Could depend on major and subject of the courses. Popular majors like CS tend to have bigger classes, and classes needed by pre-meds tend to be bigger.
Even at universities with large classes, students can still make direct contact with faculty and/or research opportunities. Attending office hours (highly encouraged!), reaching out by email, going to department-sponsored events are all ways to gain recognition or opportunities even for polite people with good manners ā perhaps even especially for those types of students.
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Thanks. However UMD is the only true financial safety. We will not trade it for UMBC or Towson.
St. Maryās is too rural and does not have foreign language that DD needs (and it is required there)ā¦
In regards to the safety (you said UMD is a guaranteed admit) - you are making it only UMD.
There are a lot of financial safety publics out there that are smaller but you are inflexible to look at them.
UMD is not going to give an advantage at pre-med over say Christopher Newport or UNC Asheville or College of Charleston.
What it will give is - larger classes that you despise.
Good luck.
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Iād say that a math lecture class with 50 students isnāt really taught differently than one with 150. The prof lectures, the students may break up into smaller discussion groups.
My daughter is a TA for a class with 120 students. All 120 go to the big lectures. then she has 2 discussion groups of 20 each. There are also 2 other TAs with 40 students each. The prof and all the TAs have office hours. They all discuss grading (in the end it is up to the prof). Thatās 4 people who are there to help the students. If it were a class of 30, just a prof would handle it, and sheād just have one set of office hours for that student and for all her other students too.
Many high school teachers have 120-150 students for any semester. Can they get to know each student any better than the college professor who teaches a class of 150? The student still needs to make the effort, and that effort can be put in at a small school or a large one.
Youāve said your daughter will have completed most of the intro classes before going to college. Itās possible sheāll never have a class of 150-200. Upper division classes usually have 24-35 students. Labs have however many spots are available in the lab, but usually the students are working alone or in a very small group so it doesnāt matter if there are 20 or 80 in the space.
Big schools have a lot of students walking around, but they also have a lot of resources. If a prof has 300 students, they also have the support for 300 students. My daughter went to a school of 3500 and she never had a lecture of more than 50 (because there were no lecture halls that held that many students). If she was in a class like Calc I, there were 600+ students in that class, but all enrolled in different sections, all doing the same assignments, all taking the same exams and quizzes (thursday nights, 7 pm!)
Good things and not so good about schools of all sizes. She looked at a very small school (1200 students) and knew immediately it wasnāt for her. Only 5 (FIVE!) prof in the physics department. What if she didnāt like one (or one didnāt like her?)? What if one got sick and had to retire? What if she was gone for a semester and couldnāt take a class only offered once a year?
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I had no idea that the classes at UMd were this big. My daughter was bio/chem at a well known state university and her intro classes were large, but not 400 students.
As noted, once you get past the intro courses then the classes are smaller. Maybe this is not true at UMd.
For referenceā¦18.1% of U. of Marylandās classes have more than 50 students. 45.4% have less than 20.
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The following link can be used to see every section of every class that will be offered by UMD for the Fall 2022 semester.
https://app.testudo.umd.edu/soc/202208
These sections show the number of students that UMD is prepared to accommodate, NOT the actual number that register for these classes.
I donāt think that UMD has any introductory classes of 400 students. 100 - 200. yes, but I have not looked at every course that is available, so there could be some larger, and any interested reader is free to check all of them.
There are several things to keep in mind. This year UMD had a new freshman class of 4,861 students. This coming Fall will probably be similar.
Taking Biology Major introductory classes for example (class code BSCI), some classes are restricted to non-science majors, some are restricted to Freshman Connection students, some are restricted to students majoring in Biological Sciences or Neuroscience, some are restricted to students in the Scholars Program, and some may be restricted to students in the Honors College. Honors versions of classes, when offered, are always limited to 20 students on less.
All of these things tend to reduce the size of any particular class.
Also, there are many students whose majors do not require them to take any BSCI classes at all. Also there are some students who can skip some classes due to AP credit or equivalent community courses.
After Freshman year, class sizes also tend to get smaller as student begin to specialize in their Majors.
So, some 'research is prudent before making blanket statement about class sizes at any University.
UMD also offers 'research opportunities to undergraduate students.
These 'research opportunities are posted to the various Department websites for all students to see.
Students must apply for these opportunities. They are interviewed and selections are made based on merit (there may be certain academic requirements).
There is also the Departmental Honors Program which offers 'research opportunities to qualified students. Interested readers can google this subject.
The following link can be used to find the 4 year plan for the different Majors at UMD
Finally, the next link provides a set of reports that some may find useful
With all that, I do agree that UMD is not for everyone. I hope that all this can be of help.
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I get the impression that the OP does not like state schools, given every school on the list is private with the exception of UMd. There are plenty of state schools that meet their criteria, but they donāt seem to be interested. Itās their choice. Hopefully there is an affordable option besides UMd.
Both of my kids attended state schools- one was in state at a school with under 5000 students. The other was OOS.
My older one is finished with grad school. She received money and was very prepared academically when she entered her program.
My other one applied to 7 graduate programs (she spent some time deciding whether or not to apply to medical school) and was accepted to all of them, all with money.
State schools have served us very well. I wish this family luck.
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But we are instate for UMD. We are not in VA or NC. If she will need to attend big school at least UMD is cheaper for us.
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There are out of state public schools that are smaller than UMd and that might come in at a lower cost than the private schools on the list.
I understand that. But since we are trying to get to small schools, there are very few public small places that will give you money that are not rural.
Thanks for link. It cofirmed that for 2021 majority of students went test optional. Only students with very high SAT or ACT submitted scores.
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Here is from Spring classes General CHEM from UMD.
Canāt put screen short here, but there are 6 sections with 36 people in each that attend the same lecture (based on time). That is 216 studentsā¦
Physics the same 216 student for lectures (but smaller sections of 24 students per lab).
So it looks that maybe size is limited buy number of students in lecture hallā¦
UMD has many classes that offered only once a year. Examples Nutrition classes. On the 4 year plan is written that some classes are offered only once a year. Also UMD has limited enrollment for almost everything. If you are not Psychology major you cannot take any psychology classes but general psychology. Same with all Engineering classes. I would say 70% of majors in UMD are limited enrollment. Good luck to take any CS class there.
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We get it- UMD not a fit for what your D is looking for.
But if itās the only safety (affordable, sheās sure to get in) then what??? I think you need to start thinking a little out of the box here. Size of classes, rural, these are the kinds of things that bug people ahead of time, but in fact, donāt seem too troublesome to a kid once they are happy and engaged at college.
Iād hate to see your D backed into a corner- the only colleges that accept her are the ones sheās decided she WILL NOT GO TO.
What is Plan B?
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Exactly!
If UMD is not a good choice, then where are the schools that are a good choice: daughter would be happy to attend, assured of acceptance, and within price range.
I know there is a financial issue because there is an outside scholarship that will pay 1/2 tuition, so the family is looking for a school that will give 1/2 tuition as merit as well, to bring costs down to room and board (I think I have that right).
But it seems that adding a couple of options where the cost is still doable even without merit scholarship and the applicant would be happy to attend would be what most people here are advocating for.
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Adding on to my post to say that at almost 600 posts on this topic, the chips are probably going to fall where they are going to. Hopefully it all works out this time next year.
I know a young woman who ended up at Hunter. Not even her last choice- it was at her parentās insistence. Rock bottom safety, affordable, the college you think youād rather DIE than attend.
Saw her recently- she LOVES Hunter! Made friends quickly, it helped that many of them had Hunter as a ānear the topā choice so their attitudes were positive, unlike her own, she loves being in NYC, her professors are really interested in teaching and get excited to have students in the class who are there to learn.
There really is a lid for every potā¦
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