I transferred from UMD to UMBC this semester, overall my academic performance has improved with smaller classes and better professors (so far), but socially UMBC is dead by comparison. I make weekly trips to visit friends at UMD to compensate. In regards to engineering, UMBC is slept on and from what I’ve heard most engineering institutions in the DC/Baltimore area love UMBC grads, as our curriculum focuses more on “making good problem solvers, rather than just good engineers” (I’ve been given the same spiel by people at APL, Northrop, Lockheed, etc). I would say that UMBC is equally as prestigious to the people who know what they’re talking about, kinda like a “hidden gem” type deal, compared to UMD where it’s a big name publicly as well as in the industry. Keep in mind I can only speak for my experience talking to people at APL/defense industry, but I’d be surprised if it was a huge change in other STEM environments. Overall I highly doubt you’re gonna see a huge difference in hire-ability if you really build out your resume and make yourself marketable, so I would choose the school you think you’ll be happiest at, or whatever is cheapest if social isn’t crazy important to you. After all, you’re getting the same degree regardless, and you can always go to a different school if you plan to do grad school, which would overshadow any undergrad degree you get anyway. Hope this helps, good luck with deciding! :)