Question about UMD College Park
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Anonymous
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My son is a senior at a MCPS middle of the road HS.
He is very smart but matured on the later side so his overall grades are middling. Junior year was good and senior year is going great. He is finally challenging himself and getting all As. He had a bad 10th grade virtual year. And he is now taking school, college etc very seriously. I know it is a bit late but I’m relieved he finally got there. He is a nice kid and intellectually very capable. He wants to apply for CS at UMD but we are realistic that his odds of admission are low. My question is if he applies for CS and doesn’t get in, will he get a straight out rejection from UMD or will they perhaps admit him but not for CS. Once you get in to UMD College of Arts and Sciences, if you do well your first year, can you apply to transfer into the CS program. |
Anonymous
| How’s SAT ? |
Anonymous
Not necessarily, you can be admitted to UMD and not to your major. And he can transfer to CS if he keeps his grades up. There is even freshman connection program. I think you son is going to be fine. Good luck to him. |
Anonymous
| He should take advantage of the common app question regarding “any special challenges affecting your grades” or language to some similar effect and note the tough virtual year and his upward trend/desire to succeed. |
Anonymous
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OP do not send your kid to a school hoping to transfer programs.
For one that is a limited enrollment program at MD means a very high college GPA to transfer into. Yes, it can be done, chances are not high. If they want CS have them also apply to other schools where they are admitted directly into the program. |
Anonymous
Yes that’s what we heard, so undecided DD is applying to CS just in case |
Anonymous
| You should be talking to UMCP about this. I'm sure it's a common question, and they don't want any dissatisfied customers, so they'll be honest with you. |
Anonymous
| Isn't that one of the limited majors where they tell you you need to put down a secondary choice? If so, be sure to choose a secondary major choice that he'd genuinely like (echoing PP re CS transfer not a sure thing) and one that his application shows he'd likely succeed in. |
Anonymous
Nothing special about it. Everyone went through the same thing. I would not mention it. Just find a way to highlight the significant upward trend |
Anonymous
Everyone experienced the pandemic. However, some students struggled with that virtual year more than others. OP's son should absolutely mention it. That is where you speak about the upward trend. My DS had straight As in 9th, a mix of A/B/C the first semester of 10th, then B/C/D/E the second semester. He retook the class that was an E in summer, but the D (in Spanish 4) is still on his transcript. He's had mostly As in 11th and 12th when back in-person. Sure, the AOs can infer what happened, but why wouldn't you just say it? That is the whole point of that question on the common app. |
Anonymous
| Have you looked at Scattergrams to see if he can get general admission with his grades? They don’t sound great but I don’t know what they are and how rigorous his classes were. |
Anonymous
UMD admits to the University as a whole first, and then to LEPs. https://admissions.umd.edu/explore/majors/limited-enrollment-programs "Prospective UMD students should indicate their preferred major when completing their online application for admission. However, your preferred major does not affect your admissibility to the university. Admitted students who select an LEP as their major are reviewed by the specific program to determine admission to that major. While the majority of students are admitted to their preferred major, some LEP applicants may not be. Students who are admitted to UMD but not their preferred LEP major are placed in Letters & Sciences, where they will work with an advisor to meet the gateway requirements to earn admission to that major." Here is the information about transferring in (either as a UMD student or from another university) https://lep.umd.edu/computerscience.html My DS just graduated from UMD with CS. He had friends at other Maryland Universities who changed majors and then tried to transfer in, but weren't accepted. If your son is set on CS, I would not take a placement (at UMD or elsewhere) with the plan to transfer in. It is just too competitive. However, the high demand for CS is expanding the programs at other Maryland schools. I know of current students or recent graduates at UMBC and Salisbury who thought the CS programs there were good. https://www.csee.umbc.edu/ https://www.salisbury.edu/explore-academics/programs/undergraduate-degree-programs/majors/computer-science-major.aspx I would visit and check both out. Apply to at least one of them to have an in-state back-up to consider if DS is not admitted to UMD CS. |
Anonymous
| Try UMDBC, heard they have good CS program also |
Anonymous
| How does LEP work if you want to minor in CS only? |
Anonymous
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You can't rely on pretty good junior yesr grades to get into a college like UMCP. Seriously, OP. Not going to be enough. The kids getting in there have 4.0 for 9th, 10th, and 12th grades. It's good that 12th grade is going well so far, but applications are due in a few weeks...senior grades aren't going to be determinstive.
Com Sci is even more selective....make realistic plans. UMCP isn't hoing to happen. |