School Spotlight: University of Maryland Eastern Shore

There are over 4,000 colleges and universities in the U.S. And while the media tends to focus on just a handful of schools, we at College Coach encourage students to think outside the box during their college selection process and explore a wide range of colleges. As such, we are highlighting a new college each week in our School Spotlight series. Check out the college below, along with the other posts in our series, and you may just stumble upon your dream school! School Spotlight: University of Maryland Eastern Shore Princess Anne, Maryland University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) is a historically Black public research university, offering degrees at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate level. Part of the University System of Maryland, it’s also one of many HBCU’s to recently receive a hefty donation from MacKenzie Scott ($20 million, to be exact). The just under 2,400 undergrads at UMES can choose from dozens of majors and will find that UMES has a professional and technical bent to its programs. There are multiple specializations in agriculture, including agribusiness, pre-veterinary studies, and soil sciences. Future engineers can opt for aerospace, computer, electrical, or mechanical disciplines, while students interested in aviation can choose emphases in management, maintenance, and software engineering, or study to be a professional pilot. For students hoping to pursue the arts in a professional framework, the applied design major offers specializations in commercial photography, graphic illustration, or sequential arts (AKA comics!), while the human ecology department has a fashion merchandising option. Students in that option may participate in a visiting student program with the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, where they can spend their junior year studying advertising and marketing communications. Some additional unique majors at UMES: rehabilitation psychology, urban forestry, and PGA golf management. UMES is very much a residential campus, with over a dozen housing options, including traditional single-gender and co-ed dorms, an honors hall, and apartments. The massive Student Services Center houses not only the 70+ student organizations at UMES, but a bookstore, a dining hall, a ballroom, a theater, and a recreation center (which includes billiards, a video game room, table tennis, air hockey, and a bowling alley—which also serves as the practice facility for the three-time NCAA women’s bowling champs). Student clubs cover interests as diverse as anime, fishing, and catering, while multiple professional and philanthropic organizations are active on campus for future engineers, accountants, and hospitality entrepreneurs, among others. There are eight fraternities and sororities on campus, as well as two philanthropic social fellowships. UMES hosts 14 NCAA Division I teams: men’s baseball; women’s bowling, softball, tennis, and volleyball; and men’s and women’s basketball, cross-country, golf, and indoor/outdoor track. For those not quite up to DI standards, intramural sports include flag football, paintball, boxing, and dodgeball. Students tend to be so active and present on campus in part because the town of Princess Anne is very small, with under 4,000 residents. The town is historically very well preserved, known for its lengthy list of structures on the National Register of Historic Places and its quaint downtown. Located on the peninsula of Maryland, UMES is somewhat rural, but students are in easy driving distance to beaches, wildlife refuges, and state parks, so it may be an ideal setting for nature lovers who want the “small college town” experience. Visit the website to learn more about applying to University of Maryland Eastern Shore as well as paying for your education at UMES. Image Credit: Top, Courtesy of University of Maryland Eastern Shore