My D is deciding between SU and Maryland for Mechanical Engineering.
She liked the different levels of advising SU offers. Any thoughts on either program? Thanks!
Honestly, I am not sure what you mean by levels of advising?
Syracuse is a great school, but honestly not known for engineering, to the best of my knowledge. While rankings should be taken with a grain of salt, the huge difference in rankings between the schools for engineering programs is significant enough to be an indicator of the difference.
Did you daughter visit Maryland/go to admitted students program for engineering? Is she aware of not just the advising but the depth and breadth of the support specific to engineering students that is available at Maryland? Is she aware of the incredible women in engineering programs at Maryland?
My son got his undergrad degree in Mechanical at Maryland and had a terrific experience all around - from academics to unique opportunities to social life.
While the thread is 4 years old now, you might find this to be helpful
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/university-maryland-college-park/1732708-everything-you-want-to-know-about-engineering-at-maryland-p1.html
I don’t know where you are from, but there is also a huge difference in the climate- don’t judge by how pretty the campus is in the spring. You should know that Maryland doesn’t get anywhere near the snow and cold that Syracuse does…
Some other points to consider http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/university-maryland-college-park/1743639-things-to-love-about-maryland-p1.html
@maryversity Thank you for the great information, it’s very helpful! I appreciate the links you posted, too. SU has a program that consists of 3 advisors, 4 if you do honors. Career, Faculty, and Student Success advisors. The support sounds good especially for a student who is more reserved in seeking out help/support. I think she was drawn to that.
We’re from CT, so UConn is also on the table but my D seems to like UMD better. She liked the students on both campuses. Its really good to hear that your son had a great experience both academically and socially.
@maryversity. Would you mind sharing what other schools your son was deciding between? Are you OOS? Thanks!
If costs are the same, I would pick UMD in a heart beat. Their engineering programs and facilities are fantastic.
I know from other posts that @maryversity is OOS and that her son stayed an extra year at UMD to get his Master’s degree
@SoofDad and @momofsenior1 Thank you! My D and husband really liked UMD.
She’s leaning toward Syracuse as we had a great time visiting. Nice enthusiastic students, academic support, and clubs she’s interested in.
Department is 400 students and I can see where that’s beneficial.
But I think she may want to reconsider her choice order of SU, UConn (we’re in state) and UMD and bump up the state schools.
She hasn’t gotten a good sense of UConn due to the event timing. I will say their CC boards are much less active than UMD.
@momofsenior1 what made your S or D choose UMD ultimately? Did he/she look at private schools for engineering, too? Thanks!
Last fall, UMD had 822 New Freshman Engineering students, of which 158 were Mechanical Engineering majors
@Aeg203, While it’s great to have multiple advisers, I personally think it more important to have academic support to succeed in engineering. Maryland has advisers assigned to students, and they also have peer mentors, but more importantly, Maryland has a system in place that is proven to retain students in engineering. The living learning community for female engineers is called FLEXUS. They live in a designated dorm with on-site tutoring, block scheduling of classes to promote study groups, career counseling, career prep, speakers, programming, etc. The Women in Engineering program is really dynamic at Maryland and everyone that participates raves about the strong sense of community and support. http://www.wie.umd.edu/undergrad/flexus. If you want to get a sense of the types of events they run, check out the calendar here http://www.wie.umd.edu/events/index.php (since semester is winding down, you may want to look at previous months as well as April)
In addition to the university wide career fair, the engineering department holds their own bi-annual career fair for engineering students. They also host an annual engineering picnic in the beginning of the year where big engineering companies send reps as well. The Engineering Career Services assists engineering students to obtain internships, co-op jobs, and entry level positions.
The research facilities and opportunities at Maryland are first class. You can get involved with research as early as freshman year. My son didn’t start research until junior year but was involved in two separate research projects - one as an undergrad and one as a grad student. Both projects were published!
If your daughter is interested in clubs, there is no shortage of variety at Maryland…over 300 of them…
@aeg203 if you and your daughter attended Syracuse’s admitted students event - specifically those within its College of Engineering and Computer Science, it offers similar resources @maryversity is describing of UMD’s, including the engineering/STEM living learning center in Shaw Hall, faculty and career advising at both the department and university levels, as well career fairs. We were thoroughly impressed and convinced our son will succeed at Syracuse. He is pursuing aerospace engineering and was also accepted at Penn State, UMD, and Rutgers (instate) to name a few.
Here’s the thing: I truly believe that it doesn’t matter which school you attend as much as it matters what you do when you get there. Students that have the motivation to succeed are more likely to do so at a school that makes them happy. So, if a student has that instinctual sense of “fit” when they go to a particular campus, that is where they should go. Success happens because of an individual’s drive and work ethic. It’s all good.
@maryversity Thank you for that! I think I have lost sight of that and gotten hung up on offerings, and the question of is State U better because they get more funding and therefore have “more” - invested heavily in research I guess. My daughter has a good work ethic and drive to get As, but not necessarily to grab the brass ring, she holds herself back even though she wants that super cool dream job. She may need more help in getting there so to your point of motivation and success where they are happy and fit. Thanks, again!
@spqr70nj Thanks you! It sounds like our kids were/are deciding between similar schools and exactly with regard to SU and UMD. They are both such different schools. It’s probably time to stop with the analyzing of the programs and for D to go on feel, gut, and fit as @maryversity and you are saying. (oh, and can’t forget financial. ugh. SU’s projected tuition is killing me).