University of Maryland-College Park Top Questions

Join a sorority. I have some great friends on campus, but in order to meet people you really need to join a greek organization or some sort of sport.

Too large

I wish I had known that this school doesn't care too much about it's english department. Since it's not sports, or engineering, they don't seem to pay much attention to it. But I didn't even know I was going to be an English Major at the time, so meh...probably wouldn't have helped.

I wish I had know how expensive living off-campus would be because there is a housing shortage around my university.

That I would be stuck paying for the high tuition costs

That the business school was highly regarded but academically wasn't as good as it seemed.

I wish that I had known abouth the on campus services that make the campus even more relatable to the surrounding area.

I choose University of Maryland (UMD) because I wanted to live farther from where I grew up (Baltimore), but I still wanted to live near or in a city. Given that I had very little money and because I was afraid of taking out too many loans, I decided that I had to stay in-state. UMD is close to D.C. and had the cheapest in-state tuition at the time I applied. I also knew that they had a good Journalism school and this was something I was interested in.

I wish I had known about the public transport. Initialy I found myself staying mainly on campus for comfort reasons. Once I decided to venture outside of campus I was a little confused about the surrounding public transport. I think I would have been able to experience more in the Baltimore and D.C. area if I was made aware of the public transport earlier.

I wish I knew that the people are so competitive.

How much a person should and shouldnt involve themselves in a group. Time balance

That really, scholarships are very very hard to get. You are going to pay most of your tuition

Bigger is better.

Before I came to this school I wish I knew the financial aid they offered barely covered the cost of attendance . I also wish I knew the "diversity" this school prides itself on is almost non-existent. The campus population is diverse, this campus does not do a great job of fostering connections among these different groups. In order for diversity to matter, it has to be addressed inside and outside the classroom. It is not very effective when all racial and/or ethnic groups stay in their own separate groups, but that is exactly what happens on this campus.

The level of parking on this campus is ridiclious. I am a commuter and it takes me half an hour by walking from my parking lot to get to many of my classes. Although in Maryland a vast array of public transportation is available, I have physical conditioning in the mornings at 6:30 so to be on time I must utilize my own private car to get to campus. If more lots were created would be better, or either prioritizing based on people who have to get to school early or live far.

I wish I had known that living in a freshman dorm was a good experience where I would have made a lot of friends. I never lived in a freshman dorm, and although I still made a lot of friends, I had a very different experience than my friends who lived in the highrises.

I wish I'd known that this school is not student friendly at all, because it's trying to be "ivy league" even though UMD doesn't stand a chance of ever getting to that level.

Don't be afraid of big! You can always make a big school smaller, but you can't make a small school bigger. Once you find your niche in the community, you're set. And with a large school, there are so many kinds of people, you're bound to find a great set of friends that share your interests.