Thoughts on UMBC

[Anonymous]

Anyone have any experience with the UMBC honors college?

[Anonymous]

UMBC is not worth OOS COA. Find a school in state where you live. Save your $ for pharmacy school. My kid is a pharmacist and it’s expensive. Also, the pharmacy school is not at UMBC. It is a post college education.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank you all for the input. It was helpful.
It sounds like a really good school but being OOS (VA) and the weekend quiet makes me think this will be a pass.
Our kid was very hung up on looking at schools in and outside VA which we have done now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you all for the input. It was helpful.
It sounds like a really good school but being OOS (VA) and the weekend quiet makes me think this will be a pass.
Our kid was very hung up on looking at schools in and outside VA which we have done now.

save that money for pharmacy school if you kid makes it that far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have any experience with the UMBC honors college?

Yes. My student also lived on the Honors LLC floor his first year. Established a great base of friends week one. Some separate course offerings and seminars. Extra events. Faculty mentors.

[Anonymous]

OP : did your kid apply? Did they get in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t pay to send my kid to a regional school OOS. Is UMBC that much better than your in-state equivalent?

I used to think this, too, but UMBC is a national school, and I would pay oos if the program at that school is considered very very good.

I don't know about their pharmacy program (or if they have it), but they have a good cybersecurity program.

We are in state MD, but GMU across the river has a great program that DC is interested in that MD publics don't have. So we are looking at it even though we'd have to pay oos. We are hoping for some merit however (DC's stats are higher than OP's DC's stats).

That said, UMBC is small and doesn't really have a great campus feel. So, do make sure to visit.

What state are you in, OP? Does your state not have a college that has a decent pharm program? More than likely, your DC would need to get a pharmaD degree, so you might want to cheap on the undergrad and save for pharm grad school.

What program is that that GMU has but the MD publics don't?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My relative went to UMBC over UMD college park however that was largely driven by a scholarship that UMBC offered. They are both University of Maryland with UMBC being an honors college. Traditionally college park has been viewed more favorably, however UMBC is no longer a commuter school and has grown to be quite impressive, in my opinion. You can make up your own mind but depending on what you want out of college, UMBC can make a lot of sense.

What does that actually mean? Is UMD College Park not an honors college? What other publics in the DC area are "honors" college? Many universities have an honors college within their campus. Is that the same thing??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My relative went to UMBC over UMD college park however that was largely driven by a scholarship that UMBC offered. They are both University of Maryland with UMBC being an honors college. Traditionally college park has been viewed more favorably, however UMBC is no longer a commuter school and has grown to be quite impressive, in my opinion. You can make up your own mind but depending on what you want out of college, UMBC can make a lot of sense.

Is it knda like Univ of Pittsburgh who has tried to remove that label of their university over the years?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's worth a visit especially if you can include other stops. We're in state and DD visited and liked it. She received a full tuition scholarship. It's a laid back and quiet campus.

She can see herself there, but is leaning towards a bigger and busier option. I think it's a great school for the right kid.

Can you share her stats for her full tuition scholarship?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Definitely worth a visit. My brother attended there. Yes, it has a nerdy vibe to it but not super nerdy; it has a large number of student athletes. My brother played a couple of club sports that he enjoyed a ton and where he met lots of friends. And despite it having that nerdy and commuter reputation, it is far from it. My brother and his roommates had tons of parties and went to plenty. There's no shortage of those. That said, my DD does not want to attend because of its reputation. She wants a large state university with D1 sports and a big greek system. That said, I can see UMBC being a great choice for a lot of kids who want to steer away from the large rah rah universities like Penn State, UMD, Ohio State, etc. but still want a well-rounded college experience in a smaller scale. It sort of has the same reputation as George Mason.

It is a largeish state university and has D1 sports

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UMC is the GMU of Maryland in many ways. DCUM hates both for whatever reason. Treat it like Temple or something.

But UMBC is not in an urban area like Temple. Temple and UPitt more comparable in where they are located -- both urban campuses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP : did your kid apply? Did they get in?

According to post 4/25/2025 15:30, they decided to pass. But who knows what they ended up doing after all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UMBC underplays one of their biggest datapoints demonstrating their quality; they send more African American students on to PhD programs in STEM than any other school. You have to be a high quality program to accomplish this. Say what you want about DEI, this is a lot of kids going on to advanced STEM education.

And, UMBC as a whole feels very vanilla to me. Like I can’t identify its vibe because it doesn’t really have one.

I do think it is becoming more popular as UMD-CP is becoming a significantly harder admit and it is going to go up in the rankings. But when I’ve been there it hasn’t felt like the most fun and inspiring place. More like a place where you go four years to get the job done.

That's great if you want to be with African-American students, but doesn't make the school academically or professionally better or worse than other schools that have fewer African-American students or fewer students overall, especially considering OOS cost vs OP's instate costs.

UMBC is in Baltimore so it draws from a heavily African-American population, and has the Meyerhoff program for students highly interested minority communities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UMBC underplays one of their biggest datapoints demonstrating their quality; they send more African American students on to PhD programs in STEM than any other school. You have to be a high quality program to accomplish this. Say what you want about DEI, this is a lot of kids going on to advanced STEM education.

And, UMBC as a whole feels very vanilla to me. Like I can’t identify its vibe because it doesn’t really have one.

I do think it is becoming more popular as UMD-CP is becoming a significantly harder admit and it is going to go up in the rankings. But when I’ve been there it hasn’t felt like the most fun and inspiring place. More like a place where you go four years to get the job done.

That's great if you want to be with African-American students, but doesn't make the school academically or professionally better or worse than other schools that have fewer African-American students or fewer students overall, especially considering OOS cost vs OP's instate costs.

UMBC is in Baltimore so it draws from a heavily African-American population, and has the Meyerhoff program for students highly interested minority communities.

Baltimore County. Not in the city.
Oh and UMD College Park is in PG county a predominantly Black county. So.....?