Getting To Know: University of Delaware-Again
I took advantage of surprisingly warm October weather to visit the University of Delaware (UDel) to attend their Blue and Golden Day. I have a University of Delaware Pinterest page if you want to see some photos of campus life. The campus green looks really nice. It will remind you of more selective flagships such as UVA and UNC-Chapel Hill. I even saw one student proposed marriage to another on the steps of that building in the picture!
The University of Delaware gets more visits from me than most other schools.
UDel is quite popular with New Jersey and Pennsylvania students who want to leave their state for college. It ranks first for Jersey kids and second for those in Pennsylvania, after West Virginia University. UDel is also appealing to residents of Maryland, New York and Virginia, states with extremely selective flagship public universities. Visit schools such as West Chester University (PA), Towson University (MD) or James Madison University (VA) and chances are you will run into someone on your tour who is also checking out UDel.
Drawing over 70 percent of its 18,000 undergraduates from outside Delaware, the University of Delaware gets a lot of applications.
However, less than a fifth of those accepted decide to deposit. Non-resident tuition and fees of over $41,000 might be part of the reason. A New Jersey resident will pay less to go to Maryland, Penn State or Pitt, among other schools if they have to pay the full charges, or might relent and decide to go to college in state. If UDel could offer more aid, the yield would be higher.
- The average merit scholarship for the Class of 2027 was approximately $9,500 though more generous awards are available.
- Over half of the Class of 2027 received need-based scholarships that averaged over $15,000.
In most cases UDel will not undercut in-state charges at Home State U for well-prepared students. Blue Hens who graduated in 2023 owed, on average, over $38,000. This was because a fifth of the class took out private loans.
This time I visited the College of Engineering.
These aspects of the college impressed me.
- Prospective engineers will find a unique design-oriented curriculum over four years. This includes a two-semester Junior Design Project with an actual client as well as a Senior Design project during the last semester.
- The engineering makerspace was recently enlarged to 13,000 square feet. The students who led our tour told us that it is far less crowded now. Most impressive are the Enrichment Programs as well as the opportunities for global studies, rare within an engineering school.
- For the first time this year engineers may apply to participate in the global World Scholars Program. The partner school for the first engineering World Scholars will be Newcastle University (UK).
- Another option, less structured, is Engineers Without Borders, which has chapters at several other schools.
- Mechanical Engineering is the most popular major within the engineering school after Computer Science. But interesting to me: UDel is better known for chemical engineering due to the importance of DuPont to the state’s economy.
Here’s a few more good things about academics at the University of Delaware.
Over 71 percent of each class that entered from 2011 through 2019 graduated in four years
This is fourth best among all flagship state universities on the entire East Coast after the University of Virginia, UNC-Chapel Hill and The College of William and Mary.
Students have a fairer chance of admissions to an honors or a more personalized learning opportunity.
The Honors College gets about 15 percent of an entering class, allowing all prospective students to apply, regardless of their grades and test scores.. If you like UDel and get into Honors, take the offer. The community has the programming that you will find within residential colleges at schools with more famous name, such as Harvard or Yale.
There is also the World Scholars program,
It’s a blend of study abroad and advanced academic studies that you won’t find at most other state schools as well as several other Scholars and Fellows programs that are worth a look. UDel was the first US college to offer study abroad. In 1923 the university led students on a one-year program to France. Today, it operates or partners on over 100 study abroad programs in 40 countries.
The Lerner School of Business and Economics is more selective than the university as a whole.
According to Poets and Quants most recent rankings, less than half who apply get in. But if you are shopping non-resident costs for a good business school, take a serious look at Lerner. It makes it easier to enter undeclared for business than most and assigns each student a peer mentor as well as an executive mentor at the start. Lerner’s faculty and leadership make it easy for students to double major, tackle multiple minors or study abroad. Lerner also offers programs such as Wealth Planning and Financial Management and minors in Advertising and Trust Management, among others, that are not easy to find anyplace else.
There’s programs at the University of Delaware that are tough to find elsewhere.
These include, but are not limited to, Fashion Design, Art Conservation, and Public Policy. UDel has an undergraduate student body that’s about half the size of Rutgers-New Brunswick or Penn State-University Park. However, the university does have restricted majors. It’s wise for students who hope to enter undecided to ask about this, especially if they hope to transfer into the schools of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Business, Education, Engineering or the health professions. The Fashion Design and Fashion Merchandising programs are also restricted. .
Students have a good chance of finding an internship or full-time job offer in Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia or Washington DC.
It’s quite possible to graduate in most majors with more than one internship or study abroad experience, even in the sciences or engineering, and still earn a degree in four years. Everyone gets a five-week winter break, a week longer than most other colleges, to study abroad, take a class or take on a shadowing or internship experience.
Here are three more good things about the UDel community.
- Downtown Newark (pronounced ‘New-ARK’ in state) looks more like a college town than College Park, Maryland or New Brunswick, New Jersey, offering plenty of pedestrian-accessible shops and over 75 restaurants to choose from. The university’s Hospitality Management program operates another nice restaurant, Vita Nova, in its main student center.
- When you want to leave campus, you can easily travel to Baltimore, Philadelphia or Wilmington by car, bus or Amtrak train. The commute is realistic for entertainment and interviews for internships and jobs, though you’re more likely to work when you’re not taking classes on campus full time.
- The university has been aggressive at improving the residence life experience, to the point of closing, even demolishing, older halls while opening newer ones. UDel can house 40 percent of its undergraduate student body, high for a state university.
I have repeatedly called UDel a Public Ivy.
The University of Delaware does very well at educating and graduating the majority of students that it attracts. Like most flagships, you can get a tremendous education, as good as you might get at more selective schools, if you’re truly seeking it, with similar results for employment or further education. However, like most flagships it is also possible to party and slide by. But unless you’re looking for a high-profile sports program, or the costs are a reach, there’s little to fault UDeal.
Report Card: University of Delaware
- Four-Year/Six-Year Graduation Rates: A
- Freshmen Retention: A
- Costs: B
- Curriculum: A
- Community: A
- Comforts: B+
- Connections: A
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