<p>Both good schools, UO's is really a "college" with a dean, and dedicated faculty. UMD's is well thought of, has living/learning communities, and also small class sizes. Other than the obvious geographical differences, any thoughts?
Potential major is Economics/Social Sciences.</p>
<p>have you been to both campuses? what are your cost differences? these are probably more important criteria than differences in honors programs.</p>
<p>UMD’s, which I know a bit about because D has been admitted there and S is there now, offers a great deal to the student that more traditional honors colleges might not. I don’t know UO’s program, so I’m not speaking about it in particular but about other honors “colleges” I’ve seen. UMD’s offers opportunities to study in the real world, for instance, to take an honors course in philanthropy, taught by the leading academic in the field of philanthropy studies, that involves a team of students acting as a philanthropy’s BOT and deciding which real-life applicant should get 10K in real-life dollars. UMD tries to integrate these best students into the social fabric of the communities in Maryland so that these graduates will contribute upon graduation to both the tax base and the non-profit elements of the state. As a consequence, UMD’s honors will take Biochem pre-meds and put them in living/learning communities that focus on the humanities or entrepreneurship or digital communities. UMD’s offers lots of teamwork exercises, some of which take you into senior year and are a major commitment, others of which don’t last beyond sophomore year. UMD offers some smaller, honors versions of large introductory courses, but not so many of these as you might like. UMD’s honors “dorms” are living learning arrangements for honors students but not really separate honors dorms. UMD’s honors advising is no great shakes, it appears, but they do have some early registration that the non-honors students don’t get. My son loved his two-year honors experience because it put him in a dorm and in classrooms with the best UMD students. They lived, thought, ate, and probably loved together, and he has formed long-lasting friendships thru that living learning experience. But that experience is not unique to UMD’s honors experience.</p>
<p>I hope this helps. The people over at the UMD forum are even more knowledgeable than I am about UMD, so check them out, too. Good luck.</p>
<p>thanks much. UO has in fact offered merit $, waiting to see if UMD does also. Yup, been to both campuses and offspring really likes both. again thanks.</p>
<p>What’s in-state for you?
How much does each college cost, after scholarships/grants but before any loan?
What’s your ideal budget?</p>
<p>OP, if you did a Priority Application, the merit awards showed up for at least some of us yesterday. Follow these directions from another thread: </p>
<p>Go here, and select Fall 2014/Spring 2015.</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.sis.umd.edu/fastat/”>https://www.sis.umd.edu/fastat/</a></p>
<p>Then, you’ll need to set up a university directory login if you haven’t already (not the same as the admissions portal log-in).</p>
<p>Once you log-in, click the “My Awards” tab on the left and click on Accept/Decline Awards.</p>
<p>thanks all.</p>