<p>Hey everyone! I visited UMD recently, and I loved it.</p>
<p>However, from what I've heard the area is not the safest. </p>
<p>Your opinions on this?</p>
<p>Thanks!!</p>
<p>Hey hon, just wanted to offer my experience on safety.
So, I should preface this by saying I’m usually at a house in Hyattsville or in Gallery Place or someone’s dorm on campus on the weekends, I don’t venture to Knox Box or frat row, so I probably have a skewed view of how safe things are. Not that Knox Box and Frat row AREN’T safe, all my friends who hang out there on weekends haven’t had any problems that I know of, its just that traditionally that is where a good amount of crime alerts come from.
Anyway, I’ve never felt unsafe in CP or on campus. I’ve walked across campus at 11.30 by myself, which i know sounds really stupid, but hey, I’m still here, so it wasn’t that unsafe 
And the impression I get is that most crime alerts come from when people aren’t really being smart about safety. Like, most people are at least a little intoxicated, and by themselves somewhere at 3 in the morning, which I think would be asking for trouble anywhere.
PS, I’m a Freshman girl, and I just walk in a group, or take the bus or a taxi or get a ride anywhere. I think for the most part, if you just stay smart and take neccessary precautions, safety isn’t an issue
PPS, please don’t take me saying that you just have to be smart to be safe as an accusation against crime victims, no one deserves to be robbed or anything, I’m just saying if you’re smart, your likelihood of being targeted is much smaller</p>
<p>OK, hope that helped go terps!</p>
<p>Mollterp,
What is KnoxBox? You make good points about using common sense by traveling in groups , however, how safe is off campus housing? From what I understand , Maryland has a serious housing shortage and I am concerned about not getting housing as a upper classman and then possibly being forced to live in an unsafe off campus area. Can anyone address this? Thanks.</p>
<p>Knox Box is just a group of apartments students live in off campus where people usually throw parties and such. And like I said, I’m only a freshman, so I don’t know very much about off campus housing, but i can say that Maryland does try to give juniors options with Commons and Courtyards, which are apartment complexes right off campus that Maryland controls. I think about half of juniors who want to get into Commons and Courtyards can, which isn’t bad. And MD is building another dorm, Oakland (maybe, i always forget the name) Hall, by North Campus, which might be done by 2010, I actually don’t know too much about it, i just read an article about it a while ago. But that will definitely leave more options for sophomores and juniors in terms of housing. To be honest, the impression I get is that seniors are kind of kicked off campus, even commons and courtyards give precedence to Juniors. BUT, if you have a commons/courtyards apt. already, you can renew it. This is just what I know from a housing meeting I went to.
And if you don’t get commons/courtyards, I do know that University View is very safe, and has a walking path to campus, it’s very close. But it is very very expensive. And I think other than that, there are good and bad neighborhoods around, just like any other school Im sure. There are more apartment complexes around, like Parkside, but I don’t personally know anyone who has lived there. And other than that, there’s just a bunch of houses… </p>
<p>so, that was a very long message, haha, hope it helped some. I’m probably not the person to ask, I don’t have too much personal experience w/ off campus housing yet, but that’s the best I can do :)</p>
<p>Thanks Mollterp, your input is helpful . Any other current students who can comment on off campus housing and safety ,especially for females.</p>
<p>I think the campus is a bit big for a school police force to control. Ever since I was accepted I’ve been getting emails from campus police: about armed robberies and a few rapes and such. The either happen at frat row between3 am and 7am. College Park has a few shady areas, mostly where most people are intoxicated. IMO, the metro should be closer to campus, because something might happen on the way. </p>
<p>Source: Mechanical Engineering Intern (UMD), Accepted Class of 2013</p>
<p>ok, thanks guys. You’ve been helpful.</p>
<p>Basically, don’t be alone and you’ll be fine?</p>
<p>In that case, I guess everywhere has crime.</p>
<p>So, that shouldn’t factor in my decision in the end. </p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>mollterp, please don’t continue to walk alone at 11:30 at night! I’m a Terp parent and, yes, I do think you should be concerned about crime right on the perimeter of campus. I’ve received enough alerts in the past three semesters to fear for my son’s safety. That said, does he worry? Not at all. Would he want to be anywhere else? Not at all. The school has a lot going for it but you can’t minimize the incidence of violent crimes.</p>
<p>I think that one thing needs to be cleared up. The actual campus is safe to walk around at 11:30pm or even 1:30 am… and even then, there is no need to be walking around because of the shuttles.<br>
All of the crime alerts that are sent out are for places by Frat Row, or around some of the satellite houses that many students choose to go to. I can only remember 1 crime alert sent out for something that happened on campus this year and the victim actually confessed to making the incident up.<br>
As long as you are not walking on the side streets off of Route 1 by yourself, you’ll be fine. So when people mention crime alerts, just know that they are all OFF-CAMPUS incidents and that campus is very safe.</p>
<p>What about the fact that many upper classman can’t get housing on campus and thus must move off campus. On campus housing is not guaranteed after freshman year. Are the off campus housing areas safe? My parents are worried about the safety of off campus housing and may not let me attend. Can anyone help me out here? I really want to be a Terp.</p>
<p>I didn’t know on-campus housing was only guaranteed for freshman. Does this include Honors or are Honors guaranteed?</p>
<p>I wasn’t aware that housing is now only guaranteed for one year; when DS enrolled it was guaranteed for two. So Lizzy makes a very valid point. Much of the popular off-campus housing is in the precise vicinity from which these crime alerts originate.</p>
<p>I still believe that a major dose of common sense goes a long way. Back in the dinosaur ages, I attended a large, non-flagship state U in the middle of cornfields…there were still places where you didn’t go alone, and times of day that you were more careful. And, generally, when alcohol was involved, the likelihood that bad things might happen went up exponentially. I lived in a lovely little residential area (full of retired people), but still was approached by a pervert on my way home one afternoon. </p>
<p>Additionally, I live in NC…until a year ago , the world considered Chapel Hill an idyllic campus town, but Eve Carson’s murder changed that, too.</p>