be a decent number of core requirements. From what I’ve heard on this forum from others, there are ‘gateway’ courses, intro level engineering, that are open to you even if you’re not a major. You can take your core, take these and probably still be on track.</p>

<p>But don’t guess and don’t rely on internet advice!!</p>

<p>After you are very familiar with the undergraduate program, call the engineering school, and talk to their departmental admissions ‘recruiter’. Tell them what you understand, and then ask what the chances are that you can get admission later to the engineering program.</p>

<p>It looks like there are 255 students in their undergraduate program. It’s certainly likely that some admitted directly to the LEP will change majors. But they should be able to give you hard numbers, as in last year X number of students dropped out of the program and X applied internally and got into this program. As there are a couple of different tracks in this program, perhaps you are interested in the one with more space - you don’t know until you ask.</p>

<p>So research this one thoroughly. I would strongly recommend the less expensive option unless admittance to the LEP is hopeless.</p>

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<p>I suggest you actually call admissions and see if they made a mistake. Last year my son’s origianal notice indicated he was NOT accepted to engineering, but he was accepted to CP Scholars. He had pretty impressive stats, so I asked what the stats of those actually admitted to engineering were. (if you’re curious they were very high math SAT/ACT score and GPA something over 4.2). They admitted to making a mistake, and my son was admitted. If you were accepted to honors, I’m really surprised you weren’t accepted to the LEP, but I don’t sit in the admissions office.
Besides that advice, i think overall UMD is a better school than Temple (even though my son is not there…argh), and I’m assuming it would be much cheaper for you, so I suggest you go there.</p>

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<p>Agree with 1214mom about calling admissions, but just want to specify it should be Clark School of Engineering admissions…</p>

<p>That aside, Drexel does have a great rep for engineering, especially in Civil, in the Mid-Atlantic region. However, Drexel runs on a trimester schedule, not semester, so it’s quite different. I know someone who recently graduated from Civil from Drexel with an amazing job. He got a great coop that transitioned easily to a full-time job offer. However, he did graduate already, so his tenure was a few years ago. Another friend, whose son is currently attending, is really upset with Drexel because they didn’t help her son get a coop, and if she didn’t have personal connections with someone, he would have been totally screwed since the coop semester is enforced. It is the unfortunate reality of this economy that coops are harder to come by. The few that are available give preference to juniors and seniors, so sophomores have the potential to be SOL. So, if you really like Drexel, go to an accepted students day and ask the hard questions about the coop. Go with your eyes open. The economy is not Drexel’s fault, and hopefully it will get better.</p>

<p>Having said that, I am a huge fan of Maryland as both an alum and a mom of a freshman engineer. Gemstone is absolutely the creme de la creme, so if you got that, I am thinking they may reconsider you for engineering, especially since they really want to encourage females to study engineering! There is a great support system for engineers that I’m sure you’ve seen me highlight on other threads (FLEXUS, mentoring, Keystone classes, etc). </p>

<p>As a whole, even though Drexel is an excellent choice for engineering, I personally don’t think it can compare to Maryland. If you put the curriculum from each school side by side, you’ll see the differences. The engineering design course alone is worlds apart because at Maryland, you are actually designing and building your own hovercraft for a competition. Go to an accepted students’ day at Drexel and see what their engineering design course does. I doubt it is in the same league for creativity and challenge.</p>

<p>With the finance issues, it seems like a no-brainer. I would gladly switch places with you to be able to pay IS tuition for a school like Maryland…</p>

<p>Will you be far behind if you have to take “gateway” courses? My understanding is that if you take the classes at the suggested schedule, it shouldn’t be an issue. I know several kids in this situation that kinda take it in stride as not a big deal…</p>

<p>Engineering is not easy to begin with, so even those that are direct admits often take an extra semester to vent some of the pressure of tougher classes. That extra semester can be done during winter break, summer break, etc, if you feel that you want to slow down the pace and still graduate “on time.” Also, several students that are direct admits find that engineering is not what they expected it to be and decide it’s not for them. If that’s the case for you (not saying it will be, just throwing it out there for argument’s sake) then which school has more options? Maryland, hands down has more options with a great reputation for a greater variety of programs.</p>

<p>I have never heard of anyone saying they regret choosing Maryland (even though I’m sure they have to exist at a school this size). A friend with 4 kids sent 3 to ivy league schools and the fourth went to Maryland. She says that Maryland is absolutely her favorite school of them all because that son had the best and most job opportunities. He actually had a tough time choosing from the multitude of great offers he was given! He is extremely successful and she fully credits Maryland for it. Sure, her ivy league kids did well, but not nearly as well as her Terp!</p>

<p>So, that’s my pitch and vote for Maryland. Go Terps!</p>

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<p>Thank you guys for your imput! I’ve made some suggested calls and I think I’m leaning towards going to Maryland!</p>

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<p>Paying more to go to a worse college is absolutely ridiculous.
Getting into engineering school isn’t competitive at all, but few requirements of maintaining a 3.0 GPA. You will be taking almost the same classes with everyone else except for one or two civil intro classes and introduction to engineering design class as a Freshman. </p>

<p>If the thought of being slightly behind upsets you, you can always take winter/summer classes or a tougher course load. Tl;dr. Go to umd.</p>