Hello,
I am currently a high school senior and got acceptance from both UMBC and UMCP. I will major in computer science, and now having trouble to choose between the two.
I did a lot of research about the two colleges and had a pretty good picture of both in general. But here are some points that I am struggling with:
-
Sounds like it’s very easy to get internship/job in UMCP and more people get into big companies like Google and Facebook. Does UMBC offers the same amount of opportunities/job fairs?
-
I don’t think of myself as a very social person. I am not really into sports or party and those are some big parts of life in UMCP, and I am worried that i will not fit in
-
I get 32K scholarship from UMBC (8K each year) and haven’t heard from UMCP. There is a big chance that i will not get any scholarship from CP. Due to my family’s financial issue I am probably going to pay all tuition with loan. (total 10K for 4 yrs?)
-
I got into the scholar program in UMCP, though i get into “science dicovery and universe” instead of my #1 “science technology and society”. Astronomy sounds interesting but it is totally unrelated to my cs major. And i’ve heard from many that scholar program is totally useless beside finding people who shared the same interest
on the other hand i didn’t get into any special program in UMBC.
-
UMBC has nicer dorm than CP. the sharing bath with the whole floor in CP is truly a nightmare for me
-
By looking at the curriculum and plans, UMCP seems to have more interesting upper level classes. It is definitely a wider selection than UMBC.
-
transfer is not likely an option since UMCP CS department doesn’t accept transfer credit for a lot of classes. They even have foundation class with different programming languages(python in umbc and java in umcp)
Overall both are great school, but which one do you think suits me more? Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks!
You need to wait until you get both complete financial aid packages before you decide. When you have your packages, run the numbers here: http://www.finaid.org/calculators/awardletteradvanced.phtml
- Ask UMBC or see if the website has a list of employers who attend job fairs. Sometimes you can find that through a web search. You can also apply directly if your school isn't a recruit target but I imagine it will be a bit easier if it is.
- Big state colleges have lots of different groups, there is not just one group. All big colleges have a lot of partying some people do sometimes and some do all the time.They will have studious people who were A students and they have students who barely got in. Your major means you will be in a group that studies harder to pass hard classes.
- Wait for your offer. But don't you have room/board/books and other expenses than just tuition? As a student all you can borrow on your own is:
freshman 5,500
sophomore 6,500
jr 7,500
sr 7,500
Well, you can borrow a few thou more if your parents are turned down for a plus loan.
- That sounds interesting. CS has a lot of applications in many fields and it is a good thing to be exposed to other areas and interesting things while you are in colelge. Astrophysicists are the original 'big data' data scientists.
- wow, really?
- UMCP is a major research unit with a highly reputed PhD program and they are going to have a lot of depth and breadth.
- Transfer also doesn't get the financial offers freshmen get either.
I don’t know enough about UMBC to have an opinion, sorry.
Wow wow thanks for sharing, that’s a lot of information to take in.
I never knew that there’s a limitation on the loan, I assumed the loan should cover your whole expenses.
I m instate so 25K per year includes all tuitions, boarding, meals, books and stuff, about the same cost for both.
And it’s really hard to compare the two on a acedemic level since UMCP is a all-time reputable traditional college, UMBC is rising up fast and was famous for its STEM majors
While nerds school sounds liks my type, I kinda feel like challenge myself and throuw myself into a big college to see if I can get more social.
I think it’s gonna be hard to make a choice that I won’t regret.
First, I need to clarify that my son did computer engineering, not computer science at UMD. That being said, he looked at UMBC before committing to UMD, but overall felt that UMD had a better program. He graduated from UMD in May, 2014 and has been working full time since then. Prior to that, he had been working part-time summers beginning after freshman year (defense industry), and then also working part-time during Soph-Senior years. He worked with some people from UMBC and he felt that he had a lot more background from UMD than the students had from UMBC. Additionally, he has since interviewed soon to be graduates from UMBC and again felt that they came up a bit short. That being said, it certainly could have been just these particular people, because as you are aware some students are just stronger than others so it would be unfair to make that statement based on just these few people. This has been simply his observation. I do think UMBC has a solid program from what my husband has said from his experience in that industry. My son, as well as his friends, have all had offers from “the big” companies as well as opportunities to pursue grad. school at excellent schools. Overall, he was VERY pleased with his experience at UMD. Lastly, you might want to check on the scholarship link for UMD Clark School of Engineering. Even though you are Computer Science, there is some crossover with qualifications of scholarships ie AFCEA has been generous with scholarships for students with computer science/computer engineering backgrounds. SAME is another organization that is listed on that link. It might be worth checking out. My son, like you, wasn’t given that much money to attend UMD additionally (although he was fortunate in that back when he started MD still had MD Distinguished Scholar). He was however able to earn enough in these additional scholarships to cover his tuition/room/board. 
Good Luck.
I forgot to mention, my son was not a big partier. He does like sports though, but to be honest, his coursework kept him busy enough that oftentimes he left games early to get back to complete projects,… He had a nice network of friends in his courses that studied together.
Thanks for the story!
By chance I met one of my friend who is also a freshman and is pursuing computer engineering, we went over the syllabus of both CE and cs. They shared some classes, but CE seems like the harder major which has more required courses.
I don’t know about UMD, but we were at UMBC recently and their CYBER scholars program seemed good if you are interested specifically in computer security. I think you can be an “affiliate” even if you are not an official scholar.
So i heard that CP has already sent out their merit scholarships on feb 27. I haven’t seen anything in mail yet so i m probably not getting anything
My last hope is on departmental scholarship in end of March