Parents, I need Some Perspective

<p>venkater - that is an excellent set of match school descriptors, so no problem there. It sounds like you like both your match and safety schools, although your parents do not. So, I withdraw my concern :cool:.</p>

<p>venkater, the relative "prestige" of a school has very little to do with hiring when comparing schools that are essentially in the same strata. Employers do not read or care about US News rankings. They may be attentive to very broad generalizations -- so for example they will see an applicant from Harvard in a more favorable light than one from UMD --- but if they are comparing UMD to, say, Penn State or Syracuse..... it won't make a difference. What would be more relevant is whether a particular school creates some sort of connection -- that is, a U. Wisconsin alumnus might favor students from Wisconsin. </p>

<p>You used the example of applying for work in Chicago. If your true goal was to get a job after college in Illinois, then the best bet would be college in Illinois. It has nothing to do with prestige and everything to do with connections. </p>

<p>Which brings me to another point: if your primary worry is how employable you will be on graduation, then look to see what sort of research and internship opportunities each college affords. Employers look for experience. </p>

<p>The most prestigious college is not necessarily the best place to make your mark and find opportunities -- since it is easier to take advantage of opportunities when the competition is less.</p>

<p>I love UMD. It has solid academics, excellent activities (including an excellent honors program), a lovely campus, and proximity to D.C., Anapolis and Baltimore, all of which have excellent cultural and voacational resources. One also benefits by having professors with national government, media, and other experiences and contacts.</p>

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I am concerned about how employers will see UMD, whether it is just annother state school or if it is something special.

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UMD is an accredited Uni that is quite solid across the board. I think if you do very well there, you will have a leg up over the Vanderbilt guy who just coasted. If you do very well at UMD and go up against someone who did very well at Vanderbilt, I don’t think the difference in prestige between these two schools is going to cause you trouble. Employers are after proven results. If your concern is employment, then the relatively small difference in prestige between UMD and any other school probably does not warrant so much angst. Now, if bragging rights are the issue, that is an entirely different story.</p>

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My parents say my view of UMD is convoluted and that I think it is much better than it actually is. I just think it is a fine institution and want to know how people outside the DC/mid atlantic area view it's prestige so I can either see that my parents are correct, or tell them that they have no idea what they are talking about.

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When you mention prestige for the purpose of employment, well, I think UMD is right in there because even if no one has ever heard of it, the school’s accreditation and state school status alone help it stand right up against most others when it comes to opportunity to learn skills and do well. Sure, an employer receiving a resume heralding a Harvard 4.0 and a resume presenting a UMD 4.0 will likely give the Harvard guy an initial edge in his mind. But he is still likely to let the UMD guy into the door too, to see what he has to offer, especially if the UMD guy presents stuff in his resume that is interesting. If this edge matters to you enough to pay a Harvard tuition, and you can get into the school, I say go for it.</p>

<p>But we don’t seem to be talking here about schools like Harvard. We are talking Vanderbilt and UVA, highly selective schools to be sure, but schools that do not have as much Hollywood cachet behind them (for what that’s worth). At this level, I think the sort of edge mentioned above drops precipitously, and therefore does not warrant a lot of angst.</p>

<p>If you are talking “bragging rights” prestige, well, that is a different, albeit intersecting issue. More people are gonna sit up and go “oooh” if you say you go to Vanderbilt than if you say you go to UMD (and this means you will get a little of the sort of edge from employers mentioned above). Your peers will be more impressed. So will the parents of your peers. Vanderbilt offers more thoroughbred panache than UMD, which seems quite like a stalwart, completely reliable workhorse of school.</p>

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Also, I dont buy this whole "fit" thing because you really dont know if you are happy or sad at college X until you are there for a month or two.

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Well, of course it is nice to be able to live at a school for a month before you choose. But most students do not have such luxury. I think the whole “fit” thing is important, and while testing for it gives us no guarantee, it is certainly useful in lowering the probability of gross incompatibility. A grad student shooting for a law degree would probably find himself fitting in a lot better at Yale than at Princeton. The point here is that “fit” is nothing more than a school’s offerings matched to a student’s preference. It obviously exists and is vital.</p>

<p>We can form tests for “fit” that are very effective. They take work and honesty, but I think they work. For example, we can visit and make calls to a variety of people who have been at a school for a good deal of time. We can ask their preferences and impressions. It is likely we will find many people who match our temperament, and whose experiences present a pattern that we might use to develop an informed opinion.</p>

<p>Listen to the wise Drosselmeier, he knows. </p>

<p>Also - if you are interested in science, the more important factor in your future success will be grad school - for which UM will prepare you plenty well.</p>

<p>My post will be all over the lot!</p>

<p>My family lives in VA. My son just began his freshman year at an MD LAC. I've taken a few classes at UMD-CP for fun. UMD-CP is decently well regarded, but seems very average to me. Personally, I don't like the school...too large, adjacent to an absolutely horrible and dangerous area. There have been a number of serious crimes on/adjacent to campus - some very serious. Parking is awful. To me, the school is just too large and impersonal.</p>

<p>IMHO, you can find better elsewhere.</p>

<p>Also, IMHO, you should emphasis "fit"...prestige is not at all important. Some smaller schools, some of which are virtually unknown at the national level, offer programs and instruction and opportunities that boost even relatively moderate students into a position that they can compete with and outstrip grads of the "top" (whatever that means) schools. Plus these smaller schools offer great mentoring, quirky classes, and research opportunities typically unavailable to undergrads. These smaller environments grow very strong and capable kids...and isn't that what college is all about?!</p>

<p>Prestige is meaningless if you are unhappy at a given school, which brings us back to FIT!</p>

<p>My D toured 8 schools, mostly selective LACs, but with UVA and Boston College in the mix. She was mildly interested in two of the LACs, so went back for an overnight at each. Afterwared, the most excited she felt was to say, "I guess I could be happy here."</p>

<p>We toured a 9nth school just for the heck of it. It was public U with a 70+% acceptance rate. During the tour, she knew this was the place for her and that was that. She only applied to the one school and is now a freshman and happy as can be with her choice. I have yet to hear even one complaint after a month.</p>

<p>She chose this school because she could see herself as a student there. It was hard for her to put into words why she felt so strongly, but it clicked. Now that she's there, the students, the campus, professors, community and surrounding city, climate, geography, all feels like her new home. She knows she's in the right place.</p>

<p>My recommendation would be to visit several different types of schools. Large, small, private, public. City, rural, suburban, north, south, west, etc.</p>

<p>Try to find a web site such as campus dirt dot com to see what current and past students say about their school.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>Venkater, a slightly different perspective. I agree with your match criteria, but match is not the same as safety. I'm a big believer in having 2 safeties, in order to have a choice. Now I think you will definitely have 2 admissions anyway, but, still.</p>

<p>My other point is ignorance - you mentioned Univ of Ill, I presume UIUC, I think of it as a great math/science/ computer school - wouldn't it be a better fit?? Or are you more into biomed?? What about Johns Hopkins? Would that please the 'rents?</p>

<p>UMd College Park is seen as a good school, and I know kids who have chosen it from California, especially in the sciences. Its physics department has had a good reputation for years. It has a championship chess team (I think it might have been the only school at one point to offer chess scholarships). It has an honors program, unlike Berkeley, and so gets some applicants from here who want the advantages of a smaller unit within a big state university. All that adds up to the impression that they get at least some excellent students.</p>

<p>I do agree though, that you should have more than one safety. Not that you won't get in, but so that you have some choice no matter what happens with your matches and reaches.</p>

<p>If it really matters to you or your parents...in the prestige-obsessed suburban Northeast locations (suburbs of Boston, Philly, NYC), undergraduate UMD, College Park - especially Honors program -- is considered "better" than most programs at Umass, URI or U Delaware. Will people in these locations be more impressed if you say you're attending UNC, Michigan, UVA or Berkeley? Maybe.</p>

<p>Drosselmeier's post was helpful and made a lot of sense. My parents want me to have the added edge of going to a "better school" but I really dont get it. </p>

<p>About UIUC, I know it is a solid school, I just dont know how happy I would be there. And Hopkins, not really a match school. I dont feel like applying to places like UIUC because I really dont want to go there a whole lot making the apps a waste of time and money. </p>

<p>If UMD is considered an "average" institution on level with Rutgers and Ohio State, then I will try to find more match schools that I think I can grow to like because I have worked too hard these past 3 years in high school to go to an average college.</p>