<p>Trying to help give my son some insight and guidance on the NROTC Unit at UOM... Please feedback the good, bad, and ugly. </p>
<p>Also need some feedback on the EE program. </p>
<p>Not getting into chance me yet just trying to get infor for him to compare with the other 4 schools of thought.</p>
<p>Villanova
UNC Chapel Hill (Tough to get into from out of state)
Boston University
George Washington</p>
<p>Can’t give you feedback on the NROTC, but I can help with info about the engineering school.</p>
<p>I’m the mom of a freshman engineer, and I have nothing but high praise and reports of very high satisfaction. First off, you need to know that the engineering school (full name of engineering school is A. James Clark School of Engineering) is a LEP, which means it is a limited enrollment program and is significantly more competitive than the general admission to the university. Many students that apply to engineering get accepted to UMD without getting admission to engineering.</p>
<p>UMD places a high value on retention for engineering students and revamped its curriculum several years ago to make sure that even freshman have access to the best professors (rather than reserving distinguished professors for upperclassmen). The goal is excite students and make sure they are actively engaged in engineering. They refer to them as “keystone” classes and the hovercraft project in freshman year is definitely a highlight.
[Hovercraft</a> Competition: Not Your Average Final Exam | wusa9.com](<a href=“http://www.wusa9.com/news/article/179428/158/Hovercraft-Competition-Not-Your-Average-Final-Exam]Hovercraft”>http://www.wusa9.com/news/article/179428/158/Hovercraft-Competition-Not-Your-Average-Final-Exam)</p>
<p>In addition to this, engineering students have the opportunity to participate in a living learning program specifically for engineers - FLEXUS for women and VIRTUS for men. Students benefit not only from living with fellow engineers (built-in support for class help/study groups) but the experience is augmented by professional development skills (resume writing, interviewing, elevator pitches, etc) that are taught right in their dorm. Further, tutors are readily available in-house for academic support. Here is the link to look at Virtus - be sure to open the syllabi for both semesters
[Virtus:</a> A Living Learning Community, SEEDS Programs, Clark School of Engineering, University of Maryland](<a href=“http://www.seeds.umd.edu/programs/virtus.html]Virtus:”>http://www.seeds.umd.edu/programs/virtus.html)</p>
<p>Aside from academics, the research opportunities are boundless and the internship opportunities are unique to Maryland. You might be interested in the following articles - the first lists UMD overall as a university in the number 8 slot, but when you look at the little breakdown on the left side of “how majors match up”, UMD’s rank moves up to number 3 for engineering…
[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 second article shows Maryland featured in Popular Science for breaking records
[Video:</a> Human-Powered Gamera II Helicopter Hovers for a World-Record 50 Seconds | Popular Science](<a href=“http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-06/video-human-powered-gamera-ii-quadrotor-hovers-world-record-50-seconds]Video:”>Video: Human-Powered Gamera II Helicopter Hovers for a World-Record 50 Seconds)</p>
<p>And finally, another PopSci article about unique labs at Maryland
[Gallery:</a> 30 Awesome College Labs | Popular Science](<a href=“http://www.popsci.com/science/gallery/2010-08/gallery-30-awesome-college-labs?image=4]Gallery:”>Popular Science Homepage | Popular Science)
Maryland also has a wind tunnel and training version of a nuclear reactor. All cool stuff.</p>
<p>Take a look at the 4 yr academic plan for EE (scroll to second page for class titles) and you’ll get a good sense of coursework for that major.
<a href=“http://www.eng.umd.edu/sites/default/files/images/current/forms/4yrplan/2012-2013/enee-4yr-acadplan-2012.pdf[/url]”>http://www.eng.umd.edu/sites/default/files/images/current/forms/4yrplan/2012-2013/enee-4yr-acadplan-2012.pdf</a></p>
<p>Believe it or not, that is not everything that makes UMD an outstanding choice for engineering, but hopefully this gives you a good sense of it.</p>
<p>Thank you this is an excellent feed… My older son got into UM for eng; however, he wanted to attend our own in state college. The nuclear reactor will be high on my 2nd. sons thought list since he wants to be a sub officer, that will work toward prototype…as long as all goes to plan for him. Thank you again!!</p>
<p>Glad to help…since you said your son is interested in nuclear, you might be interested to know about the minor in nuclear engineering.
[Minor</a> in Nuclear Engineering | A. James Clark School of Engineering](<a href=“http://www.eng.umd.edu/current/nuclear-minor]Minor”>http://www.eng.umd.edu/current/nuclear-minor)</p>
<p>I noticed that the classes fall under the department of ME, not EE, but I don’t think that means you can’t take them, it just means you just need to get department permission to take them if you are not ME. However, I think that question is best directed to the school. </p>
<p>The name of the person to ask is Bruk Berhane - he does recruitment and special programs for engineering. Not only is he extremely knowledgeable, he happens to be an EE himself (and he got his undergrad degree in EE from UMD!). Here is his contact info:
Bruk Berhane
Coodinator, Undergraduate Recruitment and Special Programs
A. James Clark School of Engineering
University of Maryland, College Park
1131 Glenn L. Martin Hall
College Park, MD 20742
Phone: 301-405-0287
Fax: 301-314-9867
<a href=“mailto:bberhane@umd.edu”>bberhane@umd.edu</a></p>
<p>Best of luck to you and your son!</p>
<p>Thank you again for the outstanding feedback and point of contact, we will be going to the school for a visit some time over the winter.</p>