What Honors program did you get into?
Also, even though the dorms can be pretty bad, it’s going to be like that at any university you go to I think (unless they’re super bougie). You only have to stay there for the first year (you make friends pretty quickly, since you’re all sorta in the same state: living bad dorms and looking for friends), but, after that, you can get an apartment or house or something with them!
As someone who’s gone looking at a lot of college programs, most schools with good CS programs have overcrowded CS programs. Hopefully, with the new Iribe Center being built at UMD, we’ll be able to attract more CS faculty and have more spaces for classes, meaning the program should feel less packed in the coming years. Also, it really is pretty diverse here. I’m a POC and come from a REALLY diverse city in another state and UMD feels pretty at home for me! I didn’t think diversity would mean so much to me in a school, but it DEFINITELY does. It makes me walk around campus with ease and helps me make friends!
Feel free to DM me if you wanna discuss the pros and cons of both schools some more.