University of Maryland-Baltimore County Top Questions

Diverse

They are awesome peers that motivate you to think outside the box regarding materials learnt in class and applications to real life experiences.

My classmates are generally as smart and capable as myself, but not many of them are graduating on time.

The classmates at this school are relatively friendly but very studious, so form the right study groups and work hard.

Spontaneous and random, just like it should be.

UMBC has all the groups you can think of, and we all live happily together. I don't think anyone would feel out of place, you just need to find your group. Students wear many different things to class. But most students are wearing T-shirts and jeans or sweats. Even though you see students grouped up in their separate groups, these students interact in class and in the dorms. Again, there are all different types of students, the apathetic students or politically active ones. The ones that do talk about making money and the ones that don't really care.

There is one rule about UMBC: if you don't like diversity, UMBC is not for you. There are people at UMBC from so many different backgrounds. In my first semester at UMBC, I met Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Wiccans, Agnostics, Atheists, Whites, African Americans, Asians, Native Americans, Indians, Arabs, Russians, Europeans, Poor people, Rich people, Middle class people, Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Straight people, among many others. UMBC has a place for everyone, except people who want the closed-mindedness of an entire campus of people who think exactly like they do. On the other hand, I find it much more interesting to discuss life experiences with someone who has led a completely different life than I have. Imagine this: You are sitting at a dining hall table at some random college. You are an 18-year old white, straight, Christian male who grew up in an upper-middle class family in some random suburb. The three people sitting around you are all around the same age, all white, all straight, all Christian, and they all grew up in similar circumstances. Now imagine this: You are sitting at a dining hall table at UMBC. You are a 19-year old, white, bisexual, Agnostic female who grew up in a middle class family in Baltimore County. Sitting across from you is a 20-year old, African American, straight, Christian male who grew up in a poor family in downtown Baltimore City. To the left of you is a 40-year old, Indian, straight, Muslim female who grew up in a relatively well-off family in India. Across from her is a 26-year old, English, gay, Wiccan male who grew up in a rich Indiana suburb. Which group would be more interesting to talk to? If you picked the second, UMBC is for you.

UMBC is the 2nd most diverse campus in the US I heard once. There is a group of people for everyone here and everyone pretty much mixes together and hangs out. UMBC is not very political I dont think.

UMBC is very diverse. I don't think anyone would feel completely out of place at UMBC. Most UMBC students are from Maryland.

The down side of UMBC: There are a TON of commuters. I think particularly for freshman its detrimental. The commuters don’t really interact with the on campus people so there is kind of a divide there. Other than that, just the athletes think there all that ( which I guess happens at every school).