The University of Maryland - College Park

If you want a quality education with a friendly positive atmosphere, UM is NOT the place for you. No one cares about you at all. Students are not friendly and most could care less about their education. What is important to a school like this is sports, beer, and getting publicity so they can make more money. It is by no means an educational atmosphere. I don't understand why it is supposedly 'difficult' to get in here, because most of the students I have come in contact with strike me as slackers who would choose their career based on what the easiest major is. Basically any instate student can get in, and once they are they have no incentive to work. Dorms are like prison cells, dark with a single 3 X 5 window. Many times 3 or 4 people are forced to cram into a room meant for two because the University admitted too many students. Everything is over priced especially the food. If your meal plan isn't below a certain amout by specific dates designated by the dining services, they just take the money away from you. With a school of over 30,000 that becomes a lot of money that the school basically steals from you. If you're interested partying and getting completely trashed all the time, UM is a great place for you. Although on some weekends there are a few other things to do, all most students want to do is spend 5 hours getting ready to just stand cramped in someone's backyard or basement and drink cheap beer with a few hundred other kids. Most students at UM only care about that, not themselves or their futures. People say that in a large school you'll be more likely to find people like you, but I disagree. Perhaps there are people like you, but they are very difficult to find, especially when everything is overshadowed by the loud-mouth jerks that come in mass quantities. The choice is yours, but I'm leaving as soon as I can.

1st Year Female -- Class 2006

Extracurricular Activities: A-, Individual Value: F

Overall, the University of Maryland, College Park is a great school if you are from Maryland. If you are from out-of-state, you'll often find yourself screwed. The administration seems to tailor everything to their precious in-staters, completely disregarding their New Yorkers, New Jerseyans, and Pennsylvanians (or wherever you are from).

The University of Maryland is very much a suitcase school. It's about 3/4ths in-state. And about 3/4ths of the student population go home every other weekend. If you are from out-of-state, you'll find that there will be weekends when almost everyone you know is gone.

If you get invited into College Park Scholars, don't do it! All it is is extra work. Supposedely, it's a "living/learning program," but hat is crap. You'll find yourself in a community no matter where you live. There are lots of people in my College Park Scholars dorm who are NOT Scholars. They don't seem to be missing out on anything. In fact, I am envious of them because they dont have to do all the extra week that we have to.

The parking policy is ridiculous. No freshmen residents can park at all. There are a "limited number of spaces" for sophomores - the catch? You must provide proof that you NEED to have a car on campus (i.e. you have a job or an internship). That's where the out-of-state students get screwed yet again. Out-of-state sophomores can't park on campus without a job/internship. Yet, they cant get a job/internship without a car - It becomes a chicken and the egg situation. In-state students, on the other hand, can easily go home and get their cars on the weekends (when parking meters are not enforced). They can easily find a bull-shit job or internship. Or, in-state students can easily have their old high school employers "re-hire" them to work an hour or two a week.

Also, the room & board is a huge rip-off.. While the rooms are decently sized, they are either sizzling hot or ice-cold. There is no in-between. It seems like every dormitory has major roach infestations. They'll crawl into your room, into your closet, onto your desk, or even onto your stuff without any warning. You could be talking on the phone and when you put the receiver down, there will be a roach on it (true story, by the way). The maintenance crew seems to clean out the bathroom only once a week. The food here is alright at first. But give it a month or two and it seems like you've eaten everything there is to eat. The menu has about a million variations of a Chicken Sandwich, and you'll notice that it's offered as the "Special" two of three times a week. Finally, the meal plan is a declining point balance. You get about 933 dollars to spend a semester. But if you break it down, it's about 8 dollars a day. There is NO WAY you could spend only 8 dollars a day. The food is unbelievably overpriced. A Cheeseburger, French Fries, and a Soda costs around $7.74. Once again, they integrate into the meal plan the assumption that you are going to eat out or go home on the weekends. That is simply not true of everyone.If you like to party, you'll definitely love this school. There is an abundance of alcohol and drugs and it doesnt take a rocket scientist (no pun intended) to figure out how to get them. Most of the kids I've talked to love it here. I guess it depends on what kind of a person you are. If you partied and drank a lot in high school, you'll probably enjoy UMD. If you preferred to spend your free time shooting pool or going bowling (stuff that doesnt involve alcohol), you'll probably find yourself wishing you were somewhere else.

1st Year Male -- Class 2006

Education Quality: A, Individual Value: D