UMD Accepted Students Day March 7

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else underwhelmed by umd admitted day? They really don’t make an effort to entice kid to go there. Been to 4 and DC is no longer interested in UMD. Can they not try to make it an experience instead of having it just to have it? Disappointed!

My kid had exact same experience last year. Ruled off the list. They really made us feel like they could not care if he enrolled or not.

UMD is real life.

They need to celebrate the kids who will be their future students. Parents pay a lot in tuition and these kids have other opportunities. Plus it’s just the right thing to do! We were there in 2018 and it was fantastic! Of course, there were no Zoom sessions then etc. it was all in person, and yes that was better.

If I had to guess, the budget is lower than it used to be for admitted students day - because they can use Zoom now.

How about some new student mixers? Not so hard.

[Anonymous]

Just went for the 2 hour admitted student tour this morning. It was pretty good. Nothing really stood out, but nothing to complain about either. Campus was lively and students look comfortable and serious (waiting outside classroom studying). Dining hall was good with delicious food. I am sure kids can have a solid education and good college experience at UMD. Even the dorm for double looks more spacious than others that I have seen. Free laundry and unlimited eating. Oh, the class size is smaller than what I have expected and those professors look respectable, not young graduate students teaching.

[Anonymous]

Ugh! So torn. Intellectually, UMD makes so much sense. Really impressed with the engineering program. Love the first year design class and the fact that they have strong professors teaching the 100 level classes. DD has an opportunity for research through the.FIRE program. Access to DC, food was great. Love the unlimited dining. Dorms were fine. School in a major conference and has big time athletics. I truly feel the engineering program is a way better fit for her than Virginia Tech, her other serious option. However, emotionally, the campus was just lacking. Something was just missing. Kids not wearing Maryland swag, overall campus seemed a bit dated and lacked a certain energy. My kid is torn. She wants access to Greek life, athletics and wants a community with school spirit. Virginia Tech takes many boxes, but I have some concerns about the engineering program and she’s not sure she loves the location. We visit Virginia Tech next weekend for an admitted students event, so hopefully things will become more clear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh! So torn. Intellectually, UMD makes so much sense. Really impressed with the engineering program. Love the first year design class and the fact that they have strong professors teaching the 100 level classes. DD has an opportunity for research through the.FIRE program. Access to DC, food was great. Love the unlimited dining. Dorms were fine. School in a major conference and has big time athletics. I truly feel the engineering program is a way better fit for her than Virginia Tech, her other serious option. However, emotionally, the campus was just lacking. Something was just missing. Kids not wearing Maryland swag, overall campus seemed a bit dated and lacked a certain energy. My kid is torn. She wants access to Greek life, athletics and wants a community with school spirit. Virginia Tech takes many boxes, but I have some concerns about the engineering program and she’s not sure she loves the location. We visit Virginia Tech next weekend for an admitted students event, so hopefully things will become more clear.

Students wearing or not wearing swag has never been an indicator of school choice for me.

Sure, parts of campus have older buildings. But, where did you go on campus? The Clarice is a new performing arts center. The stadium looks new. The student union has been revamped. EJ and Marshall buildings are new. A lot of apartments on south campus are new.

Some dorms are old. One reason is because alum like coming back to see their dorms still there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are UMD building built like prisons? I found the campus utterly depressing.

Most of the architecture is in the Georgian style. I was not aware that prisons had so many white columns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh! So torn. Intellectually, UMD makes so much sense. Really impressed with the engineering program. Love the first year design class and the fact that they have strong professors teaching the 100 level classes. DD has an opportunity for research through the.FIRE program. Access to DC, food was great. Love the unlimited dining. Dorms were fine. School in a major conference and has big time athletics. I truly feel the engineering program is a way better fit for her than Virginia Tech, her other serious option. However, emotionally, the campus was just lacking. Something was just missing. Kids not wearing Maryland swag, overall campus seemed a bit dated and lacked a certain energy. My kid is torn. She wants access to Greek life, athletics and wants a community with school spirit. Virginia Tech takes many boxes, but I have some concerns about the engineering program and she’s not sure she loves the location. We visit Virginia Tech next weekend for an admitted students event, so hopefully things will become more clear.

Good luck! Let us know your impressions of VT.

[Anonymous]

The swag thing to both me and my husband is all about school pride and spirit. Do kids love their school enough to wear the merch. I know it’s silly, but we found a 100% correlation between kids wearing school merch and the energy level on campus for the schools we visited. Loved going to schools where not only the students, but community members out and about were also wearing the merch. Shows a high level of community support. Just did not see a lot of kids wearing Maryland shirts or sweatshirts. A few, but not the majority. It kind of sets the tone and vibe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh! So torn. Intellectually, UMD makes so much sense. Really impressed with the engineering program. Love the first year design class and the fact that they have strong professors teaching the 100 level classes. DD has an opportunity for research through the.FIRE program. Access to DC, food was great. Love the unlimited dining. Dorms were fine. School in a major conference and has big time athletics. I truly feel the engineering program is a way better fit for her than Virginia Tech, her other serious option. However, emotionally, the campus was just lacking. Something was just missing. Kids not wearing Maryland swag, overall campus seemed a bit dated and lacked a certain energy. My kid is torn. She wants access to Greek life, athletics and wants a community with school spirit. Virginia Tech takes many boxes, but I have some concerns about the engineering program and she’s not sure she loves the location. We visit Virginia Tech next weekend for an admitted students event, so hopefully things will become more clear.

Can you explain more on your reservations about va tech engineering. We are in the same boat.

[Anonymous]

DS graduated from the Clark School. It was a fantastic experience. He was able to do research for a professor in the ChemE dept as well as with his honors program.

[Anonymous]

The best thing about UMD engineering is that it’s not weed out. They want all the kids to succeed (it does have limited enrollment though).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The swag thing to both me and my husband is all about school pride and spirit. Do kids love their school enough to wear the merch. I know it’s silly, but we found a 100% correlation between kids wearing school merch and the energy level on campus for the schools we visited. Loved going to schools where not only the students, but community members out and about were also wearing the merch. Shows a high level of community support. Just did not see a lot of kids wearing Maryland shirts or sweatshirts. A few, but not the majority. It kind of sets the tone and vibe.

This is a surprise to me. My Terp wears UMD spirit wear almost daily. I see tons of kids wearing it. He and his friends enjoy attending athletic events and love campus life, especially the bars. There is an active Greek culture for those who want it (my kids didn’t). My DD also attended and my niece is currently there. If you’re there early in the day it will be less active than later in the day as kids are sleeping in or in class. Things really get going later in the day/evening as on most college campuses.

[Anonymous]

I just went to tour UMD on Monday and was impressed by the students wearing Terps swag.

[Anonymous]

We were very impressed by UMD. We did visit about 10-12 campuses in the last year and UMD was among the best. Food at Y was amazing, organization was good, students looked happy, and normal (not stressed out or arrogant like in other campuses). The dorm (Ekton) was old but clean and well maintained. Overall, a great experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The swag thing to both me and my husband is all about school pride and spirit. Do kids love their school enough to wear the merch. I know it’s silly, but we found a 100% correlation between kids wearing school merch and the energy level on campus for the schools we visited. Loved going to schools where not only the students, but community members out and about were also wearing the merch. Shows a high level of community support. Just did not see a lot of kids wearing Maryland shirts or sweatshirts. A few, but not the majority. It kind of sets the tone and vibe.

This is a surprise to me. My Terp wears UMD spirit wear almost daily. I see tons of kids wearing it. He and his friends enjoy attending athletic events and love campus life, especially the bars. There is an active Greek culture for those who want it (my kids didn’t). My DD also attended and my niece is currently there. If you’re there early in the day it will be less active than later in the day as kids are sleeping in or in class. Things really get going later in the day/evening as on most college campuses.

I am also surprised. I have 2 Terps. One wears mostly UMD spirit wear. Lots of free tees that they picked up at different sport events, but also spirit wear from the Engineering school and their club sport. My other Terp wears few different UMD hoodies 2-3 times a week, but not as often as their sibling. I also see lots of kids wearing spirit wear when visiting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were very impressed by UMD. We did visit about 10-12 campuses in the last year and UMD was among the best. Food at Y was amazing, organization was good, students looked happy, and normal (not stressed out or arrogant like in other campuses). The dorm (Ekton) was old but clean and well maintained. Overall, a great experience.

I have a Freshman this year in Elkton and loves it! The 251 dining hall is directly across form the dorm and will often go there in the evening with her friends for dessert because they have Maryland Dairy ice cream there. We've been very happy with her experience at UMD.