<p>I was recently accepted into UMD in the honors program. I plan to do bioengineering with pre-med. Everyone who I have talked to has said great things about UMD, but I am a little concerned because it is ranked low by US News Report. It isn't even ranked in the top 50, and most of its strong programs such as engineering aren't even ranked in the top 20, forget about top ten. I want to attend a school that will provide me with a solid education and will prep me well for the MCAT. The rankings show that UMD probably won't give me a good education. I have a couple questions about UMD.
1) Is UMD a good school?
2) Why is UMD ranked low by US News Report?
3) How does UMD stack up with the elite public schools such as Berkeley, Michigan, and Georgia Tech?</p>
<ol>
<li>Yes.</li>
<li>It’s not. It’s ranked 55 nationally.</li>
<li>It depends on the major.</li>
</ol>
<p>“The rankings show that UMD probably won’t give me a good education.”</p>
<p>Really? Think about it. In your school, there may be a class of 450 kids. To be valedictorian is going to depend on a lot of factors. If you are not valedictorian, does that take away from your own intelligence and success? You can still be in the top percentage of your class, in National Honor Society/Cum Laude Society, get ridiculous scores on your SAT/ACT but because you are not ranked #1, should a school dismiss you out of hand based solely on your rank? I think you are smarter than that, and clearly, so is the real world when it comes time for job recruitment. </p>
<p>Check out this article I posted on another thread, showing UMCP to be #8 in the top 25 recruiting picks (from the Wall Street Journal, no less)</p>
<p>[Best</a> Colleges & Universities - Ranked by Job Recruiters - WSJ.com](<a href=“Best Colleges & Universities - Ranked by Job Recruiters - WSJ”>Best Colleges & Universities - Ranked by Job Recruiters - WSJ)</p>
<p>“The rankings show that UMD probably won’t give me a good education.”</p>
<p>False. Rankings are NOT everything. I second what maryversity said about top recruiting picks, and notice that the only Ivy on the list is Cornell. In addition, top 10 colleges like Stanford, Duke, Caltech, and the University of Chicago aren’t on the list.</p>
<p>I’m a firm believer that you get out what you put in. If you don’t take initiative in your education, you’re right, Maryland won’t give you a good education. BUT nowhere else will, either. If you’re proactive and you go out and try to get internships and research experience and take advantage of all the amazing opportunities Maryland and DC offer you, you’ll succeed.</p>
<p>Then again, if all you care about is rankings, nothing we say will change your mind. You won’t be happy at UMD if you don’t want to be there, and you should go where you’ll be happy.</p>
<p>Oceanicole, EXTREMELY well said. It would be great to bold your post and keep it at the top of the UMD forum!</p>
<p>Thanks astrophysicsmom :)</p>
<p>That was beautiful Oceanicole. And I’m sure if you work hard and party hard at UMD you can go anywhere you want in life. For me it’s Georgetown Law School hopefully, I’ll let you know how it goes Mr. Physics.</p>
<p>work hard and party harder* frank! UMD 2016 #leggo</p>
<p>“The rankings show that UMD probably won’t give me a good education.”</p>
<p>Wow. Not with that attitude</p>
<p>“The rankings show that UMD probably won’t give me a good education”
Really? then if your attitude is such, please go somewhere else. Maryland is a top research university with a tremendous variety of majors. Many brains attend this place, including someone who turned down MIT for UMD, so forget about the useless numbers, instead look at the quality of the education given here. Or didn’t you hear about the scandal at a certain university due to score inflation?</p>
<p>I appreciate everyone’s opinion and advice. Will umd prepare me to get a good score on the MCAT and get into a good med school such as Hopkins, Duke, or Stanford? Also, can someone please answer how it compares to some of the top public schools such as michigan, berkeley, and georgia tech?</p>
<p>lol</p>
<p>the program I’m in is 5th in the nation. It’s really more important to look at program rankings than overall rankings if you ask me.</p>
<p>UMD can help you get a good MCAT score. I’m sure a lot of UMD grads go on to well-regarded medical schools. But hopefully you understand it’s a two-way street… they’ll guide you but you also gotta do the work and the studying. </p>
<p>As for how it compares to those schools, it depends on the program.</p>
<p>mrphysics
- Are you IS or OOS for Maryland?
- Were you accepted at Michigan, Berkeley and Georgia Tech?</p>
<p>1) IS
2) I didn’t apply to Berkeley or Michgan, but I was accepted to Georgia Tech. I’m just trying to make comparisons</p>
<p>How prepared you are for the MCATs is up to you. Nobody has a crystal ball and no college can prepare you, you need to put the work in and prepare yourself. Preparation is not a passive activity. I can say, as a Maryland Alum, that it doesn’t sound like Maryland - a top tier, research university, is a good fit for you. Given your concern with rankings, prestige, etc, you are better suited for the ivy league, MIT,Standford, etc. Maryland is a great school with many diverse, grounded and well balanced students. I think you may be a bit confused with your thinking that US News Rankings = good education. If all you want to get out of 4 years of college are great MCAT scores you are better off with a singularly focused school.</p>
<p>Jlpaisner, </p>
<p>I agree with you that how well I do on the MCAT is up to me, but the school does play a role to some extent. As ThisMortalSoil said, it is a two way street, meaning I will do my part, but I also need a school that will do their part of the equation. I need a school that will teach me the material necessary to do well, don’t I? I want to actually learn something in college, and not have to learn all the MCAT material by myself. That is what I’ve been trying to get at the whole time on this thread.</p>
<p>If you’re looking for performance on MCATS, you should consider how your choice of major comes into play.</p>
<p>[Some</a> Statistics on the MCAT and Undergraduate Majors A Med School Odyssey](<a href=“http://medschoolodyssey.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2010/03/30/some-statistics-on-the-mcat-and-your-undergraduate-major/]Some”>Some Statistics on the MCAT and Undergraduate Majors | A Med School Odyssey)</p>
<p>To answer your question. Yes, UMD is a good school. You have the opportunity to learn everything you’ll need in order to do well on the MCAT. Mary, that was a very interesting study/graph.</p>