What do YOU like & dislike about UMD?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Maryland - College Park
41

<p>Had to post again. I highly disagree with v3ndetta... I go into DC at least twice a month for going out, visiting friends that now work in the city, volunteering, and occasionally seeing a museum or exhibit of interest.</p>

<p>To get to the outskirts of DC from College Park is under 15 minutes; right into the center is 20-25. Georgetown or Northern VA is about 40/45 minutes. Bethesda about 40 as well. Of course this all depends on if you happen to catch a transfer train as the right time....anyone who's lived in a city with a subway system knows how that goes. :)</p>

<p>I'll be living in Arlington when I graduate and I'm so excited to stay in the area and continue to take advantage of everything around.</p>

42

<p>lindz, didn't you promise to update us on your job hunt and how helpful (or not) the Smith School was??? Please include this in your long post. Congrats on snagging a job for next year.</p>

43

<p>worrywart -- my long-winded post is here, buried a few pages back:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-maryland-college-park/452578-info-job-search-process.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-maryland-college-park/452578-info-job-search-process.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>And thanks! I'm excited.</p>

44

<p>Likes-
Diversity
Lots of people with lots of different interests
Easy to meet new people
You can go out and be anyone any night
The business school is its own community
The gym is great
Always a party if you want to go out
Bar scene is fun
Close to DC- go to Georgetown to hang out with friends that go there and vice versa
Route 1-Restaurants, bars, stores.
SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS
If you look hard enough you'll find smart, intelligent girls (probably won't find them on weekend nights though)</p>

<p>Dislikes-
NY giants fans. :)
Housing situation for juniors/seniors.
Campus food
Good percentage of people go home on weekends</p>

<p>The number one thing i dislike about maryland- Some of the people that go out on weekends are pretty stupid. Its great to go out and most people are normal but there are a lot of people that make you wonder if they're brain dead. Unfortunately you will notice the ones that are making clowns of themselves more than the ones just having a good time. The bus ride to north campus is horrible. The other night there were 5 girls that counted to 3 and would scream at the top of their lungs for about 5 seconds. The entire bus was annoyed and they didn't even stop when yelled at. They did this about 8-10 times. Too many dumb people making asses of themselves. It isn't funny or attractive. Sometimes it embarrasses me to bring friends from other universities here and take them out because someone will make us look stupid. I'll go out a few times a week and even on weekdays but you just need to find people that are normal.<br>
----- By no means are MOST people here dumb. But like I said, the stupid ones make themselves much more noticeable than the normal people. Also it is understandable that first year students will go a little wild with their much awaited freedom. After a while 90% of people realize that you will in fact live if you stay in on a Friday with a few friends. But there is ALWAYS a party somewhere a party in college park and people that want to go out bad enough will find them.</p>

45

<p>Likes
-The high-ranked academic departments that this school offers.
-The close proximity to DC and Northern Virginia (for shopping, internships, etc.)</p>

<p>Dislikes:
-The major party scene! This school loves to party every night, not just Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Parties are the main thing people on this campus talk about. And if you're not a partier (or even a weekend partier), or know people who are hosting or attending these parties, forget about making friends in the long run.
-The cliquishness is very horrible, even as a freshmen. Either a person will stick with the people they went to high school with, hang out with those who are from around the same state/region, or quit trying to make new friends (let alone stop being friendly) after the first three weeks of freshmen year.
-The rudeness and polarizing attitude of many students. If you don't know anyone here (or are a transfer student), you get an immediate branning from this school for people to avoid you or treat you like crap. Jocks, frat boys, sorority girls, posers, and wannabe gangsters flock the campus in masses ready to criticize and judge. Even when walking in between classes, people will just give you rude stares for no reason. And unless you're on someone's cell phone/texting "list," forget having a social life.
-The snobbish behavior of many individuals. Even though I keep hearing how college students here complain about not having enough money, they consistently walk around wearing the most expensive clothing and riding in BMWs. Even if you're wearing average clothing, prepare for the fashion police (via, the peers) to judge you on first notice.
-The self segregating and prejudice attitudes. The first school I went to had less diversity, but was much more integrated! Here, everyone seems to segregate into their own groups. If you try to branch out and make friends from other races (unless you're Asian, Indian, or Middle Eastern), you're more likely are going to get harped for it. This is especially true if you're a minority male (particularly black) who doesn't fit in to the negative stereotype and tends to hang out w/ individuals from outside your race. You're going to get crap from both ends: from the very visible militant and stereotypical blacks for not being "black enough" and from the rest of the populous because of the obvious. And the fact that the surrounding areas of the campus has a high crime rate doesn't help the situation either. And don't get me started about the students' reaction to the noose and swastikas incident. </p>

<p>I know quite a few of posters here are attending, or are alums of UMD. And I know how people love the school to an extremist extent, so I expect plenty of flaming towards my response. All I ask is just don't hold back.</p>

46

<p>Fairfaxian, thanks for your reply. I have a question: Are you a male student? Thanks.</p>

47

<p>Fairfaxian, I'm sorry you've seen UMD in this light. D came to UMD from NC, knowing NO one, besides a couple of people she met at orientation, and via facebook last summer. Her experiences are 180-degrees different from yours. I'm not going to rant or "flame" you, but suggest that maybe you talk to someone on campus---either your RA, ResLife office, counseling, etc. who can give you some specific ideas that you might try to turn things around. </p>

<p>D has networks of friends from the dorm (and many are high school friends of people she knows at the dorm....and she's much closer with the hs friend), from classes, and from clubs/activities she pushed herself to check out. It can be intimidating to go to one of the club meetings or something by yourself, especially at a school the size of UMD, but if you seek out something you're truly interested in, you will meet people who share your interests.</p>

<p>D is NOT a partier, and is not the sorority type either---those people are certainly visible at UMD, but she's got many friends that she hangs out with (actually, more male than female) that do a lot of other things besides party. Of course, she's a white female, and not a black male, either, so I don't know how many of your issues stem from those experiences, but I've still got to believe that there are a lot of people out there who can make you feel like you fit in, or can give you suggestions on how...... the key is that you have to make an effort to seek them out.</p>

<p>Best wishes; your college experience should be awesome....I hope it becomes that for you, or that you find a place that feels more like "home".</p>

48

<p>Fairfaxian, I'm not going to flame you. Everyone's entitled to his own opinion, and at least you explained why you feel the way you do.</p>

<p>I will disagree with you on the segregation aspect. In fact, if you look at Greek life, most of the sororities do have members who are white, black, Asian, middle eastern, etc. and everyone does hang out together. Fraternities even more so. That's just one example. Also, I went out last night for sushi with a black male friend of mine and got no strange looks or anything from anyone. So I have to say that my experiences don't match up with yours. But again, everyone has different opinions.</p>

<p>I do agree with astrophysicsmom in that I think you need to try a little harder to seek out people or groups with similar interests to yours. I understand how for people who are more introverted or just not that into going out of their way to make friends it can be hard to meet people in a big school.</p>

49

<p>Lindz, do you think being involved in a living-learning program is helpful for new students meeting each other, or is it not really that useful? It seems like it would provide a built-in network of "friends," although it's up to the student to really get out there and meet people.</p>

50

<p>Oregonianmom- I definitely think it is. I would imagine Scholars, Civicus, and Honors Humanities (to name the first-year programs) are more helpful than Honors in this particular aspect since students do literally "live and learn" together in their residence halls and colloquium classes. I did enjoy that all the students in my Honors seminars and H-versions my first year lived in my residence hall, so I could hang out with them outside of class and meet their friends, etc.</p>

51

<p>Alright, well I transfered to UMD this fall, and heres what I have to say</p>

<p>Pros
Great school spirit, the football and basketball games are a lot of fun
Nice Looking Campus
Location- UMD is close enough to DC that it is easily accessible if you want to go there for just a day, but far away enough so that you dont feel you are right in the city (ie NYU, BU, Georgetown)
Social Life- always something to do on the weekends. While there are a fair amount of people that go home on weekends, there are enough people that stay that there is lots to do.
Geographic Diversity- Ive met people here not only from along the eastern seaboard (NY, NJ, MD, MA, CT) but also from TX, CA, FL, GA as well. This is important to me as I came from a school that had NO geographic diversity</p>

<p>Cons
Size- not so much in terms of student population, but physical size. The campus is HUGE, it takes me 20 mins to walk to classes from my apartment sometimes
Housing situation- I am a transfer so I was not guaranteed housing, along with Seniors and some Juniors. I live in an apartment which is a 20 miunte walk from my classes and a 5 minute bus ride. While I know people that are in far worse situations, I know it could be much better.
Student Body- Some of the kids here can be disrespectful and mean to say the least. Cheapseats pretty much hit it on the head when he talked about the people acting incredibly stupid when drunk. At my old school, kids NEVER did anything close to what they do here when drunk. But really, you just have to try and find your nitche
Money- this school seems to nickel and dime you for EVERYTHING. It costs .5 to print stuff out in the library, today my cereal and Orange Juice cost me $5.00, and they charge you $30 for a library book overdue more than a week.</p>

52

<p>*The perfect balance between work and fun - Most of my friends here take their classes and school work fairly seriously, yet they are also able to balance this with active social lives, and I think this is important for a successful college experience.
*Classes can be challenging (although many aren't), but they are never unreasonably stressful (Also, I've noticed a trend that majors like Engineering, Bio/Chem/Premed, Computer Science require ALOT more work than majors like business, psychology, communications, etc.)
*The campus is huge, and never gets boring.
*The rec center is amazing (but its location is inconvenient if you don't live on north campus)
*I honestly don't think the food here is that bad. The south campus dining hall is definitely alot better than the north campus diner for reasons that cannot be explained. In addition, there are so many little shops and caffes throughout campus such as in McKeldin Library, CSPAC, Van Munching business building, the physics building, the visitor's center, and in STAMP. Although you can't use dining points at these, you can usually use Terp Bucks. Also, for the past 3 semesters I have ran out of dining points and terp bucks before the end of the semester. They are a bit ridiculous with their prices at times, ex: weighing salads/soups/fruits and ending up paying 7 bucks for something that is really worth 3.
*So much diversity.. many different types of people (although, it is a bit frustrating for me as an out-of-state student when many in-staters keep their same friends from high school and aren't as interested in making new friends)
*The bar scene gets old and the cover charges are expensive, although it is very easy to get in underage as long as you have some form of fake identification
*DC is definitely great... I wish I took the trip there more often
*Depending on your major, the majority of your classes will be very large lecture halls (ex, science majors). I do not have a problem with this, but I'm sure some people will. I don't understand the hype of small class sizes because if you want individualized attention you are always welcome to go to professors' office hours anyway. The honors program is good for small classes because it requires that you take 5 honors classes in order to get your citation.
*Everyone is very social and outgoing
*There is crime... you just have to be smart about not walking alone at night, not leaving your door unlocked, etc. and you should be fine
*The housing crisis poses a problem for many students... but there is some very nice upperclassman apartments like the South Campus Commons where I got lucky enough to live next year
*Overall, I feel like everyone here is much more down to earth than at some other schools</p>

<p>Sorry, I'm just rambling... hope this helped</p>

53

<p>re: business major doesn't require a lot of work -- It does require a ridiculous amount of group projects, which always take twice as long to complete than if you were doing it yourself. :-P</p>

<p>And also, pleeeeease don't lump business in with majors like communications. Lower-level business classes may be easy to get through without doing much work, but it does get a lot harder. The business school is extremely selective for a reason.</p>

54

<p>Sorry, I'm biased... I switched out of the business school haha</p>

55

<p>So in all my earlier posts in other threads, I have been pretty bitter and facetious about the University of Maryland. I guess I have not given it any glory or praise that it deserves. Now, let me apologize in advance for my long post. </p>

<p>It all started in the beginning of my senior year. The search for the "perfect" college. My father, a graduate of Boston University, recommended the University of Maryland as a solid choice. Originally, I wanted to attend a university that was very well known, had amazing school-spirit and athletics and some of the best fraternity life in the nation. I looked in the book and it really appealed to me. So, I applied to the University of Maryland two weeks after the deadline for certain acceptable reason (health issues) and in the beginning of my spring break (early April 07'), I received a nice package in the mail from UMD, an acceptance! However, I really never thought that I would actually attend Maryland because I was so fixated on UVA. So, I decided to take a roadtrip from West Palm Beach area, FL to Charlottesville, VA and College Park, MD. The first stop was Charlottesville. After seeing UVA, I just had to go, but only one problem, I had to get an acceptance first. It had everything I wanted! The old-world colonial building feel, large sprawling campus and one of the nicest quaint safe litte downtown areas. Then I was onto the next visit, good ole College Park, MD. Now, I arrived at UMD in the evening and was a bit taken back. I grew up in one of the nicest and eloquent cities in the USA and when I first got there, I thought to myself how could I possibly ever go to such a place, but six months later, I found myself settled at Maryland. </p>

<p>Some of the features that really appealed to me at Maryland during my short one semester stay are:
- the school-spirt; one of the best in the nation (#1 for students pack the stadium by Princeton Review). I loved this. Every football game was packed, 50K+ fans!
-one of the best fraternity lifes. FRAT LIFE at MD is really big! All the parties were on Fraternity Row and it was awesome! I would of definitely been rushing AEPi this semester, but I relocated.
- some of the most beautiful architecture and one of the prettiest campuses. The colonial style buildings were so nice. THE MALL was so nice! They always had amazing events on it.
-awesome recreational facilities. Very nice new modern gym.</p>

<p>Some of the things that played a role in my transfer:
-SAFETY!!!!! The campus is one of the poorest as far as security and students safety goes. At the beginning of the term, I remember getting numerous CrimeAlert emails. My friends told me that we were even on CNN. Carjackings at Easton, robberies on the Mall, armed robberies on Baltimore Ave.
-Academics and quality of teaching. Most of my lectures (introductory level) had anywhere from 400-600+ students. With this, it is very hard for the professor to have one on one interaction with the students and for the professor to even know your name. Then, there are numerous graduate students teaching numerous courses and some of them do not have the confidence or competence to be teaching freshmen students.
-Weather. Weather was a major upset with me. I guess I underestimated the temperature of the mideast. If you're from Florida or a nice southern state that is not subjected to such cold temperatures, definitely don't overlook that.</p>

<p>Hope this helps!</p>

56

<p>the above is why my parents are suggesting I don't attend. The crime reports are much more prevalent than at other similarly large campus.</p>

57

<p>Crime is a problem at MD but then again look at what happened at UNC, Duke, Auburn, JHU etc. etc. One must be vigilant and careful at any college these days.</p>

58

<p>You're all making it seem like you have to be watching out for your life wherever you go... that is so far from the truth. I'm finishing up my sophomore year and I have not once been scared to walk on campus. I've walked from McKeldin to north campus at 3 am multiple times. I've walked back from Route 1 late at night when I don't feel like taking the bus. I don't know a single person who ever had a problem. The only things I hear about are the crime report emails, and most of those are off campus. And I don't get THAT many of them - maybe 3 times a month. Don't let this idea of high crime keep you from going to a school you would otherwise attend. It has no effect on my every day life.</p>

59

<p>Thanks v3ndetta and Fairfaxian for expressing your honest opinions.</p>

<p>I too grew up in Montgomery County (moved there in the 5th grade) and went to one of their top high schools. And after high school, I became convinced that I wanted to go to an out-of-state college. I was worried I would be bored staying in relatively the same area. And also, my high school was pretty cliquish (basically I met my group of friends in elementary and early middle school); I wanted to experience a completely different environment and meet new people.</p>

<p>And in many ways, I did get the experience I was after. That said, I'm hoping to transfer to CP in the fall. Every college has it's own problems. Right now, I'm just glad for a switch. Thankfully, CP doesn't seem to have issues with it's academic environment though.</p>

60

<p>BruinsJEW-- I just got back from a spring break cruise leaving from Miami. Our taxi driver to the airport spent the whole ride complaining about the "cold" weather-- it was 55 degrees out!! I can see how you all get spoiled down in FL :)</p>

<p>Also, what class did you have with 600 people, and where was it!?! As a (retired) tour guide, I've always told people that the largest lecture hall holds about 350 students -- I assume the big one in the Physics building that they use for MATH220 lectures. I've never heard of a bigger room than that.</p>

<p>Impromptu-- ditto.</p>