My daughter participated in a Fellows Program focused on healthcare policy during her senior year at UMD. Through the program, she engaged in policy-related writing and presentations, presented testimony at mock hearings on immigrant health policy, completed a research project, and learned about the legislative and regulatory aspects of healthcare. She also had opportunities to visit healthcare organizations and even met with representatives on Capitol Hill, which led to an internship with SAMHSA’s Office of Tribal Affairs and Policy .
It was a meaningful activity and an important part of her medical school application.
My DD really liked GW and access to DC. However, she ultimately decided not to apply because she wanted a more traditional college campus and experience. Plus, she is pursuing engineering, so a different animal from the poli sci crew. On paper, UMD seems to check many of her wants. A traditional campus with sports and Greek life, good engineering program, access to a big city, etc. We will visit in person in March and see how it goes. She is torn between UMD and Virginia Tech at the moment. She wants a happy campus where she will be able to make friends in and outside of class and a supportive environment.
Sounds amazing. UMD seems to really have a lot of great programs like this. The scholars program in which she’s interested seems perfect for her.
We live in a suburb in New Jersey and the commute to DC sounds like it will be similar to the one from here to Manhattan so not ideal but also very doable. Everything’s a trade off right?
When people say something like this, it’s truly probably 98% of schools. Supportive, of course, depends on the student - including their efforts. But engineering, is in general, a collaborative major.
I think she’ll know right away which she prefers.
I imagine waking up at Va Tech, for some like me, if I was a student - would be heaven. It’s just so dang nice - nicest large school in America - and the town has everything and the mountains are near. But if she does like the hustle and bustle, then she might prefer UMD.
Make sure to eat in the dining hall at Va Tech - as it is at or near the top of pretty much every college food ranking.
In this case, she’s won - door A or door B - both are great opportunities. Hopefully one just clicks when she’s there so the decision becomes easy.
UMD has multiple dining halls with abundant food, a wide variety of options, and unlimited all-you-can-eat meals. However, after a semester or two, both of my kids preferred eating out or bringing food from home. My guess is I wouldn’t call UMD dining a fine dining experience.
I’ve seen the kids at UMD actually praising the food on another site. On the other hand the GW kids complain about the food all the time. I’m hoping my daughter has access to a kitchen so she can occasionally make a meal for herself.
Interesting, as recent as 5 years ago, they didn’t have a dining hall (when we were searching…we were so bothered by it that we left the tour). Their dining hall was area restaurants and stores. I believe they now have one. But Gtown parents, even on this thread, noted the food was so bad they were spending gobs of money eating out.
Many say food doesn’t matter - but to me it does. Both mine took time to adjust and having low blood sugar means getting calls that I hate it here, I want to come home, etc.
Get a little good food in the belly - most of that goes away.
So on every visit - UMD, Va Tech, wherever - make sure to eat on campus and see what’s avail off campus in the walkable surrounds.
Not until she moved into an apartment. My oldest moved to South Campus Commons in her junior year, and shared a four-bedroom apartment with friends. She did a little cooking here and there (mostly scrambled eggs and mac and cheese), but she’s never liked the cooking to begin with.
Folks seemed to be thinking of the experiential model of a school like Northeastern where you spend a semester dedicated to an internship. For the more traditional internship opportunities I have to think that being in DC’s backyard must be helpful but who knows …
That’s good to hear. What I was trying to address, is that it sounded like some people seemed to be talking about internships during the school year. Maybe I misread things.
Internships during the summer are normal, if appropriate to the major. I was also trying to point out that some schools plan for students (almost all students - such as at Drexel, when I attended) to have internships throughout the year, and that they had the staff and curriculum schedules to accommodate that.
There are still issues to work out, such as where to live and how to get to work that seemed to have been part of the Purple Line comments.
Likely not a big deal but many who come in to any city do need housing. Many internships provide an allowance or actual housing. Many don’t. If you are on your own to find, even if you have an allowance, if you’re on a 12 month lease near DC or any city, that would be to your advantage. My son had an allowance. Three kids shared an Air B&B which covered all but $200 each.
But kids can and do find internships and jobs all over, assuming that they are applying to non local places.
When I had my 3 Co-OPs it was easier for me to live at home with my parents (rather than the Frat house) and commute from there. It was about 25 miles away.
Super helpful. Thank you. We had the zoom call for the Scholars program last night and it seems there’s potentially an experiential component to that also.
We’re attending the 3/7 Admitted Students Day. Maybe we’ll see some of you there! I asked my daughter what it would take for her to not attend UMD and she said that she’d have to be physically attacked on Admitted Students Day.
BK semifinalist notifications have started rolling out for selected candidates. DS26 offered an early March on-campus interview date. The letter mentions that everyone invited will receive at least a partial award, with some chosen for the full award after the interview.
The letter is in the portal, and an email also came with the notification.
Did you receive the zoom call information on the portal? Not sure my daughter is keeping up with the updates, but I haven’t heard anything for honors college.
