I know it’s kind of random but we are considering one of these as a (hopefully) safety for my child. We are OOS for both, closer geographically to Uof MD where nearness to DC is certainly a plus. Any thoughts on how the schools and their towns differ? The atmosphere? The type of kids it attracts? LGBTQ+ friendliness? Progressiveness of politics? Frattiness? Residential life quality? Thanks.
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I can speak some about UW – Madison is an amazing college town, and the first reason my UW alum fell in love with the school. It is the state capital, a progressive city, with both a hip urban feel as well as gorgeous natural beauty. If you’ve seen photos of the “Terrace” – it sits on Lake Mendota which is absolutely gorgeous. Greek life is not dominant (though my kid was in it) – roughly 10% of the student population is in greek life, houses are on Langdon St. People not in greek life really don’t notice or care about what is happening in it – it’s pretty self-contained. Huge sports – football, hockey, basketball (some years are better or worse than others . . . ). Amazing academics, my kid had a phenomenal experience as a double major in History and Poli Sci, Honors program, developed close relationships with faculty, had research opportunities, and worked with incredibly talented faculty. My kid was friends with students from east and west coast, and a lot of Chicago area kids.
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Two great choices, agree with the points about UWisc above. But, neither are safeties, even for high stats students. What major is your kid thinking? Why these two schools?
Your kid must apple EA to both schools…Maryland fills over 90% of the seats in EA, while some popular majors at Wisc fill up in EA.
Read thru the results on these threads to get a sense of the competition.
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Was just going to say the same thing as Mwfan. Neither school is a safety for an OOS applicant, especially if their intended major is CS or engineering. Both are great schools though and there is no reason not to apply to both.
Agree EA is essential! UW has about 60% seats for in-state residents, about another 15-20%, I think, for MN residents, so about 20-25% for OOS students. UW also “unweights” all gpas, and looks only at the unweighted number. Common Data Set info does not separate out in state and OOS admits, so probably assume that OOS need to be at least in the top 25%.
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Definitely. It’s been a really tough year for OOS students at both UMD and UWisc. Engineering and business are very competitive majors.
Here are UWisc’s in-state vs OOS acceptance rates (p3): Box
I haven’t seen UMD data by in-state vs OOS.
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Wow this is great info. I hadn’t realized how competitive it got out of state, though my student is neither engineering nor cs. Will also be applying to CU Boulder as well as a bunch of reaches.
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All public Universities in Maryland are required to maintain a student population that is approximately 70% in-state.
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Right. What we were talking about is relative acceptance rates for in-state and OOS, like UWisconsin divulges.
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The Acceptance Rate at UMD for OOS Students (Fall 2021) was 41% and the Yield was 14%
The Acceptance Rate at UMD for IS Students (Fall 2021) was 46% and the Yield was 51%
This includes EA and RD applicants.
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Thanks, do you have a link?
Here it is but you have to dig through it to get specific data
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