The College Tour host Alex Boylan poses in front of the camera with UMBC's mascot, True Grit in full retriever costume.

The College Tour

The College Tour’s Emmy-nominated and award-winning TV producers visited UMBC in Fall 2021 to film 20 students who shared their stories about what it’s really like to be a Retriever.

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The College Tour is a TV series streaming on Amazon Prime that provides an inside look into college campuses around the world, making it accessible for students and their families to explore campuses near and far without having to travel. It’s a whole new way of visiting colleges to find the place for you—and we hope you’ll add UMBC to your list.

Jump to Segments and Featured Students

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Segments and Featured Students

Don’t have an hour on your hands? Dive into the segments that interest you most! 

UMBC 24/7

Maggie Taylan, Junior, Political Science

UMBC is a thriving community with fun activities happening 24/7, thanks to our 200+ clubs and organizations.

Location, Location, Location!

Aarsh Shah, Junior, Biological Sciences

UMBC is perfectly situated to offer you a world of opportunities, experiences, and adventures.

Explore Your Creativity

Katelyn O’Connor, Sophomore, Dance and Political Science 

UMBC may be well known as a STEM school, but our arts and humanities are off the charts.

Retrievers Rock!

Colby Rood, Junior, Computer Science and Financial Economics

Get your foam spirit fingers ready and find out what it’s like to be a Retrievers fan.

Support On and Off the Field

Courtney Coppersmith, Senior, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

UMBC supports its student athletes on the field, in the classroom, and wherever they go.

Finding Your People

Gabby Khan, Senior, Computer Science

Our students are unique, but they also have a lot in common! UMBC presents various avenues for students to explore their interests and find their crowd.

Sharing Our Strengths

Giuliana Weiss, Junior, Computer Science and Theatre

Faculty, staff, and other students offer a network of support that ensures all our Retrievers are successful.

Exploring Every Angle

Hannah Sadollah ’19

Our students love to build their own new clubs and find themselves learning to be leaders along the way. 

Co-Creating Our Campus

Kara Seidel ’18

We strongly believe in co-creation, and it shows all over campus in the ways our students have, quite literally, helped shape our campus.

Research Grounded in Mentorship

Lauren Norwood, Senior, Biological Sciences

UMBC’s culture of mentorship is part of a ripple effect happening when our alums go out into labs and other research areas beyond our campus.

Learning While Doing

Logan Hawker, Senior, Mechanical Engineering

UMBC encourages exploration of all types and learning that gives students valuable experience beyond the classroom.

Lifelong Learning

Mohamed Galal, M.A., Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

At UMBC, we go out of our way to make students feel welcome and part of our campus no matter where they are in life. In fact, we see those varied experiences as a benefit to our broader community.

Learning to Lead

Nailah-Benā Chambers, Junior, Global Studies

At UMBC, we value student leadership because we can see our alums living our values of inclusive excellence after they graduate, and that’s an amazing thing.

Right Place, Right Time

Sandra Pinto, M.P.S., Data Science

Like its sister campus near Baltimore, UMBC-Shady Grove has a student body rich in diverse experiences, as well as a carefully curated set of programs that speak directly to employee needs in rapidly expanding job sectors in Maryland and beyond.

Public Research for Public Good

Sarah Turner, Junior, Psychology

UMBC’s faculty and student researchers take a community-first approach to their research, thinking about how they can help others while including those partners in the process in meaningful ways.

Our Welcoming International Community

Tchuissi Mbu Nyamsi, M.P.S., Data Science

UMBC is proud of our diverse, international campus. With cultural clubs, events, and programs like the Global Ambassadors, we help international students feel welcome, ready to study, and truly a part of our community.

It’s Cool to be Smart!

Thomas Azari, Senior, Political Science

UMBC cheers on our intellectual sports teams because we all know it’s cool to be smart!

Supporting the Whole Student

Cindy Um, Junior, Statistics

UMBC believes in supporting the whole student in a way that values the diverse array of backgrounds and experiences our community members bring to campus.

Entrepreneurs in Training

Zion Murphy, Senior, Media and Communication Studies

UMBC champions great ideas — and backs that up by helping students follow interesting entrepreneurial paths.

Professors You Can Count On

Levi Lewis, Junior, English and Media and Communication Studies

UMBC is consistently ranked highly by U.S. News for its caring professors, who go above and beyond to mentor and understand what our students need to succeed.

Meet The Host

The College Tour host Alex Boylan poses with UMBC Mascot True Grit.

After winning CBS’s The Amazing Race at 23 years old, Alex has gone on to have an amazing career both in front and behind the camera. ​His many credits include hosting PBS’s #1 food series, At The Chef’s Table, and #1 animal series, Animal Attractions; being CBS’s National Ambassador for two summers on the “CBS Buzz Tour”; hosting more than 100 segments for Travel Channel; being Rachael Ray’s sidekick hosting “Rach to the Rescue” for her syndicated talk show; and circumnavigating the world without a penny in his pocket as the star of Around The World For Free.

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