University of Maryland OTR: Why Are We Still In School?

Why Are We Still In School?

Posted by umdblogger 05/02/2008 09:28 AM
Category: Tags: school, long, finals, Michigan, early

Since Michigan OTR readers love when I complain about how great their school is, I figured I'd try it again.

As Maryland students get ready for the last week of school, depression begins to seep in as we realize that many schools are already done! Michigan, for instance, finished last week!

Aren't we a state school? Doesn't that mean we don't really have to follow that silly "X amount of class days in a year" rule? How are we having school until the 21st? The 21st!

+ 15 comments

Anonymous says,

Michigan has less than 2 full weeks between the last days of finals in December and the first day of Winter term in January. Last day of finals is generally around Dec. 23, classes start Jan 4. Again, those are general dates. We generally finish classes April 18, finals April 25. We start back up the day after Labor Day. We have one week worth of holidays in the fall (2 days in october, 3 for thanksgiving). Spring we get 6 days off (spring break the last week of february/first week of march) and MLK Jr Day. We're not allowed snow days because a law student sued the university for having to pay such a high tuition and having a class canceled.

Something tells me you have a much longer winter break and more holidays mixed in. Posted 05/02/2008 11:52 AMReply

Anonymous says,

You are incorrect regarding the law student suing... just a legend: http://media.www.michigandaily.com/media/storage/paper851/news/2006/12/07/CampusLife/Why-Doesnt.The.University.Have.Snow.Days-2527337.shtml Posted 05/02/2008 1:09 PMReply

Anonymous says,

wow, praising us for our speakers and now academic calendar while complaining about u maryland...looks like someone is bitter about not getting accepted at the better u of m. it's fine, we always need an ego boost. Posted 05/02/2008 1:41 PMReply

Anonymous says,

i stand corrected.

and i doubt someone who went to UMD (they dont call themselves UM that I've ever heard) probably applied here. I can't imagine someone applying to both. It's like someone applying to Boise State and Michigan, they just don't compare. Posted 05/02/2008 7:12 PMReply

Anonymous says,

That was a very intelligent post. I go to the University of Michigan, but I'm from Maryland. As much as I hate the fact that UMD articles keep getting tagged and showing up with Michigan articles, you have to respect the fact that the University of Maryland is still a fine school. I know several people who applied to both- you need to keep in mind that its unrealistic for a lot of out of state students to go to the University of Michigan when they have the option of paying in-state tuition to get a similar education at the UMD. Posted 05/02/2008 8:07 PMReply

Anonymous says,

similar education? seriously? thats the funniest thing i've read all day. Posted 05/02/2008 10:44 PMReply

Anonymous says,

i go to the university of michigan and no, i am not better than you. Posted 05/02/2008 11:03 PMReply

Anonymous says,

Actually, if you are a state school, you have to follow the rules governing the amount of time spent in school. Private schools don't have to follow those rules, since they aren't sponsored by state or national funding. Posted 05/03/2008 01:40 AMReply

Anonymous says,

I don't think anyone is arguing that point necessarily. Michigan just has shorter breaks allowing them to end the year faster. UMD probably has a much longer christmas break, or other random holiday's peppered in.

UM is a bit better school than UMD, but its not overwhelmingly better. UMD is still a top 50-60 school. Michigan is a top 25. Any school in the top 55 is really good. University of Ohio State is 57, UMD is 3-way tie for 54. Although UoOS is actually a decent school, I set it as the cut off of suck. Posted 05/03/2008 08:52 AMReply

Anonymous says,

I go to Michigan and I've been finished since April 21st. It's nice to get out of school in April and not have to return until September, though it also sucks because almost all of my friends at other schools get 3 weeks or a month off for christmas and then get out like 2 weeks later than we do for summer... My christmas break has been ~10 days for the past few years. Posted 05/03/2008 3:10 PMReply

Anonymous says,

University of Ohio State? Seriously? It's OSU and schools 1-25 are much different than schools 25-60. Posted 05/03/2008 3:42 PMReply

Anonymous says,

You do realize that ever since Terelle Pryor called it UOS that's what it will be known as by people who don't like ohio state.... Posted 05/03/2008 3:54 PMReply

Anonymous says,

Yes, but based on the sincerity of his post I really think he was serious and doesn't know about the Pryor comment. Posted 05/04/2008 08:54 AMReply

Anonymous says,

No, I think he did. Posted 05/04/2008 08:55 AMReply

Anonymous says,

Maybe you prefer I use fO$U instead? I felt UoOS is much more subtle of a joke. Posted 05/04/2008 10:54 AMReply