University of Maryland, College Park

The University of Maryland, College Park is a public flagship research university, founded in 1856 as the Maryland Agricultural College. Maryland is the largest university in the state and the largest in the Washington Metropolitan Area.

Admition to the university have become highly selective. According to the US News and World Report, Maryland is rated "more selective" with a 47% acceptance rate.

The University of Maryland's location near Washington, D.C. has created strong research partnerships with government agencies like NASA and National Institute of Health.

The university is ranked the 60th in the 2017 U.S. News and World Report rankings of "National Universities" across the United States, and the  20th nationally among public universities.

The university has many notable academics and alumni like Google co-founder Sergey Brin; The Muppets creator Jim Henson; President and CEO of CNN; Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard.

The most popular specializations are Social Sciences, Business/Marketing, Engineering and Biology.

On of Maryland peculiarities is its "living-learning" programs which allow students with similar academic interests to live in the same residential community, take specialized courses, and perform research in those areas of expertise. For example, the nation's first living-learning entrepreneurship program, Hinman CEOs, is geared toward students who are interested in starting their own business. Students from all academic disciplines live together and are provided the resources to explore business ventures.