@CollegeResource
As stated, without knowing what major you are considering, I cannot give you an opinion as to your statement. I shy away from rankings/generalities because I think they are so subjective. So, while your statement would hold true for my son (an engineer), it did not hold true for the son of a friend, who was pre-law. UVA ended up not being good enough for him, either, as he ended up at an Ivy. However, when my friend’s son looked at schools, he didn’t feel that there was enough cache to Maryland, even with honors college. For him, UVA was close enough to an ivy to apply. So, while it is true that Maryland is “on a monumental rise” (and has been called a “public ivy” in some recent assessments) and UVA has remained a highly respected school (akin to, and just below the ivies, in many eyes), a lot depends on what you are looking for in a school, perception/priorities, what you plan to study, personal fit, etc.
While it may be true that the average gpa of admitted students at both schools is comparable, UVA is a smaller university and has a lower admission rate than Maryland, which is important to some people.
On the whole, all the positive things both you and College Already? stated about Maryland are things I would agree with. However, I don’t think the rise of Maryland has as much to do with its proximity to DC (which has never changed) as it does with the continuous improvement of facilities and the direction of an awesome president, Wallace Loh. The man is amazing. He is a visionary and has really taken the school to new heights, and I believe that trajectory will continue. President Loh is brilliant, funny, kind, warm, and very involved. He attends countless events, talks to students, and is highly accessible. Just an all-around great guy and I think his role in Maryland’s meteoric rise should be recognized. The plans to improve the surrounding College Park area are so exciting and I think that when they are done, that will seal the deal for even more people who want that bucolic college town feel to extend outside the university grounds. I do believe that admissions will continue to get even more competitive over the coming years and the rate of admission will go down even further.
It’s just the rankings/comparison of the schools that I think is more subjective depending on perspective. Of the fifteen schools College Already? listed, I would place them in a very different order. I still would not put Duke above Maryland, though, because I just have that Bias (reference intended for those who understand). To be honest, I would put UVA (and a several other schools on that list) above Duke also, and that has nothing to do with my jokes about Duke (which I will admit is a fine university).