UMD (honors) vs UVA vs UNC Chapel Hill (honors)

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Maryland - College Park
1

<p>Hey everyone, I've been active on this section this year and want to make UMD my home for the next four years, but I'm having some trouble in making a decision. I'm a HS senior admitted to the Honors EIP program at UMD. I like La Plata, I've met friends in the UMD Honors 2018 FB page, and it's hard to ignore the IS tuition (especially because I have the MD prepaid college program thing), but I have some slight grievances about the school..(note that most of these will seem petty, as I hold the education at these schools to be roughly equal, despite some magazine rankings):</p>

<p>1) College Park as a city. It doesn't seem like..the safest/best college town. I love Charlottesville and Chapel Hill, but College Park seems..well, not that great. I understand there are plans to revamp the area, but that would barely change the town..right? </p>

<p>2) The buildings at UMD are a tad old. I've walked around the campus a few times with my dad (before and after swim meets, usually; I don't plan on swimming in college, however), and the buildings are..a tad aesthetically unappealing. This is an extremely superficial thing to notice, but it really stuck out to me how industrial some of the buildings were. (I think I was near the Comcast Center when I noticed this, and the word "industrial" kept coming to mind as the best way to describe them.) This is in comparison to UVA and UNC CH campuses, which are..beautiful. </p>

<p>3) There aren't any huge school rivalries. I can see this lowering school spirit a bit, and want to go to a school that's almost narcissistic in its love for itself and its student body. I understand that there's a Duke vs. UMD rivalry, but that's virtually one sided. The real rivalry's b/w Duke and UNC. This, like the other slight grievances, is extremely petty, but..it's something I'd like. </p>

<p>4) The GenEd required courses at UMD. My primary goal is HYS law school (or CCN), and I don't want a lab science class killing my GPA.. Are there any loopholes to get around the lab science requirement? I have (or should have) AP credits to get my away from the rest.. </p>

<p>5) It's so close to home. I live near Annapolis, Baltimore, and DC, and UMD CP is about 20-40 minutes away. I really wanted to get away from my high school classmates, and I really wanted to get away from this state. Will I ever notice how close I am to home? Is the campus dead on weekends because everyone went home to visit family (I plan on visiting home infrequently and not on weekends)? </p>

<p>6) Some of the people and the party scene. On the admitted students FB group (for all students, not the honors one), 90% of what I see are people excited to get drunk and party while getting some studying done. Although I don't want to hold myself back from having a good time, I expect to party maybe once a month or less and devote the rest of my time to studying/clubs. Is that frowned upon here? Will I be unable to study much in my dorm due to parties/music/etc.? </p>

<p>I know this stuff might all seem trite, but it's important to me in making a decision. I like the IS tuition, and each school has a list of grievances I have with it, but this is UMD's.. I just want to make the most informed decision as soon as possible (so I can get an alright dorm). </p>

2

<p>The issue here is that you have two choices that are more appealing to you, but they also cost more. It is really going to come down to if you and your parents can spend the additional money for you to attend one of them. Nobody can decide this but you and your family. Yes, you can get a good education at UMD, but UVA and UNC both have more of what you are looking for in a college environment. The question is if you and your family can afford them and if you are willing to spend the extra money.</p>

3

<p>I can comment on a few of the above; others I’m not really informed. Also, I’ve never been to UNC but I’ve spent a lot of time in Charlottesville and I attended UMD 20 years ago.</p>

<p>1) College Park: as a student, you will spend most time on campus and in the downtown area near campus on Rt1. Those areas are nice and fun. No danger to speak of. I’d rather rather raise a family in Charlottesville than CP, but you will be attending school, single, and I don’t see the extended town as very important.</p>

<p>2) old buildings: yes, there are a lot of old buildings, but they keep everything well maintained. I never considered this an issue at all, and there has been a large amount of new construction. Personally, I consider UMD to be more attractive than UVA.</p>

<p>3) rivalries only really matter if the team is competitive. UMD Fooball/basketball have not been very strong in recent years, but I personally think they are both ready to do better the next couple years. Maybe wishful thinking, but there is reason for optimism.</p>

4

<p>Wow I’m in the same exact predicament as you @Vctory!! I’m out of state for all schools,making this an even tougher decision. I am however leaning towards UMD for their awesome engineering program.</p>

5

<p>If you’re seriously considering law school, I suggest saving as much money as possible now. </p>

<p>-One science course will not kill your entire gpa as long as you’re hitting home runs in everything else (you only need a 3.8 with a 170+ LSAT for HYS). </p>

<p>-You’re also kidding yourself if you think kids at UVA or UNC aren’t going to party just as much as those at UMD (I’m reminded of streaking from the UVA rotunda to the Homer statue)</p>

<p>-I’ll give you the sports rivalry thing, but are you really prepared to spend tens of thousands more of your parent’s money just so you can go scream at a few football/basketball games?</p>

<p>-There are 26,000 undergraduates at UMD, google search says la plata has ~1400 students. Even if your entire high school went to UMD that’s still only 5% of the undergrad student body.</p>

<p>-Lastly, location is a selling point for UMD. You’ve got DC a metro ride away (Charlottesville has nothing on DC). Also you’re going to appreciate being able to visit the parents on weekends whenever you want, despite some idealized version of college you have in your head.</p>

6

<p>1) Been on visits colleges that have a great idyllic college town and that really doesn’t do anything to enhance the educational experience. It’s the people that make a place fun/memorable. As for how the plans to revamp the area will affect change, well, no one can predict that, but I would like to think it can only bring about positive change.</p>

<p>2) A tad old? Duh, of course most of the buildings are old (as they are at every other institution including UVA and UNC!!!), but there are many new ones as well. Have you not seen the Van Munching (business) Building? or the Kim (engineering) Building? or the Clarice Smith Center (performing arts)? or the current construction for the physics building? I could go on but really must I?</p>

<p>3) School spirit? Are you for real? Clearly you have not stepped foot or spent any significant time on campus. At most schools, college apparel is a clear sign of a freshman - no one else wears it. However, at Maryland, there is soooo much school spirit and pride that EVERYONE wears some sort of clothing emblazoned with Maryland or Terps on it. You are making judgements from afar that are wholly inaccurate. There is a helluva lot of school pride. Hell, I’m out of school some xx years and look at me!</p>

<p>4) You need to learn to use testudo.umd.edu. Since you are complaining about about a lab science in particular use this link to look at the options for this coming fall and note that options do vary between spring and fall semesters <a href=“https://ntst.umd.edu/soc/gen-ed/201408/DSNL”>https://ntst.umd.edu/soc/gen-ed/201408/DSNL&lt;/a&gt;
You will see that right off there are some courses specifically designed for non-science majors such as weather and climate and astronomy options. There’s also a class on plants that I remember at a visiting student session someone mentioned that they took reluctantly but it ended up being one of their favorites. Maryland, believe it or not, has one of the most flexible and generous variety of options for courses in their gen ed requirements. I know because I have looked into this.</p>

<p>5) It’s only somewhat of a flight home for some on non-football weekends and it’s mostly freshman that go home…still plenty of people around! </p>

<p>6) Relax, you will find there is no one stereotype that describes a Maryland student. While I would describe UVA as preppy and Johns Hopkins as competitive, the word I would use to describe Maryland is diverse. And that is a very, very good thing. You will find “your people,” whatever that may be. You will also find that you will meet new types of people that you never imagined you would get along with that hey, you actually kinda like a lot. There will be people you will study with. People you will socialize with. People you will do activities with. People you will do community service with. People you will go to parties with. </p>

<p>As for studying in your dorm, that is going to depend more on your roommate. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s not as good. But, there’s always the lounge in the dorm to study in. However, as for honors dorms, they do tend to be more quiet during the week than noisy during as a general rule - weekends may be hit or miss of course. </p>

<p>Your dorm is decided by your program, EIP, so not sure what you mean by “try to get the best dorm” - not like you have any control over that…</p>

7

<p>Maryversity is once again absolutely correct. The amount of school spirit at UMD is incredibly high. I honestly think it would be difficult to come across a school with more school spirit and pride.
As for the buildings, yes some are old. Many people like the mix of the old and the new. As mv mentioned Van Munching, Kim and CSPAC are all gorgeous new state of the art facilities.Knight Hall which houses the Merrill Journalism School should also be included. It too is new and an incredible facility.
To me the most important point that mv mentioned is the diversity of UMD. I am not knocking UVA or UNC at all, my daughter applied and was accepted to both, but UMD feels so much more diverse. Meeting and getting to know different types of people is such a huge part of what college should be about.
You are lucky that you have so many great choices. My guess is that you will have a great college experience at any of the schools on your list. Again, I love the diversity of Maryland but I think you might be surprised at how many like minded people you would find in CP. Best of luck to you!
Speaking of school spirit and pride…how about our fabulous Terps!! Good luck ladies!!!</p>