<p>Moved D into Arundel a few weeks back, and just attended family weekend (why so soon?...oh well). First impressions of Humanities Honors: outstanding personal attention. The 3 key faculty are hands on and had memorized my D's first name just from orientation in July. (not just her but the other kids too). Second, Arundel is awesome, and has AC. Perfect location on campus. D was worried that it wouldn't be near the majority of frosh, and thus boring. Not so much, she's been all over campus with a group of the "ho-hums" as they call them. (honor humanities kids). They're meeting kids from all of the other dorms too. She's already been invited to sub in on an existing intramural team. </p>
<p>She visited probably 10 schools when considering, and applied to many of them. U of Md won not only because of academics but because of the concept of friendliness. No kidding. My wife and I noticed it this time too at family weekend. Everyone from faculty, to Pres. Loh to our hotel clerks to the shuttle drivers, and random folks we'd run into at Stamp....just as outgoing and friendly and helpful as can be. </p>
<p>Can't tell you what that means to a set of out of state parents leaving our youngest at College Park. We're optimistic as all get out for the rest of her semester and freshman year. </p>
<p>I’m in ACES, and I’m having an absolutely awesome experience so far. I got an internship, and I can really tell I’ll gain a lot over the years through ACES and the classes I’m taking. </p>
<p>@MitchKreyben, I echo your comments. Our son is also a freshman in “HoHum” (one of very few guys in Anne Arundel Hall), and loving it! Our son and his roommate, while they may not be best buds, seem to be getting along well. Their RA has helped that along by meeting individually with each set of roommates and going over the roommate agreement form, which hashes out a lot of assumptions/issues that might remain unarticulated and cause problems, and which can largely be avoided by going through a bit of preemptive discussion. (I think it must’ve taken a fair amount of their RA’s time, but probably works out well for him in the long run, since this will no doubt result in many fewer roommate clashes/problems down the line that he’ll have to deal with).</p>
<p>We, too, were impressed this weekend by fact that the head of the Honors College (who has an office in Anne Arundel, I believe) actually knew our son by name! I was also struck by how many of the “regular students” as well as the official helpers were just walking around with a smile on their face and were willing to chat, help out, etc.</p>
<p>S is making new friends both within and outside of the dorm, has attended a club meeting and sung at a concert and at church, and seems to be settling in nicely. So nice to see that our not-particularly extroverted son is finding his niche at this large school, which was what we had hoped for him.</p>
<p>itlbeok. our D tells us that the guys in HoHum are really good guys. Probably takes some guts for a guy to go that route…but I think it’s a well kept secret. The girls and guys seem to really develop friendships, (what do I know from 1,400 miles away?) but that’s what seems to be happening. May be a bit more relaxed because it’s not one of the monster dorms. It has a great feel.</p>
<p>@MitchKreyben: nice to hear a thumbs-up from the girls side of the dorm! Our S is still loving it at UMd and is developing a good group of friends, both girls and guys. They seem to have a lot of fun… I was pre-med in college and don’t remember having quite as much time for fun as he seems to have – but I’m keeping my mouth shut and hoping that since his pals are mostly honors students, too, they’ll be able to keep work-vs-play in balance…</p>