Can we stop crapping on UMCP

[Anonymous]

How would their football team being in T20 make the college campus any prettier? This tells me that your definition of pretty hinges on, of all things, football.

Also, UMD beat the crap out of UVA in football. Oh, does that not say much cause UVA football sucks even more?

It was clearly a joke. I don't think the poster said a good football team makes the campus "prettier". You are clearly smarter than this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:The town of College Park is a dump.

What's so bad about it? Please elaborate.


Montgomery County resident. Don't make it out to College Park much.

Obviously take it with a grain of salt because I was only there for a couple of days for work...but it just seemed really congested with traffic, with a big line of ugly strip malls with nothing interesting in them. Not enough green space or trees.

I still haven't read the other seven pages, but I bet others made similar comments.

Yes, because it's an urban area. If you want lots of green space, you want to go to a college in the middle of nowhere, in a rural area.

The College Park campus is a dumpster fire and is always ranked as one of the worst college campuses in the US.

Back to your post, The University of Texas is in an urban area. Lots of green space, a clean river and several lakes nearby. Austin is one of the fastest growing cities in the US. You can have a nice campus in an urban area.

The only problem is that most kids that attend College Park (or Global Campus at a 28% graduation rate) would never be accepted to UT.

Proof of this ranking? I don't disagree - it's not an attractive campus, but having visited a lot of campuses - I'm drawn to open spaces and green, my kids not so much - they like the urban feel of UMCP - everyone has a different perspective.

Ranked at number 17 as one of the ugliest campus in the US.

https://www.complex.com/style/a/kathryn-henderson/ugly-college-campuses

Ranked as number 20 of the ugliest campus in the US.

https://thedailyrecord.com/2007/12/06/umd-dubbed-one-of-the-ugliest-college-campuses/

I could go on. A google search for ugliest campuses in the US will show that College Park is always in the top 20. Now only if their football team could be in the top 20 things might be different.

Yep.

It's a good school and the campus isn't terrible.

But College Park is a dumpster fire. Compared to Ann Arbor, Madison, Austin, Chapel Hill, Davis, Bloomington and other locations, College Park is pathetic. And sometimes dangerous. There's certainly no charm. It's too bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The town of College Park is a dump.

What's so bad about it? Please elaborate.


Montgomery County resident. Don't make it out to College Park much.

Obviously take it with a grain of salt because I was only there for a couple of days for work...but it just seemed really congested with traffic, with a big line of ugly strip malls with nothing interesting in them. Not enough green space or trees.

I still haven't read the other seven pages, but I bet others made similar comments.

Yes, because it's an urban area. If you want lots of green space, you want to go to a college in the middle of nowhere, in a rural area.

The College Park campus is a dumpster fire and is always ranked as one of the worst college campuses in the US.

Back to your post, The University of Texas is in an urban area. Lots of green space, a clean river and several lakes nearby. Austin is one of the fastest growing cities in the US. You can have a nice campus in an urban area.

The only problem is that most kids that attend College Park (or Global Campus at a 28% graduation rate) would never be accepted to UT.

Proof of this ranking? I don't disagree - it's not an attractive campus, but having visited a lot of campuses - I'm drawn to open spaces and green, my kids not so much - they like the urban feel of UMCP - everyone has a different perspective.

Ranked at number 17 as one of the ugliest campus in the US.

https://www.complex.com/style/a/kathryn-henderson/ugly-college-campuses

Ranked as number 20 of the ugliest campus in the US.

https://thedailyrecord.com/2007/12/06/umd-dubbed-one-of-the-ugliest-college-campuses/

I could go on. A google search for ugliest campuses in the US will show that College Park is always in the top 20. Now only if their football team could be in the top 20 things might be different.

Yep.

It's a good school and the campus isn't terrible.

But College Park is a dumpster fire. Compared to Ann Arbor, Madison, Austin, Chapel Hill, Davis, Bloomington and other locations, College Park is pathetic. And sometimes dangerous. There's certainly no charm. It's too bad.

Completely agree. The campus is a disaster. That being said, I have never opined that the University of Maryland isn't a great school and well regarded academically. It's just a damn awful place to live as a college student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mostly hear people lamenting how hard it is to get admitted. I don’t think I’ve ever heard people bashing it. I am in state, so maybe that’s why.

+1. My big criticism of it is that there isn’t much of a campus or college town feel. Michigan, UVA, Mass also have it beat on that.

Yeah. The place really when to shit when Ratsie's pizza closed down. RIP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:. Getting your anonymous 15 seconds. Idiot.

Getting you anonymous 5 seconds of name calling. Do you have anything to add to this conversation?

You win. CP is not a desirable location. Anything else?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:. Getting your anonymous 15 seconds. Idiot.

Getting you anonymous 5 seconds of name calling. Do you have anything to add to this conversation?

You win. CP is not a desirable location. Anything else?

No. UMD is a fine school and is well regarded academically. I have no problem with UMD other than College Park.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:. Getting your anonymous 15 seconds. Idiot.

Getting you anonymous 5 seconds of name calling. Do you have anything to add to this conversation?

You win. CP is not a desirable location. Anything else?

No. UMD is a fine school and is well regarded academically. I have no problem with UMD other than College Park.

I used to think this too. The campus grows on you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Location wise, UMD is better than VT and UVA in the middle of nowhere, urban locations would be ideal, like Boston, Pittsburgh

my kid at UMD loves that they can take the metro to DC, and be there in less than 30min. There are so many metro buses in and around campus. It's great.

I love Pitt area, too. We visited CMU, but alas, DC didn't get accepted, though I think in hindsight, that was a good thing. I hear what a pressure cooker that school is.

Not really. Typical college thing: its 9 pm at night (like now) and you want to go to a club on 13th and U to listen to music or Shaw to eat dinner. Trip length of time, per WMATA: 46 minutes.

That's a slog that will keep you from making too many spontaneous trips into DC for college type fun.

That internship near the White House? Requires a whopping 65 minute commute at 7:30 am on a weekday from College Park to 17th and Penn.

UMCP is convenient to nothing inside of DC, and there is no "30 minute metro ride" to anywhere from UMCP. Source: wmata.com Trip Planner

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The town of College Park is a dump.

What's so bad about it? Please elaborate.


Montgomery County resident. Don't make it out to College Park much.

Obviously take it with a grain of salt because I was only there for a couple of days for work...but it just seemed really congested with traffic, with a big line of ugly strip malls with nothing interesting in them. Not enough green space or trees.

I still haven't read the other seven pages, but I bet others made similar comments.

Yes, because it's an urban area. If you want lots of green space, you want to go to a college in the middle of nowhere, in a rural area.

The College Park campus is a dumpster fire and is always ranked as one of the worst college campuses in the US.

Back to your post, The University of Texas is in an urban area. Lots of green space, a clean river and several lakes nearby. Austin is one of the fastest growing cities in the US. You can have a nice campus in an urban area.

The only problem is that most kids that attend College Park (or Global Campus at a 28% graduation rate) would never be accepted to UT.

Proof of this ranking? I don't disagree - it's not an attractive campus, but having visited a lot of campuses - I'm drawn to open spaces and green, my kids not so much - they like the urban feel of UMCP - everyone has a different perspective.

Ranked at number 17 as one of the ugliest campus in the US.

https://www.complex.com/style/a/kathryn-henderson/ugly-college-campuses

Ranked as number 20 of the ugliest campus in the US.

https://thedailyrecord.com/2007/12/06/umd-dubbed-one-of-the-ugliest-college-campuses/

I could go on. A google search for ugliest campuses in the US will show that College Park is always in the top 20. Now only if their football team could be in the top 20 things might be different.

Rankings are just an opinion of very few people.

Even the person who "wrote" one of the articles had a different opinion:

"I always thought Maryland’s campus – while not in the best of neighborhoods – was beautiful. Anyone feel its position on this list is justified?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mostly hear people lamenting how hard it is to get admitted. I don’t think I’ve ever heard people bashing it. I am in state, so maybe that’s why.

+1. My big criticism of it is that there isn’t much of a campus or college town feel. Michigan, UVA, Mass also have it beat on that.

UMD has an gorgeous campus, you have no idea what you are talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even top hoopers in MD don’t want to play at MD

1. UMD is unaesthetic
2. UMD qol is sub par vs many other flagships
3. Reputation for being grindy
4. Sports aren’t on par with talent in the area

MD is like a higher scoring Rutgers

That’s why it doesn’t have a desirable brand

1. UMD is fact very aesthetic, clearly you've not been to the campus
2. All flagships have terrible QOL
3. UMD simultaneously gets criticized for being academically non-competitive and also being full of grinds?
4. Who cases?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even top hoopers in MD don’t want to play at MD

1. UMD is unaesthetic
2. UMD qol is sub par vs many other flagships
3. Reputation for being grindy
4. Sports aren’t on par with talent in the area

MD is like a higher scoring Rutgers

That’s why it doesn’t have a desirable brand

And we judge colleges by what “top hoopers” think?

No, but it’s a good data point if you are a flagship and can’t keep local sports talent at home

That shows a huge brand issue

If top local hoopers don’t want to play at md, why should strong in-state non athletes want to go to UMD as their top choice?

What? Why would what "top hoopers" do even be relevant for students there for academics?

[Anonymous]

It’s good for STEM but I’ve known non-STEM students who didn’t love it and one who transferred because of this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The town of College Park is a dump.

Think that's been established but thanks.

Sorry, I wasn't going to read the previous seven pages. Glad I'm not unique in my observation.

I was there for work for last week (first time there in years), and though I've heard good things about the college, my first thought was that I wouldn't wish the town upon my HS junior.

It is so hard to get in. I doubt your junior has to worry about having to be there.

Google tells me the OOS acceptance rate is 33%. So that's a one in three chance.

This is not how college admissions works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that a lack of a true College Town is one of the factors that's holding UMCP back. I graduated in 2010, and while it's definitely improved since then, it still has a way to go to catch up to Ann Arbor/State College/Chapel Hill and others.

State College, Chapel Hill, Charlottesville are very far away from major cities, while UMD has a metro to a global city. Such a location doesn't yield picturesque college towns.