UIUC vs UMD, college park

<p>My kid was admitted into some universities. After some consideration, we kept UIUC and UMD, college park. He wants to study engineering for his undergrad.</p>

<p>He was admitted into a non engineering program at UIUC, but into an engineering program at UMD. To help us with decision, we need more information. Please help with the following questions:</p>

<ol>
<li>How hard is it to transfer into engineering at UIUC?</li>
<li>What is the course workload like at the two colleges?</li>
<li>How strong is engineering program at UMD? Is the program big with a lot of students?</li>
<li>He would be admitted into honor or scholar program if he applied earlier. Any chance for him to get into such progroam after he stays there for one year?</li>
</ol>

<p>Am far more familiar with UIUC than Maryland:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Many successfully transfer at UIUC but you should not assume it will necessarily be easy. He will need to take same math, science and writing classes that freshman engineering students take and likewise for sophomore year if he does not attempt transfer until then. To apply for transfer, you need a minimum 3.0 college GPA and that is just to get considered and you may need way higher for a number of programs, and what is needed varies from year to year depending on number of seats that open up and the pool of transfer applicants. Example: aero, mech, and civil all reached impacted stage at times in last 4 years with the effect that needed GPA reached 3.8 to transfer in, and the programs such as CS and ECE generally need high GPAs. In other words, if engineering is desired you have a risk of not getting what you want at UIUC and thus it may be better to take the bird in hand, UM.</p></li>
<li><p>Workload at UIUC is significant but usually not completely overwhelming. Since engineering students from college to college tend to take the same courses (one of the effects of ABET accreditation) I would assume the same for UM. At UIUC, you will have a lot of homework (problem sets) and completing it is a necessity since it is part of your grade. In fact, doing homework well is one of the ways students have to help achieve a good grade in a course because it is factored into final grade.</p></li>
<li><p>Those I know from UM speak highly of it.</p></li>
<li><p>If he was not admitted into UIUC honors program, that would not have changed if he had applied early action rather than regular admission. One can get into the James Scholars honors program that each college at UIUC has after freshman year and entry depends on having a high college GPA.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Thanks, drusba</p>