UMD EA Results

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:To answer several persistent questions...

Honors>>>>Scholars>>other stuff

Money comes later (Mid-late Feb?) but don't expect a lot in-state, if anything. And Honors is *not* a guarantee of money though probably better chance but some non Honors admits get money too. BK, is, (I think) from Honors admits only however.

Honors is worthwhile if just for the housing and you may find it useful generally too. UH and Aces have the best housing and UH housing (PC and JW) is more convenient than ACES (PF Hall). There are other perfectly fine dorms too if you aren't Honors or are in other Honors programs. UH is easily the biggest Honors program, its the default, least specialized) but best housing and most class options.

There are also Honors versions of some key classes available only to Honors kids. Calculus, for example, and at least in that, all class hours are with the instructor in smaller classes. No discussion section with a TA, no huge lecture hall. Note, many TAs are fantastic, not trying to be critical.

Other programs (Scholars, etc) can be good opportunities but consider the cost (in time/effort): benefit analysis. Consider it even with Honors. Its 15 Credits in Honors. Is the payoff worth it? With the housing, yes, imo. Absent that...maybe.

FC is no big deal. In fact, kids I know like it. Don't view it as a failure. Look at some of the kids who didn't get in...its just a way for them to take more of the kids they should have taken in the first place...

Comp Sci..it will be much harder to declare CS for anyone not admitted directly. Not impossible but I would say do not count on it. Up til now, changing to CS has been fairly easy. Not easy anymore. Have a plan B or go somewhere else.

Thanks for the pertinent info. Does Honors guarantee housing for 4 yrs?

No most of the programs are 2 years. Varies by program. Info on website

That is inaccurate. Even if a program is 2 years, honors students are guaranteed 4 years of housing on campus. However, I don’t know any UMD student that stayed on campus 4 years. They all move off campus.

I made the mistake of checking a UMD Facebook group today. It wasn't even about housing. Except it was. Housing was all it was. Grim, tiny rooms in cheap apartment complexes in Greenbelt. Parking lots and highways. 1,000 a month to live with four roommates like you're in an exurban dystopia. What fun.

Huh? Thousands of student live within a half mile of campus. Something like 10 apartment complexes within walking distance.

Grim tiny rooms next to a highway in College Park? Where do I sign?

Maybe it’s time for your snowflake to live their own life?

Y'all are so defensive about a school no one else in the country cares about. I just think it's sad to see so many highly intelligent kids with so much potential pigeonholed into such narrow boxes in such an ugly provincial place.

Geez. You sound like you have a chip on your shoulder. No one gives a crap about what you think.

Not at all, lol. College Park was never on our list because it's an ugly, provincial place. It honestly just makes me sad, with so many excellent colleges out there that so many of you have such a small window for "success" for your kids. You only want them to have one of two or three majors, you only want them to stay in this area, you only want them to work for a limited number of government-subsidized local companies or agencies.

Your kids have so much potential, and this is all you can see.

dp.. my kid's potential is a double STEM major +1 year master, graduating in 4 years from UMD because that's what they want.

"Excellent" college is subjective. My DC#2 absolutely does not want a SLAC in the middle of nowhere. They would call that "provincial", and boring AF.

UMD is T50. Why on earth would people pay money for a college that is rated much much lower, and where the job prospects are much lower. Most of us don't have family money such that our kids can just do whatever they want and not think about getting a good paying job? Do you know how many grads can't find decent jobs after college?

I want my kids to go wherever they want. I have encouraged them to go study abroad. My spouse is a dual citizen, and we've encouraged them to go live in that country for a while. I've also told them to not be tied to this area. I'm originally from CA, and DC#2 wants to move back there at some point.

So you are also wrong about UMD parents wanting them to live "provincial" lives. This area is a very diverse area, more so than the Bay Area where I moved from. If my kids want to stay here, I see nothing wrong with that. It's more diverse than the vast majority of cities around the world. Ask anyone who has lived in a different country and who now lives here (like my spouse). Also, my kids are biracial, and there are some places in this country and around the world that I would not want them to live in.

You sound like an utter snob and completely clueless.

It's pretty normal not to find a job right after college--not the kind of job you mean, anyway. It's beyond privileged to think your kids are entitled to a good job right out of school, no matter where they go.

A few years of working your way up isn't the worst thing in life. You keep talking about how privileged you think other people are, then you have the gall to list your own privileges like they're nothing. Our kid has dual citizenship too, actually, being one half of an immigrant household, and it's fantastic they'll have the opportunity to use it someday.

Stop acting like UMD is some cheap community college with one breath, and then acting like it's the most prestigious place in the world with the next: it's neither. It's a state college in, as I said before, a state that most of the rest of the country doesn't care about. It's a fine school. I just don't think it's enough of a fine school to justify this kind of cutthroat admissions, or to justify staggering its freshmen admissions, or to justify paying full price for. Your opinion may differ.

I'm sure you're proud that your kid got in (unless you're the poster whose kids aren't even in college and then you're just sad... Because in all seriousness, odds are they won't get in.)

As for your kids being biracial, if you left your liberal bubble more, you might notice that no one really cares.

Not the poster you are replying to, but I am the poster whose kid isn’t applying this year. Thanks for the negativity. My kid has as much chance as the kid who got rejected from engineering which is why I’m so interested in this thread. That is, most kids with her stats would get in.

Well then, perhaps take a moment to consider why so many people are taking such high-acheiving kids with so much potential and trying to fit them through the same narrow doorway to stand in a very crowded room.

I don't hate UMD. I don't care if you believe me or not, but I don't.

But I do think there's something really wrong with our culture when it pushes all of its kids into the same little box. This whole UMD computer science/engineering cluster is truly insane.

I say that as outside observer: it makes absolutely no sense to me why you'd put your kids through this, especially when the odds of them getting into ivies and tech schools outside of Maryland are higher than they are for College Park. To summarize: your kids can get more money to go someplace else that's better or equal in prestige, and you're all still lined up at the same narrow hole.

(And then there's the fact that your favorite spectator sport is apparently watching other peoples' kids--mostly poorer kids--get brain damage for school spirit...)

Yeah, I don't get it.

Speak for yourself. My kids didn’t apply for CS/engineering. For one of my kids, UMD was the only option in state for the desired double majors. Somehow that makes us narrow minded?

Well, perhaps I wasn't talking about you, Mary.

But also, yes, there's that "in-state" thing there in your own sentence.

I’m guessing you are very wealthy so have the luxury of choice. Many of us don’t.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Accepted. CS. How does the honor college work?

How do you get into Honors College? Is it something that should have been requested with the application or are selected admits offered HC?

Everyone’s automatically considered for honors and all of the other LLPs if they apply EA. No separate application.

Does this include ACES. My kid is a 2025 grad who wants to be in ACES. Is it seperate application or are you automatically considered?

https://aces.umd.edu/living-learning-program-llp

First get an offer for Honors College then you get an opportunity to explore and rank your preference of program. ACES is one of the programs. Last year my CS major son had ACES as his first choice. He was placed in his 3rd. Oh well. He's surviving!

Son also put ACES as 1st choice last year and didn't get in. UH has the most kids and best housing on campus. I wonder if it will be slightly easier to get ACES this year since they admitted so many fewer CS majors and made transferring much more difficult. To date besides housing UH hasn't added much.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:DC was rejected from UMD engineering with 1550 SAT, 4.73 GPA, national merit semifinalist, Blair magnet program, a lot of good ECs although not president of a club or anything like that. In state white male.

I never expected a rejection from UMD.

Can you list a few most rigorous APs taken?

The Blair HS STEM magnet program classes are generally described as higher level than AP. In addition to all the magnet courses, DS took a couple of AP history classes (I believe Government and Modern World, not U.S. History as it was advised that students not take that as a freshman). He took honors English to balance things out in his schedule, which is what is recommended for magnet students - take AP History OR English - some, of course, took both. Believe it or not. I'm not answering anymore questions on this thread. Thanks for the kind words from some of the folks here. Best of luck to your students.

Sorry for the rejection but that explains it. There were many other UMD applicants from Blair who took much more rigorous AP courses & exams including AP Calc BC, AP physics C, AP English lit, AP US History, AP Chemistry, etc., while your student applied with just an SAT score and high weighted GPA that was built with less rigor honors courses.

I wonder what his class rank was. I teach in a MD public high school and have DCs who have/will apply to UMD. In the past few years, UMD only seems to accept the top 10%.

That’s the issue: 4.73 whoa is actually very low for Blair SMCS: https://old.mbhs.edu/departments/magnet/ParentResources/MagnetProfile.pdf

It’s the bottom 15% of students in the program, which you wouldn’t know from the regular school profile and I have always wondered why Mr O puts additional breakdowns on the smcs profile.

This! It's all based on your HS peers. If you're not in the top certain percentage at your HS, UMD is not taking you.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Amend that. UMD CP is technically 11,200 tuition, total coa with room and board 30k.

Baltimore is 12k tuition to total about the same.

St Marys, same, but they add a 3k "fee" on top of their tuition, making it the highest of the bunch.

Yes, private colleges in the top 100 are offering merit aid to students that will at least match, if not best, those prices.

Now, if you need an option where your student has to live at home, I'm sure UMCP seems like a better deal.

UMD has about the lowest in state tuition in the Big 10. Lower in state than most are all surrounding states, i.e., VT, UDel, PennState, etc. PP is just trying to get people riled up.

Ah, are we only doing the top 10 now?

So which is, are you all for equity and inclusion? Or are you a horrible snob who just happens to be provincial enough to think that UMD is the top of the heap?

PP referenced the "Big 10". That's the name of UMD's athletic conference.

🤣😂 What’s with the anti-UMD poster who keeps using the word “provincial” and has nothing better to do than troll a UMD acceptance thread?

Mr. Provincial is pathetic. 😛😝😜🤣😂

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:DC was rejected from UMD engineering with 1550 SAT, 4.73 GPA, national merit semifinalist, Blair magnet program, a lot of good ECs although not president of a club or anything like that. In state white male.

I never expected a rejection from UMD.

Can you list a few most rigorous APs taken?

The Blair HS STEM magnet program classes are generally described as higher level than AP. In addition to all the magnet courses, DS took a couple of AP history classes (I believe Government and Modern World, not U.S. History as it was advised that students not take that as a freshman). He took honors English to balance things out in his schedule, which is what is recommended for magnet students - take AP History OR English - some, of course, took both. Believe it or not. I'm not answering anymore questions on this thread. Thanks for the kind words from some of the folks here. Best of luck to your students.

Sorry for the rejection but that explains it. There were many other UMD applicants from Blair who took much more rigorous AP courses & exams including AP Calc BC, AP physics C, AP English lit, AP US History, AP Chemistry, etc., while your student applied with just an SAT score and high weighted GPA that was built with less rigor honors courses.

I wonder what his class rank was. I teach in a MD public high school and have DCs who have/will apply to UMD. In the past few years, UMD only seems to accept the top 10%.

That’s the issue: 4.73 whoa is actually very low for Blair SMCS: https://old.mbhs.edu/departments/magnet/ParentResources/MagnetProfile.pdf

It’s the bottom 15% of students in the program, which you wouldn’t know from the regular school profile and I have always wondered why Mr O puts additional breakdowns on the smcs profile.

This! It's all based on your HS peers. If you're not in the top certain percentage at your HS, UMD is not taking you.

To be fair those numbers relate to the 100 top kids at Blair. In a school with up to 1000 kids per grade. Comparing their place along the entire school would be a very different picture and almost certainly in the top 10 percent if not 5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC was rejected from UMD engineering with 1550 SAT, 4.73 GPA, national merit semifinalist, Blair magnet program, a lot of good ECs although not president of a club or anything like that. In state white male.

I never expected a rejection from UMD.

Can you list a few most rigorous APs taken?

The Blair HS STEM magnet program classes are generally described as higher level than AP. In addition to all the magnet courses, DS took a couple of AP history classes (I believe Government and Modern World, not U.S. History as it was advised that students not take that as a freshman). He took honors English to balance things out in his schedule, which is what is recommended for magnet students - take AP History OR English - some, of course, took both. Believe it or not. I'm not answering anymore questions on this thread. Thanks for the kind words from some of the folks here. Best of luck to your students.

Sorry for the rejection but that explains it. There were many other UMD applicants from Blair who took much more rigorous AP courses & exams including AP Calc BC, AP physics C, AP English lit, AP US History, AP Chemistry, etc., while your student applied with just an SAT score and high weighted GPA that was built with less rigor honors courses.

I wonder what his class rank was. I teach in a MD public high school and have DCs who have/will apply to UMD. In the past few years, UMD only seems to accept the top 10%.

That’s the issue: 4.73 whoa is actually very low for Blair SMCS: https://old.mbhs.edu/departments/magnet/ParentResources/MagnetProfile.pdf

It’s the bottom 15% of students in the program, which you wouldn’t know from the regular school profile and I have always wondered why Mr O puts additional breakdowns on the smcs profile.

UMD is most certainly familiar with the rigor of the Blair SMCS program but that kind of information is certainly not helpful to admissions chances for these students.

My kid was in Poolesville SMCS. I am not sure if they even send a magnet profile.

[Anonymous]

I reported several of the Bitter “Provincial” Person’s posts.

Hopefully, the posts will be removed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Accepted. CS. How does the honor college work?

How do you get into Honors College? Is it something that should have been requested with the application or are selected admits offered HC?

Everyone’s automatically considered for honors and all of the other LLPs if they apply EA. No separate application.

Does this include ACES. My kid is a 2025 grad who wants to be in ACES. Is it seperate application or are you automatically considered?

https://aces.umd.edu/living-learning-program-llp

First get an offer for Honors College then you get an opportunity to explore and rank your preference of program. ACES is one of the programs. Last year my CS major son had ACES as his first choice. He was placed in his 3rd. Oh well. He's surviving!

Son also put ACES as 1st choice last year and didn't get in. UH has the most kids and best housing on campus. I wonder if it will be slightly easier to get ACES this year since they admitted so many fewer CS majors and made transferring much more difficult. To date besides housing UH hasn't added much.

I wondered that. Figures our kids off a year. Last year seemed they put kids in ACES that did not get direct admit to CS and no scholarships. Like they were trying to spread the wealth.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:To answer several persistent questions...

Honors>>>>Scholars>>other stuff

Money comes later (Mid-late Feb?) but don't expect a lot in-state, if anything. And Honors is *not* a guarantee of money though probably better chance but some non Honors admits get money too. BK, is, (I think) from Honors admits only however.

Honors is worthwhile if just for the housing and you may find it useful generally too. UH and Aces have the best housing and UH housing (PC and JW) is more convenient than ACES (PF Hall). There are other perfectly fine dorms too if you aren't Honors or are in other Honors programs. UH is easily the biggest Honors program, its the default, least specialized) but best housing and most class options.

There are also Honors versions of some key classes available only to Honors kids. Calculus, for example, and at least in that, all class hours are with the instructor in smaller classes. No discussion section with a TA, no huge lecture hall. Note, many TAs are fantastic, not trying to be critical.

Other programs (Scholars, etc) can be good opportunities but consider the cost (in time/effort): benefit analysis. Consider it even with Honors. Its 15 Credits in Honors. Is the payoff worth it? With the housing, yes, imo. Absent that...maybe.

FC is no big deal. In fact, kids I know like it. Don't view it as a failure. Look at some of the kids who didn't get in...its just a way for them to take more of the kids they should have taken in the first place...

Comp Sci..it will be much harder to declare CS for anyone not admitted directly. Not impossible but I would say do not count on it. Up til now, changing to CS has been fairly easy. Not easy anymore. Have a plan B or go somewhere else.

Thanks for the pertinent info. Does Honors guarantee housing for 4 yrs?

No most of the programs are 2 years. Varies by program. Info on website

That is inaccurate. Even if a program is 2 years, honors students are guaranteed 4 years of housing on campus. However, I don’t know any UMD student that stayed on campus 4 years. They all move off campus.

I made the mistake of checking a UMD Facebook group today. It wasn't even about housing. Except it was. Housing was all it was. Grim, tiny rooms in cheap apartment complexes in Greenbelt. Parking lots and highways. 1,000 a month to live with four roommates like you're in an exurban dystopia. What fun.

Huh? Thousands of student live within a half mile of campus. Something like 10 apartment complexes within walking distance.

Grim tiny rooms next to a highway in College Park? Where do I sign?

Maybe it’s time for your snowflake to live their own life?

Y'all are so defensive about a school no one else in the country cares about. I just think it's sad to see so many highly intelligent kids with so much potential pigeonholed into such narrow boxes in such an ugly provincial place.

Geez. You sound like you have a chip on your shoulder. No one gives a crap about what you think.

Not at all, lol. College Park was never on our list because it's an ugly, provincial place. It honestly just makes me sad, with so many excellent colleges out there that so many of you have such a small window for "success" for your kids. You only want them to have one of two or three majors, you only want them to stay in this area, you only want them to work for a limited number of government-subsidized local companies or agencies.

Your kids have so much potential, and this is all you can see.

dp.. my kid's potential is a double STEM major +1 year master, graduating in 4 years from UMD because that's what they want.

"Excellent" college is subjective. My DC#2 absolutely does not want a SLAC in the middle of nowhere. They would call that "provincial", and boring AF.

UMD is T50. Why on earth would people pay money for a college that is rated much much lower, and where the job prospects are much lower. Most of us don't have family money such that our kids can just do whatever they want and not think about getting a good paying job? Do you know how many grads can't find decent jobs after college?

I want my kids to go wherever they want. I have encouraged them to go study abroad. My spouse is a dual citizen, and we've encouraged them to go live in that country for a while. I've also told them to not be tied to this area. I'm originally from CA, and DC#2 wants to move back there at some point.

So you are also wrong about UMD parents wanting them to live "provincial" lives. This area is a very diverse area, more so than the Bay Area where I moved from. If my kids want to stay here, I see nothing wrong with that. It's more diverse than the vast majority of cities around the world. Ask anyone who has lived in a different country and who now lives here (like my spouse). Also, my kids are biracial, and there are some places in this country and around the world that I would not want them to live in.

You sound like an utter snob and completely clueless.

It's pretty normal not to find a job right after college--not the kind of job you mean, anyway. It's beyond privileged to think your kids are entitled to a good job right out of school, no matter where they go.

A few years of working your way up isn't the worst thing in life. You keep talking about how privileged you think other people are, then you have the gall to list your own privileges like they're nothing. Our kid has dual citizenship too, actually, being one half of an immigrant household, and it's fantastic they'll have the opportunity to use it someday.

Stop acting like UMD is some cheap community college with one breath, and then acting like it's the most prestigious place in the world with the next: it's neither. It's a state college in, as I said before, a state that most of the rest of the country doesn't care about. It's a fine school. I just don't think it's enough of a fine school to justify this kind of cutthroat admissions, or to justify staggering its freshmen admissions, or to justify paying full price for. Your opinion may differ.

I'm sure you're proud that your kid got in (unless you're the poster whose kids aren't even in college and then you're just sad... Because in all seriousness, odds are they won't get in.)

As for your kids being biracial, if you left your liberal bubble more, you might notice that no one really cares.

Not the poster you are replying to, but I am the poster whose kid isn’t applying this year. Thanks for the negativity. My kid has as much chance as the kid who got rejected from engineering which is why I’m so interested in this thread. That is, most kids with her stats would get in.

Well then, perhaps take a moment to consider why so many people are taking such high-acheiving kids with so much potential and trying to fit them through the same narrow doorway to stand in a very crowded room.

I don't hate UMD. I don't care if you believe me or not, but I don't.

But I do think there's something really wrong with our culture when it pushes all of its kids into the same little box. This whole UMD computer science/engineering cluster is truly insane.

I say that as outside observer: it makes absolutely no sense to me why you'd put your kids through this, especially when the odds of them getting into ivies and tech schools outside of Maryland are higher than they are for College Park. To summarize: your kids can get more money to go someplace else that's better or equal in prestige, and you're all still lined up at the same narrow hole.

(And then there's the fact that your favorite spectator sport is apparently watching other peoples' kids--mostly poorer kids--get brain damage for school spirit...)

Yeah, I don't get it.

As has already been said, for many of us it’s about the dollar amount and the value for money. $30k a year for UMD or $90k for MIT?

I think you don't understand that with its massive endowment and your kid's scores, you wouldn't pay 90k for MIT. It's true, (I don't know for sure, but I suspect), you might pay 45-50k, unless you're actually poor, in which case you'd pay nothing.

Is MIT worth beg, borrowing, or cashing in a 401k to make the difference?

Over UMD?

Uh... Yeah. Yeah, it is. In so many ways you can't imagine.

I'm not a snob about schools, (despite the crap I've said about UMD), but I am a realist. The universities and colleges in this country that are truly, intellectually prestigious... if your kid has a shot at them, you don't turn it down. Not only will it offer them career benefits for life, not only will it open alumni and corporate doors, they'll receive exceptional educations. I'm sure UMD has some great programs, but they're not Caltech. They're not MIT. I'm not even sure they're WPI, or Stevens, or RIT.

Huh? Do you know something I don’t? Doesn’t MIT offer need based aid only? And even getting in with super high stats is a crap shoot.

Well, I mean, I checked their Web site, so probably, yes, I know something you don't.

https://mitadmissions.org/afford/

While some schools only consider the FAFSA for aid, schools with large endowments tend to get more creative. They'll consider your family finances from a more holistic approach, taking into account debt, housing costs, etc. They don't admit lightly, that means they want to make damn sure your kids will go.

Yes, getting into MIT is a crapshoot. But it's one that I think 2 kids from Blair did successfully last year? Maybe ask around.

The point remains, and it's one I'd say is true for any competitive, prestigious program, and it's a point much nicer people than me have made multiple times on these forums: at the top end of the admissions game, it's basically a lottery.

Now, you can play the lottery and/or you can also play other lotteries, as well as consider the options where your kids' achievements would be truly valued and cherished.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I reported several of the Bitter “Provincial” Person’s posts.

Hopefully, the posts will be removed.

But the maga posts you're cool with, right?

God, you people are the worst.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To answer several persistent questions...

Honors>>>>Scholars>>other stuff

Money comes later (Mid-late Feb?) but don't expect a lot in-state, if anything. And Honors is *not* a guarantee of money though probably better chance but some non Honors admits get money too. BK, is, (I think) from Honors admits only however.

Honors is worthwhile if just for the housing and you may find it useful generally too. UH and Aces have the best housing and UH housing (PC and JW) is more convenient than ACES (PF Hall). There are other perfectly fine dorms too if you aren't Honors or are in other Honors programs. UH is easily the biggest Honors program, its the default, least specialized) but best housing and most class options.

There are also Honors versions of some key classes available only to Honors kids. Calculus, for example, and at least in that, all class hours are with the instructor in smaller classes. No discussion section with a TA, no huge lecture hall. Note, many TAs are fantastic, not trying to be critical.

Other programs (Scholars, etc) can be good opportunities but consider the cost (in time/effort): benefit analysis. Consider it even with Honors. Its 15 Credits in Honors. Is the payoff worth it? With the housing, yes, imo. Absent that...maybe.

FC is no big deal. In fact, kids I know like it. Don't view it as a failure. Look at some of the kids who didn't get in...its just a way for them to take more of the kids they should have taken in the first place...

Comp Sci..it will be much harder to declare CS for anyone not admitted directly. Not impossible but I would say do not count on it. Up til now, changing to CS has been fairly easy. Not easy anymore. Have a plan B or go somewhere else.

Thanks for the pertinent info. Does Honors guarantee housing for 4 yrs?

No most of the programs are 2 years. Varies by program. Info on website

That is inaccurate. Even if a program is 2 years, honors students are guaranteed 4 years of housing on campus. However, I don’t know any UMD student that stayed on campus 4 years. They all move off campus.

I made the mistake of checking a UMD Facebook group today. It wasn't even about housing. Except it was. Housing was all it was. Grim, tiny rooms in cheap apartment complexes in Greenbelt. Parking lots and highways. 1,000 a month to live with four roommates like you're in an exurban dystopia. What fun.

Huh? Thousands of student live within a half mile of campus. Something like 10 apartment complexes within walking distance.

Grim tiny rooms next to a highway in College Park? Where do I sign?

Maybe it’s time for your snowflake to live their own life?

Y'all are so defensive about a school no one else in the country cares about. I just think it's sad to see so many highly intelligent kids with so much potential pigeonholed into such narrow boxes in such an ugly provincial place.

Geez. You sound like you have a chip on your shoulder. No one gives a crap about what you think.

Not at all, lol. College Park was never on our list because it's an ugly, provincial place. It honestly just makes me sad, with so many excellent colleges out there that so many of you have such a small window for "success" for your kids. You only want them to have one of two or three majors, you only want them to stay in this area, you only want them to work for a limited number of government-subsidized local companies or agencies.

Your kids have so much potential, and this is all you can see.

dp.. my kid's potential is a double STEM major +1 year master, graduating in 4 years from UMD because that's what they want.

"Excellent" college is subjective. My DC#2 absolutely does not want a SLAC in the middle of nowhere. They would call that "provincial", and boring AF.

UMD is T50. Why on earth would people pay money for a college that is rated much much lower, and where the job prospects are much lower. Most of us don't have family money such that our kids can just do whatever they want and not think about getting a good paying job? Do you know how many grads can't find decent jobs after college?

I want my kids to go wherever they want. I have encouraged them to go study abroad. My spouse is a dual citizen, and we've encouraged them to go live in that country for a while. I've also told them to not be tied to this area. I'm originally from CA, and DC#2 wants to move back there at some point.

So you are also wrong about UMD parents wanting them to live "provincial" lives. This area is a very diverse area, more so than the Bay Area where I moved from. If my kids want to stay here, I see nothing wrong with that. It's more diverse than the vast majority of cities around the world. Ask anyone who has lived in a different country and who now lives here (like my spouse). Also, my kids are biracial, and there are some places in this country and around the world that I would not want them to live in.

You sound like an utter snob and completely clueless.

It's pretty normal not to find a job right after college--not the kind of job you mean, anyway. It's beyond privileged to think your kids are entitled to a good job right out of school, no matter where they go.

A few years of working your way up isn't the worst thing in life. You keep talking about how privileged you think other people are, then you have the gall to list your own privileges like they're nothing. Our kid has dual citizenship too, actually, being one half of an immigrant household, and it's fantastic they'll have the opportunity to use it someday.

Stop acting like UMD is some cheap community college with one breath, and then acting like it's the most prestigious place in the world with the next: it's neither. It's a state college in, as I said before, a state that most of the rest of the country doesn't care about. It's a fine school. I just don't think it's enough of a fine school to justify this kind of cutthroat admissions, or to justify staggering its freshmen admissions, or to justify paying full price for. Your opinion may differ.

I'm sure you're proud that your kid got in (unless you're the poster whose kids aren't even in college and then you're just sad... Because in all seriousness, odds are they won't get in.)

As for your kids being biracial, if you left your liberal bubble more, you might notice that no one really cares.

It's only normal to not find a job after college if you sucked in college or you majored in something not marketable.

Every graduate works their way up. I don't know where you got the idea that a STEM grad from UMD wouldn't do that, either, but more than likely, they will have a job right after college. "Working your way up" is not the same as being unemployed after graduation.

"Liberal bubble"? I'm a former R, and an immigrant.

UMD is affordable, and at the same time, a Top 20 public university. We are very fortunate to have that option in MD, a super tiny state. Yes, a lot of people don't care about a tiny state, just like they don't care about the vast majority of states in this country. But, the DC area is very diverse, and UMDCP is right next to DC. It's an extremely diverse university in so many ways.

Not sure why you are so invested in a thread about UMD EA if your kid isn't even looking at it, other than the fact that you are an insecure snob. It's not a good look.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To answer several persistent questions...

Honors>>>>Scholars>>other stuff

Money comes later (Mid-late Feb?) but don't expect a lot in-state, if anything. And Honors is *not* a guarantee of money though probably better chance but some non Honors admits get money too. BK, is, (I think) from Honors admits only however.

Honors is worthwhile if just for the housing and you may find it useful generally too. UH and Aces have the best housing and UH housing (PC and JW) is more convenient than ACES (PF Hall). There are other perfectly fine dorms too if you aren't Honors or are in other Honors programs. UH is easily the biggest Honors program, its the default, least specialized) but best housing and most class options.

There are also Honors versions of some key classes available only to Honors kids. Calculus, for example, and at least in that, all class hours are with the instructor in smaller classes. No discussion section with a TA, no huge lecture hall. Note, many TAs are fantastic, not trying to be critical.

Other programs (Scholars, etc) can be good opportunities but consider the cost (in time/effort): benefit analysis. Consider it even with Honors. Its 15 Credits in Honors. Is the payoff worth it? With the housing, yes, imo. Absent that...maybe.

FC is no big deal. In fact, kids I know like it. Don't view it as a failure. Look at some of the kids who didn't get in...its just a way for them to take more of the kids they should have taken in the first place...

Comp Sci..it will be much harder to declare CS for anyone not admitted directly. Not impossible but I would say do not count on it. Up til now, changing to CS has been fairly easy. Not easy anymore. Have a plan B or go somewhere else.

Thanks for the pertinent info. Does Honors guarantee housing for 4 yrs?

No most of the programs are 2 years. Varies by program. Info on website

That is inaccurate. Even if a program is 2 years, honors students are guaranteed 4 years of housing on campus. However, I don’t know any UMD student that stayed on campus 4 years. They all move off campus.

I made the mistake of checking a UMD Facebook group today. It wasn't even about housing. Except it was. Housing was all it was. Grim, tiny rooms in cheap apartment complexes in Greenbelt. Parking lots and highways. 1,000 a month to live with four roommates like you're in an exurban dystopia. What fun.

Huh? Thousands of student live within a half mile of campus. Something like 10 apartment complexes within walking distance.

Grim tiny rooms next to a highway in College Park? Where do I sign?

Maybe it’s time for your snowflake to live their own life?

Y'all are so defensive about a school no one else in the country cares about. I just think it's sad to see so many highly intelligent kids with so much potential pigeonholed into such narrow boxes in such an ugly provincial place.

Geez. You sound like you have a chip on your shoulder. No one gives a crap about what you think.

Not at all, lol. College Park was never on our list because it's an ugly, provincial place. It honestly just makes me sad, with so many excellent colleges out there that so many of you have such a small window for "success" for your kids. You only want them to have one of two or three majors, you only want them to stay in this area, you only want them to work for a limited number of government-subsidized local companies or agencies.

Your kids have so much potential, and this is all you can see.

dp.. my kid's potential is a double STEM major +1 year master, graduating in 4 years from UMD because that's what they want.

"Excellent" college is subjective. My DC#2 absolutely does not want a SLAC in the middle of nowhere. They would call that "provincial", and boring AF.

UMD is T50. Why on earth would people pay money for a college that is rated much much lower, and where the job prospects are much lower. Most of us don't have family money such that our kids can just do whatever they want and not think about getting a good paying job? Do you know how many grads can't find decent jobs after college?

I want my kids to go wherever they want. I have encouraged them to go study abroad. My spouse is a dual citizen, and we've encouraged them to go live in that country for a while. I've also told them to not be tied to this area. I'm originally from CA, and DC#2 wants to move back there at some point.

So you are also wrong about UMD parents wanting them to live "provincial" lives. This area is a very diverse area, more so than the Bay Area where I moved from. If my kids want to stay here, I see nothing wrong with that. It's more diverse than the vast majority of cities around the world. Ask anyone who has lived in a different country and who now lives here (like my spouse). Also, my kids are biracial, and there are some places in this country and around the world that I would not want them to live in.

You sound like an utter snob and completely clueless.

It's pretty normal not to find a job right after college--not the kind of job you mean, anyway. It's beyond privileged to think your kids are entitled to a good job right out of school, no matter where they go.

A few years of working your way up isn't the worst thing in life. You keep talking about how privileged you think other people are, then you have the gall to list your own privileges like they're nothing. Our kid has dual citizenship too, actually, being one half of an immigrant household, and it's fantastic they'll have the opportunity to use it someday.

Stop acting like UMD is some cheap community college with one breath, and then acting like it's the most prestigious place in the world with the next: it's neither. It's a state college in, as I said before, a state that most of the rest of the country doesn't care about. It's a fine school. I just don't think it's enough of a fine school to justify this kind of cutthroat admissions, or to justify staggering its freshmen admissions, or to justify paying full price for. Your opinion may differ.

I'm sure you're proud that your kid got in (unless you're the poster whose kids aren't even in college and then you're just sad... Because in all seriousness, odds are they won't get in.)

As for your kids being biracial, if you left your liberal bubble more, you might notice that no one really cares.

Not the poster you are replying to, but I am the poster whose kid isn’t applying this year. Thanks for the negativity. My kid has as much chance as the kid who got rejected from engineering which is why I’m so interested in this thread. That is, most kids with her stats would get in.

Well then, perhaps take a moment to consider why so many people are taking such high-acheiving kids with so much potential and trying to fit them through the same narrow doorway to stand in a very crowded room.

I don't hate UMD. I don't care if you believe me or not, but I don't.

But I do think there's something really wrong with our culture when it pushes all of its kids into the same little box. This whole UMD computer science/engineering cluster is truly insane.

I say that as outside observer: it makes absolutely no sense to me why you'd put your kids through this, especially when the odds of them getting into ivies and tech schools outside of Maryland are higher than they are for College Park. To summarize: your kids can get more money to go someplace else that's better or equal in prestige, and you're all still lined up at the same narrow hole.

(And then there's the fact that your favorite spectator sport is apparently watching other peoples' kids--mostly poorer kids--get brain damage for school spirit...)

Yeah, I don't get it.

As has already been said, for many of us it’s about the dollar amount and the value for money. $30k a year for UMD or $90k for MIT?

I think you don't understand that with its massive endowment and your kid's scores, you wouldn't pay 90k for MIT. It's true, (I don't know for sure, but I suspect), you might pay 45-50k, unless you're actually poor, in which case you'd pay nothing.

Is MIT worth beg, borrowing, or cashing in a 401k to make the difference?

Over UMD?

Uh... Yeah. Yeah, it is. In so many ways you can't imagine.

I'm not a snob about schools, (despite the crap I've said about UMD), but I am a realist. The universities and colleges in this country that are truly, intellectually prestigious... if your kid has a shot at them, you don't turn it down. Not only will it offer them career benefits for life, not only will it open alumni and corporate doors, they'll receive exceptional educations. I'm sure UMD has some great programs, but they're not Caltech. They're not MIT. I'm not even sure they're WPI, or Stevens, or RIT.

Huh? Do you know something I don’t? Doesn’t MIT offer need based aid only? And even getting in with super high stats is a crap shoot.

Well, I mean, I checked their Web site, so probably, yes, I know something you don't.

https://mitadmissions.org/afford/

While some schools only consider the FAFSA for aid, schools with large endowments tend to get more creative. They'll consider your family finances from a more holistic approach, taking into account debt, housing costs, etc. They don't admit lightly, that means they want to make damn sure your kids will go.

Yes, getting into MIT is a crapshoot. But it's one that I think 2 kids from Blair did successfully last year? Maybe ask around.

The point remains, and it's one I'd say is true for any competitive, prestigious program, and it's a point much nicer people than me have made multiple times on these forums: at the top end of the admissions game, it's basically a lottery.

Now, you can play the lottery and/or you can also play other lotteries, as well as consider the options where your kids' achievements would be truly valued and cherished.

From their website:

“We meet the full financial need of all admitted students who apply for aid, which means we award financial aid based entirely upon your family’s demonstrated financial need—not any measure of merit.”

That’s need-based aid only. Like I said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To answer several persistent questions...

Honors>>>>Scholars>>other stuff

Money comes later (Mid-late Feb?) but don't expect a lot in-state, if anything. And Honors is *not* a guarantee of money though probably better chance but some non Honors admits get money too. BK, is, (I think) from Honors admits only however.

Honors is worthwhile if just for the housing and you may find it useful generally too. UH and Aces have the best housing and UH housing (PC and JW) is more convenient than ACES (PF Hall). There are other perfectly fine dorms too if you aren't Honors or are in other Honors programs. UH is easily the biggest Honors program, its the default, least specialized) but best housing and most class options.

There are also Honors versions of some key classes available only to Honors kids. Calculus, for example, and at least in that, all class hours are with the instructor in smaller classes. No discussion section with a TA, no huge lecture hall. Note, many TAs are fantastic, not trying to be critical.

Other programs (Scholars, etc) can be good opportunities but consider the cost (in time/effort): benefit analysis. Consider it even with Honors. Its 15 Credits in Honors. Is the payoff worth it? With the housing, yes, imo. Absent that...maybe.

FC is no big deal. In fact, kids I know like it. Don't view it as a failure. Look at some of the kids who didn't get in...its just a way for them to take more of the kids they should have taken in the first place...

Comp Sci..it will be much harder to declare CS for anyone not admitted directly. Not impossible but I would say do not count on it. Up til now, changing to CS has been fairly easy. Not easy anymore. Have a plan B or go somewhere else.

Thanks for the pertinent info. Does Honors guarantee housing for 4 yrs?

No most of the programs are 2 years. Varies by program. Info on website

That is inaccurate. Even if a program is 2 years, honors students are guaranteed 4 years of housing on campus. However, I don’t know any UMD student that stayed on campus 4 years. They all move off campus.

I made the mistake of checking a UMD Facebook group today. It wasn't even about housing. Except it was. Housing was all it was. Grim, tiny rooms in cheap apartment complexes in Greenbelt. Parking lots and highways. 1,000 a month to live with four roommates like you're in an exurban dystopia. What fun.

Huh? Thousands of student live within a half mile of campus. Something like 10 apartment complexes within walking distance.

Grim tiny rooms next to a highway in College Park? Where do I sign?

Maybe it’s time for your snowflake to live their own life?

Y'all are so defensive about a school no one else in the country cares about. I just think it's sad to see so many highly intelligent kids with so much potential pigeonholed into such narrow boxes in such an ugly provincial place.

Geez. You sound like you have a chip on your shoulder. No one gives a crap about what you think.

Not at all, lol. College Park was never on our list because it's an ugly, provincial place. It honestly just makes me sad, with so many excellent colleges out there that so many of you have such a small window for "success" for your kids. You only want them to have one of two or three majors, you only want them to stay in this area, you only want them to work for a limited number of government-subsidized local companies or agencies.

Your kids have so much potential, and this is all you can see.

dp.. my kid's potential is a double STEM major +1 year master, graduating in 4 years from UMD because that's what they want.

"Excellent" college is subjective. My DC#2 absolutely does not want a SLAC in the middle of nowhere. They would call that "provincial", and boring AF.

UMD is T50. Why on earth would people pay money for a college that is rated much much lower, and where the job prospects are much lower. Most of us don't have family money such that our kids can just do whatever they want and not think about getting a good paying job? Do you know how many grads can't find decent jobs after college?

I want my kids to go wherever they want. I have encouraged them to go study abroad. My spouse is a dual citizen, and we've encouraged them to go live in that country for a while. I've also told them to not be tied to this area. I'm originally from CA, and DC#2 wants to move back there at some point.

So you are also wrong about UMD parents wanting them to live "provincial" lives. This area is a very diverse area, more so than the Bay Area where I moved from. If my kids want to stay here, I see nothing wrong with that. It's more diverse than the vast majority of cities around the world. Ask anyone who has lived in a different country and who now lives here (like my spouse). Also, my kids are biracial, and there are some places in this country and around the world that I would not want them to live in.

You sound like an utter snob and completely clueless.

It's pretty normal not to find a job right after college--not the kind of job you mean, anyway. It's beyond privileged to think your kids are entitled to a good job right out of school, no matter where they go.

A few years of working your way up isn't the worst thing in life. You keep talking about how privileged you think other people are, then you have the gall to list your own privileges like they're nothing. Our kid has dual citizenship too, actually, being one half of an immigrant household, and it's fantastic they'll have the opportunity to use it someday.

Stop acting like UMD is some cheap community college with one breath, and then acting like it's the most prestigious place in the world with the next: it's neither. It's a state college in, as I said before, a state that most of the rest of the country doesn't care about. It's a fine school. I just don't think it's enough of a fine school to justify this kind of cutthroat admissions, or to justify staggering its freshmen admissions, or to justify paying full price for. Your opinion may differ.

I'm sure you're proud that your kid got in (unless you're the poster whose kids aren't even in college and then you're just sad... Because in all seriousness, odds are they won't get in.)

As for your kids being biracial, if you left your liberal bubble more, you might notice that no one really cares.

Not the poster you are replying to, but I am the poster whose kid isn’t applying this year. Thanks for the negativity. My kid has as much chance as the kid who got rejected from engineering which is why I’m so interested in this thread. That is, most kids with her stats would get in.

Well then, perhaps take a moment to consider why so many people are taking such high-acheiving kids with so much potential and trying to fit them through the same narrow doorway to stand in a very crowded room.

I don't hate UMD. I don't care if you believe me or not, but I don't.

But I do think there's something really wrong with our culture when it pushes all of its kids into the same little box. This whole UMD computer science/engineering cluster is truly insane.

I say that as outside observer: it makes absolutely no sense to me why you'd put your kids through this, especially when the odds of them getting into ivies and tech schools outside of Maryland are higher than they are for College Park. To summarize: your kids can get more money to go someplace else that's better or equal in prestige, and you're all still lined up at the same narrow hole.

(And then there's the fact that your favorite spectator sport is apparently watching other peoples' kids--mostly poorer kids--get brain damage for school spirit...)

Yeah, I don't get it.

As has already been said, for many of us it’s about the dollar amount and the value for money. $30k a year for UMD or $90k for MIT?

I think you don't understand that with its massive endowment and your kid's scores, you wouldn't pay 90k for MIT. It's true, (I don't know for sure, but I suspect), you might pay 45-50k, unless you're actually poor, in which case you'd pay nothing.

Is MIT worth beg, borrowing, or cashing in a 401k to make the difference?

Over UMD?

Uh... Yeah. Yeah, it is. In so many ways you can't imagine.

I'm not a snob about schools, (despite the crap I've said about UMD), but I am a realist. The universities and colleges in this country that are truly, intellectually prestigious... if your kid has a shot at them, you don't turn it down. Not only will it offer them career benefits for life, not only will it open alumni and corporate doors, they'll receive exceptional educations. I'm sure UMD has some great programs, but they're not Caltech. They're not MIT. I'm not even sure they're WPI, or Stevens, or RIT.

Huh? Do you know something I don’t? Doesn’t MIT offer need based aid only? And even getting in with super high stats is a crap shoot.

+1

Choosing UMD over low rated SLAC is being a realist.

And yes that PP is a snob about schools. They talk about "universities and colleges in this country that are truly, intellectually prestigious" right after they state that "I'm not a snob about schools".. lol.

Also, UMD CS is rated T20 in the country, WPI, Stevens, RIT? Not T20. UMD is rated T20 public university in the country.

That ^PP is an idiot, and insecure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I reported several of the Bitter “Provincial” Person’s posts.

Hopefully, the posts will be removed.

But the maga posts you're cool with, right?

God, you people are the worst.

wtf? Where do you see maga posts? You think people sending their kids to UMD are MAGA? Are you serious? Did you know that UMD was rated #1 LGBTQ+ friendly university in the country? Yea, maga would love that. /s

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To answer several persistent questions...

Honors>>>>Scholars>>other stuff

Money comes later (Mid-late Feb?) but don't expect a lot in-state, if anything. And Honors is *not* a guarantee of money though probably better chance but some non Honors admits get money too. BK, is, (I think) from Honors admits only however.

Honors is worthwhile if just for the housing and you may find it useful generally too. UH and Aces have the best housing and UH housing (PC and JW) is more convenient than ACES (PF Hall). There are other perfectly fine dorms too if you aren't Honors or are in other Honors programs. UH is easily the biggest Honors program, its the default, least specialized) but best housing and most class options.

There are also Honors versions of some key classes available only to Honors kids. Calculus, for example, and at least in that, all class hours are with the instructor in smaller classes. No discussion section with a TA, no huge lecture hall. Note, many TAs are fantastic, not trying to be critical.

Other programs (Scholars, etc) can be good opportunities but consider the cost (in time/effort): benefit analysis. Consider it even with Honors. Its 15 Credits in Honors. Is the payoff worth it? With the housing, yes, imo. Absent that...maybe.

FC is no big deal. In fact, kids I know like it. Don't view it as a failure. Look at some of the kids who didn't get in...its just a way for them to take more of the kids they should have taken in the first place...

Comp Sci..it will be much harder to declare CS for anyone not admitted directly. Not impossible but I would say do not count on it. Up til now, changing to CS has been fairly easy. Not easy anymore. Have a plan B or go somewhere else.

Thanks for the pertinent info. Does Honors guarantee housing for 4 yrs?

No most of the programs are 2 years. Varies by program. Info on website

That is inaccurate. Even if a program is 2 years, honors students are guaranteed 4 years of housing on campus. However, I don’t know any UMD student that stayed on campus 4 years. They all move off campus.

I made the mistake of checking a UMD Facebook group today. It wasn't even about housing. Except it was. Housing was all it was. Grim, tiny rooms in cheap apartment complexes in Greenbelt. Parking lots and highways. 1,000 a month to live with four roommates like you're in an exurban dystopia. What fun.

Huh? Thousands of student live within a half mile of campus. Something like 10 apartment complexes within walking distance.

Grim tiny rooms next to a highway in College Park? Where do I sign?

Maybe it’s time for your snowflake to live their own life?

Y'all are so defensive about a school no one else in the country cares about. I just think it's sad to see so many highly intelligent kids with so much potential pigeonholed into such narrow boxes in such an ugly provincial place.

Geez. You sound like you have a chip on your shoulder. No one gives a crap about what you think.

Not at all, lol. College Park was never on our list because it's an ugly, provincial place. It honestly just makes me sad, with so many excellent colleges out there that so many of you have such a small window for "success" for your kids. You only want them to have one of two or three majors, you only want them to stay in this area, you only want them to work for a limited number of government-subsidized local companies or agencies.

Your kids have so much potential, and this is all you can see.

dp.. my kid's potential is a double STEM major +1 year master, graduating in 4 years from UMD because that's what they want.

"Excellent" college is subjective. My DC#2 absolutely does not want a SLAC in the middle of nowhere. They would call that "provincial", and boring AF.

UMD is T50. Why on earth would people pay money for a college that is rated much much lower, and where the job prospects are much lower. Most of us don't have family money such that our kids can just do whatever they want and not think about getting a good paying job? Do you know how many grads can't find decent jobs after college?

I want my kids to go wherever they want. I have encouraged them to go study abroad. My spouse is a dual citizen, and we've encouraged them to go live in that country for a while. I've also told them to not be tied to this area. I'm originally from CA, and DC#2 wants to move back there at some point.

So you are also wrong about UMD parents wanting them to live "provincial" lives. This area is a very diverse area, more so than the Bay Area where I moved from. If my kids want to stay here, I see nothing wrong with that. It's more diverse than the vast majority of cities around the world. Ask anyone who has lived in a different country and who now lives here (like my spouse). Also, my kids are biracial, and there are some places in this country and around the world that I would not want them to live in.

You sound like an utter snob and completely clueless.

It's pretty normal not to find a job right after college--not the kind of job you mean, anyway. It's beyond privileged to think your kids are entitled to a good job right out of school, no matter where they go.

A few years of working your way up isn't the worst thing in life. You keep talking about how privileged you think other people are, then you have the gall to list your own privileges like they're nothing. Our kid has dual citizenship too, actually, being one half of an immigrant household, and it's fantastic they'll have the opportunity to use it someday.

Stop acting like UMD is some cheap community college with one breath, and then acting like it's the most prestigious place in the world with the next: it's neither. It's a state college in, as I said before, a state that most of the rest of the country doesn't care about. It's a fine school. I just don't think it's enough of a fine school to justify this kind of cutthroat admissions, or to justify staggering its freshmen admissions, or to justify paying full price for. Your opinion may differ.

I'm sure you're proud that your kid got in (unless you're the poster whose kids aren't even in college and then you're just sad... Because in all seriousness, odds are they won't get in.)

As for your kids being biracial, if you left your liberal bubble more, you might notice that no one really cares.

Not the poster you are replying to, but I am the poster whose kid isn’t applying this year. Thanks for the negativity. My kid has as much chance as the kid who got rejected from engineering which is why I’m so interested in this thread. That is, most kids with her stats would get in.

Well then, perhaps take a moment to consider why so many people are taking such high-acheiving kids with so much potential and trying to fit them through the same narrow doorway to stand in a very crowded room.

I don't hate UMD. I don't care if you believe me or not, but I don't.

But I do think there's something really wrong with our culture when it pushes all of its kids into the same little box. This whole UMD computer science/engineering cluster is truly insane.

I say that as outside observer: it makes absolutely no sense to me why you'd put your kids through this, especially when the odds of them getting into ivies and tech schools outside of Maryland are higher than they are for College Park. To summarize: your kids can get more money to go someplace else that's better or equal in prestige, and you're all still lined up at the same narrow hole.

(And then there's the fact that your favorite spectator sport is apparently watching other peoples' kids--mostly poorer kids--get brain damage for school spirit...)

Yeah, I don't get it.

As has already been said, for many of us it’s about the dollar amount and the value for money. $30k a year for UMD or $90k for MIT?

I think you don't understand that with its massive endowment and your kid's scores, you wouldn't pay 90k for MIT. It's true, (I don't know for sure, but I suspect), you might pay 45-50k, unless you're actually poor, in which case you'd pay nothing.

Is MIT worth beg, borrowing, or cashing in a 401k to make the difference?

Over UMD?

Uh... Yeah. Yeah, it is. In so many ways you can't imagine.

I'm not a snob about schools, (despite the crap I've said about UMD), but I am a realist. The universities and colleges in this country that are truly, intellectually prestigious... if your kid has a shot at them, you don't turn it down. Not only will it offer them career benefits for life, not only will it open alumni and corporate doors, they'll receive exceptional educations. I'm sure UMD has some great programs, but they're not Caltech. They're not MIT. I'm not even sure they're WPI, or Stevens, or RIT.

You have no idea what you are talking about. Have you had a kid go through college admissions lately? Because I did last year. No one is pigeon holing their kid for admissions to UMD. Most here want it as an option. In fact it was certainly not my kids first choice but in the end, the only one that made sense. Unfortunately as we see from this thread, admission is getting harder and more unpredictable every year.