My son and I are visiting on Monday from Chicago . Very excited. My son is interested in chemical engineering and nanotechnology. I think his chance of being admitted is good. 35 ACT, weighted GPA 5.4 , 5/550 rank, 5 AP tests all scored a 5, should hopefully be NMSF. We know little about the campus or the program . Anything you’d like to share with us about UMD is appreciated. Some questions I have …are they generous with merit aid, what is the honors program like, are there a good number of OOS students? Thanks for your time.
Awesome…you will have a great time!!! Be sure to get the homemade ice cream at The Dairy which is in the student union.
Here’s a thread I started to give you some info about engineering in general http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-maryland-college-park/1732708-everything-you-want-to-know-about-engineering-at-maryland-p1.html
In answer to your question about merit aid, well, you need to bear in mind that it’s a public university, so there are no huge endowments like private universities. There is def some merit money though. Also, as a public state university, the majority of students do come from Maryland, but with such a large student population in general, the percentage of OOS translates to a good number.
As for nanotechnology, you might want to check out this page https://www.nanocenter.umd.edu. Not sure if your son would be interested in micro robotics…? Maryland has that as well (let me know because there are other links on this I can give you if he is interested) https://sites.google.com/site/microroboticslaboratory/
@perch1024 - Just to add a few things, it looks like about 20%+ of the student body is OOS.
Like @maryversity said UMD is a public university, so they have limited funds for Scholarships. The big scholarship is the full ride Banneker-Key, but you have to be admitted to the Honors College to be eligible. As far as I can tell, about 400 students are invited to compete for it. “Compete” is not a good description though, since the competition is an on-campus interview. STATS alone will not get a BK invite. About 150 of the 400 get the full ride (tuition/room/board/books/fees), the others get a partial BK (I think it may be full tuition only).
Speaking of the Honors College, I think it’s Great. My D is in it There are 7 different programs for students to apply for, once they are admitted to Honors. Each one has designated housing.
Here is a link to the Honors College
Different Honors Seminars (limited to 20 students) are offered each semester Here is the link to ones being offered in the fall. In addition, each Department can offer Honors versions of regular classes, with a smaller class size.
https://ntst.umd.edu/soc/201608/HONR
There is also a nearby METRO/MARC station to get to DC UMD runs a shuttle bus to and from there for easy access to the Nation’s Capital. Lots of terrific things to see and do there. All the Smithsonian Buildings are free.
Enjoy your visit.
In general, when visiting any school, it’s always a good idea to stop random students for interviews…harder in summer, but still possible. Some questions to ask: are they are happy they chose the school, their major, what they like best about the school, what they like least, what other schools did they apply to and why they chose this school, how’s the food, how’s the social life (sometimes best if that question is asked without mom/dad present), how approachable are the teachers, etc.
@perch1024, Have a safe flight(or drive?) and great visit tomorrow. Here’s some reading material for the ride…http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-maryland-college-park/1743639-things-to-love-about-maryland.html
You should know that the word “guarantee” from admissions counselors and tour guides doesn’t meet the common definition. For example, when we were on the tour 2 years ago they were so excited that they had just announced that UMD had just guaranteed 3 years of housing in the dorms. Now that my son is a rising sophomore, they have gone back to only guaranteeing 2 years in the dorm. So take all those “guarantees” with a grain of salt.
But everything else about the university has been top-notch. Even though UMD is big, my son’s engineering adviser spent a lot of time getting to know him and his goals. He had no problem getting into all his chosen electives. And the marching band experience was excellent.
But we had assumed that the school was telling the truth about the 3 year housing commitment. Instead, it’s all up to his luck in the lottery next year.
Thanks everyone. I’m late getting this trip report typed. We went to Baltimore originally to see Johns Hopkins and only made a stop at Maryland to kill time. Turns out it was worth the stop. My son loved it and it has moved to the top of his list. ( and Johns Hopkins dropped off the list). I can’t really say what made him like it so much except that he just "felt " it was the right place. I also think the location was a big draw. It’s easy to fly into from Chicago and its close proximity to DC ( a metro stop on campus…so cool) and other east coast cities makes it very enticing. Now, its application time, fingers crossed for admission and some $$$ 
And, the ice cream is really good too.