<p>@Linymom (and everyone else interested specifically in A. James Clark School of Engineering) - I forgot to also mention the emphasis on retention in the engineering department. Engineering in general is a tough major and Maryland revamped their curriculum a while back to address this. Retention is not a problem in the university itself - I think overall university freshman retention is around 94% - but retention in engineering as a major is not as high (students would switch to “easier” majors). </p>
<p>Some engineering schools like using the intensity of courses for freshman/sophomores for weed-out purposes, but Maryland now takes a different approach and has Keystone classes. The idea is to get students hooked on engineering by giving them the “good” classes (read interesting, fun, hands-on) with the “best” professors starting from their freshman year, rather than waiting until they are upperclassmen. So, when you consider this along with the engineering living-learning communities, they really take a holistic approach to giving engineering students a lot of support.</p>