Is the University of Delaware a good school? That was the question my daughter and I pondered as we sat in a Main Street restaurant after her Accepted Student visit in April of 2012. She was disappointed with her rejection from three ‘reach’ schools and was trying to decide between three accepted options for pursuing a Biomedical Engineering degree.
School ‘A’ had a newly created BME program similar to UD and was a well-known engineering school. School ‘B’ had an established and respected program but was also known for their grade deflation – earning a B in technical classes was considered to be an accomplishment. And then there was UD. We created a list of Pros & Cons for UD and reviewed them against the other two schools.
Pros
Acceptance to Honors Program
Beautiful campus
Main Street environment
Study Abroad options that didn’t impact engineering class progressions
Opportunities for undergraduate research
Student Clubs that matched her interests
Cons
BME program was in its infancy and was not yet accredited
Lingering perception of UD as a party school
Would employers / grad schools be impressed by a UD undergraduate degree?
Her final decision was to attend UD. It was the place that offered the most opportunities and she easily envisioned herself hanging out on The Green with her classmates between classes. With her graduation a short six weeks from now, I’d like to provide an update on how things worked out for her.
From the summer immediately following freshman year to the present, she took advantage of various undergraduate research opportunities. The research faculty and staff mentored her and provided guidance for her professional development, including recommendations to apply to several Graduate Research scholarship organizations. Two weeks ago, she received an e-mail from the National Science Foundation announcing her nomination as a Graduate Research Fellow - one of 2000 students nationwide. She was also finalist for the very competitive Health for America Fellowship, but had to decline the final interview process as this opportunity was in conflict with the NSF Fellowship. And for icing on the cake, the Student Club she created two years ago was just recognized with an Innovation Award and an additional $1500 in funding for next year.
I realize that this sounds a little braggy, but there’s no other way to show that UD provides an amazing number of opportunities to its students. It is then up to the students to take advantage of these opportunities. And as my daughter discovered, good things happen when you have a broad range of experiences combined with a solid education.
So is the University of Delaware a good school? Our answer is a resounding YES!