<p>Our son is debating between PSU Smeal business school & UMD where he got into Letters & Sciences, but in Markets & Society program that better preps students to apply to business school. He fell in love with PSU but I prefer UMD, although both have pros/cons. Any insight would be appreciated.</p>
<p>You might get more responses in the Parents Forum.</p>
<p>As long as the finances are roughly equivalent, I think this is a situation where the student can safely make the choice. Penn State and UMD are peer schools in most respects. There’s no dramatic advantage of one over the other – and I say this even though my son graduated from UMD and had a good experience there. I’m sure he would have had just as good an experience at Penn State.</p>
<p>If he has time, a second visit to both schools can often cement the decision.</p>
<p>MyLB has a good idea there.</p>
<p>If he visits UMD again, make sure he “discovers” that it’s easy to get to Washington, DC from the campus (which is a big plus for some students) and that the community immediately surrounding the campus (once you get beyond the student-focused businesses and apartment buildings on Route 1) is not the nicest (which is a big minus for some students). This information about the surroundings could help him make an informed decision.</p>
<p>I’m sure there are similar neighborhood-and-area considerations for Penn State, but I don’t know what they are because I haven’t been there.</p>
<p>Also, if he has been accepted into any of the special programs for underclassmen at UMD (Gemstone, Honors, College Park Scholars, or others), he may want to investigate them further. They’re entirely voluntary, but some people like them because they bring together students with similar interests and make a very large campus seem smaller. Other people don’t like them and don’t choose to participate even if invited. (This is especially true for Gemstone, which is the most prestigious program at UMD but definitely does not appeal to everyone.) Similarly, if he has been offered any special opportunities at Penn State, he should check those out as well.</p>
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<p>HE is going to college…not you (the parent). Let him make the choice.</p>
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<p>Based on what? Their average number of students accepted to MBA programs? If your son does well, and gets some good internship opportunities, he will be prepared to apply to business school out of EITHER program.</p>
<p>PSU has a massive and extremely devoted alumni association. Their career center has a wide reach out to every industry you can think of.</p>
<p>We know lots of smart kids who have gone to Smeal, and all had amazing internships in their second and third years, capped out by multiple job offers. It is a well-oiled machine and he could not go wrong.</p>
<p>I could be wrong, but Smeal offers the #1 Supply Chain Management program, that feeds into major pharmaceutical and other manufacturing industries.</p>
<p>I know nothing about UMD.</p>
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<p>PSU is in the middle of nowhere. It is a 2-3 hour drive to both Philly and Pittsburgh. On the other hand, it is an idyllic town with no bad neighborhoods at all. It has a beautiful campus and the town is wonderful that surrounds it, but it (and the town) are really their own little island.</p>
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<p>On the other hand, UMD is located in an area where there are lots of jobs, and plenty of local companies recruit at the university. The DC metro area in general has been less affected than most of the rest of the country by the economic downturn. </p>
<p>So I think that in terms of job opportunities after graduation, a student at either university could do very well.</p>
<p>You all offered great feedback & I have posted on parents forum as well. True he is going to college, not I (been there, done that). He also loved UMD, but worried about getting into business school which seems quite competitive, while he’s in at Smeal already which has a solid reputation (Supply Chain high on his list & ranked #3). Internship/job opportunities actually seem higher at Penn State as recruiters come from all over the country. We have visited both schools twice (he actual saw PSU a 3rd time with friends) & are going back to UMD next week. Love the proximity to D.C./Georgetown, but know area around UMD has high crime, whereas State College is much safer from statistics I’ve read. Smaller campus @ UMD seems more manageable, but kids figure their way around. Looks like he’s leaning towards PSU which I support…Thanks guys!</p>
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<p>This is IN the parents forum.</p>
<p>As a PA student, I have always looked down on PSU and looked up at UMD. </p>
<p>PSU wins on public ivy status, alumni association, and safety of area.
UMD wins on location, campus, and program.</p>
<p>In my mind this is a win for UMD, but its clearly a close call (and not a bad decision to have to make either way!)</p>
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<p>The area around UMD and the campus itself should be thought of as urban, even though they don’t look urban. If you leave something of value unattended, it will be stolen. If you don’t have a good lock on your bike, it will disappear. </p>
<p>You would expect this sort of thing at an urban campus, but it sometimes comes as a surprise to new students at UMD.</p>
<p>When my son was at UMD, he didn’t seem to think that there were major crime problems other than theft. His main complaint was that he had bicycles stolen – three times.</p>