Indiana University or University of Maryland?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IU!!

US News rates it above UMD in every one of the programs you cite (including poly sci) plus she’ll have access to Hutton Honors. Gorgeous campus, friendly students, and Bloomington is a fantastic college town. The music program is world class. She’ll love it!

Not true. Md ranks in the 40s for poly sci and Indiana comes in the 70s. If she is truly struggling with the decision after touring both schools and costs aren’t a determining factor, I’d go with MD. There are more opportunities in this area to feed the music hobby. A good friend of mine majored in Music minor English at MD and worked at Kennedy Center and now is the BP of opera programming at wolf trap.

Not sure what list you're looking at? Per USNWR, IU's political science program ranks 28th--nowhere near the 70s.

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/political-science-rankings?_sort=rank-asc

dp.. per that link, IU and UMD are both #28.

oh, and it says "top graduate schools".

For undergrad, IU is #72; UMDCP is #55

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/political-science-major-4510

That difference seems unimportant

[Anonymous]

The kids I know who went to IU ended up transferring to UMD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IU!!

US News rates it above UMD in every one of the programs you cite (including poly sci) plus she’ll have access to Hutton Honors. Gorgeous campus, friendly students, and Bloomington is a fantastic college town. The music program is world class. She’ll love it!

Not true. Md ranks in the 40s for poly sci and Indiana comes in the 70s. If she is truly struggling with the decision after touring both schools and costs aren’t a determining factor, I’d go with MD. There are more opportunities in this area to feed the music hobby. A good friend of mine majored in Music minor English at MD and worked at Kennedy Center and now is the BP of opera programming at wolf trap.

Not sure what list you're looking at? Per USNWR, IU's political science program ranks 28th--nowhere near the 70s.

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/political-science-rankings?_sort=rank-asc

dp.. per that link, IU and UMD are both #28.

oh, and it says "top graduate schools".

For undergrad, IU is #72; UMDCP is #55

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/political-science-major-4510

This is not a ranking of political science programs. These are the OVERALL rankings of all colleges and universities offering a political science major. Big difference. Only the graduate programs are actually ranked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IU!!

US News rates it above UMD in every one of the programs you cite (including poly sci) plus she’ll have access to Hutton Honors. Gorgeous campus, friendly students, and Bloomington is a fantastic college town. The music program is world class. She’ll love it!

Not true. Md ranks in the 40s for poly sci and Indiana comes in the 70s. If she is truly struggling with the decision after touring both schools and costs aren’t a determining factor, I’d go with MD. There are more opportunities in this area to feed the music hobby. A good friend of mine majored in Music minor English at MD and worked at Kennedy Center and now is the BP of opera programming at wolf trap.

Not sure what list you're looking at? Per USNWR, IU's political science program ranks 28th--nowhere near the 70s.

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/political-science-rankings?_sort=rank-asc

dp.. per that link, IU and UMD are both #28.

Correct. Both are equally strong, so this should not be a determining factor if OP's child is specifically interested in political science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IU!!

US News rates it above UMD in every one of the programs you cite (including poly sci) plus she’ll have access to Hutton Honors. Gorgeous campus, friendly students, and Bloomington is a fantastic college town. The music program is world class. She’ll love it!

Not true. Md ranks in the 40s for poly sci and Indiana comes in the 70s. If she is truly struggling with the decision after touring both schools and costs aren’t a determining factor, I’d go with MD. There are more opportunities in this area to feed the music hobby. A good friend of mine majored in Music minor English at MD and worked at Kennedy Center and now is the BP of opera programming at wolf trap.

Not sure what list you're looking at? Per USNWR, IU's political science program ranks 28th--nowhere near the 70s.

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/political-science-rankings?_sort=rank-asc

dp.. per that link, IU and UMD are both #28.

oh, and it says "top graduate schools".

For undergrad, IU is #72; UMDCP is #55

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/political-science-major-4510

That difference seems unimportant

Why do I have the feeling that if the ranking was reversed, you'd be singing a different tune. LOL

[Anonymous]

Who cares what a political science ranking is? You're still going to have to go to law school afterward if you want to eat.

[Anonymous]

Another vote for IU. Offers the bonus of experiencing life in another part of the country.

[Anonymous]

I picked IU over UMD back in the 2000s and am VERY happy I did!

[Anonymous]

It sounds like your daughter has some great options to choose from, OP. Good luck and I hope you’ll let us know what she decides!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I picked IU over UMD back in the 2000s and am VERY happy I did!

because?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Indiana recently banned health care options for transgender youth (I have a trans kid so loosely track where is safe for us to live). YMMV on whether that is important to you/your kid.

It sucks hard and shows Indiana's General Assembly as bigoted trash; but, for what it's worth, it applies only to kids under 18. So, it's legal for trans college kids to get care in Indiana. And Bloomington is a very diverse and accepting community.

+10. Love Bloomington

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There was a time when I would have said Maryland. Now, I'd pick Indiana. Both good, honestly.

For a Gil who might get pregnant? No way a red state

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a time when I would have said Maryland. Now, I'd pick Indiana. Both good, honestly.

For a Gil who might get pregnant? No way a red state

Girl

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IU!!

US News rates it above UMD in every one of the programs you cite (including poly sci) plus she’ll have access to Hutton Honors. Gorgeous campus, friendly students, and Bloomington is a fantastic college town. The music program is world class. She’ll love it!

Despite all that, this state flagship has over 80% acceptance rate.

UMD looks like better school overall and thus ranked higher at #55 vs #72 IU

Is that due to the engineering and CS majors being so highly ranked there?

DP. Not really. The ranking schemes out there don't give too much weight to STEM as of yet. UVA is ranked 25ish but their STEM rankings suck, for example. All the other foo-foo and woke stuff contribute more to rankings than STEM that actually gets you jobs.

[Anonymous]

^^ PP again.. However, IU is a far nicer campus and likely a better college experience than UMD. The UMD-CP college campus environs suck big time!