Maryland vs Penn vs Bloomington

<p>Ok guys...I'm a junior and I'm considering a whole bunch of colleges, but my top public ones that I'm looking at are:</p>

<p>University of Maryland, College Park
Penn State University
Indiana University, Bloomington</p>

<p>Which one is best in the following areas:
- Social Life: </p>

<pre><code>- Location:

  • Prestige:

  • Best Education:

  • Best People/Friendliness:

  • Overall best undergrad experience:
    </code></pre>

<p>Thanks guys!!! :-D Btw, I'm from NY, 4.0 GPA/1970 PSAT/Outstanding ECs/Top 10%</p>

<p>umd is really close to dc but the immediate surrounding area isnt too nice. penn state probably has the best name out of all of them...</p>

<p>Which one is best in the following areas:
- Social Life: Penn State
- Location: UMD
- Prestige: UMD
- Best Education: UMD
- Best People/Friendliness: All three
- Overall best undergrad experience: UMD</p>

<p>UMD is in a slummy area with no near campus life to speak of. The claims of superior education, prestige, and location are unfounded.</p>

<p>I'd say pretty even overall.</p>

<p>meh. i saw the campus a few years ago and thought that it was the stereotypical campus area.</p>

<p>but UMD undoubtedly has more prestige and better academics in a wider area than Penn St. or Indiana.</p>

<p>I can tell you that my son graduated last year from the Business School with about a 3.5.</p>

<p>He got a job immediately. Mortgage Broker...making in the high 80's.</p>

<p>When he was in high school his GPA was a 3.3...My son say he doesn't think he would get into Univ of Maryland now.</p>

<p>He has remained in the College Park area because like the location and people.</p>

<p>If possible, I would investigate the Honors or Scholars program at Univ of Maryland...there seems to be a lot of perks that make the school seem more like a private one.</p>

<p>CD, I am a senior in high school and I just got into the smith school at Maryland. If I go to maryland I will enter it as a freshman and I am also in the scholars program. Do you know much about the scholars program for business?? Everyone will be given a program that was invited into scholars but maybe not their first choice. If i don't get into the business scholars(they say it is one of the hardest ones) I might do the leadership scholars program. Did your son do any of these programs or do you know how they are beneficial?</p>

<p>Also what did your son major in? </p>

<p>thanks</p>

<p>by the way I visited a while ago and the campus is horrible in some locations. Mainly the 'south' part of campus but really it is the south east. It is funny. The north west part of campus is great but as you move across toward the southeast it seems if things just get uglier and uglier.<br>
some pictures
<a href="http://www.bestfouryears.com/UMCP.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.bestfouryears.com/UMCP.htm&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.urhome.umd.edu/marylandimages/user/image.cfm?PID=711&Cat=Ca%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.urhome.umd.edu/marylandimages/user/image.cfm?PID=711&Cat=Ca&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.urhome.umd.edu/marylandimages/user/image.cfm?PID=70&Cat=Ca%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.urhome.umd.edu/marylandimages/user/image.cfm?PID=70&Cat=Ca&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.urhome.umd.edu/marylandimages/user/image.cfm?PID=111&Cat=Co%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.urhome.umd.edu/marylandimages/user/image.cfm?PID=111&Cat=Co&lt;/a>
Now look this is the "southside of campus" as the picture describes
<a href="http://www.urhome.umd.edu/marylandimages/user/image.cfm?PID=715&Cat=Ca%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.urhome.umd.edu/marylandimages/user/image.cfm?PID=715&Cat=Ca&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<h2>The best thing about Maryland is that it is only 8 miles from Washington and it serves for great internships. My friend over there got hooked up with a great one in DC.</h2>

<p>I am also in Penn state in there business school(smeal) and a sapphire program which takes about 80-100 kids every year like the scholars programs but Penn state has 5000 total students at smeal and about 360 are in the sapphire program. i am waiting on Texas, Michigan, and wisconsin but i am not holding my breath for michigan or texas. Maryland is where I will go. I don't have much of a choice. $$$$</p>

<p>"Son Graduated May 05 from Univ of Maryland - Coll Park
I can tell you that my son graduated last year from the Business School with about a 3.5.</p>

<p>He got a job immediately. Mortgage Broker...making in the high 80's."</p>

<p>Wow, pretty impressive. What did he major in? Was he in the honors program?</p>

<p>Mortgage brokers earn money on commissions on each loan so it is not hard to make that kind of money when the market is good as it is now.</p>

<p>The bad part is those companies can disappear overnight as the loan market slows. Most guys I know that have been in it a long time have worked for lots of companies.</p>

<p>Thanks guys!! </p>

<p>HB Indiana vs Penn?</p>

<p>What does being a mortgage broker involve exactly?</p>

<p>Maryland is definitely not the best for prestige or for best overall.</p>

<p>Penn State/Indiana are ranked higher overall on US News and have higher ranked programs.</p>

<p>UMD is held up by its high SAT scores.</p>

<p>I heard UMD is not in a very good area but their campus is gorgeous. Not too big. Well designed also. It looks absolutely gorgeous if you love southern architecture.</p>

<p>Penn State does not have very homogenious buildings. It looks like all different types of buildings scattered together.</p>

<p>A mortgage broker solicits people who need loans for real estate. Most are residential working with people buying homes. A smaller segment is those working with clients buying commercial investment properties. The loan broker will have a roster of clients who actually have the money to lend (banks, insurance companies, and companies like Countrywide that are in the lending business). For each loan actually placed the broker will earn a fee which can range from maybe $1500 on a home loan to $20,000 or more on a large commercial loan. They usually get no salary as such.</p>

<p>So what is Indiana good for? I thought it was such a good school.</p>

<p>Music, business, most liberal arts, not so much in tech fields.</p>

<p>harmon: penn state is higher by 7 slots (48 to 55) and umd is much higher than indiana</p>

<p>well bob i think he is talking about business in general. But i wouldn't go to Indiana just because it scored a .2 higher in business than Penn State but it is ranked the highest. Prestige wise they are all very similar w/ peer assessment scores at 3.7 for Maryland and indiana and 3.8 for penn state.<br>
I don't think it is just SAT scores as Harmon says though as maryland is much harder to get into gpa wise also</p>

<p>These are all the students that have graduated from my school from 2003-2005, their stats, the colleges they have applied to, and the decisions the colleges made</p>

<p>tcci.naviance.com/wootton (copy this link into your address bar)
enter as a guest
go to scattergrams
Pick a school.</p>

<p>It is clear that Indiana and penn state are much easier to get into. My school mind you is in maryland and it is harder to get into both penn state and indiana out of state. At my school the average kid has Maryland as their school with penn state as their safety. Usually when someone is going to penn state it means they didn't get into maryland...</p>

<p>I'd say that all three are about equally good overall...academically/reputationally speaking that is. Indiana has the best Business school of the three, but Maryland and PSU still have highly regarded B-schools. </p>

<p>However, in terms of atmosphere, they are very different. Indiana has the most beautiful campus and is located in the nicest college town of the three schools in question. In terms of social life, I'd say all three are good. </p>

<p>Personally, given those choices, I would say Indiana would be my first choice.</p>

<p>Thanks..your making this hard. Everyone has a favorite...grrr</p>

<p>go to the cheapest Buffalo. also visit them and go to the one you like. all i know it is easy to get internships at Maryland as it is 7 miles from DC and all the local buses will take you right there. atleast you have choices! :D</p>