My son has been accepted at UMBC with 10K scholarship year. He has also been accepted at UMD in Honors College but no scholarship there.
Any thoughts on which would be better option. We are in-state (Maryland Residents). His primary interest as of now is CS/Engineering
Exact same situation for us but I don’t believe UMD comes out with their scholarship info until March. So we are waiting to see what, if anything, he receives from them.
I guess UMD will give nothing or a tiny scholarship. It is very hard to choose between UMBC and UMD in this situation, It depends on your son’s decision and the financing status of your family, is 40K a big deal for you?
CS/Engineering at UMBC is good. CS at UMD is not much better than UMBC, engineering at UMD is very good and very hard, it is GPA killer. If your son works hard he will be fine in either school.
We was in this situation twice with our stat is slightly different, the first kid chose UMBC, the second kid chose UMD, both are OK
UMD’s computer science is much more highly regarded than UMBC’s. In the long run, attending UMD will pay off more than attending UMBC. I would say it’s worth the extra 10k investment
DS in same situation: Full tuition scholarship from UMBC, Honors College and no $ from UMd, DS to study mechanical engineering, in state. For DS, the $ at UMBC is appealing.
maybe son could visit both places again and see what there is to like about each.
once immersed in the computer science major the level of prestige may not matter. UMBC is definitely on the rise…I hear about it and have met impressive engineering students from there. BTW I don’t even live in MD
Maryland doesn’t come out with its presidential scholarships until March so don’t give up hope!
I’ve heard a bunch of great things about UMBC’s computer science program, and personally have a few older friends who studied pre-med at UMBC and are now surgeons at Johns Hopkins and Holy Cross. I’d go with whichever is going to be cheaper for you. In the end, your grades and scores matter a lot more than where you went. (especially for med school).
The atmosphere is VERY different at these schools. UMD you will get the big college experience and name recognition. UMBC is a much smaller campus, easier to navigate and less well known outside of MD. My son chose to go to UMBC over his other options due to the programs he was studying…He will get a double degree with a BS in CS and a BA in Music Technology. College Park was very stingy with their awards and that turned us off. I went to UMD as a commuter student so my experience was a lot different than that of a student that lives on campus.
Like someone else said the CS department is pretty well regarded from both. If afforded the option to be part of the Honors college,(at UMBC) they get advanced registration (and can drop the Honors at any time).
Money was important to us, but the truth is, our son felt “at home” when he visited UMBC, but felt lost at the big schools like UMD and Michigan.
Good luck with your decision.
@ANNE1389 - My elder son is also at UMBC majoring in music technology and music composition. He’s in his 3rd year and is a Linehan scholar. He loves UMBC!
My son who is getting ready to graduate will be studying engineering. He was offered a full tuition scholarship to UMBC and a smaller scholarship by UMD (and still waiting to hear if he’s going to get an engineering scholarship) and accepted to the Honors College.
He’s been to UMBC several times spending the weekend with his big brother and on several campus visits. He’s been on several campus visits to UMD. This son prefers UMD because the engineering department has way more to offer than UMBC’s engineering department. Also, UMD has way more to offer in the area of college sports, and this particular son is a huge sports fan, whereas elder son could care less about sports. Graduating son also needs waaay more scheduling options for classes than UMBC offers. It is our experience (with the music major and the engineering major), that UMBC frequently has only 1 offering of many courses. And to my elder son’s dismay, there is only 1 offering of music history and he says that the instructor is absolutely HORRIBLE. In addition, UMD has way more to offer in eating establishments and shopping opportunities VERY close to campus.
Oh, forgot to mention that graduating son was also accepted into University of Michigan’s, Penn State’s, Virginia Tech’s, and several other engineering schools. U-Mich and UMD are his top choices, but UMBC is definitely in the running because of the $ they’ve offered.