<p>Hi, wrestling with decision for my daughter- she has a free ride with Rutgers, but only $8K merit for UM. (I know this is a good problem to have but).</p>
<p>We don't have a lot of money- we could swing the extra $22k a year, for UM but it would be really tight.</p>
<p>Does the reputation for Maryland combined with nicer campus justify spending an extra $88K??</p>
<p>I don't think so , but my wife does.</p>
<p>Opinions?</p>
<p>thx</p>
<p>Yes I would choose MD over Rutgers. Rankingwise, it's 16th vs. 47th, and I think that's a huge jump. Don't forget that your daughter is also eligible for tons of scholarships once she's in college, plus a bunch of additional ones because she is a female, like me. There are also a lot of scholarships that she can apply for right now that pertain to women in engineering, but most of the deadlines are really soon. Has she also applied directly to the UMD department of engineering for department scholarships? I don't have very good "engineering-worthy" stats per se (like high math SAT or math team) but I still rec'd 3k a year after applying to the engineering dept scholarship. I assume that my gender helped that along since they are really trying to recruit women.</p>
<p>Job placement depends on what you do while in college; that's way more important than what school you graduate from. What can MD offer that Rutgers can't?? I don't think a prettier campus is worth 88k.</p>
<p>I don't think it's gonna be 88k for UMD
you can go there first year pay out of state tuition and then apply for instate for later years.</p>
<p>There's a huge difference. Instate is $4000/semester and out of state is $10 000/semester. The career center at UMD is very good at job searches and internship or stuff like that. People come on campus to recruit a lot for engineering & business at UMD. You will not have problems finding a job. </p>
<p>I think for engineering, Maryland is way better than Rutgers. Maryland is #1 public engineering school in northeast, and #2 in the east coast. </p>
<p>I could be bias since I am in Maryland engineering. Ask someone from Rutgers engineering school too.</p>
<p>Chaoses- how does one go about applying for instate after the first year? my residence is in NJ??
All Thanks for you thoughtful replies</p>
<p>you have to live in maryland for at least the last 12 months (vacations for more than a quarter will not count, so you can't go back the whole summer and live at your old house).
Have an address
Have paid income tax and file maryland tax return.
Receives no public assistance from a state other than the State of Maryland or from a city, county or municipal agency other than one in Maryland.</p>
<p>You can call or request more info from the school on how to apply for instate tuition after a year. I know people from other states and some international students do that too.</p>
<p>Rankings aren't everything. It's up to you to do well in school and get a good job or admitted into grad school. </p>
<p>Take the full ride at Rutgers.</p>
<p>Take the free ride. It is less burden on you as a parent. Also you kid wont have the burden of paying back loans once she graduated. Rutgers Engineering is a great program and very challenging. Like the comment above rankings are not important</p>
<p>Rutgers. Hands down. Are you telling me that the EE at Maryland is any different from Rutgers? Intel, AMD, Sun etc. recruit at both. Your GRADES and outside activities will matter much more.</p>
<p>Also, you may need the 80k for grad school.</p>
<p>Thanks again all- fyi her high school counselor said to take rutgers also</p>