<p>In particular, UNC or UVA. And I don’t want answers involving money because that’s not a problem for me. I’m doing this because umcp is my instate school, and my dads alma mater so he wants me to give it consideration, but i can’t think of any reason i would pick it over the others.</p>
<p>I will try to argue any point that someone gives me so that you have to convince me that umcp is a better choice.</p>
<p>Thanks :)</p>
<p>there are a lot of majors at UMD that are rated higher than UVA and UNC like engineering, econ, and a bunch of others.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure econ is higher at uva, and maybe unc. I plan to be a com sci major, which is only slightly ranked higher at umcp than unc/uva. but i don’t feel like a 3 spot ranking differnce is substantial enough to be a decision maker</p>
<p>Both my D’s chose UMD over UNC (and we’re instate UNC).</p>
<p>Both wanted to be near a large city. (This was one of the main factors that they cared deeply about, as well as good academics). Both have really taken advantage of living near DC.</p>
<p>Both were impressed with the special programs offered at UMD (Honors for one–turned down Gemstone, and CP Scholars for the other one). Each were perfect programs for the two completely different personalities. Both are also very interested in foreign languages. D1 has lived in the Language House since the beginning of her sophomore year and will live there until the end of her senior year. (located in the best possible position on campus, IMO!) D2 applied, interviewed, and was accepted to live there starting in the fall (she’ll be a sophomore)…but in a different apartment/different language. It’s an outstanding opportunity/experience.</p>
<p>Neither had any desire to regularly see the multitude of students from their high school, (although we know from their MD friends at UMD that most of them only socialize with high school acquaintances only if they want to…I know this is a “minus” for you, but what I’m saying is that it really can be a non-issue if you want to start completely over).</p>
<p>and for D1:
UMD had a relatively strong astronomy and physics programs.</p>
<p>UMD is right down the road from NASA’s Goddard Space Center…it was her “dream” to work there. She’s had internships there during the school year from Sophomore year on, and was part of their summer REU program last summer.
There is a LOT of working relationships between faculty and NASA staff (and some of who do both).</p>
<p>Minor, but it was a consideration…UMD certainly showed “the love” to D1, whereas UNC offered a paltry scholarship. It seems like UNC tries much harder to get top students from elsewhere in the country via their scholarships. D1 had all the #'s…GPA, SAT, was #1 in one of the largest (and highly rated) high schools in the state. </p>
<p>And for D2:
One of her majors is Environmental Policy. What better area to have a gamut of internship possibilities?</p>
<p>UMD gave her $$, UNC gave her nothing (of course, we’re still paying lots more for her to go to UMD than we would at UNC), but again, UNC certainly didn’t show “the love” to a top in-state student.</p>
<p>and, finally, D2 will admit, she wanted to come to UMD because her sister is there and campaigned heartily for her to go there!</p>
<p>@m4dskillz07</p>
<p>You have a chance to move out of state? TAKE it …</p>
<p>“Both wanted to be near a large city. (This was one of the main factors that they cared deeply about, as well as good academics). Both have really taken advantage of living near DC.”</p>
<p>Doesn’t being in the RTP area have the same affect? </p>
<p>“Both were impressed with the special programs offered at UMD (Honors for one–turned down Gemstone, and CP Scholars for the other one). Each were perfect programs for the two completely different personalities. Both are also very interested in foreign languages. D1 has lived in the Language House since the beginning of her sophomore year and will live there until the end of her senior year. (located in the best possible position on campus, IMO!) D2 applied, interviewed, and was accepted to live there starting in the fall (she’ll be a sophomore)…but in a different apartment/different language. It’s an outstanding opportunity/experience.”</p>
<p>Language houses are available at UNC as well. And UVa has an International Residential College dorm which anybody can live in if they want and take advantage of the foreign languages spoken by students.</p>
<p>"UMD had a relatively strong astronomy and physics programs.</p>
<p>UMD is right down the road from NASA’s Goddard Space Center…it was her “dream” to work there. She’s had internships there during the school year from Sophomore year on, and was part of their summer REU program last summer.
There is a LOT of working relationships between faculty and NASA staff (and some of who do both)."</p>
<p>This would be a great reason if I were interested in astronomy/physics.</p>
<p>Thanks, astrophysicsmom. You had great reasons for your daughter’s to go there, however I don’t think they will affect me in the same way.</p>
<p>@plumazul, i know, im just appeasing my father for the time being</p>
<p>My parents actually asked me to apply to both UVa and UNC, but I chose not to, believing UMD was better than either and therefore not seeing a reason to even send in the forms.</p>
<p>I first want to agree with astrophysicsmom that UMD has a lot of special programs. UVa’s international house is not comparable to the language house - MD has an “international” house (through a living-learning program called “Global Communities”) in addition to the language house, and the two are very different. Language house is a much more structured language-learning environment. In fact, the rules stipulate you are not allowed to speak English at all, and you live in apartments with others who are learning the same language you are. Writer’s House is a second example of a living-learning program. Honors Gemstone is a great research opportunity for those it fits. Other programs include Hinman CEOs (in which you work with a group of students to develop a business plan, and good ideas can actually receive jumpstart funding from the university) and Beyond the Classroom (in which you intern in DC, working on mainly social and economic justice issues). I believe all state schools have some degree of programs to get involved in, but I think MD especially makes a big effort to make these programs accessible. </p>
<p>Now on to my own reasons, since admittedly special programs didn’t play too much into it:</p>
<p>DC was a major factor. Charlottesville was way too “small towny” for me. Chapel Hill is a much better environment imho, but it still in no way compares to DC, not just in terms of internship and job opportunities, but mainly in terms of the amount and breadth of cultural offerings as well as economic and political diversity. In DC, which is just a metro ride away, the lectures are great, the independent theatres (several) are great, the art is great, the history and museums (most of them free) are great, the concerts are great, the bars are great, the politics are great (Obama came to campus twice in one year), the parks are great, the bookstores, the markets, the restaruants, the monuments, the architecture, the neighborhoods, the gayborhoods, the people…I could go on and on. The city has so much life and I’ve been hugely inspired by it. DC is fantastic, and definitely provides fuel for the fire of my adventure-loving and exploratory personality. There’s no way that the RTP area is comparable, if only for the fact that it’s much more spread out and not as accessible as DC is to CP, though I doubt it is as fun to explore in general. In my opinion you “grow into” a place like DC and UMD-CP, rather than out of it.</p>
<p>Of course, if you don’t like cities, then the proximity to DC probably doesn’t excite you. </p>
<p>My second major factor was the environment. UVa was downright preppy. Guys in button-downs and polos, girls in dresses. Everywhere. Dressing up to go to football games? Meh. UMD, in contrast, has a way more diverse population, if not ethnically (I would say I get the sense that yes, it is more diverse ethnically, but I don’t know that even the institutions themselves have hard numbers on this besides the obligatory white and black breakdown - for example, I get the sense that there are more students of Middle Eastern descent at MD, etc.), then certainly in terms of a variety of different “types” of people, from hippies to nerds to jocks (and this isn’t to say they don’t all hang out with each other, because they often do). Furthermore, UMD in general has a way more “laid back” personality when you step on campus, with even the most hardcore sorority girls wearing sweats to class, esp. in the winter. I got the sense that Chapel Hill, while possibly more laid back than UVa, is still essentially more “southern” in nature than UMD. I had read about at least one gay kid getting beaten up both near Chapel Hill and UT-Austin when I was applying to schools…I doubt that kind of thing is a frequent occurence (I haven’t heard anything in recent years), and I think the schools themselves are great for gay kids, but I think that speaks to the more conservative tone of more strictly southern schools. UMD’s location in PG County near Langley Park, Takoma Park, and DC-proper means it’s also geographically situated in a much more diverse place than Charlottesville or Chapel Hill. </p>
<p>Of course, if you’re a typical straight-laced kid, this probably doesn’t matter much to you either. I’d say I’m a pretty unique personality and I didn’t fit in well with the student body at UVa especially, and Chapel Hill to a smaller extent.</p>
<p>Third, the student newspaper was a major factor for me. I think the daily newspaper here is way better than UVa’s haha. I think that speaks to the fact that the students have a more activist, big picture bent here. Chapel Hill’s paper is pretty decent but (in my biased opinion), MD’s is better.</p>
<p>Anyway, that’s that…if I would have applied to either, I guess I would’ve picked Chapel Hill. To me it wasn’t worth the OOS state cost since MD was actually slightly better in my eyes, but I suppose I could see a student who could get in-state tuition there choosing it over in-state at MD. UVa and MD are really very different from each other (I would say more different than Chapel Hill and MD) and if you fit in at UVa then that’s great…I did not and was looking for a totally different feel to the campus.</p>
<p>“Doesn’t being in the RTP area have the same affect?”</p>
<p>Um, no. Not even close. We lived near Chicago and then Philadelphia for many of my kid’s growing up years. There is absolutely no comparison between cities as large (or DC or Boston, etc.) as these and the RTP area. We live in Charlotte, which as “metropolitan” as Raleigh-Durham is (or nearly so). Yes, there’s a symphony, and opera, lots of theater, major sports teams, parks, outdoor activities, and shopping everywhere. It is not close to the vibrancy that a large city offers. Cities aren’t for everyone, but anyone who tries to justify that Chapel Hill is near a “city” is stretching the imagination. (No offense to life-long Carolinians, but it doesn’t take too long to drive away from Chapel Hill, or Raleigh, or Charlotte until you start getting into the “scary” part of the Carolinas. The kind where the confederate flag is flying over the yard, and you start hearing banjo music). The historical perspective of DC has always been a favorite of our family, and I’m happy that my daughters have made going in to the city part of their regular activities.</p>
<p>At the size of a school like UNC (or UVA or UMD) you could easily stay on campus and take advantage of more things to do than you ever have time. However, if big city blood is in your veins, a metro ride into DC is all it takes to feel back “home”.</p>
<p>“However, if big city blood is in your veins, a metro ride into DC is all it takes to feel back “home”.”</p>
<p>This…I grew up in the suburbs, but I figuratively have big city blood in my veins haha.</p>
<p>Our DS chose UMD over other schools for several reasons</p>
<ol>
<li>His program includes interning, and that appealed to him</li>
<li>The feel of the campus. It has that whole package when you walk on the campus</li>
<li>Proximity to DC. He would rather have needles in his eyeballs than go to UNCCH (we came from NC). RTP is not a walking town like it is in DC. You really are more limited to the campus if you don’t have a car.</li>
<li>Weather. He wanted 4 seasons</li>
<li>ACC — he is a football and Bball fan</li>
</ol>
<p>It was a big picture check list to see if the fit along with academics would be right for him. He didn’t just look at the dorms or class size.</p>
<p>Minor detail - In addition to the International Residence College, UVa has several Language Houses, including French, German, Russian, Spanish, and I believe Japanese. This is not unique to UMCP.</p>
<p>@ciaobella – I don’t know much about those programs, but one thing that distinguishes the UMD Language House is that it is one cohesive house. There are different clusters for each of the ten languages (Spanish, French, Italian, German, Hebrew, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Arabic, Persian), but the program is joined together, rather than having separate programs for each language independently. There are many international events combining all the clusters.</p>
<p>Yeah, I mean, special programs is probably a pretty minor factor unless there’s some specific prgram you’re really passionate about - i.e. Gemstone - that MD offers and others don’t. I say this because I assume most state schools have a variety of academic programs catered to different interests.</p>
<p>I think the major things that distinguishes CP from the other schools is its location in the DC-metro area and any differences in student body a potential applicant might perceive. CP is also stronger in some specific academic areas than one or both of the schools (comp sci, journalism, etc. are very strong at CP for example…).</p>