UMD -- College Park Scholars?
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Anonymous
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DD just got accepted as a College Park Scholar. She was disappointed she didn't get into the Honors program. What's the difference? Anyone know? I tried getting info on the website, but it was a bit confusing.
I think she should go for it, but she's not sure because she doesn't want a large school, and wants to wait and see where else she gets in at some of the smaller schools she applied to. What is your DC's experience as a College Park Scholar? Is it a good program? Would it make the university small enough for a shy child to feel comfortable? What are the academics like? Does the residential aspect of CPS make the kids really feel like they are in a small college on a university campus? Is it a watered-down version of the honors college? TIA! |
Anonymous
| no one? |
Anonymous
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OP - best thing to do is google 'UMD, difference between Honors and Scholars"... You will find a lot of College Confidential threads.
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Anonymous
| I don't actually know the difference but from reading the website the Honors College admits 1000/year, the Scholars program admits <100/year... You may want to research this. Call the school and ask for a explanation. |
Anonymous
| Kids in Honors have higher stats than Scholars and have a better chance of getting merit money from UMD. |
Anonymous
| I interviewed to teach in the Scholars program and liked the way it is structured. I would imagine the chief advantage would be to shrink that huge university a bit for first and second year students, to develop critical thinking and interdisciplinary research skills, and to provide a thematic bond with other like-minded students. I neighbor's kid is in one of the programs and it is a plus. |
Anonymous
| PG County |
Anonymous
? |
Anonymous
Here you go. http://www.excellence.umd.edu/ |
Anonymous
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OP here. I read the link posted above. It give information, but no insight. I'll look on CC, but I was hoping with all the UMD supporters here, I'd find someone with a kid at UMCP right now in the Scholars program who might have some direct insight into it.
DD looked into it and said there are 1,000 Scholars, not 100. She got no merit aid, so it makes sense that Honors would get merit aid. If anyone has any further insights, please post. UMCP is likely to be the only affordable option for us, so I'd love to make it work for DD. |
Anonymous
| I was in the scholars program at UMD (graduated in '06). Back then they did put us in smaller dorms than regular freshmen. The scholars program is broken up by subjects, i was in science and tech. They house you with kids of the same subject which is nice because my dorm was mostly engineering kids and we all had work to do, so not as many crazy parties. You could actually expect to study and sleep in your dorm without drunk people screaming at 3am. Regular freshmen dorms are huge and get really crazy. You have people there who just want to party not study. I think it is a good program if you want to make a huge school seem smaller, go for it. |
Anonymous
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OP again. I found an old thread on CC (from 2008) that said the Scholars dorms are old and not air conditioned, that some of the programs are a joke (meet only a few times, professors not interested), that the programs vary widely in quality.
How can I find out about the quality of the various programs? DD is not sure what she's interested in yet, but has until mid-Feb. to decide. It also said there's a lot of attrition between freshman and sophomore years, and that the Scholars program is a way to get some kids to come to UMD who might opt to go elsewhere. Thoughts? |
Anonymous
| None of the freshmen dorms have AC, scholars are no exception. Yes the programs themselves are BS, you just take some extra 1 credit classes that are worthless. But it does help shy people make friends since they put you in a smaller dorm. These dorms also have a better location than other freshmen dorms. Also this is something for the resume. This is pp who graduated in 06 byw. Hope this helps. |
Anonymous
Untrue. Plenty of Freshman live in Denton, Easton, and Elkton, all of which have A/C. |
Anonymous
| Op - If Scholars and Honors don't mean much, what would your D do? |