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 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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.