<p>I'm sure people here are sick of this question, but it's really worrying me. If I decide to go to UMD, I'll be coming in from a rural town.. yeah.. BIG CHANGE! I don't know what to do. I want to be able to get involved in the campus.. go to clubs.. volunteer in places.. etc, etc. without the fear of getting mugged or something. Help!</p>
<p>This issue is really deterring me from wanting to go to UMD.. I really wanted to go before.</p>
<p>UMD is better than many other colleges in terms of safety;however, there is still significant crime. You just need to use common sense. Lock your dorm doors. When walking off campus keep a lookout for people watching you. Be careful of purse/Ipod snatchers. These things do happen. New Yorkers are trained from birth to think like this. Those in many others states don't have the same instincts. The bottom line is simply use common sense, and you won't have problems.</p>
<p>Watch out for Ravens fans though. They will stab you in the back and claim victory by stealing your team for $350 million</p>
<p>I was a freshman at CP last year, and also got held up at gunpoint while working in a pizza place. That being said, it's a pretty safe place to be as long as you do a few things.</p>
<p>1) Stick to main and busy roads. Princeton, Knox, the roads around fraternity/sorority houses, Route 1, etc. are all normally populated well into the late night. There is a slim to none chance of anything happening to you on these roads</p>
<p>2) Lock your dorm room. There was a rash of petty theft in the Ellicott community last year, and it could've all been avoided if people had actually locked their doors.</p>
<p>3) Stick together in groups. The robberies/assaults that did happen, happened to people either walking alone, or just a pair of people. If you're walking with 3 or more people, there's a much less likelihood of being targeted or being messed with.</p>
<p>4) Don't be a tough guy. A LOT of drinking occurs in CP. You're going to have drunks trying to mess with you every now and then, and the best thing is just to ignore them. Regardless of whether you can handle yourself, it's no fun waking up with a shiner after having to toss a guy around a bit.</p>