All of the above has been great. I wanted to add 2 more:
OK, challenge accepted. I feel at a bit of a disadvantage, since our S has only just spent his first semester there, but he’s loving it and is so happy that that makes us happy too! Clearly Maryland was the right choice for our family.
Right off the bat, I have to mention the homemade ice cream – one of my favorite things on the UMd campus and pretty much a never-miss for us whenever we visit. 
Now, tagging onto @maryversity’s items and adding my own comments:
@maryversity said
-living learning communities to make a smaller community - it’s easy to make a big school seem smaller, but you cannot make a small school bigger!
I fully agree! This is one of the best things about our S’s experience – he’s in a really small dorm (Anne Arundel Hall, for Honors Humanities) and it definitely gives him a “comfort zone”. He enjoys the community of freshmen and sophomores there, and in particular has enjoyed being around music/theater majors (“It’s not considered nerdy here, Mom!”). There’s a piano in the basement, so he can go down there and just play and sing when he needs some “alone time” (something I had wondered about, being on such a populous campus). He’s also meeting kids who are involved other activities, and has even been swept along to the gym to work out with some of them (first time ever for our S to spontaneously visit a gym, AFAIK)!
@maryversity said
-there is a club for just about every interest you can imagine - over 800, I believe
Yes – S considered joining ballroom dancing (some friends were involved with that); eventually went to a meeting of the Shakespeare club at the urging of someone else (who didn’t even show up), and now he’s a regular and will appear in a production this spring.
@maryversity said
-one of the most diverse schools around - some schools you get a certain feel of being very competitive, or very preppy or very superficial…you can’t define Maryland with any one adjective. Everyone fits. Every group is represented. Typically, most students have multiple groups of friends - some they study with, some they hang out with, some they do activities with, some they go to parties with…you name it.
I agree – S seems to have made friends in every class, not just his major – even his honors calc class bonded together (maybe bc it was fewer students? I’m not sure) and studied together (a new thing for our S – I don’t think he ever studied in a group in HS). They had a somewhat odd calc professor, but they bonded over that and set up (gentle) group pranks riffing off some of the remarks the teacher made in class. Actually sounded like a fun math class! (He is fully supported and flourishing in his major, but I expected that; I’m especially psyched to see how he’s loving the other classes he’s taking.)
I should mention that our S is a bit of an introvert, so I give his fellow students a lot of credit for being very friendly and including him in activities.
Also (RE not being able to “define” Maryland) – so true. I know for some people, UMd is a big fraternity/sorority school with an active party scene, but Dan is having a totally different experience from that – he’s having loads of fun in his own way, but not at all the frat life.
The Diamondback newspaper is an award winning independent student run newspaper. I enjoy it everyday. I know we are enjoying Terps basketball right now, but lacrosse has also started up, and it is fantastic at UMD. I’m very excited to start watching the women and the men’s teams again.
Hello fellow Terps!
Here’s a few things off the top of my head:
CSPAC is indeed a great facility! Robert and Clarice Smith were very generous donors to UMD and both the business school and CSPAC are named after them.
@terpmom7: very interesting! I had never made that connection between the performing arts center and the business school duh
Another great perk: lots of “free” software for student use http://www.it.umd.edu/techsavings/software.html
@maryversity my god UMD is really going to treat me right this coming school year. All of those products would cost over a $1000 dollars; then again we are paying tuition but you take what you get. I’m majoring in Comp Sci so this is awesome
Yes it’s a huge perk! It is not a “standard” thing at other universities. Students pay higher tuition at other state universities and yet those universities do not offer this to their students. Maryland made these arrangements on their own -Terps really do things right.
Want school spirit? Check out the flash mob …
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Qozux_NmrnI&feature=youtu.be&t=23s
LOVE IT!!
At college park right now. Any suggestions for a restaurant for dinner tonight
Busboys and Poets is delicious! It’s about ten mins from campus by car. Head out on Route 1 towards DC. It’s on the left.
301-779-2787
5331 Baltimore Ave. Hyattsville
A few posts have mentioned the campus. I’d add that Maryland’s campus is actually underrated and is not often mentioned as a major selling point. In fact, it has been historically considered a negative, given College Park’s safety concerns.
We visited UVA and Michigan (both excellent schools, of course), and both campuses are disjointed, in that they began in a central core area and have since spread out into their respective towns. You have multiple parts of both schools bisected by public thoroughfares, while other parts of the schools are a considerable distance from the main core of the campus.
Maryland, with some exceptions, is largely self contained. My daughter really liked that aspect of the school and it contributed in making a large school not seem so large.
^ The University of Maryland’s McKeldin Mall has one of the 14 most beautiful and iconic American quads
http://www.businessinsider.com/beautiful-iconic-college-campus-quads-2014-1
How about a place to get a haircut? Any suggestions? Thanks
Discovered/realized another reason to appreciate Maryland…something I took for granted was the fact that (athletic) games (you know, football, basketball, etc) take place on campus. There are other schools that have to bus students to locations off campus…and some even charge for the transportation on top of charging for tickets! Again, appreciate that Maryland students get tickets to games at no extra charge and don’t have to leave campus to attend games (with the exception of one football game a year at the M & T Bank center in Baltimore).
I have to really echo maryversity on this topic. Many times we would be on other university campus tours and love the compactness of the campus. But then we would realize that the football stadium was a bus ride away, the basketball stadium was a different bus ride away, and the music and performing arts center was another bus ride away, all in different directions. No wonder some schools have very little school spirit if it is so difficult to attend events. UMD really is just the opposite. EVERYTHING at UMD is on campus and within walking distance.
Minor detail, but still appreciated… Noticed that not all universities/colleges use bachelor hoods as part of graduation attire/regalia. Yes, it adds to the expense of something you will never wear again, but I like how it gives a visual distinction that this is a college graduation, not high school. As I said, it’s a minor thing that doesn’t make or break a college experience, but it is just something else I appreciated that Maryland does.
@maryversity Do you have any experience with Smith Fridays? I’ve been on the campus multiple times through school trips and such, so I have a general grasp of the atmosphere. As for admission, what more do you need to know other than what’s on their site?
That being said, I’m a potential Smith-Finance major (rising HS senior), so attending might be helpful.
Would you recommend?
