<p>I'm a first year engineering student at the University of Maryland(MechE). I currently learned that the acceptance rate to the engineering school here is 15%, which I found very low. With such a competitive program, and low admissions rate, why is UMD's engineering program not more highly ranked? For instance, when I tell people I go to UMD for engineering, they are not very impressed. But if say, I went to UVA or Georgetown for some liberal arts major, people would be impressed. Why is it not known how good UMD's engineering program is? Or is it known, and I am just oblivious! Another reason I ask is because from what I can see from UMD's post-undergrad survey, engineering majors from UMD make at, or even slightly below, national average starting salaries. So why is it that I and fellow engineering students here are not being rewarded for gaining acceptance, and excelling in such a rigorous program? Thanks.</p>
<p>Wow! Congrats on making it into the engineering program! Sorry that I don’t have an answer to your question though 
How is the engineering program? Is it difficult?</p>
<p>I think that UMD’s Engineering school is actually ranked fairly highly. However, UMD as a university does not have as impressive a reputation as, say, Georgetown or U VA. I guess you’ll just have to educate people about what a great engineering school it is!</p>
<p>[University</a> of Maryland | Electrical and Computer Engineering Department](<a href=“http://www.ece.umd.edu/about/rankings.html]University”>http://www.ece.umd.edu/about/rankings.html)</p>
<p>I think that Maryland’s reputation in engineering is known by those who are really investigating. It is very highly ranked. DS and I went to the engineering info session and tour last fall and were completely impressed, not only with all that is offered on campus but also with all the off-campus opportunities through businesses in the area.</p>
<p>DS is only a HS junior right now. Pretty positive that UMCP will be a match for him (based on GPA and ACT), but worried at the moment re: getting into the engineering school. He’s taking ACT and SAT again this spring…we’re OOS.</p>
<p>Congrats to you for getting into the program. I wouldn’t worry about what other people think, if I were you. Just take advantage of all UMDCP offers and you will be great!</p>
<p>As far as I am concerned, the only rankings worthwhile are top recruiting schools for jobs. This article is from 2010, but UMCP was #8 in the top 25 recruiter picks!!!</p>
<p>[Best</a> Colleges & Universities - Ranked by Job Recruiters - WSJ.com](<a href=“Best Colleges & Universities - Ranked by Job Recruiters - WSJ”>Best Colleges & Universities - Ranked by Job Recruiters - WSJ)</p>
<p>So, the fact is that you will be rewarded in ways that count - getting that plum job.</p>