UMD Admissions from MCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How easy is it to get classes in freshman connection? Will there be a choice of classes in afternoon not all at 8 pm

My student never had a class that started that late. She managed to get all her classes earlier. I think the latest class she took started before 5. It’s just one semester.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maryland has only one top-tier public program: UMD. The UMD term can be used by UM, College Park, or UM, Baltimore, which do not have overlapping degrees. While there are definitely other good public colleges in Maryland, they are markedly lower caliber. UMBC, St. Mary's, and Towson are decent options.

UMCP programs with competitive admissions generally require that you start them as a freshman, which means you cannot transfer in after attending MC. However, there are plenty of other top programs at UMCP that are not competitive or take transfer students. That can be an excellent route to save money, too.

Not true - I know students who have transferred into business and engineering in the past couple of years after a year of community college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hearing about many MCPS kids rejected from UMD this year with stats that would have bene likely to be admitted in years prior. Anyone asked their school's counselors about this? Rumor mill suggests many less kids admitted.

If you look at the factors UMD looks at when determining who to admit (its holistic admissions factors), you'll see that a lot of them have nothing to do with stats. Extra points are given if English isn't your first language, if you've overcome hardship, based on your socioeconomic status or family educational background, etc. For better or worse, DEI is still alive and well at UMD.
https://admissions.umd.edu/apply/admission-review-process-factors

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hearing about many MCPS kids rejected from UMD this year with stats that would have bene likely to be admitted in years prior. Anyone asked their school's counselors about this? Rumor mill suggests many less kids admitted.

If you look at the factors UMD looks at when determining who to admit (its holistic admissions factors), you'll see that a lot of them have nothing to do with stats. Extra points are given if English isn't your first language, if you've overcome hardship, based on your socioeconomic status or family educational background, etc. For better or worse, DEI is still alive and well at UMD.
https://admissions.umd.edu/apply/admission-review-process-factors

It is interesting to me that almost no one seems to look at UMD’s admissions criteria.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maryland has only one top-tier public program: UMD. The UMD term can be used by UM, College Park, or UM, Baltimore, which do not have overlapping degrees. While there are definitely other good public colleges in Maryland, they are markedly lower caliber. UMBC, St. Mary's, and Towson are decent options.

UMCP programs with competitive admissions generally require that you start them as a freshman, which means you cannot transfer in after attending MC. However, there are plenty of other top programs at UMCP that are not competitive or take transfer students. That can be an excellent route to save money, too.

Not true - I know students who have transferred into business and engineering in the past couple of years after a year of community college.

I agree this is factually inaccurate. Instead, at least for some of these programs it is an auto-admit based on GPA at CC or other schools.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What's the benefit of FC to the school?

It allows them to pack more students in with full use of dorms and classrooms. Spring students can take the place of students going abroad, and night students can use regular classrooms. Educate more students with the same facilities.

They could achieve exactly the same goals by simply admitting the FC students as regular students.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. I'm not sure you understand how class space is assigned at UMD. There are limited seats per space. Space depends on the needs of the class (intro classes are going to get priority in the Lecture classrooms. Labs need specialized spaces. There are only so many places on the UMD campus that can manage a large-scale lecture-style classroom. FC helps to offset the need for classroom spaces. Using the space at "off times" provides small classes for FC students and helps to balance out the class assignment challenges the University is trying to meet. The University’s on-grid standard class scheduling patterns allow for maximum access to class offerings for students and facilitate the most efficient use of classrooms.

Seminar Room – small classroom, generally 20 seats or fewer
General Purpose Classroom – medium size classroom, generally 21-80 seats
Lecture Hall – large lecture-style classroom, generally 81+ seats
Computer Classroom – classroom with computers for instructional use

They could have exactly the same classes at exactly the same times with exactly the same instructors, without labeling them "Freshman Connection".

What? Call it Spring Admit? I don't understand your issues with Freshman Connection.

No, just admit them as regular fall admission, instead of as fall admission with an asterisk.

If they did this they would have to admit fewer students to UMD in the Fall which would reduce the number of students accepted from school districts like MCPS. FC is a smart approach for ensuring there are more opportunities for a broad range of students.

Eh? No, they would admit more students in the fall. The ones they're currently officially admitting for fall, PLUS the ones they're actually, in reality, admitting for fall, in the "Freshman Connection" category.

Space space space space space space …
Reading comprehension issue?

What space space space space space space? A person who is on campus taking classes as Freshman Connection is taking up exactly the same space as a person who is on campus taking classes as a regular fall admit.

One method FC alleviates the classroom headcount space issue is by offsetting the times. Classes can be offered to more students by spreading out the instructional space to times that are not typically used. The classrooms are literally filled to capacity you can't fit one or more students. FC uses the spaces more wisely and allows the FC students to get through they general education classes more efficiently.

Or they could just schedule regular classes at those times, to make the same efficient use of space.

They would need to hire more professors to teach the additional class. With FC, they don't have to hire more prof.

It's not just a matter of space, but a matter of professors.

Given what they are charging for 5 classes, there is no excuse not to hire more professors. They have plenty of buildings. Many classrooms are empty at any given time.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. Seems some we not only need to talk about space, allocation of professor teaching units, but also budgets and expenses at UMD. Oh and they have plenty of building empty at any given time. Do you mean midnight on a friday?!

Clearly you've never been on campus during the day. They have a huge budget.

What are you basing the "huge budget" on? They also have huge expenses.

https://finance.umd.edu/budget/facts-and-figures/operating-budget

They have a spending issue and need to cut back expenses. Also, cut out merit aid for wealthy families.

By default - Merit-based financial aid is financial aid offered in recognition of student achievements (e.g. academic, athletic, artistic, etc.). Unlike need-based financial aid, merit-based financial aid does not consider the financial need of the student or family. The vast majority of UMD merit aid comes from donor funded endowments - so its not operating or state funds.

Merit aid for rich families is embarassing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The M in UMD does not stand for Montgomery County. In the context of UMD admissions, MCPS grads are a dime a dozen.

Actually, it is fashionable to say that, but MCPS and HoCo are still all that at UMD. Biggest Cohort.

However, understand how in-state public flagship works. UMD pays good money to swoop up the best MD high achievers in in-demand majors like CS, Engineering, Physics, Math etc. But, there is always place for most MD students in other majors too.

And yes, year after year, these STEM majors at UMD are becoming more and more difficult to get in for several reasons - 1) more and more high achieving ORMs have accepted that Ivies and T5 colleges do not want them and so UMD is a viable option for them to get a great education and tremendous leg-up financially in life, 2) as more and more high performing cohorts are congregating at UMD in these majors, they are spurring on the same dynamics in the classroom as a magnet HS program and it is leading to more competition and achievements, further strengthening the reputation of UMD. 3)UMD understands that it has a good thing going and so it is helping its high performing students succeed by creating opportunities for research and internships.

Over years, MCPS has tried to bridge the achievement gap in a dishonest way to placate URM concerns. However, in a vicious manner, instead of more educational intervention and support to poor performing URM students, MCPS has basically watered down all education, dismantled the magnet programs, discriminated against ORMs and done grade inflation, so that every one gets a medal. As a result, URMs are big losers.

So, MCPS students need to know that to get into these in-demand STEM majors at UMD without a hook they need to - make sure that they are taking the most rigorous courses in HS, have perfect grades (not difficult with grade inflation), take a lot of AP classes in 5 core subjects and also score in 4s and 5s and report these scores to colleges, score at the very top in SAT and not go TO.

The reputation of UMD continues to rest on the high achievers of the DMV area. They are mostly from public school systems and MCPS is the largest public school system. So MCPS is all that. And ORMs are all that all that.

They are expanding magnets, that the only thing they are doing right. Some of our kids don’t go to school with a lot of stem opportunities and classes and they are punished for that with college admissions.

It’s right for MCPS to offer rigorous classes to more students, but they’re going about it in a slipshod manner, so it remains to be seen if they’re actually doing anybody a favor or just doing away with the rigor they have offered to a select few.

The select few is being expanded which is good because those of our kids who need advanced classes at non-w schools will still go without them.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What's the benefit of FC to the school?

It allows them to pack more students in with full use of dorms and classrooms. Spring students can take the place of students going abroad, and night students can use regular classrooms. Educate more students with the same facilities.

They could achieve exactly the same goals by simply admitting the FC students as regular students.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. I'm not sure you understand how class space is assigned at UMD. There are limited seats per space. Space depends on the needs of the class (intro classes are going to get priority in the Lecture classrooms. Labs need specialized spaces. There are only so many places on the UMD campus that can manage a large-scale lecture-style classroom. FC helps to offset the need for classroom spaces. Using the space at "off times" provides small classes for FC students and helps to balance out the class assignment challenges the University is trying to meet. The University’s on-grid standard class scheduling patterns allow for maximum access to class offerings for students and facilitate the most efficient use of classrooms.

Seminar Room – small classroom, generally 20 seats or fewer
General Purpose Classroom – medium size classroom, generally 21-80 seats
Lecture Hall – large lecture-style classroom, generally 81+ seats
Computer Classroom – classroom with computers for instructional use

They could have exactly the same classes at exactly the same times with exactly the same instructors, without labeling them "Freshman Connection".

What? Call it Spring Admit? I don't understand your issues with Freshman Connection.

No, just admit them as regular fall admission, instead of as fall admission with an asterisk.

If they did this they would have to admit fewer students to UMD in the Fall which would reduce the number of students accepted from school districts like MCPS. FC is a smart approach for ensuring there are more opportunities for a broad range of students.

Eh? No, they would admit more students in the fall. The ones they're currently officially admitting for fall, PLUS the ones they're actually, in reality, admitting for fall, in the "Freshman Connection" category.

Space space space space space space …
Reading comprehension issue?

What space space space space space space? A person who is on campus taking classes as Freshman Connection is taking up exactly the same space as a person who is on campus taking classes as a regular fall admit.

One method FC alleviates the classroom headcount space issue is by offsetting the times. Classes can be offered to more students by spreading out the instructional space to times that are not typically used. The classrooms are literally filled to capacity you can't fit one or more students. FC uses the spaces more wisely and allows the FC students to get through they general education classes more efficiently.

Or they could just schedule regular classes at those times, to make the same efficient use of space.

They would need to hire more professors to teach the additional class. With FC, they don't have to hire more prof.

It's not just a matter of space, but a matter of professors.

Given what they are charging for 5 classes, there is no excuse not to hire more professors. They have plenty of buildings. Many classrooms are empty at any given time.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. Seems some we not only need to talk about space, allocation of professor teaching units, but also budgets and expenses at UMD. Oh and they have plenty of building empty at any given time. Do you mean midnight on a friday?!

Clearly you've never been on campus during the day. They have a huge budget.

What are you basing the "huge budget" on? They also have huge expenses.

https://finance.umd.edu/budget/facts-and-figures/operating-budget

They have a spending issue and need to cut back expenses. Also, cut out merit aid for wealthy families.

By default - Merit-based financial aid is financial aid offered in recognition of student achievements (e.g. academic, athletic, artistic, etc.). Unlike need-based financial aid, merit-based financial aid does not consider the financial need of the student or family. The vast majority of UMD merit aid comes from donor funded endowments - so its not operating or state funds.

Merit aid for rich families is embarassing.

Merit aid makes the college academically viable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hearing about many MCPS kids rejected from UMD this year with stats that would have bene likely to be admitted in years prior. Anyone asked their school's counselors about this? Rumor mill suggests many less kids admitted.

If you look at the factors UMD looks at when determining who to admit (its holistic admissions factors), you'll see that a lot of them have nothing to do with stats. Extra points are given if English isn't your first language, if you've overcome hardship, based on your socioeconomic status or family educational background, etc. For better or worse, DEI is still alive and well at UMD.
https://admissions.umd.edu/apply/admission-review-process-factors

It is interesting to me that almost no one seems to look at UMD’s admissions criteria.

This list is nonsensical and redundant... I can't believe whoever made it is directly or indirectly influencing college decisions...
It has both community involvement" and "community service," "high school achievement" overlaps with multiple other categories, and "family educational background" is part of "socio-economic background." A lot of these things should just not be allowable for a state university. "Language spoken at home." Are you kidding me??

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What's the benefit of FC to the school?

It allows them to pack more students in with full use of dorms and classrooms. Spring students can take the place of students going abroad, and night students can use regular classrooms. Educate more students with the same facilities.

They could achieve exactly the same goals by simply admitting the FC students as regular students.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. I'm not sure you understand how class space is assigned at UMD. There are limited seats per space. Space depends on the needs of the class (intro classes are going to get priority in the Lecture classrooms. Labs need specialized spaces. There are only so many places on the UMD campus that can manage a large-scale lecture-style classroom. FC helps to offset the need for classroom spaces. Using the space at "off times" provides small classes for FC students and helps to balance out the class assignment challenges the University is trying to meet. The University’s on-grid standard class scheduling patterns allow for maximum access to class offerings for students and facilitate the most efficient use of classrooms.

Seminar Room – small classroom, generally 20 seats or fewer
General Purpose Classroom – medium size classroom, generally 21-80 seats
Lecture Hall – large lecture-style classroom, generally 81+ seats
Computer Classroom – classroom with computers for instructional use

They could have exactly the same classes at exactly the same times with exactly the same instructors, without labeling them "Freshman Connection".

What? Call it Spring Admit? I don't understand your issues with Freshman Connection.

No, just admit them as regular fall admission, instead of as fall admission with an asterisk.

If they did this they would have to admit fewer students to UMD in the Fall which would reduce the number of students accepted from school districts like MCPS. FC is a smart approach for ensuring there are more opportunities for a broad range of students.

Eh? No, they would admit more students in the fall. The ones they're currently officially admitting for fall, PLUS the ones they're actually, in reality, admitting for fall, in the "Freshman Connection" category.

Space space space space space space …
Reading comprehension issue?

What space space space space space space? A person who is on campus taking classes as Freshman Connection is taking up exactly the same space as a person who is on campus taking classes as a regular fall admit.

One method FC alleviates the classroom headcount space issue is by offsetting the times. Classes can be offered to more students by spreading out the instructional space to times that are not typically used. The classrooms are literally filled to capacity you can't fit one or more students. FC uses the spaces more wisely and allows the FC students to get through they general education classes more efficiently.

Or they could just schedule regular classes at those times, to make the same efficient use of space.

They would need to hire more professors to teach the additional class. With FC, they don't have to hire more prof.

It's not just a matter of space, but a matter of professors.

Given what they are charging for 5 classes, there is no excuse not to hire more professors. They have plenty of buildings. Many classrooms are empty at any given time.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. Seems some we not only need to talk about space, allocation of professor teaching units, but also budgets and expenses at UMD. Oh and they have plenty of building empty at any given time. Do you mean midnight on a friday?!

Clearly you've never been on campus during the day. They have a huge budget.

What are you basing the "huge budget" on? They also have huge expenses.

https://finance.umd.edu/budget/facts-and-figures/operating-budget

They have a spending issue and need to cut back expenses. Also, cut out merit aid for wealthy families.

By default - Merit-based financial aid is financial aid offered in recognition of student achievements (e.g. academic, athletic, artistic, etc.). Unlike need-based financial aid, merit-based financial aid does not consider the financial need of the student or family. The vast majority of UMD merit aid comes from donor funded endowments - so its not operating or state funds.

Merit aid for rich families is embarassing.

Merit aid makes the college academically viable.

Parents making 200k and up can afford umd. Plenty of kids will go without merit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The M in UMD does not stand for Montgomery County. In the context of UMD admissions, MCPS grads are a dime a dozen.

Actually, it is fashionable to say that, but MCPS and HoCo are still all that at UMD. Biggest Cohort.

However, understand how in-state public flagship works. UMD pays good money to swoop up the best MD high achievers in in-demand majors like CS, Engineering, Physics, Math etc. But, there is always place for most MD students in other majors too.

And yes, year after year, these STEM majors at UMD are becoming more and more difficult to get in for several reasons - 1) more and more high achieving ORMs have accepted that Ivies and T5 colleges do not want them and so UMD is a viable option for them to get a great education and tremendous leg-up financially in life, 2) as more and more high performing cohorts are congregating at UMD in these majors, they are spurring on the same dynamics in the classroom as a magnet HS program and it is leading to more competition and achievements, further strengthening the reputation of UMD. 3)UMD understands that it has a good thing going and so it is helping its high performing students succeed by creating opportunities for research and internships.

Over years, MCPS has tried to bridge the achievement gap in a dishonest way to placate URM concerns. However, in a vicious manner, instead of more educational intervention and support to poor performing URM students, MCPS has basically watered down all education, dismantled the magnet programs, discriminated against ORMs and done grade inflation, so that every one gets a medal. As a result, URMs are big losers.

So, MCPS students need to know that to get into these in-demand STEM majors at UMD without a hook they need to - make sure that they are taking the most rigorous courses in HS, have perfect grades (not difficult with grade inflation), take a lot of AP classes in 5 core subjects and also score in 4s and 5s and report these scores to colleges, score at the very top in SAT and not go TO.

The reputation of UMD continues to rest on the high achievers of the DMV area. They are mostly from public school systems and MCPS is the largest public school system. So MCPS is all that. And ORMs are all that all that.

They are expanding magnets, that the only thing they are doing right. Some of our kids don’t go to school with a lot of stem opportunities and classes and they are punished for that with college admissions.

It’s right for MCPS to offer rigorous classes to more students, but they’re going about it in a slipshod manner, so it remains to be seen if they’re actually doing anybody a favor or just doing away with the rigor they have offered to a select few.

The select few is being expanded which is good because those of our kids who need advanced classes at non-w schools will still go without them.

No, they’re not expanding the current rigorous magnets programs. They’re doing away with magnets and introducing new regional “special programs,” without adequate funding or staff training. They’ll be using new, unproven curricula. We don’t know what we’re actually getting, just that more students will be getting it than are currently offered magnet instruction. Is offering 3% of students something that’s pretty good better than offering 1% of students something excellent? 97% of students won’t be affected by either system.

[Anonymous]

My daughter just got accepted but didn't get into the chemistry program she wanted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:What's the benefit of FC to the school?

It allows them to pack more students in with full use of dorms and classrooms. Spring students can take the place of students going abroad, and night students can use regular classrooms. Educate more students with the same facilities.

They could achieve exactly the same goals by simply admitting the FC students as regular students.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. I'm not sure you understand how class space is assigned at UMD. There are limited seats per space. Space depends on the needs of the class (intro classes are going to get priority in the Lecture classrooms. Labs need specialized spaces. There are only so many places on the UMD campus that can manage a large-scale lecture-style classroom. FC helps to offset the need for classroom spaces. Using the space at "off times" provides small classes for FC students and helps to balance out the class assignment challenges the University is trying to meet. The University’s on-grid standard class scheduling patterns allow for maximum access to class offerings for students and facilitate the most efficient use of classrooms.

Seminar Room – small classroom, generally 20 seats or fewer
General Purpose Classroom – medium size classroom, generally 21-80 seats
Lecture Hall – large lecture-style classroom, generally 81+ seats
Computer Classroom – classroom with computers for instructional use

They could have exactly the same classes at exactly the same times with exactly the same instructors, without labeling them "Freshman Connection".

What? Call it Spring Admit? I don't understand your issues with Freshman Connection.

No, just admit them as regular fall admission, instead of as fall admission with an asterisk.

If they did this they would have to admit fewer students to UMD in the Fall which would reduce the number of students accepted from school districts like MCPS. FC is a smart approach for ensuring there are more opportunities for a broad range of students.

Eh? No, they would admit more students in the fall. The ones they're currently officially admitting for fall, PLUS the ones they're actually, in reality, admitting for fall, in the "Freshman Connection" category.

Space space space space space space …
Reading comprehension issue?

What space space space space space space? A person who is on campus taking classes as Freshman Connection is taking up exactly the same space as a person who is on campus taking classes as a regular fall admit.

One method FC alleviates the classroom headcount space issue is by offsetting the times. Classes can be offered to more students by spreading out the instructional space to times that are not typically used. The classrooms are literally filled to capacity you can't fit one or more students. FC uses the spaces more wisely and allows the FC students to get through they general education classes more efficiently.

Or they could just schedule regular classes at those times, to make the same efficient use of space.

They would need to hire more professors to teach the additional class. With FC, they don't have to hire more prof.

It's not just a matter of space, but a matter of professors.

Given what they are charging for 5 classes, there is no excuse not to hire more professors. They have plenty of buildings. Many classrooms are empty at any given time.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. Seems some we not only need to talk about space, allocation of professor teaching units, but also budgets and expenses at UMD. Oh and they have plenty of building empty at any given time. Do you mean midnight on a friday?!

Clearly you've never been on campus during the day. They have a huge budget.

What are you basing the "huge budget" on? They also have huge expenses.

https://finance.umd.edu/budget/facts-and-figures/operating-budget

They have a spending issue and need to cut back expenses. Also, cut out merit aid for wealthy families.

By default - Merit-based financial aid is financial aid offered in recognition of student achievements (e.g. academic, athletic, artistic, etc.). Unlike need-based financial aid, merit-based financial aid does not consider the financial need of the student or family. The vast majority of UMD merit aid comes from donor funded endowments - so its not operating or state funds.

Merit aid for rich families is embarassing.

Or it attracts top quality students into the student body that might otherwise go elsewhere. This helps everyone.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely can transfer as a sophmore or junior into UMD from Montgomery college or any community college.

Anyone who says otherwise is wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hearing about many MCPS kids rejected from UMD this year with stats that would have bene likely to be admitted in years prior. Anyone asked their school's counselors about this? Rumor mill suggests many less kids admitted.

If you look at the factors UMD looks at when determining who to admit (its holistic admissions factors), you'll see that a lot of them have nothing to do with stats. Extra points are given if English isn't your first language, if you've overcome hardship, based on your socioeconomic status or family educational background, etc. For better or worse, DEI is still alive and well at UMD.
https://admissions.umd.edu/apply/admission-review-process-factors

It is interesting to me that almost no one seems to look at UMD’s admissions criteria.

This list is nonsensical and redundant... I can't believe whoever made it is directly or indirectly influencing college decisions...
It has both community involvement" and "community service," "high school achievement" overlaps with multiple other categories, and "family educational background" is part of "socio-economic background." A lot of these things should just not be allowable for a state university. "Language spoken at home." Are you kidding me??

I don’t think community involvement and community service are the same. I don’t have any issue with any of these. Kids who overcome barriers to excel likely are more tenacious than kids who have everything handed to them on a platter.

I am the parent of a high stats kid and if they gave his place to someone who overcame a bunch of barriers and excelled in the setting they had available, I would think that was a reasonable outcome. There are thousands of colleges and universities. Plenty of space for everyone.