The Maryland (Smith) offers a Near Elite MBA program with particular strength in IT.

The University of Maryland is located between Washington DC and Baltimore.

Academic Calendar: Semester divided into 2 terms

The first year is almost entirely prescribed with one elective in the second semester.

The center of the distribution is generally in the 3.3, 650 range.

FT 2003 ranked Maryland #33 worldwide- just below USC and Texas-Austin. In 2001 it was ranked #23- just below Virginia and just above Texas-Austin.

EIU 2003 placed Maryland #52 worldwide and roughly #33 in the US - just above Indiana and just below EM Lyon and Rice (Jones).

Value Considerations

Tuition per annum:
In state: 14k
Out of State: 24k

http://www.smith.umd.edu/fullmba/tuition.html

FT05 Value For Money: #54, one of the best of the Near Elites

Thanks for the info- I found the part about helping international students particularly interesting.

Great question.

This is one of the mysteries of Maryland. It ranks quite well, it is relatively inexpensive (one of the best values among the Near Elites), and has a pretty strong reputation for IT yet it does not seem to generate much interest among applicants.

For whatever reason, does not seem to have the level of interest that surrounds other Near Elites such as the Indiana trio (Indiana, Purdue, and Notre Dame) or nearby Georgetown. What is more surprising is that it is in one of the top 5 metro areas of the US yet Near Elites in such small markets as Nashville and Rochester seem to attract more attention. It is interesting to note that the parent universities of most of the Near Elite schools are much higher on the prestige scale than Maryland is (including Georgetown, Notre Dame, and Vanderbilt).

Interview Information

I had my interview a couple of weeks ago and I thought sharing the experience may be useful to someone applying to Smith. Check the link for my responses to the standard accepted.com questionnaire. The site contains responses from about a dozen other Smith applicants, so it's very useful.

http://www.accepted.com/mba/interviews/ ... IntID=8375

In brief:
- I am an international, so it was a phone interview;
- the interview lasted 50 mins and was personalized, meaning that the interviewer had reviewed my materials and aksed specific questions (so look for potential 'holes' in the application). Standard questions were also asked: why Smith, how will you contribute to diversity at the school... Have your poetry ready for those questions
- The interviewer made me feel very comfortable and it felt more like a dialogue than a typical interview. She was very experienced and engaging.

I guess the best way to prepare is to go through your resume and essays, because you'll be answering the same questions again (very likely). Use accepted.com's interview feedback database. Try and do a mock interview before the real thing - this was my second phone interview and I felt much better than the first time. Most importantly, relax and have a good time during the interview, so that they realize what a great applicant you are!!

I have applied to several MBA programs in US for FALL 2006. As of now, I have received admits from Purdue University and University of Maryland.

The problem is that, I want to Major in Finance and I am not able to find the correct source of information which would give the rankings of US MBA schools as per FINANCE as a major. Different ranking sources have given different ranking to these two univs but none of them have rankings as per specialization.

Can you please tell me that for pursuing Finance as a Major, which one amongst the two - Purdue and U of Maryland; is better??

he man, as per my research, if you want to do something in Finance you must try to be close to the eastern coat which means that Maryland definitely wins over Georgia Tech in your case.

Thanks.. This info helps me a lot..