<p>Hi guys,</p>
<p>I'm in-state. I'd rather not go to College Park, but I think it might be a financial safety. I'm kind of biased because I'm in-state, so I'd really like you hear your opinions on College Park. What are your favorite things? What are your least favorite things?</p>
<p>Thanks,
applicannot</p>
<p>This is actually kind of funny reading this because this time last year, I was in the exact same position. I hated the idea of going to a college within a 4 hour drive, let alone the 40 minutes umd is from my house! I was soooo set on going out of state but of course, when looking at paying like $50,000 vs. $20,000, I had to stay in state. It's only my second semester but I absolutely LOVE it here. My major is aerospace engineering and the department here is in the top 10 in the country, so thats a big plus! Also, I love how small the campus feels while still being the size it is! That and the campus itself is beautiful to walk around during a nice day! And despite what others say, I actually like the atmosphere of those large lecture halls. Just pay attention and you'll learn a lot, and it feels so much better than those annoying 20 person classes like in high school. But of course there are the downsides.
My main annoyance is all the obnoxious drunks that go out to party literally every night. I guess if you drink, this won't be a problem but for those of us that have no interest in drinking, this is a big annoyance that comes with going to a large public school. This is kept to a minimum in my dorm though because I'm in a CP Scholars program that is filled w/ engineering + hard science majors but we do have non-scholars on the girls side since there wern't enough of us in the program to fill the floor. Also, there's also how sometimes, you really have to fight in your classes to get a good grade, which again also comes with going to a large public university. I wish I heard this before going to college but make sure to go over ALL your exams for any grading errors! The TA's do all the grading and they have a lot of other stuff going on in their lives than to spend all of their time and effort paying attention to every single one of the 200+ exams they need to grade by the next class. I dont mean simple adding errors when it comes to points, but stuff like them giving you 0 points on a problem where you made one simple math error. Go to the prof and argue for some sort of partial credit because then they'll see that you actually care about your grades compared to the TA's who don't have time for you. </p>
<p>(woah! This turned out to be a lot longer of a reply than planned! Hope this helped somewhat! ^_^)</p>
<p>o wow this was really helpful!
since you love how small the campus feels while still being the size it is, does this mean you only have small class sizes rather than huge lecture halls?</p>
<p>That was a really helpful response. It isn't that I don't want to go to school nearby (I'd actually like to go to DC, which is what... fifteen minutes further than College Park), it's just that something seems to turn me off about the school. But it is a financial safety (not a safety for admissions, but if I got in, I could pay for it) for me, so anecdotes like this are really helpful. I don't mind big classes at all. I actually really like independent study. I'd like to have a mix of large and small classes.</p>
<p>What I like: The campus. Lots of people from MD get in their head that it's ugly...sure there are ugly parts. LOL. But it is a huge campus and the vast majority of it is beautiful. My HS friends get it into their head that it is the ugly state school and when they visit me and see it is just as pretty as their 50K a year privates that are a little shocked and annoyed haha. Weirdly enough the admissions tour does not really take you to the most scenic places. Mistake much? </p>
<p>I totally get what orchdork7810 is saying about how it is so big, yet feels so small. At MD, there are so many people, so many activities. You can always meet new people or do something new. Yet at the same time, you are always running into people you've met before, too! The story you hear about the problem with a big campus: you bump into a person once and never meet them again. NOT true. I am bumping into people all the time more than once...once you settle into activities you like...or even your DORM or the route you take to class...you will start to see the same folks. But nothing beats the First Look Fair on the mall, where literally dozens and dozens of clubs set up shack and you could just spend all day going to each kiosk. So the second thing I like is that it is big AND small.</p>
<p>DC. Holy **** DC is a beautiful, beautiful city. And it is really, really accessible via a campus bus which drops you right off at the metro in 2 seconds. There are so many fascinating parts of DC, parts that aren't governmenty or touristy. U Street is a favorite hang out for my CP friends and I. Just a few stops down the green line. But I'm not gonna lie, we have also planned to go to all of the museums on and around the mall...and there are like what...2 dozen? :P </p>
<p>What I love/hate: The classes. Now. This is a love hate-relationship. Some of the entry level classes are going to have boring horrible professors, and the kids will be uninterested, just what you'd expect at a state school. But as you move up, things get much more interesting. Kids get much more engaged. After your first semester freshmen year classes are great. Try hard to pick teachers people like though. It's worth it to talk to upperclassmen/use rate my prof. If only just to avoid the bad apples. Whether your classes are big or small depends on your major btw. All English classes, upper level history classes are quite small. Not sure about the others, but I think generally you start out large and get smaller as you go along.</p>
<p>What I hate: Basically, I hate my attitude. I hate that everybody hates on teh state school, this prevailing attitude to "get away" infects some people and it won't get away. I am one of those people. I BOMBED my freshman year and into my soph yr because I was so bitter at having to go to MD. I was so unhappy, and I had no reason to be. Dorming at college feels so freeing, no matter where you are. And MD is challenging, just as challenging as anywhere. Yet I had it in my head that I hated it for as long as I was thinking about college, I thought of any place but here, and it really jut ruined my attitude, ruined my GPA. Logic tells you one thing once you get there but it's hard to shake it. One piece of advice that I have is that make sure YOU decide to go to MD. Don't feel like you're FORCED into it. Convince yourself that it is a great school before you go. Cuz it is, it deserves that much.</p>
<p>Also I hate that the student clubs/groups are so F-ing big. There are small clubs, but a lot of the interesting sounding ones are huge. I mean, hey, they're popular for a reason. That can be really intimidating. I am jealous of my friends going to smaller schools who got involved much more easily. For example, at her small private school my friend is leading an a capella group as a first semester sophomore. That would be REALLY difficult to do at MD in my opinion, unless you are a real go getter. She is not a real go getter so I felt that a small school really allowed her to grow, really allowed her to ease into leadership. At a big school, you can ease yourself into it but it is much more "out in the wild" in terms of getting involved, if you are shy and lacking self confidence coming into the school, you will not just "fall" into things, you must really make more of an effort than she did. Then again I've gotten rejected from a lot of cool programs with opportunities for leadership and whatnot because of my horrible GPA, so, two sides to every coin. If you do well in your classes there will be opportunities for you to do very cool, interesting things, no matter what, even if you ARE a small fish in a big pond :].</p>
<p>All this info from current students is really helpful. Can any current students, especially females, comment on the crime in the area. UMCP has a reputation of being unsafe in the immediate off campus areas. Is this reputation deserved? Do students feel unsafe? I read about an incident this year involving an armed robbery in an on campus apartment. Any one familiar with this?? This is my top choice school but parents are opposed.</p>
<p>I think that if you're smart about everything, then you'll be okay. I mean, I'm a freshman female and have never once felt threatened at night. They don't give the full details on all these crime reports that are posted, which I think lends to this image. I mean, although the rape of that one girl off campus not that long ago this semester was unfortunate, I fell it could have easily been prevented. For one, most of these crimes occur at around 3:30ish in the morning, like this rape (i dont know the exact time but it was very late at night), and the people involved are most likely completely drunk, and therefore are doing stupid things that threaten their safety, such as take rides from complete strangers (as in the case of this rape). Basically, if you're not out this late at night, or if you have to be and therefore are sober and with a large group of friends, then there's really no problem. Just make sure you take the necessary precautions such as these and making sure all your windows and doors are locked (which i hear a lot of the people in these break in's fail to do), then you'll be fine. Just be sensible about your safely and dont put yourselves in sketchy situations at 3am alone.</p>
<p>It is a definite common sense thing. Students come to MD from the burbs and are fooled by the green campus and neighborhoods. But the reality is it's more urban than most are used to, and you can't leave your doors and windows unlocked at night or walk around smashed in a badly lit street at 3 am. I mean, not to say my friends and I haven't walked around smashed in badly lit places well into the morning - and we've felt safe haha - but it seems to me that is the situation in which crime occurs. When kids, without the common sense of their parents, do something irresponsible and stupid. </p>
<p>Parents may be interested to know that the shuttles run at all hours during the night, and when they do stop running there is a service called Nite Ride available, which will pick you up from wherever you are and drop you off wherever you want (this runs until the normal shuttles begin running again - I once took Night Ride from the metro at 6:00 am). My friends and I have used Nite Ride many times coming back from someplace like the library late at night back to our apartment midweek (when the buses stop earlier). A word of caution though: never rely on Nite Ride, as if the buses are still anywhere within walking distance (they won't be afraid to tell you to walk a few blocks in the dark), they'll send you hiking. There is also a large police presence at night, rolling around campus, frat row, and the surrounding area. There isn't a night that goes by that I don't see at least 2 patrolling. I think there's also an escort service, where you can get two students, a male and a female, hired by the university, to walk with you and wait with you at a bus stop/building/etc. Nobody uses this though as I think they probably feel weird asking a couple strangers to walk with them haha. But if you are really concerned for your safety that is an option. There is also a lot of video surveillance around campus so usually when we get a crime alert, the criminal is apprehended the next day (dumb!). One thing that they taut a lot that I think is kind of a joke is the blue lights. Although they are good cuz that is where the video surveillance comes from, my friends have told me they have pressed the button to "test" and it takes police like 20 minutes to show. Call 911 first, hah. </p>
<p>I think safety is more of a concern when you move off campus, because then you start to get into areas outside of the nighttime bus routes, are responsible for locking your doors, making sure you have an alarm, are responsible for the security of your house over vacations like Christmas, etc. But this is something that when you do move off campus into a home - which I would say a minority of juniors and seniors do, as most live in apartments closely affiliated with the university - you should be able to handle at 20 years old. Some students choose to live over a mile from the university, near East-West Highway and PG plaza, and these areas are more unsafe. </p>
<p>But I have never felt uncomfortable during the day...</p>