Thoughts on UMBC

[Anonymous]

How are dining options? Anything nearby? To walk across the street to ea? Will visit in spring.

[Anonymous]

*eat

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How are dining options? Anything nearby? To walk across the street to ea? Will visit in spring.

Several places to eat along the main street of Arbutus, which is a 15-20 minute walk from campus.

[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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How are dining options? Anything nearby? To walk across the street to ea? Will visit in spring.

A couple on campus options. Subway types.Campus is not really around any other establishments within 10 min walk tho

[Anonymous]

If interested in pharmacy OOS from VA you may want to consider South Carolina. Good program, and they give a lot of merit aid to OOS students. The 4.3 from VA might get them capstone or honors scholar, so the cost would be $40k or lower all in. Plus, it’s a fun school, not at all a commuter vibe.

[Anonymous]

Full disclosure - UMBC alum here. Its a very underrated university IMO. CS, engineering and bio-sciences are excellent and the faculty is top notch. They are well funded and many under graduate research options exist (including collaborating with the med school in Baltimore). So for those that are academically inclined, they will find their kind here. If you are looking for a more social, vibrant experience that is always on, this is not the place. dorms are decent, food OK on campus but you need a car to venture outside - public transportation is non-existent. The campus is safe but venture off and it can get dicey in some sections. Job prospects for UMBC grads (especially from STEM) is great - so many options in the DMV area and I do think UMBC trains their students well. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Full disclosure - UMBC alum here. Its a very underrated university IMO. CS, engineering and bio-sciences are excellent and the faculty is top notch. They are well funded and many under graduate research options exist (including collaborating with the med school in Baltimore). So for those that are academically inclined, they will find their kind here. If you are looking for a more social, vibrant experience that is always on, this is not the place. dorms are decent, food OK on campus but you need a car to venture outside - public transportation is non-existent. The campus is safe but venture off and it can get dicey in some sections. Job prospects for UMBC grads (especially from STEM) is great - so many options in the DMV area and I do think UMBC trains their students well. Good luck.

There are buses that go around Hilltop so if need to go off campus, depending on where, there are buses. Can look online to see routes.

[Anonymous]

Nothing to complain about except being boring. Solid for any kid in the MD, DE, PA region

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nothing to complain about except being boring. Solid for any kid in the MD, DE, PA region

How so is it boring?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Its vibe is “commuter school”. That being said, I wouldn’t mind if my kids went there…we are in state, though.

That is increasingly a historic perception for UMBC. They have a growing number of students who are not commuters.

Correct, but that is still its “vibe”. It’s why it feels different than other campuses.

In our experience with a student living on campus all four years, the vibe is smart kids who study, a lot, on weekends. They are involved in clubs and do socialize, but it's a pretty serious place for many. Recent STEM grad. Student and three close friends now all enrolled in different grad programs at JHU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Its vibe is “commuter school”. That being said, I wouldn’t mind if my kids went there…we are in state, though.

That is increasingly a historic perception for UMBC. They have a growing number of students who are not commuters.

Correct, but that is still its “vibe”. It’s why it feels different than other campuses.

In our experience with a student living on campus all four years, the vibe is smart kids who study, a lot, on weekends. They are involved in clubs and do socialize, but it's a pretty serious place for many. Recent STEM grad. Student and three close friends now all enrolled in different grad programs at JHU.

Is that typical: for students to go to JHU after studying STEM at UMBC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Its vibe is “commuter school”. That being said, I wouldn’t mind if my kids went there…we are in state, though.

That is increasingly a historic perception for UMBC. They have a growing number of students who are not commuters.

Correct, but that is still its “vibe”. It’s why it feels different than other campuses.

In our experience with a student living on campus all four years, the vibe is smart kids who study, a lot, on weekends. They are involved in clubs and do socialize, but it's a pretty serious place for many. Recent STEM grad. Student and three close friends now all enrolled in different grad programs at JHU.

Is that typical: for students to go to JHU after studying STEM at UMBC?

They do lots of things! My recent grad has a fellowship at NIH after graduating and one of her friends is studying for the MCATs while working at a clinic at a jail in rural Maryland. Biochem majors. I say this constantly but the professors there are so great at helping students find internships and things like that.

[Anonymous]

Does CDS say what % of undergraduate students are first gen college goers?

[Anonymous]

UMBC regular decision deadline is Feb 1