University of Maryland College Park vs Rutgers

College Search & Selection
1

Hi, I would appreciate advice and information on choosing between these schools.

I was accepted into both schools as a transfer student. I have a 3.79 GPA from a CC and am an undeclared major with many interests. I also make films which is something I would like to expand upon at university.

For Rutgers, I am an NJ resident. For UMD, I have been offered a scholarship which I understand as an overall 10K reduction, not annual (“your award will provide you with $10,000 scholarship, to be equally distributed over two years or four consecutive semesters.”) This is provided that I maintain a 3.20 GPA and 30 credits per year.

I hear that you can establish in-state residency at UMD after one year. Can anyone confirm if this is true?

Calculations of the costs:
Rutgers in state for 2 years: 53,264
UMD OOS 1 year, plus in state 1 year, minus 10K: 63348

My parents will be footing the bill but they are not tremendously wealthy.

I am concerned with which school is better “all around”. I have visited Rutgers and kinda liked it but have not visited UMD yet.

Thanks for reading. Please let me know if me posting further information would be helpful for crafting advice.

2

UMD is a better university than Rutgers and is not much more in cost. Rutgers’ campus is kinda ugly, actually. I think you would like UMD.

3

LBad is a NJ resident who diid not want to go to school in NJ. I would be very surprised if you could get instate tuition from UjMD after one year. You should check that out carefully before making any decisions.

4

Don’t go by what you hear about Maryland residency for tuition purposes.

Read the actual policies: http://www.registrar.umd.edu/resreclass.html

If you are a junior level transfer with two years left, you should be ready to declare a major now, right?

5

Thanks for the info guys

I plan to decide and declare sometime this fall. I will probably need more than two years of college to complete a degree.

Also, I don’t have the “No Rutgers” complex of many NJ young people.