<p>Where should I go???? I got admitted into the Business program in both universities, and i know that penn state's is slightly better than maryland's (i know such minor differences shouldn't be given too much thought).</p>
<p>However, i got into the Sapphire Program at Penn State (equivalent to maryland's scholar program, i think) and didn't get into Maryland's scholar program. </p>
<p>What should i do? What would you do if you were in my position? </p>
<p>thanks for the help guys.</p>
<p>sounds like me. I got into the sapphire program at Penn State. I however, got into scholars at Maryland. I am choosing maryland i think but that is because i am instate. Better opportunities for internships at maryland because it is near DC. Penn state, well, is near nothing... Where do you live?</p>
<p>i LOVE maryland. haven't visited penn state yet, but it's HUGE. and when i saw maryland, it was also huge but penn state's undergrad students are like 10,000 more than maryland's and i was like oh jeez.</p>
<p>it really depends on who u are. i had mentoined this in previous posts, but i said that i liked umd's sporty feel and also it's academic achievements. i had said that i wanted to party hard, but study harder. penn state seems more like a bigger party school, and i don't want to get sucked into that kind of atmosphere for most of my college years.</p>
<p>in maryland, u can apply to the honors program second semester, and also, it offers business honors and QUEST..so, more programs.</p>
<p>i hope you find out the best school for you :)</p>
<p>I think it also depends on where you live. If I lived in PA, I'd pick Penn State, but since I'm in Maryland, I'm picking MD over Penn St. They're both comperable. UMD has DC going for it, even though College Park sucks and Penn St has Happy Valley, even though its in the middle of nowhere.</p>
<p>I kind of consider them to be basically the same school, so it all came down to money for me.</p>
<p>i'm from New Jersey.....unfortunate enough to have Rutgers as a state university, who's business program is one of the worst :(</p>
<p>Cheapseats....imagine for a second that you weren't a maryland resident. what would you do...penn state or maryland?</p>
<p>I've visited both universities, and to be honest, i like Penn state's campus, but hate its location. Maryland has an ok campus (kinda old as well) but its near Baltimore and DC, which is a major plus point.</p>
<p>I also liked Maryland's business school presentation when i visited it on 11th March. They told me that Maryland gets many more recruitors from the top firms. When i went to Penn State, i heard the names of fewer top companies that recruited penn state students.</p>
<p>ok. it is tough to imagine it that way but lets see. Do you know what you want to major in specifically? finance, marketing, entrepreneurship, information systems, ect? </p>
<p>I think the sapphire program might just tip the scale into Penn State territory. I mean NJ is closer to penn state so that also is in favor of PSU. PSU must be tough in terms of getting an internship which is important when going to get a MBA. Penn state is slightly more expensive. </p>
<p>Location- UMD
Fun- PSU
Education- Split
Programs- you got sapphire(this is a good program). I have thrilled that I got sapphire. It seems great and this just might be the deciding factor.
Sports- Split
Surrounding city- Well on one hand you can get shot. On the other hand you can get run over by a heard of cows so split.
Diversity- well, i am a minority so this is important to me. REally in favor of UMD</p>
<p>I would go to PSU. You got into the sapphire program and that might seperate you from the larger crowd and make you "less of a number"-what ever the hell that means. I AM SERIOUSLY NOT QUALIFIED TO GIVE A SUGGESTION!!!! TAKE FROM WHAT I SAY WHAT YOU WILL. </p>
<p>Have you visited? I would say go where you feel in place. The sapphire program is only 2 years. In smith there are a ton of things you can joint. I think there are 18. THe business honors and the QUEST programs are, in my opinion, comparable to the sapphire program in terms of the amount of people there. </p>
<p>I really think PSU and UMD are the exact same schools just in two different states. The business programs are just about the same too. If you care about saving some money go to UMD. only 3000. Maybe PSU will give us sapphrire students some money. That would be great. That is what I am hoping for. They only enroll 80-100 sapphire kids so why wouldn't they?? Hopefully.</p>
<p>About my tenth paragraph and this is all disorganized but that is ok. lastly, you can't go wrong. both schools are good. They both are the same. Just pick they one that you feel is the best for you. You can't go wrong...</p>
<p>i agree with cheapseats in that umd has a LOT of different programs for everyone. if you're into business, i'd say pick maryland cuz they have the QUEST and business honors u get into later on..also, like i said...u can transfer into the honors program if u do well first semester, so that's also a plus. </p>
<p>i guess i'm a bit biased because i'm most likely attending maryland, but, i really like it there. i don't see college park as a problem..NYU is in the middle of NYC, columbia is in the middle of harlem..a lot of great schools aren't situated in the greatest places, but what the school offers to you counts the most.</p>
<p>yes, sapphire program is great, and i got into that also, but for some reason i feel like penn state doesn't have more to offer.</p>
<p>wow!! great response.</p>
<p>at the moment, i think i want to major in accounting/finance. </p>
<p>as for penn state/maryland....i do like the Sapphire program a lot, but Penn State also has no diversity whatsoever. I'm also a minority student...or maybe not....don't know if Asian = minority anymore. If only i had been admitted into the scholars program i'd have no problems in chosing between penn state and UMD. </p>
<p>I've visited both universities and their surroundings are completely the opposite of each other. Actually, UMD is closer to my house (180 miles), while University Park is 250 miles....distance wise i'd prefer maryland as well.</p>
<p>If i can apply for the honors program in my sophomore year, that's a good thing...although i'm not sure if i'll get in....do you know what the requirements are?</p>
<p>also, i hated the Maryland dorms. I've heard that Penn State has newly renovated dorms for Business students, and i saw a virutal tour of them online...they were awesome!! </p>
<p>As you can see, i'm really confused. Hopefully i get into UMich and all my quandaries are solved <sigh></sigh></p>
<p>whiskers....</p>
<p>i totally agree that i think penn state doesn't have much to offer besides the sapphire program. it seems a little academically behind Maryland, although some collge guide books beg to differ.</p>
<p>one more thing....i was reading the other thread on who got into college park scholars. i noticed that some people with less impressive stats then me got in.</p>
<p>i have a 2000 SAT, 3.9 W GPA, reasonable SAT II scores...770 US History and 680 Math IIC (not great i admit!) and my essay's and recommendations were decent. I didn't have too many EC's to rave about, but i do have 200 hours of volunteer work.</p>
<p>mighty nick - i'm not sure why u didn't get into honors...scholars are more of a community service/activities based program, while honors are academic based. as for transferring into honors, i've herad that all u need to maintain a good GPA and apply. it's on its website, actually. </p>
<p>as for maryland dorms..i visited denton, prolly one of the crappiest dorms for freshmen (it's an honors dorm, also). but, i heard that it's the most fun. u have a bunch of freshmen there, u make ur dorm look like it's your room, what's the problem? i visited a room that was all decorated (and it was also a real nice sunny day)..i felt like i was back at LI in my own room. so yeah, penn state's dorms might be real great for business students, but for maryland, as u become upperclassmen, u can move into the apartments/other dorms. they are beautiful from the outisde, and the south commons apartments are pretty new i've heard and really nice. so in the end, i don't see penn state as having more advantages than umd.</p>
<p>oh also, did you apply by december 1st? just wondering, cuz that's the deadline for applying if u want to be considered for special programs.</p>
<p>I don't think my stats are good enough for the maryland honors program, but i think that i should've definately been admitted to scholars. </p>
<p>I applied before December 1st, which is why i'm even more surprised about not getting into scholars.</p>
<p>hm well my stats were somewhat similar to yours and i got into honors...i would think with your stats u'd get in..</p>
<p>as for scholars, maybe they do really look into ECs. you said you didn't have too many ECs to rave about, that could have factored in on why you didn't get into scholars, but i wouldn't worry. seeing as your high school grades were good, i'd think u could get into honors in college.</p>
<p>The Scholars / Honors breakdown of who got into which was totally a shocker to me. (an unpleasant one)</p>
<p>i know eckie....the scholars/honors breakdown was an unpleasant shocker to me as well. </p>
<p>I didn't think that EC's would make that big of a difference at a state school. I thought only private schools look more into EC's, such as Boston College for exmaple. </p>
<p>This is what i'm worried about....people at my acadmemic "level" have gone into better programs.</p>
<p>There has been much debate as to whether or not grades is the only factor into honors or scholars. My buddy with a 3.9+ and a 4.67 with a 32 ACT got into Scholars. That is obviously really high scores. I have heard that honors is more hummanity based while scholars is more career focused I have also heard that honors is more academic while scholars is more community service. I don't knwo...</p>
<p>well one other thing to factor. Not to be too picky but the kids at UMCP are smarter than those at Penn State only because PSU has easier admission standards. Penn State is considered slightly better but it wierd that it was my safety over UMD even though I live in maryland.</p>
<p>Look at the stats of kids admitted to both school from my school
<a href="http://www.tcci.naviance.com/wootton%5B/url%5D">www.tcci.naviance.com/wootton</a> (copy and paste this in)
Click on enter as a guest
Go to scattergrams
Find UMCP and PSU. </p>
<p>notice how PSU is easier to get into and that is mind blowing as it is 'better' and it is an OOS school for all of these kids. </p>
<p>Just saying you might be surrounding yourself with slightly brighter students at UMD which I think in business is really important. YOu will be making life long friends there. </p>
<p>Just another factor to add into account....</p>
<p>I have a 4.14 GPA (3.64 uw), 2120 SAT + EC's & about..um...I dont know, 70 community service hours? plus a disgusting amount of work experience - I got into Scholars.</p>
<p>Any program is a nice one, but yeah. Honors kids get nicer dorms :(</p>
<p>Mighty, did you visit penn state? If so did you go on a sapphire day? Did you visit smeal? What did you think?</p>