Currently I’m a Senior in High School, which means it’s time for me to look for a place to go after my Community College years. I’m interested in a state school, no ivy league or privates, but I’m stuck between the three state schools in Maryland (Towson, UMBC and UMCP). I’m looking at a degree in Religious Studies and European Literature (preferably Gothic if I can), with a possible minor in Ancient Studies. All three of these schools offer these choices, but I’m not sure which to go to (aka, which has the best programs). I don’t trust the rankings-- due to them being different on almost every website-- and I don’t have any friends who majored in Religious Studies. If some wise folk could enlighten me on the excellence of these colleges, that’d be much appreciated. Thank you!
It isn’t likely that you will find someone with first-hand knowledge of the Literature, Religious Studies, and Ancient Studies programs at all three institutions. So you will have to do your own homework. Dig into the college catalogs. Find out how many full-time, tenure-track professors (not including lecturers, adjunct, visiting, or emeritus faculty) are in the programs. Search the catalogs for word “gothic” if that is of particular interest. Look under “Programs/Majors” at the online College Navigator site to see how many students get the degrees of interest.
Of the three schools on your list, UMCP is easily the largest, most selective, and most research oriented, and it offers the greatest variety of majors. My offhand guess would be that UMCP would be the best choice, but that’s just a guess. You should do some research and draw your own conclusions.
College park has the best name recognition around the county of those 3. Towson is probably fine but I would avoid the Baltimore County one because it sounds more like a branch campus of College Park or a community college.
Your best bet is UMD College Park.
What are your stats?
For these interests, schools like Columbia, Penn, UChicago, Georgetown, would be top choices. For religious studies, check out Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Holy Cross, St Olaf, Earlham, Grinnell?
You’re likely to be fine at any of the three, especially if you aren’t aiming for graduate school in the humanities, which hopefully you aren’t. If your stats are strong enough, consider applying for freshman admissions rather than waiting two years to transfer, since universities rarely offer large merit scholarships to transfer applicants.
UMD College Park, as others have noted, offers the greatest breadth and depth across the liberal arts. Towson and UMBC offer cross-registration with Hopkins, which is extraordinarily strong in English, ancient studies, and Hebrew/biblical studies, but only Towson’s location makes cross-registration relatively feasible (a shuttle runs between the two).
You may want to scope out St. Mary’s College of Maryland as well.
That seems to be a result of UMBC not updating old faculty listings in the catalog. The classics webpage includes two tenured professors and one lecturer, with the rest adjuncts or visiting profs.