The University of Maryland - College Park

Also, since this is such a large university, it is important to be able to have a good group of friends. I neither drink nor party, but because of the quality of friends I have here at Maryland, it doesn't necessarily matter. Even though they drink, they respect my choice not to. But make no mistake, people at this college definitely do their share of drinking on weekends!

To those who say the faculty and administration don't care about you, I say that is bullshit. I had one incident on campus, and was able to get in contact with a dean with a little bit of effort. Once contacted, they were very receptive to my concerns; I exchanged several emails and in fact met in person with Dr. Linda Clement, Vice President for Student Affairs as well as some others to address my concerns.

If you get accepted into the Honors program, it is definitely worthwhile. The honors seminars I have taken here have been a great addition to my education. The professors who teach them do so because they enjoy the subject matter, not because they have to. There are also departmental honors, which increase your access to faculty and research opportunities. If you need to work to get here, then do it, if you don't get to this point, then don't complain because the university didn't do enough for you when you weren't willing to do enough for yourself.

Computer Science is something else I'd like to address. This major is hard, and often times projects, and exams seemed geared to making people drop the major--that is because they are. If you survive past the 200 and into the 300 level courses, you will be glad that those who are not fit for comp sci get weeded out early. Although the major can be stressful, I feel it prepares you for anything in the real world. Hard projects definitely push to become a better programmer. After you have completed most projects, if you had to do redo them, you could do them in a fraction of the time.

There are opportunities abound because College Park is so close to DC which allows for a lot of government internships. Other colleges in DC are far more expensive than College Park, and in this way College Park is a bargain. Furthermore, there is a metro stop in College Park with a shuttle bus running between the stop and the campus every 15 minutes so it is not a major deal that it is difficult to have a car on campus. There is enough to do on campus and at places accessible to the metro.

I am enjoying the University of Maryland and look forward to my next two years here. You get what you put in.