<p>Can anyone comment on the comparison between these two schools. The latest USNews report for engineering schools ranks UMD higher than RPI.</p>
<p>RPI and UMD are both great engineering schools, but they are very different. Maryland is obviously a big state school, with lots of different majors, lots of special programs, Lots of sporting activities, and lots of students. We are in state, and my son simply wasn’t interested in Maryland, even though he got a scholarship. RPI is smaller, more focused on engineering, math and science, and the feel is just very different. I don’t know what all the current stats are but you may want to compare average SAT scores and GPAs of students admitted and/or students actually attending. if you are out of state, I don’t know how much UMD costs, but it’s a great deal for in-state students. Unless you get a scholarship RPI is very expensive. If you are looking at out of state publics though, RPI may compare favorably if you get a scholarship. In the end my son picked RPI over Georgia Tech because he got a fairly substantial merit offer from RPI, but Georgia Tech doesn’t offer much in the way of scholarships for out of state students. Maryland may be similar. Bottom line… They are both great for engineering, but you need to figure out what else is important to you.</p>