<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I'm an international student from Hong Kong considering to apply to University of Mayland - College Park as a Business Major.</p>
<p>What I wanted to know is how the social scene is? What can you do? Is there any partying? If so, how much? Is it a diverse community?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>The social scene is quite large, it ranges from frat parties to going into DC. It is a very diverse community, and as an international student their largest pool of international candidates by far come from Asia.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply bullet.</p>
<p>Also how’s the campus life? What can you do around campus? Is the university based in a city or a town? How are the weekends like.</p>
<p>Thanks again!</p>
<p>Social scene is based pretty heavily around partying on the weekends, but not all frat parties and you’ll also find people who don’t party.
It’s a pretty diverse community race wise, but most people are from Maryland, and almost everyone is from the east coast.
There’s tons to do around campus. There’s a movie theater (which might close), Terpzone (with pool tables, video games, and bowling) , and plenty of other things. Off campus there’s almost anything you can think of. College Park itself is a heavily populated suburb, but is less than six miles from Washington DC. UMD is on the metro-line. Weekends…are pretty much however you want them to be. You can go to games, or hang out with friends. The typical day starts at 1-2 pm and ends at 4-5 am, so expect a lot of screaming drunks on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights</p>
<p>Awesome description, gina. Make sure and keep that handy for all the similar questions like this that will come up over the next several months.</p>
<p>D2 is crazy busy doing all kinds of things, none of which involve partying (at least not yet!!!). To be honest, the first 2-3 weeks were pretty difficult for her, just because it was difficult for her to find other non-partiers…in her dorm, it seems to be that the kids who don’t party went home every weekend. That is happening less and less, and she has several friends in the dorm that have gone to concerts together, different events at the Stamp, and into DC. Also, she has gotten involved in several other groups on campus so she has other things to do, and other people to do them with.</p>
<p>If it’s partying you want, you will have no problem finding it. At all.</p>
<p>First of all - the town of College Park is good as far as college towns go, but it is a SUBURB and there is NOT much to do. The bar scene will be pretty bad for someone used to a city like Hong Kong (there’s about 4 to choose from and they’re certainly not high class), but cheap and ok for chilling with a few friends. They tend to be racially homogenous (white frat/sorority type). But people don’t discriminate…don’t worry. Additionally, there is a huge amount of fast food/cheap sit in restaurants. </p>
<p>Social life on campus revolves around the campus. There are a massive amount of student groups and clubs which hold events, a massive amount of sports games (the most popular being football, basketball, and soccer, but it’s fun to branch out and watch diving and other sports), lots of volunteering opportunities, and lots of activism opportunities. These social opportunities will be much more diverse than the bar scene on the strip of road in downtown College Park.</p>
<p>And in terms of house parties, there’s a MASSIVE number. Now, that’s both a good and bad thing, as finding a good one can be a little like finding a needle in a haystack. But if you’re looking for dancing, drinking for free, and beer pong, house and frat parties are the way to go. Again, certainly not high class, but UMD students make do. And again, also tend to be homogenous.</p>
<p>THAT ALL SAID UMD is on the metro line to WASHINGTON, DC. Washington DC has a huge amount of night life but finding the real gems could take a little looking around. The most prominent night life scene in DC is expensive and a bit snobby, and for those under 21, well, you better have a good fake. HOWEVER which a lot of students DON’T take the time to find out about, there are also a huge number of funky, off the beaten trail places to spend an evening listening to great music with great people, so if you are really into the night life be sure to do extensive internet searching/use Lonely Planet guide/yelp.com/everything and really don’t be afraid to experiment and take risks.</p>
<p>IN CONCLUSION, on its face College Park is like any other college town. Dirty frat houses, cheap beer, and white jockey kids. But dig a little deeper, and you’ll find a diverse group of students, a host of interesting events, and of course, DC in your backyard. </p>
<p>I would recommend College Park to anyone studying abroad - there’s a lot of international students and the dorm you stay in is great. Very friendly community :). And you can’t beat being near our nation’s capitol and if you want to know what American college life is like, you can’t beat the grassy lawns and colonial buildings.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies; gina, astro and umcp.</p>
<p>This has really changed my mind, and I think I might consider putting UMCP as one of my choices. Sounds just like any other university’s social scene. By the way, would it be a good decision to buy a car if attending UMCP?</p>
<p>Also hows it academics wise? How are the classes/teachers? How’s the business school more importantly?</p>
<p>Appreciate the great and detailed answers guys! :)</p>
<p>A car is not necessary for attending UMD, unless you live significantly off campus (for instance, it might be annoying to walk or even bike a few miles to campus every day, and though buses travel to the grocery stores for shopping, doing my weekly shopping run on a bus can be annoying). But I am guessing you will be in the dorms, at least for a couple years (all freshmen and sophomores receive housing on campus). In that case you won’t need to worry about getting to campus or shopping, since a meal plan is required of all students living in dorms. After that you can worry about buying a car/etc. I am a junior and find it convenient to have a car living off campus, but I could also easily bike or walk to class or hop on the shuttle. Freshmen and sophomore years I found a car completely unnecessary and pointless. </p>
<p>Speaking of shuttles, University of MD has one of the most extensive bus systems at a university IN THE NATION. If you take the time to figure out the buses, you’ll see they take you to a lot more than right across the street or to frat row. There are buses to popular student hangouts in Silver Spring (a cute metro area near DC with a lot of shops and restaurants), for instance, and definitely to PG Plaza, the local mall/movie theatre/etc.</p>
<p>There are shuttles running to the metro every ten minutes (I live in a neighborhood across the street from campus and walk to the metro, so it’s VERY close) and that will connect you to all of DC and also some outlying “pseudo metropolitan” areas such as Silver Spring and Bethesda. Plus, there are the “metro” buses which are not free like UMD buses, but will take you to even more areas.</p>
<p>So, in conclusion, car=pointless. Would not recommend ;).</p>
<p>The business school is ranked in the Top 20 in the nation I believe. It is one of UMDs strongest schools. Classes, advising, etc. in the business school should be top notch.</p>
<p>Now if you decide to change your major or are considering majors in the liberal arts (esp. the social sciences), you might find getting help to be a little harder, since these colleges tend to be overpopulated and you may feel like a “number” being pushed through a lot of bureaucracy. </p>
<p>But the business school is great, as are a lot of the other limited enrollment colleges, such as engineering and journalism. </p>
<p>WARNING: CORE classes which will probably take up most of your freshman year are classes across the colleges that all students are forced to take (for example you’ll probably have to take a history course, an English course, etc.). These and other lower-level classes even within your college will tend to be huge and DUMB. Really dumb. But don’t let your first year discourage you, because as soon as you move into the upper levels classes get much smaller and more challenging and students take their work more seriously.</p>
<p>Thanks UMCP11.</p>
<p>I was just asking because I love driivng and cars so was wondering how would the situation be.</p>
<p>Regarding the academics, how’s the Business programme/school? How are the teachers and academics in general? </p>
<p>What problems/issues do you have or have had with UMCP in general?</p>
<p>Thanks again mate.</p>
<p>so i’m in the business school, its only my second year, so i’m just now taking my major reqs, but as mentioned above, the business school is great. We have lots of student orgs just for Smith students, I’ve met with two advisors, who have both been very friendly, helpful, and easy to contact, we also have our own career center, which is useful, and classes are great too. Not to mention, the business school building, Van Munching, is one of the newer ones on campus, very modern, and just so so nice and gorgeous and big inside. So the business school is great for while you’re a student, and very useful once you stop being a student and are looking for a job :)</p>
<p>hope that helped! good luck with your application!</p>
<p>Thanks mollertp. That has convinced me even more to apply to Maryland. </p>
<p>By the way, do you apply to the business school from the beginning or do you have to transfer after the first year?</p>
<p>there’s two options: when you apply as a freshman, list business as a preferred major and looking at your high school record, they’ll either admit you directly to Smith school if you meet criteria or into letters and sciences, which is for students who are undecided, if you don’t. If you are put in L&S, then you wait 2 yrs and apply to Smith as an internal transfer, but if you don’t get in as a sophomore, you have to pick another major.</p>