I am a Gally student and you may have read my input about Gallaudet in other threads.
I've also visited Maryland and spoken with students there, so I can give you 2nd hand information about their experiences.
The best thing about the program at Maryland, imo, was that you have a day and a half in clinic from the very first semester. I wish we had something like that at Gally. It takes a lot of experience to get confident and efficient in clinic. At Maryland you go on external internships starting the spring semester of 2nd year.
The 1st year students I spoke with loved the program and were really enthusiastic. It seemed like they had developed good friendships too. They said some courses they spend a lot of time preparing for, others not as much. They worked really hard but still had time for happy hour once in a while. A 2nd year student I spoke with was happy with the program but frustrated with coming up with a topic for the research project. She was having a hard time finding a professor who had expertise in the same topics she was interested in. She suggested really looking at the research focuses of the professors before making a decision. All of them suggested living in Silver Spring and commuting through the free university shuttle buses.
Maryland looks especially good to me from a Gallaudet student perspective for 2 reasons: twice as much time in clinic and going on external internships sooner, and not having to sign. But I'm not a student there and for all I know they could be wishing they were going to Gallaudet! Other than clearly giving me more experience working with severe-profound and more sensitivity about the Deaf community, I think in the long run, Gallaudet will provide more opportunities for me to work with kids. There's a big emphasis on aural rehab, and of course you get the experience signing. You can also take Cued Speech as an elective. One of the counties nearby for example has 3 different elementary schools for deaf/hard of hearing kids: an oral program, a cued speech program, and a total communication program.
