Reviews University of Maryland, Baltimore (University) in Maryland | TrustReviewers.com (2024)

Average Rating:

This school is just using students for the money. I transferred from Mc back in 2016. Was supposed to finish originally with a masters in spring of 19. But they've done some shady sh** that they basically take your money, which has got me into debt and tremendously behind my 4 year plan in earning my degree. 1: My first class, computer science, was taught by a professor who literally read off of PowerPoints and was never there during office hours. This causes me to take it a second time. The second time I got a C since the TA were helping me wrong to a point where the professor caught my TAs giving me a C (TAs grade the exam and then tell the professor) in the final exam instead of a A (which she double checked). 2: The financial aid office doesn't know to correctly give the students the proper information needed to succeed here in the school. I had two awful occasions. First, this past semester I had to drop out of some classes since I didn't have a car at the time (commuter from DC area) and was not told about me having to pay since I dropped out of the classes literally a day before the 50%percent period. The "financial aid counselor " that was assigned to me said I had to pay about $3000 in order for me to continue with me studies. Once I did that, I encountered that I couldn't sign up for the classes I wanted to since he failed to mentioned that I was put into an financial hold since I dropped out that semester. When I tried confronting him, he apparently couldn't help me since he was going on vacation. When I talked to someone else, whose not really knowledgeable since she's a student working there to make extra cash, in the office, they tried to accuse me saying I didn't give him enough information in order for him to tell me that I was not going to receive financial help for my future classes, which clearly there was. So basically it had seemed like they knew I couldn't continue with financial help and just wanted to get $3000 out of me.3: What got me to the breaking point was I sign up for Summer classes, which I will have to be paying out of pocket since I got no financial aid. I signed up for three classes, two in the first half and the other for the second half. The two that I'm taking now are with horrible professors. First, the yoga teacher says crazy things like "people who do yoga are usually vegan" and thinks everyone is flexible like her. Second, my math professor earned his degree very early on in life and thinks that the students learn the same way as him. When it comes to lectures, he just writes proofs on sections that one can just see on the textbook. When you try to ask him questions, he says "You should've read this before I taught it so then you wouldn't have questions to ask". I tried staying in but after taking the first quiz, which one of them no one knew the answer since it was a homework problem we turned in that day, I knew that this was a waste. I HOPE THAT PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS SEE THIS AND GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. I've literally wasted about $25,000 in a school which has caused me a bunch of Ws and misguided information that seems useless at this point. The only reason why I gave this a two star and not a one since there was one professor that was awesome.

I hadn't heard of them before this upset, but I SURE AS HECK have heard of them now. I never thought a 16 seed would beat a 1 seed, but UMBC did the impossible.

Most of the staff was pleasant. I was there for a couple of days. Then when I ask a tech working on the floor when my prescription would be ready, she literally snapped at me ‘I’M NOT A MIND READER.’ Her name is Diana. She works on the third floor. I highly suggest staying about from this woman with a terrible attitude. She should NOT be working with the general public. I will not be back.

This school is just using students for the money. I transferred from Mc back in 2016. Was supposed to finish originally with a masters in spring of 19. But they've done some shady sh** that they basically take your money, which has got me into debt and tremendously behind my 4 year plan in earning my degree. 1: My first class, computer science, was taught by a professor who literally read off of PowerPoints and was never there during office hours. This causes me to take it a second time. The second time I got a C since the TA were helping me wrong to a point where the professor caught my TAs giving me a C (TAs grade the exam and then tell the professor) in the final exam instead of a A (which she double checked). 2: The financial aid office doesn't know to correctly give the students the proper information needed to succeed here in the school. I had two awful occasions. First, this past semester I had to drop out of some classes since I didn't have a car at the time (commuter from DC area) and was not told about me having to pay since I dropped out of the classes literally a day before the 50%percent period. The "financial aid counselor " that was assigned to me said I had to pay about $3000 in order for me to continue with me studies. Once I did that, I encountered that I couldn't sign up for the classes I wanted to since he failed to mentioned that I was put into an financial hold since I dropped out that semester. When I tried confronting him, he apparently couldn't help me since he was going on vacation. When I talked to someone else, whose not really knowledgeable since she's a student working there to make extra cash, in the office, they tried to accuse me saying I didn't give him enough information in order for him to tell me that I was not going to receive financial help for my future classes, which clearly there was. So basically it had seemed like they knew I couldn't continue with financial help and just wanted to get $3000 out of me.3: What got me to the breaking point was I sign up for Summer classes, which I will have to be paying out of pocket since I got no financial aid. I signed up for three classes, two in the first half and the other for the second half. The two that I'm taking now are with horrible professors. First, the yoga teacher says crazy things like "people who do yoga are usually vegan" and thinks everyone is flexible like her. Second, my math professor earned his degree very early on in life and thinks that the students learn the same way as him. When it comes to lectures, he just writes proofs on sections that one can just see on the textbook. When you try to ask him questions, he says "You should've read this before I taught it so then you wouldn't have questions to ask". I tried staying in but after taking the first quiz, which one of them no one knew the answer since it was a homework problem we turned in that day, I knew that this was a waste. I HOPE THAT PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS SEE THIS AND GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. I've literally wasted about $25,000 in a school which has caused me a bunch of Ws and misguided information that seems useless at this point. The only reason why I gave this a two star and not a one since there was one professor that was awesome.

Strong educational system. Solid professors.

this school is magical! its a great place to go if you didn't do so well in high school, they have all the resources available to help you get the knowledge and grades to get internships, co-ops and onward to a great grad school

My life at UMBC was terrible. NEVER GO TO THIS COLLEGE!!!!!

I hadn't heard of them before this upset, but I SURE AS HECK have heard of them now. I never thought a 16 seed would beat a 1 seed, but UMBC did the impossible.

no school life. all the school cares about is your money. they will do anything to scrape your wallet. parking is horrid. sometimes it literally takes over an hour to find a space even if you creep along following people back to their cars... its rare to find a teacher that actually cares about the students or even teaching. Most classes are lecture style with content being the exact stuff from the books. advisors dont know anything and normally dont care about helping you graduate. this campus has no type of parties or fun. you study and go home to study more. most of the classes are complete bunk and have nothing to do with getting a degree except for the fact that they get your money. if you want to "experience" college DO NOT GO HERE. I honestly wish i transferred as soon as i could.

Went there, school was meh at best. There is no social life to be had there, and yes, no matter how hard you try. The administration only cares about getting on those lists and looking diverse.

Good school since they might beat Virginia.

Study in the world No. 1 study destination

Received M.A. in Instructional Systems Development. Professors were helpful, as they wanted you to excel! I now teach ESOL on the side in addition to my working in this Graduate School. Great school - a masters for a great price! REMEMBER: If you want that degree you DO have to work for it! Yes, I do work there, but it is still a great graduate school, even if I did not!

This school treats you like a child. You can only use so many meals during a period. They lock the doors of the residence halls at 10. The classes are notorious for being unnecessarily difficult, for most classes theres only 1 class section, and that section has an AWFUL teacher. Not only that but since most classes only have 1 section theres a lot of overlapping so you cant take the classes you want/need, delaying your graduation. They're so anal about drugs and alcohol to the point that its obnoxious. The parking is awful, like you can make it to campus at 9:30 and you can still be late for your 10 o'clock class. The campus is in a bubble and there nothing nearby, like you cant leave campus to do anything unless you wanna drive 10 or 15 minutes. The only reason its getting a 2/5 is because I met some awesome people here. And I know that the people who gave it 5 stars are giving it out of the fact that they met amazing people but that has nothing to do with the institution. It's a terible college overall. I'd say 20% of people absolutely hate it, 20% have disdain towards it, 59% are neutral/have never experienced anything better/dont know what they're missing out on if they went to a real college. and 1% ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT. don't let that 1% fool you.

We were there for a charity event, plenty of parking and the performing arts building was new and nice.

Most of the staff was pleasant. I was there for a couple of days. Then when I ask a tech working on the floor when my prescription would be ready, she literally snapped at me ‘I’M NOT A MIND READER.’ Her name is Diana. She works on the third floor. I highly suggest staying about from this woman with a terrible attitude. She should NOT be working with the general public. I will not be back.

It's great university but lack of building and varieties of major make it not really good.Worst problem here is the parking and they getting more student that they have parking for.

These rating sites tend to attract the disgruntled: that being said, UMBC was the most instrumental educational experience I could ever imagine. It developed a quiet kid from a blue colar neighborhood into a confident and very grateful physician. It was not a party school, but rather a university that was seemingly very practical and career focused God has blessed me through them.

UMBC is a great campus that is perfect for STEM majors.

Administration more concerned about money than students.

You could do worse.

I had great experience at UMBC, I believe that's an honor university!

The only other college I've attended is Harford community college, and as for as general studies goes, the professors and curriculum there were actually better than at UMBC. I'm majoring in Computer Science and have found the computer science classes to be satisfactory. My Comp Sci classes have been good on all fronts. However, most of your classes will not be directly geared toward your major, and the general education teachers I've taken classes with are definitely subpar. You will find yourself learning irrelevant topics in incredibly inefficient ways.Overall, I think this is a very good school (relatively speaking) for Computer Science, and from what I hear, a lot of the Engineering and Chemistry majors and such. Also, unless maybe you're going to join a frat/sorority (which I didn't and can't speak for), don't expect a great social life here.

Awesome school!

Great Graduate School for Engineering . I loved it here. Really smart people. Honestly, you will feel proud to be part of this school. The ranking doesn't do any justice to UMBC. Forget the craps about food , racism and all..blah blah. If you are here to learn and do something in life or get a good career in future this is the place. But its not a big school but its beautiful and large enough to make you feel good.

I'm sorry to say, 'up and coming' only means that it was bad before. I continue to think this school is a joke, it's not hard... even for STEM majors. Compared to other universities this school won't challenge you if you already know how to prioritize your time. If you work hard you can maintain your 4.0. School spirit is low, and the community here doesn't really focus on what they want to do for their future. Mostly just coming to school for the sake of it, and not to learn.

I had the BEST time at UMBC.I attended UMBC from 97 to 2001. I was dedicated to college and held only part-time jobs during that time. I was not a commuter student and I did not have a full-time job, which I am sure made all of the difference to enjoy UMBC and develop myself to the fullest. I got all of the help I ever needed to figure out what major and minor I wanted, to take all of the classes I needed and wanted, to get better grades (tutors, labs, walk-in hours, study groups at the library +), to have fun, to pay for books and other expenses (awards, scholarships, campus jobs). There were plenty of well organized and supported opportunities to socialize, make a difference in the community and do well for myself. I learned how great a community can be. Better than feeling frustrated and complaining and demanding as if I was an outsider or a "customer", I belonged and I took every opportunity.I got a head start in my career by working at the Help Desk, where I had a chance to work in roles representing every path I could take with my degree, so, along with classes, I was clear about what I wanted to do (and did not) when I graduated. I took part in Hrabowski's student advisory board, representing fellow students bringing up issues that impacted us (parking issues, for example) and thinking up ways to improve UMBC. Hrabowski inspired us, is a great role model, I will forever be thankful for his dedication to UMBC.In Toastmasters International I learned public speaking, and needless to say, it made all of the difference in every presentation I ever made from then on. I helped raise money for UMBC with the Alumni association. It was an easy job for me, because I am truly proud of UMBC and have always been. I helped organize cultural events as part of the Student Events Board. Events such as the International Festival and QuadMania when it brought Sugar Ray, and many more. I made friends from many cultures at the Latino, Persian, Southeast Asian and other such student associations. Friends for life. A few of us are having a reunion at the end of the month and I will definitely visit the campus again. Everyone I knew at UMBC is successful, and many make the world their backyard. Be them in a great career, raising a family, changing careers, starting businesses, doing/done with their Masters/Phd/Law/Medical studies. Be it in the US, Italy, Brazil, Austrália, Mexico, India, África +. In government, in big or small corporations, in non-profits, in self-owned. I don't hear any of us complaining. ;-) Thank you, UMBC! <3

Good school. Make sure you pick early classes-- parking spots matter!

Amazing school. Went here for my degree in Computer science, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in a technical degree.

Nice pool, lifeguards don't care much

Not a Veteran friendly university. They do not have a dedicated VA rep helping students navigate the multitude of paper work needed to receive benefits. The campus buildings are old and feels more like a cold government building in the 80's then a institution of higher learning. There is not many options for off campus dining within walking distance (unless you decide to drive into Baltimore). Overall, I would advise those students who are looking for a close knit community with a traditional "college feel" to apply to College Park or even Towson.EDIT: The Career Center is a fantastic resource and continuously offers networking events with the biggest companies in the DMV.

If I could I’d give it -4 stars... They are currently trying to charge my girl friend $1000 for class that she didn’t take it’s been three months of going back-and-forth trying to prove that with absolutely NO HELP from them at all, they are holding back her degree until it is paid and they excect us to do THEIR JOB FOR THEM!!! Telling us we have to go and get the staff we talked to to write letters saying they dropped the ball?!? This college is been nothing but a pain ever since she started going, many times she only needed one more class that semester she would have to wait an entire semester or year before the class would open up again because they didn’t have it available or they would drop it right before would start, DONT GO HERE!!!! They are never helpful and don’t care at all about students just money, they started calling asking for donations the FIRST week she started taking classes! This college is a joke

When I read the 4 or 5 stars it's about the basket ball team ....They care more about the fact that you're an account/invoice number with $ then an actual student trying to get an education for degree to progress in this life. They teach you money is the root of all and it starts with UMBC.They don't care about their students they just care about how much money they can get for a student. I say that because I am a student coming back who left because of a dying family member.I used to like this school for having a heart in working with their students and not treating them like an invoice. Unfortunately that's what they've turned into.....how disappointing.....

Twitter account is Savage and they beat Virginia . What more can I say

My daughter's happier there than I ever would have imagined. They take those cohort kids and _work_ them. And she's thriving. If anyone thinks that the honors kids (fellowship / cohorts) are getting extra help, well they are also being held to greater expectations.

This university is getting better and better!

OMG HISTORY!!! DEFEATING VIRGINIA! 16 SEED WINNERS!!

If I could I’d give it -4 stars... They are currently trying to charge my girl friend $1000 for class that she didn’t take it’s been three months of going back-and-forth trying to prove that with absolutely NO HELP from them at all, they are holding back her degree until it is paid and they excect us to do THEIR JOB FOR THEM!!! Telling us we have to go and get the staff we talked to to write letters saying they dropped the ball?!? This college is been nothing but a pain ever since she started going, many times she only needed one more class that semester she would have to wait an entire semester or year before the class would open up again because they didn’t have it available or they would drop it right before would start, DONT GO HERE!!!! They are never helpful and don’t care at all about students just money, they started calling asking for donations the FIRST week she started taking classes! This college is a joke

Excellent undergraduate school

Basketball team kicks ass

Good B10 school, world renowned name and degrees.

UMBC is a great school for students who want to get the most out of a university education. Our suburban location between Baltimore and DC provides lots of interesting opportunities for internships, culture and fun. I have been a faculty member at UMBC for 21 years and have found working with UMBC students and colleagues to be very rewarding.

When I read the 4 or 5 stars it's about the basket ball team ....They care more about the fact that you're an account/invoice number with $ then an actual student trying to get an education for degree to progress in this life. They teach you money is the root of all and it starts with UMBC.They don't care about their students they just care about how much money they can get for a student. I say that because I am a student coming back who left because of a dying family member.I used to like this school for having a heart in working with their students and not treating them like an invoice. Unfortunately that's what they've turned into.....how disappointing.....

Wonderful place to get an education.

SWEET SIXTEEN IS IN THE FUTURE

Ever since Dr. Spence left, the mechanical engineering department is in shambles. The other decent teachers will be leaving shortly as well.

Every experience I've had there has been absolutely fantastic (except for finding convenient parking at times). The staff is friendly, the campus is well laid out and clean, and there are plenty of activities and events for students to enjoy and participate in.

No community. Expensive for what it is. Administration continues to prove that they don't care about students. Alumni have NO benefits. Have to pay extra for everything including using gym facilities. There are tons of other schools around. Better to to attend those schools than earn a degree here. (UMBC grad in Financial Economics, class of 2012).Ranked up & coming every year (is somebody paying for this distinction) but the problem is they never go anywhere.

I am not lucky to get learning experience in this enchanting University. However since I teach entrepreneurship in Bombay University I wish to get assignment in this bewitching institution. I have gathered this impression from those who have studied here. It is truly going to be a place amongst ten in U.S.

WAY TO GO, UMBC !!!!!! BEAT VIRGINiA !!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations UMBC for defeating the so called no. 1 seed Virginia Cavaliers!

They should have a functional administrative team, especially a better training to some part-time employee.

Great medium sized state school. Very good science and computer/information programs. Consistently ranked well in undergraduate education.

Great school

Terrible food

Proud to be a part of an amazing institution. Great academic rigor, lots of opportunities for research development and access to awesome connections.

Great school and program. I transferred from a 2 year community college and graduated with an IS degree. I got a great job and met great friends here for life. It was worth it 100%

Yeah just NO! Everything about this school is bad. Parking is horrendous! It's so bad that I have to pay for parking because there are never any spaces for commuters. Ugh I wish I could transfer elsewhere.

Having drug dealers and drug addicts working for them yeah that's right School yet they given indication and names of the individuals by police and by the Good Samaritans and they still keep them on board and yet when they pop on a piss test they still working I wonder how that is possible

Things have gotten a little better since initial review.

Friendly atmosphere

Anyone remember this? When all of America became a Retriever.

I am not going to say "don't go there" but unless they give you a decent scholarship that pays for almost everything going to this school on your own budget is a real waste of time and money. you can't find too many people to get help from them. if you are a smart kid you will be fine otherwise if you run into a problem you are pretty much on your own.I finished my BS in biology and went there for a one year MS program. Graduate school here is more like a joke. don't fool yourself by the appearance of the website or their unrealistic promises. Mr. Hrabowsky has been president for the past 20 years and he won't give his chair to any new chancellor with different ideas because he owns this campus.

Harvard wannabes. They try to make their STEM students fail (ESPECIALLY those being forced to take the chemistry sequence). I honestly can't say I've noticed a difference between the quality of education at UMBC and a community college.

Good school

GOODBOYES

There are a lot of great things about UMBC, the career center is great and there are some top-notch professors. There are some problems though. One annoying thing is they nickel and dime you for everything. Parts of the campus are run down looking and they wont go there during the tour. Most of my professors have been good but my girlfriend who is an art major has had more than one professor that just had students watch online videos instead of teaching them animation topics.-Library carpet is worn out-Chairs in library are so gross your arms stick to them-ITE building has chairs with foam falling out-You must pay to play ping pong or any game in the "game room"-The billing dept gives you very little time to pay the bill and is quick to issue an expensive late fee-Social life isn't great on campusAnother thing worth noting that has unfortunately been getting worse is UMBC's leadership imposing their political motives on students through 'updates' on current events. Updates are fine but the vocabulary used in some of the 'updates' is disrespectful to some students who don't agree with the same viewpoints as 'UMBC leadership'. Let's stay professional UMBC cut out the political BS or we will end up like Berkeley...

Proud to be a part of an amazing institution. Great academic rigor, lots of opportunities for research development and access to awesome connections.

I'd never advise my kids to go here. Far-fetched bias! A whole week of "Resistance Training" every Fall (fifth year running!)How about TEACHING rather than INDOCTRINATING!

Ruined my tourney bracket

I realize that my opinion can't stand for the whole school (chemical engineering 2017), but having held a student job that allowed me to see a lot of the behind the scenes stuff and was part of a department that was in the midst of a lot of changes, I do think I can offer some insight. First, unless you're a proactive genius who wants to do research their entire life, don't bother coming here. This school doesn't care about industry or the jobs it offers. This school talks a lot, but doesn't follow through very well. For instance, the higher ups tend to be good, but the people below them are horrible. The career center is a joke, the admin people are flakes who pretend to know what they're doing, and the professors are very hit or miss. How this school got "best undergrad teaching" is a mystery to me. The only good majors are comp sci and bio. The rest of the departments, especially mine, are either full of hot air, stupid in their decision making, or just plain lost. This university attracts a lot of insanely bright students to their undergraduate program and the stem majors would suck without them. God knows the STEM majors don't get genuine help from their professors. I had to go an extra year because of the negligence of my department and two of the many professors that left during my time were upset and thought I should have graduated a year earlier. I almost transferred twice. My department, similar to many others, don't have any connections to companies in industry. This school also hates transfer students despite having a lot of them. Don't expect to finish any degree in 4 years if you're transferring in. There's no social life here because the school is filled with pasty nerds. It's also surrounded by everything, but close to nothing. You have to drive to get anywhere notable off campus.

Great school

Very grateful to be a part of this community

Reppin the best basketball team in the country!!

hope to be the

Great school and program. I transferred from a 2 year community college and graduated with an IS degree. I got a great job and met great friends here for life. It was worth it 100%

the best library to study ...I love it

Can’t say anything for the school but the grounds are great to watch the fireworks. Open parking garages over a great view for the show.

Pretty entrance. Traffic to get there is terrible.

I think I am ruined by the 2 year community college I attended because it was much more systematic and the professors there are way better than professors here at UMBC. In one of my classes, I have to wait for two months to get my projects and papers graded and the other classes, it usually take about a month to get my exam graded.

Seems like a good place to indoctrinate kids with self value systems based on academic performance. The parking is often horrible tho.

Three counts of drug-related deaths in the past semester. Two Counts of DOCUMENTED rapes. Multiple counts of covered up suicides. Several employees are registered tier 3 sex offenders. RA was just arrested for kiddie p*rn distribution... Do you really want to go here?

.

Excellent undergraduate teaching. The Career Center also puts forth a lot of effort to get students internships and job opportunities.

great school in the United States

Can’t say anything for the school but the grounds are great to watch the fireworks. Open parking garages over a great view for the show.

I'm not sure what to think, some of the professors are very good, others just come from Johns Hopkins but have no teaching ability and are extremely lazy because they have tenure... I think UMBC is trying too hard right now to get professors from big name schools rather than ones that can teach.

This is the worst school in the state of Maryland (and possibly in the US). Several buildings on campus are run down (the Sondheim building has even had asbestos in it). The quality of the food is poor and it's overpriced. The social life sucks. It's not a well-known school outside of Maryland. And most importantly, classes are insanely difficult (especially for STEM majors). The classes aren't designed to weed out the slackers. They're designed to weed out the people who try their absolute hardest (and sacrifice things such as sleep and a decent social life) but can't keep up with the immense workload thrown at the students and/or approach assignments with the same exact mindset as the professors. Exams are geared less toward understanding important subject material and more toward deciphering what the professors are actually asking. This school is nothing but a weed out school. I know students who are very intellectually gifted yet still struggle with courses only because of the professors. Almost every professor, by the way, couldn't care less about students and (one would think) they take pride in handing out bad grades - maybe because it inflates their ego of "how brilliant they are compared to others". One more note on the courses - for many courses there is one week between the final exam and the last normal exam of the semester.The biggest mistake I've ever made was attending this "school". I can honestly say that attending UMBC feels like a form of imprisonment. I can't overstate how much I truly despise this school. Please don't make the same mistake I did - go to UMD, Towson, or really anywhere but UMBC.

Great school. Went here for my computer science degree.

Really nice campus but parking can be limited. We visited for the Baltimore Veg. Fest and had a blast.

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