So, you're thinking about attending a college or university in Maryland?

Located on the East Coast of the United States, Maryland is the second most wealthy state in the U.S., according to the 2005 Census. Pennsylvania borders the state to the north, Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean lie to the east, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington D.C., and the Atlantic Ocean are all to the south, and the westernmost part of the state is bordered by more of West Virginia. Since it is on the divide between the northern and southern states, the culture of Maryland exhibits characteristics of both regions.

Due to the topography of Maryland, the state has earned the nickname of "America in Miniature." The land varies from sandy dunes dotted with seagrass in the east, low marshlands full of water snakes and large bald cypress near the bay, gently rolling hills of oak forests in the Piedmont Region, and mountainous pine groves in the west.

Maryland's climate varies largely from east to west. In the eastern half of the state, there are hot, humid summers with short, mild to cool winters. The western regions, however, have warm, humid summers with cold, snowy winters. Thanks to it's proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, precipitation in Maryland is very heavy. The annual rainfall across the state averages from 40-45 inches. Yearly snowfall varies from 9 inches in coastal areas to over 100 inches in the western mountains.

Though, due to being adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean, Maryland is somewhat vulnerable to tropical cyclones, a strike from a major hurricane is unlikely. It's more often for Maryland to receive the remnants of a tropical system that has already run aground, which ends up dumping a huge amount of rain on the state. The state averages approximately 30-40 days of thunderstorms annually and around six tornado strikes.

In 2006, Maryland had an estimated population of 5,615,727. This includes the largest African-American population of any state outside the Deep South as well as the south's second largest Korean American population, with 1.7% of the population being Korean. In fact, as a whole, almost 6% of the entire population are Asian.

Maryland has proven to be a Democratic stronghold in the political landscape of the U.S. Its voters have supported the Democratic nominee for president in the past four elections by an average of 15.4 percentage points. On top of this, both of Maryland's Senators and six of its eight Representatives in Congress are Democrats.

Although Maryland was originally founded with the purpose of providing religious toleration of England's Catholic minority, they have never been in a majority in Maryland since early Colonial times. Of the 82% of Maryland residents who identify themselves as Christian, 56% are Protestant while only 23% are Roman Catholic. The remaining population is split between a 3% Jewish community, 1% following other belief systems, and 14% state that they are non-religious.

The state of Maryland imposes four income tax brackets on personal income, which range from 2% to 4.75%. On top of these percentages, the city of Baltimore and the 23 counties levy local income taxes at rates of 1.25-3.2%. The state sales tax is set at 5% presently.

When deciding on a college or university in Maryland, there are a number of choices available. Some of these include:

• Johns Hopkins University

• The University of Maryland

• The United States Naval Academy

To find more information about universities and colleges in this area, visit the Online College Degrees page on this website.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Maryland".

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