Trip Report: University of Delaware

Parents Forum
1

<p>Welcome to Newark!</p>

<p>Overview: We toured the campus on an egg-fryingly hot day in July 2006. In addition to the heat, another drawback to visiting in the summer is that there are very few students present. Please take that into consideration when reading this trip report. As a side note, the town of Newark, Delaware, is pronounced “New Ark” and used to be spelled that way, two words.</p>

<p>Why Delaware? We are looking for an affordable alternative to SUNY, and DD wants to go to school with kids from all over the country (which she wouldn’t find at SUNY). I, personally, would love to keep her out of the snow belt without going too far away. Delaware may fit the bill if merit money comes her way. Also, it offers what she wants to study, environmental science and Japanese.</p>

<p>The info session: The Visitor Center is housed in a quaint Victorian, with an adjacent, air-conditioned room for info sessions. Everyone was very friendly. The admissions officer who gave the talk was an excellent speaker and conveyed a positive feeling for Delaware without overt salesmanship. She said that the university is a composite public/private school in that U of Delaware receives state funding but has both the feel and the endowment ($2 billion, with a B) of a private university. (The $2 billion is her figure, but U.S. News and World Reports has it as less than $1 billion.) She said that the school has money to spend and gives merit awards to kids the school thinks will contribute to campus life, like musicians (she mentioned the large marching band), athletes and top students. Another fact making Delaware seem like less of a state school is that most of the kids come from out of state.</p>

<p>Sports are big here, Division 1. I don’t follow sports, sorry, so I can’t even say how the Fighting Blue Hens are doing! The mascot doesn’t seem too intimidating to me, although U of Maryland’s turtle doesn’t either. (U of Maryland was our next stop.)</p>

<p>The admissions nitty-gritty: Everything seems pretty standard. The application deadline if you want to try for scholarship money is Dec. 1. UDel will look at the best composite SATs, and two SAT subject tests are good (I don’t remember if the admissions officer said they were merely recommended or required, sorry). She said that the essay is a very important way to distinguish yourself. And, she added, “Funny is SO good!” Try to grab the reader and answer the question, “What will someone learn from you?” Seems to me that most colleges want to see how you will contribute to the campus community. Do NOT write about summer camp. If you write about a summer experience, do not call it “summer camp,” she said. Also, do not write about athletic injuries or use a sports metaphor to show that winning isn’t everything, etc. Travel experiences are good grist for essays, however. Incidentally, she said that if you don't have community service experience to put on the application, that's fine.</p>

<p>Academics: It’s fine to apply as an undecided major. Delaware has several different divisions, or colleges, like many universities, but it isn’t necessary to apply directly to a specific one. About 450 freshmen are admitted to the honors program, where students are expected to “work harder and dig deeper.” Another option is service learning, where kids do community service that has some connection to their academic goals. Overall, 40 percent of the kids study abroad at some point.</p>

<p>The First Year Experience is intense, she said, but it really helps freshmen get acclimated to college life. I believe that the First Year Experience consists of special seminars and a living/learning community. </p>

<p>Another nice aspect to Delaware is the schedule. In addition to fall and spring semesters, there is a seven-week optional winter session, where kids can catch up on credits, go abroad, or simply take a break.</p>

<p>Housing matters: On campus housing is guaranteed for four years. Fifty percent of the kids stay on campus for the duration, 50 percent move off at some point. Many of the dorms have A/C, but the one we saw did not. It seemed fine, kind of standard-issue dorm living, nice enough. Key-cards provide access to residence halls.</p>

<p>The campus itself: U of Delaware has a lovely Georgian campus that is large and flat. There are numerous, nicely spaced red-brick buildings that kind of look the same after a while. Various new buildings show that the college is spending money on improvements. The grounds are very well maintained, with green lawns and well-kept walkways. I realize I’m not doing justice to the campus. It was just too hot! It was hard to concentrate. I was just trying to keep from passing out, honestly.</p>

<p>The town of Newark: We asked the tour guide for a recommendation for where to eat on campus (so that we could try out the food) and she kind of did a double-take, like, “Why would you want to do that?” But of course she didn’t say that. Instead, she steered us to Klondike Kate’s in town, where we had a nice pub lunch. The town of Newark is small and didn’t look overly affluent, but it had a fantasy shop selling books and what-not. So maybe Newark is more interesting than it appeared at first glance. Sorry for the vagueness. We ate at Kate’s and headed off to our next stop, the University of Maryland.</p>

<p>The bottom line: With an undergrad population of about 15,000, U of Delaware is a medium-size university attracting a student body that’s not just from Delaware. It’s worth a look if it offers what you want to study, and the prospect of decent merit money is appealing. I got good vibes from the place, but of course it was summertime and the campus was very quiet. Also, I cannot say what the academics and the quality of instruction are really like. I do get the feeling that U of Delaware is on its way up. The next step is for D to go for an overnight and attend a few classes. Best of luck to all on the college hunt!</p>

2

<p>Good report. But oh man, dissing YouDee (the mascot)? Fighting words in Newark -- LOL. If I could just chime in on merit aid, UD is generous, but can be somewhat random -- check out the Delaware forum for kids with very similar "surface level" stats and very different awards.</p>

3

<p>Could you tell where most of the kids were from? I visited U del in April and I liked it, but it seemed to me that nearly everyone was from NY/NJ so it didn't seem like much of a mix. What do you think?</p>

4

<p>Yes, most of the OOS students come from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland (in that order). But to me, that's still better than having 95 percent of the kids come from New York, as is the case with SUNY Bing. Here's the U of Delaware web page if you're interested in the statistics of the freshman class: <a href="http://www.udel.edu/admissions/viewbook/apply/profile.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.udel.edu/admissions/viewbook/apply/profile.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

5

<p>We looked at University of Delaware and at University of Maryland, where we live. I, thus, want to add a few things</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Overall, University of Maryland has much higher rated academics especially in business, engineering, communications and a few other areas. It is also generally harder to get into Maryland than that of Delaware.</p></li>
<li><p>There really isn't anything to do in Newark, Del. In fact, you really aren't near any big city. With Maryland, you are about 30 minutes drive from either Washington DC or Baltimore</p></li>
</ol>

<p>3.Despite what I noted above, Maryland does have its drawbacks. It is a much bigger school than Delaware. Secondly, College Park, where Maryland is located, isn't as safe, in my opinion, as that of Newark, Del. There is significant crime by Maryland.</p>

<ol>
<li>You definitely get a very different cultural feel from Maryland than that of Delaware. With Maryland, most kids are from Maryland ( about 60%). With Delaware, most are from out of state especially from NY and Pennsylvania. </li>
</ol>

<p>The bottom line: you really have to check out each school carefully.</p>

6

<p>I have to disagree with the statement that Newark is not near a big city. Wilmington (15 minutes from Newark) is a good size city and with urban sprawl, it seems even larger. There is a AAA baseball team in Wilmington, art galleries, a theatre scene and even some skyscrapers. Philadelphia is no more then 45 minutes and easily accessed by train, bus or car. And, btw, "big city" can be all your perception. When I was growing up, Newark would have been the "big city".</p>

<p>Newark is a nice college town and within easy walking distance of the college. My husband grew up in Newark and attended u of d for a year. He dormed at the college and didn't come home (10 minutes) until Thanksgiving break. </p>

<p>No suprise that most of the students are not from Delaware, it's a tiny state. I've lived in every single county in Delaware (all three of them) and was never more then 30 minutes from the border of another state. </p>

<p>To the OP, my daughter and I also did a summer college visit to Delaware and I knew as soon as the tour was over that we should have waited until the fall. We could just not get a feel for the campus without students. Our tour guide was great but the only other people we saw were cranky workers who all seemed to be yelling at each other. Same thing happened when we visited Susquehanna. Nice campuses but without students it was a very incomplete picture.</p>

7

<p>I have heard good reports about U.Delaware but some worrying crime statistics about the surrounding area--make sure you check all that out before making any final decisions.</p>

8

<p>Taxguy's comparison of Maryland and Delaware is excellent. My son considered both of those schools (he chose Maryland), and everything Taxguy says agrees with my impressions of the two places.</p>

<p>I would like to add a few more details:</p>

<p>You don't need a car at Maryland to have access to Washington, DC. There's a bus from campus to the Washington Metro (the DC subway system, which extends quite far into the suburbs). </p>

<p>It is easier to get into Delaware than Maryland even if you LIVE in Maryland. </p>

<p>Delaware is more diverse in terms of the states where the students come from (is there any other state university in the country where the majority of the students come from out of state?). On the other hand, Maryland is way more diverse than Delaware in terms of the racial/ethnic composition of the student body.</p>

9

<p>From our neck of the woods on Long Island, both U Del and U Md are extremely popular. Both are getting pretty hard to get into as many of our top students are applying to those schools. What I find the main difference-- is that some people just find U Md too big and therefore U Del has more appeal. But both are good-solid schools and I only hear positive things about them. PS Towson is also pretty popular on Long Island. As College Park is becoming more difficult to get into, alot of kids look at Towson as another possibility for a public U in the mid-Atlantic region.</p>

10

<p>The "huge campus" issue at Maryland can be greatly alleviated if the student is involved in one of the freshman/sophomore living/learning programs, such as the Honors Program (very hard to get into) or the various College Park Scholars special-interest programs (not so hard to get into). Being in one of these programs is like being in a school-within-a-school. </p>

<p>Most kids in the top half of the admitted pool will be invited into some sort of living/learning program. I think it's a good idea to accept the invitation in order to start out in a dorm with others who share your interests and who will be in at least or two classes/activities with you. If the requirements of the program turn out to be too much of a burden, it's always possible to drop out later on.</p>

11

<p>We were surprisingly impressed with U of Del. The campus is beautiful and the little town is charming and steps off of campus. Trains go into Wilmington, NYC, Phila. and you are not too far from beaches and skiing. Their Honors Program involves about the top 13% and it is robust and seems to have more of a community than many other Honors Programs. The Honors dorm is in the midst of the quad. When you see the Honors kids stats on the web site they are almost identical to some Ivys such as PENN. Very generous with merit aid too. They offered our older S half tuition although he chose to attend elsewhere since he was looking for a big city.</p>

<p>We took our younger S there late in June. It was hot and the campus was virtually empty so he was left with an impression that it was boring. Unfortunately we didn't wait since during the school year its quite the hopping campus.</p>

12

<p>My son was also looking for an alternative to SUNY schools for many of the same reasons mentioned here. We visited both Delaware & Maryland. Although he liked them well enough (and we visited when school was in session), he decided not to apply to either.</p>

<p>We looked at a number of out-of-state publics and the two he liked the best were Penn State and Clemson Univ (S.C.). Penn State did not offer a penny of merit aid, but Clemson offered an attractive package (a waiver of out-of-state tuition differential & a $2,000 scholarship, plus a place in the Honors College). Needless to say... he will be starting at Clemson next month and it is costing around the same as a SUNY school. Plus the out-of-state rate is over 30% (40% in the honors program), good academics, great school spirit, pretty campus, etc.</p>

<p>I would suggest anyone looking for a school similar to Delaware & Maryland... only a little more south... to consider Clemson.</p>

13

<p>I've just got to put in a plug for UD, even though I am now a Maryland resident! S1 attended UD and graduated in 2004. At the time he chose UD, we lived in Minnesota. He had barely heard of the school, but wanted schools on the East coast, and was interested in chemical engineering. The OOS tuition seemed like a pretty good deal. It turned out to be a fantastic experience for him. He was in the Honors program and a Dupont scholar, which covered everything for four years. He turned down MIT, Cornell and several other excellent colleges but never regretted his choice. The most important thing for him was the close relationships he formed with faculty and staff. Of all our family members, and S1's friends, I know of no one else who had the mentoring and personal friendships with teachers, staff, etc. that he experienced. In fact, yesterday we were driving from Philadelphia (where S now attends Penn Law) back to Maryland and took our "short cut" through Newark (saves a toll on 95). We passed his chemistry professor's house, and S saw the professor outside working in his garden. He made us stop, jumped out of the car and we all chatted for a while. A couple of nights earlier he met another professor for dinner in Wilmington. S2 will definitely be applying to UD. It is the biggest school on his list by far, but the only one we feel will provide the kind of opportunities for interaction otherwise found at an LAC. I hope he is accepted! (By the way, "close to a major city" is relative. To us former Minnesotans, all cities in the Mid-Atlantic Region seems close to one another. It is only about an hour by car from Newark, Delaware to the Baltimore beltway.)</p>