Senior government and politics major

I like answering questions, especially easy questions. “Who was the first president of the United States?” is an easy question. Also, “Where are the bathrooms on the first floor of Cambridge Hall?” Or, “Does College Park have a local bookstore?”

What I’m gently alluding to is that at the start of every fall semester, new Terps are full of easy questions, which any even mildly seasoned Terp could answer. The Internet forum market for new students is viciously competitive, but what every website seems to fail at should be the most obvious first step: if you want to know about the school, don’t ask the editor of a college review site; ask a student.

Personally, I enjoy answering easy questions on the Reddit page dedicated to this university, ‘/r/umd.’ Mileage may vary, but most of the time this university’s Redditors turn out honest answers based on personal experience. Reddit as a site is not for grading colleges on academic rigor or rating professors. It’s just the place where one might happen to find a lot of this university’s students with a lot of different experiences, and that’s what makes it ideal.

College Confidential seems like the natural place to turn to with questions, but it’s actually not. College Confidential’s panel of experts generally includes: salty people, UNC students who feel qualified to answer a question about a school they don’t attend and a huge number of parents who cite their knowledge to their children so often they use “my S” and “my D” colloquially. As in, “My D got a 2300 on the SAT.” It’s something they say a lot.

It’s almost common knowledge that feedback sites, specialized review sites and dedicated forums are some of the tensest places online. If an Images tour didn’t hit the right notes, prospective students go to College Confidential to try to whine back their wasted time. Some of the conversation on the site revolves around academics, and whose friend took 20 AP courses and wasn’t accepted. Other times, it’s a thoughtful discussion about how bad the school might possibly be between parents who describe themselves as having “sent” their “kids” to other schools and read about this university one time in a magazine.

/r/umd is different from other websites. Terps visit often, but they don’t go to /r/umd intentionally. The way Reddit works, if a post, such as an image or a question, becomes popular enough, everyone who has subscribed to /r/umd will see it, even if they were only on Reddit to have a laugh. Students will drop in between visiting other parts of the site if they see a question to which they know the answer. It’s like a Bat-Signal that summons computer science majors.

Answering questions is fun for current students as well. The freshmen and other students definitely appreciate it, and there’s nowhere better to be a resource for advice the school is unlikely to give. For example, the school’s official word for books will always be “go to the campus bookstore.” This university’s Redditors know where to find eBooks and used books and often have a copy lying around to sell.

The principle for that common question “Where do the students hang out?” is the same during an Images tour as it is online. If you want to know about the school, look to the students. We’re not on College Confidential. Take it from someone who knows.

Emma Atlas is a senior government and politics major. She can be reached at eatlasdbk@gmail.com.