The University of Maryland - College Park

UMCP does have some good academic programs, such as engineering, journalism & business. All of the other majors are pretty much average considering how much UMCP brags about it's "prestige". As a Communications major, I found my classes to be a mixed bag. Some teachers were fine, others I couldn't stand.

Students for the most part are not very excited to learn, they're more bent on partying, drinking, smoking pot & going crazy at football games. The girls tend to be stuck-up, cliquey and extremely boring. The guys are either jocks, nerds or SOMETIMES cool. I sound like I'm stereotyping, but believe me when I say UMCP is a high school re-run.

I don't know why everyone loves the campus so much. It's in a sh*tty town with a high crime rate and terrible traffic. The proximity to DC is not worth going here, and to be honest DC is an awesome city but isn't accessible too much for UMCP college students. The campus landscape is pretty and manicured, but many of the buildings are VERY OLD and practically decaying.

Living on campus sucks. Freshmen dorms are ratty, tiny boxes with no air-conditioning and lots of noise. If you want to move off-campus, you get to pick from the dangerous, sketchy ghetto that is College Park. The food is TERRIBLE and people often get sick from it. Since there is nothing really to eat off campus, you're stuck with dining hall food or fending for yourself.

Classes are enormous for freshmen and usually not worth going to. Lectures are mildly interesting but a bit reminiscent of high school in terms of quality.

The people at UMCP not only tend to be obnoxious, but closed off. Since most people come from in-state and nearby counties, everyone tends to stick to old high school groups or make friends by getting wasted 7 nights a week. I made some good friends but also had to deal with my childish, irritating classmates who thought it was funny to run up and down the hall screaming at 3 AM, stoned out of their minds.Overall, this school is not worth it. Football games can be fun but it gets old after awhile. Academics are generally mediocre, the student body will drive you crazy, and the quality of living is terrible. Luckily I transferred after 2 years of this hell hole. I know people that loved UMCP but as an open-minded, friendly and outgoing person, I was sadly not one of them.

But as the year went on, I found out what Maryland was about. If I were to choose which school I would go to back in senior year of high school, I would have definitely not picked UMD.

The classes are huge and impersonal. You are able to skip any class at any time because none of the professors know your name. Classes are based not around in-class learning and relevant material, but textbook crunching. Rather than learning from the professor, you end up skipping class midway through the semester because you realize that you're not learning anything important. That said, you can just read the textbooks and take the exams and still do just as well (if not better) as someone who has attended all the lectures.

Some people say the campus is pretty and I agree, it has some nice spots. But much like a pool of poop with gold at the bottom, you'll mostly be staring at the shit. The alumni center is closed off to students. It's really pretty, but there's a steel gate surrounding it to prevent people from getting in. The student athletes have their own cafeteria, which is fenced off and closed to everyone else. Also, there's red brick everywhere -- it gets kind of old.

College Park as a town is horrendous. In a two week period over winter break, 5 students were shot and one had his home broke into (in which he was subsequently shot and killed). There are rundown, closed stores everywhere resembling the economic decay of CP. When I was walking on route one, I saw some black guy beat up his girlfriend as she ran across a busy highway. I also saw a guy threaten someone with a gun. Enough said, this town is a dump.

Let's move onto costs. The diner food isn't good. It's not horrendous and it's certainly edible, but it gets old pretty fast. The food is not all you can eat and they overcharge you for EVERYTHING. I've easily paid over $20 for a meal that is cafeteria quality food. They charge you just for using a cardboard container rather than a tray. About 2/3 the way through this semester, after eating healthy food and gaining muscle through good diet, I ran out of dining points. I've paid an extra $500 in dining related expenses since then. I'm not fat either: I'm 6'2" 160 lbs. If you're an out of state student and are attracted to the cheap tuition, don't go here. They'll make you pay the rest in dining expenses.

Apparently, the students outside my hall are pretty friendly. Try to be placed in an honors/scholars dorm or you might hate it. I got placed with the worst people in the school. I've gotten in two physical fights, both of which I have not instigated. One was started because I was talking to some kids and somebody wanted to rough me up for no reason so he started slamming me against the wall. Then some other kid earlier this semester decides it's funny to spray shaving cream all over my bed. Overall, the guys are stupid, lazy, and drunks. At least one day every week, there's someone's puke smelling up the bathroom. Some always want me to do their homework because they're too lazy to learn the actual material. The girls are just as bad. Some are just plain mean while others just act nice to use you to do their homework. And while there are some really great people who go to this school, they are smart enough to usually go home over the weekend because they know just how boring it is in CP. This school is too big to keep in contact with people on a regular basis, so it's tough to have a good social life if the people on your floor sucks.

Luckily, the academics are easy. I hear engineering is hard, but all the other courses seem pretty easy. I have yet to get less than a B and I don't consider myself that smart. I was able to do very well my first two semesters and got into some very good transfer schools, such as William and Mary and UNC.

Overall, this school isn't great.