I’m having a hard time deciding between Taylor University, a small Christian college in Indiana and University of Maryland, College Park. They are very, very different colleges. Taylor’s enrollment is only about 2,000 while UMD CP is 37,000. My major is Computer Science. I know that College Park has a very strong Computer Science program and I feel lucky to already live in Maryland to get in-state tuition. I visited Taylor and it’s Comp sci program looks pretty good but it’s not in any ranking reports when it comes to Computer Science.
When it comes down to it, I’m really just deciding if I should go to a big state school or a small private one. It should be known that I’m a very shy kid and I have almost no friends at this point. One of the reasons I want to live away at school is so I can start over and hopefully be able to make some friends. I go to a community college now and the commuting aspect of it makes this hard. I’d like to go to UMD for it’s very highly ranked Comp Sci program but on the other hand I am afraid that I’ll get lost in a sea of people and not be able to make friends with anyone. My thinking is that in a small college like Taylor I’ll be in classes with a lot of the same people and it will be easier to make friends. If I had a good social life already I’d probably not hesitate to go to College Park but I’m really undecided.
Thanks for reading, and maybe you can help me make a decision. I’m really undecided at this point. There’s pros and cons to each and I can’t make up my mind.
Can you afford Taylor? How deep is the CS offering at Taylor? My son visited about 6 years ago and loved it, but couldn’t attend because there wasn’t enough math and physics there. He’s graduating from MIT. I used to lament that he didn’t go to a Christian college, but his faith remains very strong, by God’s grace.
My son goes to umd and he is also a very shy person and always had trouble with making friends. The good news is that it IS possible to find a group of friends at umd! And, being from Maryland, AND from a very large Maryland High school, he DID see some people from his high school at UMD but I believe he would tell you it was different - and that one can “start over” easily there - bc its such a huge school with so many people - you are NOT limited to those people from your high school. You could go all 4 years without having to befriend them at all if you don’t want to. (Or you can).
I can tell you is that umd is very large but one can definitely get a small school feel, especially if you are in one of the living and learning communities. There are some which focus on coimputer sciences but there are all of the ones in the scholars community which is interdisciplinary. If you got invited into one of the living and learning communities at umd I would highly recommend joining it.
Also - turtle camp gives you an opportunity to get to know people in the summer before school even starts. I recommend signing up for the turtle camp you are interested in. My son did the bike trip on the c&o canal. I think he was too late to join the kayaking one. They have several choices. Its a great program. You’ll start to get to know other people. There is one where you stay on campus and take day trips and if you do that one - you’ll get to know the campus better - before everyone else moves onto campus.
The other news, which you may already know, is that the computer science department is VERY GOOD but he was just telling me yesterday that it is NOT an easy program at all. He knows computer science majors who struggle with their computer science classes. HE is NOT a computer science major (he is a physics major), but he came into college having had a LOT of high level computer science classes in a computer science magnet high school. So it sounds like you are trying to decide between 2 very different levels of computer science education - so I would say it depends on what you are looking for in terms of your computer science education.
It sounds like you need to determine which is more important to you - what you want out of college… the social life like the one at Taylor University or the computer science education at umd. If the setting/social life of Taylor is what you want - you can always attend boot camps for computer science later on. Computer science is one of those careers where you will have to do a lot of self study for the rest of your life.
Wow. These schools could not be more different. Maryland is huge and a student can easily get lost if they don’t look for opportunities to meet people. BUT Since it is so huge their are countless opportunities – socially and academically. Taylor is small Christian with mandatory chapel I believe. Maryland is huge with every religion imaginable. I think you can find a small Christian “feel” at Maryland. But you can’t find the other (diversity) at Taylor. Taylor is also in the middle of nowhere. Literally–corn fields. dorm life is the social life at Taylor. It may be easier to make friends at first at Taylor. And I’d expect some huge classes at Maryland. But it is far better for computer science. Is the distance from home a factor? It money a factor? You’d be paying a lot more money for a lesser program with Taylor. Are you Christian? Going to a Christian school doesn’t always mean faith getting stronger. It can actually mean the opposite for some. Maryland opportunities are far greater–in all areas. But you have to decide which is ‘right’ for you. Best wishes.
I attended Maryland years ago and visited Taylor recently – live in Indiana now.
UMD sounds like an amazing school from what other people have said above, and I have no experience with UMD so I will not provide an opinion on it. I think Taylor University is a great school. You will receive a great education and should be able to make friends at TU. The Computer Science program is fantastic. I took a few computer science classes and the professors bring real world experience and are engaging and personable. In addition, fellow students are friendly and helpful. The Taylor University CS program has a 97% job placement rate BEFORE graduation. Some of the employers who have hired TU CS students follow: Google, Oracle, EA sports, Motorola, GE Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, Eli Lilly, IBM, Accenture, Chick-Fil-A, Wycliffe Bible Translators, and the list goes on …
Also, chapel is not mandatory at Taylor University, yet many students consistently attend. I love that students attend because they want to worship God together.
Hopefully the information I provided is helpful for you. God bless
Hi everyone, thanks for your answers. I am probably going to go to Taylor, but there’s one more thing that’s making me reconsider. It’s been my dream to work at the NSA, and I’m wondering how much the school you go to matters. Would going to Taylor make it harder to get an internship at the NSA? I understand that people from Taylor have gone to work at Google, but that may have been because they were extremely talented in the first place. Maybe going to College Park would give better name recognition than a small college in Indiana that no one has heard of…
Taylor is actually well-known among Christian colleges and “name recognition” doesn’t change anything (ever heard of “vetting”? Alphabet Agencies don’t think “oh I’ve heard of that college, let’s hire that kid”… they THOROUGHLY investigate you and everything about you, then put you through a lot of questioning and testing! )…
However, there’s no denying that for all “alphabet agencies”, you can’t beat UMD. Not for the name, but for the location. They all recruit there, including for internships. There’s a reason UMD has the #1 cybersecurity program in the country and that CS has its own entire college - it’s a springboard for all these agencies that work out of DC and surrounding areas - security, defense, government.
I get your concern about UMD being 1° large and 2° public.
First, look for communities of faith at UMD, and contact the student leaders.
Second: Plan to live in the dorms your first year. Look at substance-free dorms - to make friends, do try to join a Living Learning Community, and substance-free dorms/wellness dorms are usually welcoming to people of faith.
Third: Contact chaplains/pastors in the surrounding community (ask your own youth pastor for a congregation near the university). Ask for their schedule, if they have a shuttle to take students to worship services, to Bible Study, etc. Do they have College Student ministries?
This should help you find friends more easily.
Taylor vs UMD for someone from the east coast? Have you visited Taylor? I am from Indiana. Taylor is like Jonestown but with cornfields. I exaggerate slightly but… the nearest city is Gas City. You would be in for some culture shock if you are not used to small town Bible Belt life. Any large school has a significant Christian presence hungry for new students. I would go to the school with the best CS program. Most people don’t think of Taylor when you mention NSA. In Indiana, students would look to Purdue or maybe Rose-Hulman and other places first I think. Where did you choose?