<p>“UNC carries a lot more recognition than UMD because its is sooo hard to get in, especially if you are an out of state student. Also, UNC is ranked a lot higher than UMD on US News and Report.”</p>
<p>Your first point does not matter.</p>
<p>Again, the fact that you got into UNC OOS is a reflection of your high school achievements. Do you put your SAT on your grad school apps? No. That would be silly. Similarly, it’s silly to think that just because UNC is harder to get into OOS it would look better to anyone - when you’re graduating and looking for post grad education or an employer, the grades that got you into UNC were from FIVE-SIX YEARS AGO. The employers I talked to don’t care about that - they care about your COLLEGE grades, your LSAT/MCAT scores (well, post graduate programs do), your involvement on campus and leadership activities, your intern experience…on and on and name of school is at the bottom of the barrel and it’s honestly not gonna get to that. Maybe if you were from Podunk State it would, but UMCP is no Podunk State.</p>
<p>Rankings on US News and World Report have SOME bearing…however when you’re comparing two flagship state unis, I doubt it has much. If it’s Salisbury or Towson or another less known campus in the Maryland system versus UNC, well of course the flagship is USUALLY the way to go. If it’s Harvard vs. Maryland, well, maybe you’ll get some brownie points for Harvard - but plenty of people turn down Harvard because they can’t afford it, etc. and those people by and large still get into great grad programs and get great jobs. So, if we’re talking UNC versus Maryland, the difference is probably totally null in the prestige department (in terms of employment and grad school prospects).</p>
<p>HOWEVER, in terms of your individual LEARNING experience, that’s different. Do you enoy the classes? The program? The courses? The city you live in? Do you like a smaller or bigger school? Well, that’s one thing. But “prestige” is about the most ridiculous thing to base any decision on.</p>
<p>“I would not, under any circumstances, do Gemstone over Carnegie Mellon.”</p>
<p>It’s nice if you have the luxury…many IS students do not and cannot afford a private school.</p>
<p>Idk if OP is OOS or IS…and what his financial situation is…</p>
<p>But again hopefully he is choosing Carnegie Mellon because of individual things he knows about the program and the educational experience, and not because of “prestige”.</p>