@emptyMT Let me preface these comments by saying that @maryversity knows 10x what I know about UMD. And I agree that the campus itself is fantastic. Buf I have a slight debate with the statement that there is “really no need to go off campus since everything is pretty self-contained.” That is true for freshman and sophomore year. But my son is now a sophomore in engineering at UMD and unless he gets a really good residence hall lottery number, he will have to go off campus for housing for junior and senior years. They just don’t have enough on campus housing. And the apartments really close to the campus are extremely expensive which will only be affordable to us since in-state tuition is so reasonable. If we were OOS, it would be a different story.
To give you an example of why this matters, it was almost midnight when my son’s marching band was done with all the requirements for Saturday night’s football game against Michigan State. It was a very safe, very easy walk back to the dorm. But starting next year, if he lived off-campus, I would not have been thrilled with him riding a bus alone back to an affordable apartment somewhere off campus.
That said, everything else about my son’s experience at UMD has been top notch (engineering, marching band, etc.). And I wouldn’t hesitate to send my younger son there next fall because we are in-state. And I agree that the aero program is ranked very well. Good luck with your choice.