UMD admissions - from which grade did your kid prep?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:please come back when this admission cycle is over, we are working with parents who have seniors in HS at the moment.

You sound overstretched. Consider hiring someone to help you with these requests.

[Anonymous]

Calc BC by sophomore year. Multi, linear equations and diff equations by senior year. Also, don't wait for AP Stats but start now at your community college with the goal that you complete the Data Science courses offered.

Take intro to coding at your local community college ASAP, something like Intro to Python, Prgramming Fundamentals, etc.

By senior year, complete the community college's CS sequence. That's why it's important to have Calc BC by sophomore year so that you can take upper level courses like optimisation algorithms, etc.

Get a 1530+ on SAT with 780+ on Math portion.

Do this and you have an okay shot at gaining acceptance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What the title says.

My kid is interested in CS and is in MS now.

What should my kid be doing starting 7th grade to be considered for admissions into UMD CP? Tutoring on the side? Extra curriculars? I'm looking for guidance from people whose kids got admitted.

-Be on highest math and science track
-Take CS APs in high school and score 5s
-Do well on SAT (1500+)
-Do coding competitions (lots online)
-Participate in CS/STEM summer programs (some you may have to pay for, but there are quite a few free ones)
-Join a VEX robotics team and compete
-Join high school robotics team

My kid didn't do any CS/STEM summer programs or extra curriculars. No tutor. Only prep was SAT and AP at home practice tests.

But, they were a magnet student with super high stats, with a lot of AP/IB STEM classes, including IB Java and took MVC in HS.

I don't think UMD cares *that* much about activities. They care about rigor and stats.

Richard Montgomery HS? Was your kid in a magnet in MS too?

Yes, RMHS, no MS magnet. We thought it was too far so didn't bother applying. DC is very high achieving academically on their own (no tutors), always has been and still is. Dual STEM major including CS.

If your kid needs to work really hard for that A in CS/math in HS, I think they will find UMD CS very challenging.

Be aware that UMD CS halved the class size from like 1400 to 700 students per year, with a 600 direct admit and 100 transfer limit, both external and internal. UMD CS admit is very difficult, but who knows. Maybe by the time your kid applies the demand will have gone down.

Thank you! My kid has AIM in 6th but couldn't go to Algebra 1 because Algebra 2 is not offered in their MS and we did not want DC to go to HS for 8th grade Math every day. Kid is finding AIM too easy. No tutoring or Kumon. Self learner. People I know are not very forthcoming with information so I have to look here for advice. I heard about the UMD CS class size being halved and many kids choosing to go to Towson because of the financial aid.

Since you mention RM, how many years of World language did your kid have in MS? I'm seeing conflicting information - some places I see 1 year in MS is enough and then some people say 2 years in MS is prereq to apply to RM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What the title says.

My kid is interested in CS and is in MS now.

What should my kid be doing starting 7th grade to be considered for admissions into UMD CP? Tutoring on the side? Extra curriculars? I'm looking for guidance from people whose kids got admitted.

FCPS direct admit to CS with some merit and Honors college from HS class of 2023.
3.98/4.5 (AP: CS Principles, CS-A, World, APUSH, Gov, Calc BC, Stats, Phys C-Mech, Phys C-E&M. Post-AP: CS, Calc 3, Linear Alg)
1560 (Khan prep)
Varsity athlete, club leadership, "light" CS work for non-profit, PT retail job
Denied: Penn and Harvard
WL: UVA and NEU
Accepted: UMD, BU, CWRU, Lehigh, WM, Ohio St, UMN and Pitt
Loves UMD. Good luck!

How much was the merit? I'm guessing your child is waiting for UVA?

PP, yeah, kid would have likely gone with UVA, but all is very good. Merit of $10k/yr so UMD OOS is only a couple grand more than UVA engineering in state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Calc BC by sophomore year. Multi, linear equations and diff equations by senior year. Also, don't wait for AP Stats but start now at your community college with the goal that you complete the Data Science courses offered.

Take intro to coding at your local community college ASAP, something like Intro to Python, Prgramming Fundamentals, etc.

By senior year, complete the community college's CS sequence. That's why it's important to have Calc BC by sophomore year so that you can take upper level courses like optimisation algorithms, etc.

Get a 1530+ on SAT with 780+ on Math portion.

Do this and you have an okay shot at gaining acceptance.

How does the Math path work from MS to get to Calc BC in sophomore year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What the title says.

My kid is interested in CS and is in MS now.

What should my kid be doing starting 7th grade to be considered for admissions into UMD CP? Tutoring on the side? Extra curriculars? I'm looking for guidance from people whose kids got admitted.

-Be on highest math and science track
-Take CS APs in high school and score 5s
-Do well on SAT (1500+)
-Do coding competitions (lots online)
-Participate in CS/STEM summer programs (some you may have to pay for, but there are quite a few free ones)
-Join a VEX robotics team and compete
-Join high school robotics team

My kid didn't do any CS/STEM summer programs or extra curriculars. No tutor. Only prep was SAT and AP at home practice tests.

But, they were a magnet student with super high stats, with a lot of AP/IB STEM classes, including IB Java and took MVC in HS.

I don't think UMD cares *that* much about activities. They care about rigor and stats.

Richard Montgomery HS? Was your kid in a magnet in MS too?

Yes, RMHS, no MS magnet. We thought it was too far so didn't bother applying. DC is very high achieving academically on their own (no tutors), always has been and still is. Dual STEM major including CS.

If your kid needs to work really hard for that A in CS/math in HS, I think they will find UMD CS very challenging.

Be aware that UMD CS halved the class size from like 1400 to 700 students per year, with a 600 direct admit and 100 transfer limit, both external and internal. UMD CS admit is very difficult, but who knows. Maybe by the time your kid applies the demand will have gone down.

Thank you! My kid has AIM in 6th but couldn't go to Algebra 1 because Algebra 2 is not offered in their MS and we did not want DC to go to HS for 8th grade Math every day. Kid is finding AIM too easy. No tutoring or Kumon. Self learner. People I know are not very forthcoming with information so I have to look here for advice. I heard about the UMD CS class size being halved and many kids choosing to go to Towson because of the financial aid.

Since you mention RM, how many years of World language did your kid have in MS? I'm seeing conflicting information - some places I see 1 year in MS is enough and then some people say 2 years in MS is prereq to apply to RM.

DC took FL starting in 6th grade -- 6th grade 1A, 7th grade 1B , 8th grade 2. For RMIB, I would say at least 2 years of FL in MS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Calc BC by sophomore year. Multi, linear equations and diff equations by senior year. Also, don't wait for AP Stats but start now at your community college with the goal that you complete the Data Science courses offered.

Take intro to coding at your local community college ASAP, something like Intro to Python, Prgramming Fundamentals, etc.

By senior year, complete the community college's CS sequence. That's why it's important to have Calc BC by sophomore year so that you can take upper level courses like optimisation algorithms, etc.

Get a 1530+ on SAT with 780+ on Math portion.

Do this and you have an okay shot at gaining acceptance.

How does the Math path work from MS to get to Calc BC in sophomore year?

DP.. here's what my kid did:

H Alg 7th
H Geom 8th
H Alg2/Trig 9th
IB Precalc 10th
AP BC Calc 11th
MVC 12th

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Calc BC by sophomore year. Multi, linear equations and diff equations by senior year. Also, don't wait for AP Stats but start now at your community college with the goal that you complete the Data Science courses offered.

Take intro to coding at your local community college ASAP, something like Intro to Python, Prgramming Fundamentals, etc.

By senior year, complete the community college's CS sequence. That's why it's important to have Calc BC by sophomore year so that you can take upper level courses like optimisation algorithms, etc.

Get a 1530+ on SAT with 780+ on Math portion.

Do this and you have an okay shot at gaining acceptance.

How does the Math path work from MS to get to Calc BC in sophomore year?

DP.. here's what my kid did:

H Alg 7th
H Geom 8th
H Alg2/Trig 9th
IB Precalc 10th
AP BC Calc 11th
MVC 12th

The AP BC Calc is in Junior year, not Sophomore?

What choice do we have if our MS doesn't offer Honors Algebra?

[Anonymous]

The problem with getting into UMD CS is that it recently capped the number of CS students to something like 600 freshmen. It also is incredibly hard to transfer into the program from another major. So it's relatively easy to get into UMD, but exceedingly difficult to major in CS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Calc BC by sophomore year. Multi, linear equations and diff equations by senior year. Also, don't wait for AP Stats but start now at your community college with the goal that you complete the Data Science courses offered.

Take intro to coding at your local community college ASAP, something like Intro to Python, Prgramming Fundamentals, etc.

By senior year, complete the community college's CS sequence. That's why it's important to have Calc BC by sophomore year so that you can take upper level courses like optimisation algorithms, etc.

Get a 1530+ on SAT with 780+ on Math portion.

Do this and you have an okay shot at gaining acceptance.

How does the Math path work from MS to get to Calc BC in sophomore year?

DP.. here's what my kid did:

H Alg 7th
H Geom 8th
H Alg2/Trig 9th
IB Precalc 10th
AP BC Calc 11th
MVC 12th

The AP BC Calc is in Junior year, not Sophomore?

What choice do we have if our MS doesn't offer Honors Algebra?

DP. I don't know of anything at our MCPS MS called honors algebra: it's just algebra. My 7th grader is in it now and will take geometry next year in 8th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What the title says.

My kid is interested in CS and is in MS now.

What should my kid be doing starting 7th grade to be considered for admissions into UMD CP? Tutoring on the side? Extra curriculars? I'm looking for guidance from people whose kids got admitted.

-Be on highest math and science track
-Take CS APs in high school and score 5s
-Do well on SAT (1500+)
-Do coding competitions (lots online)
-Participate in CS/STEM summer programs (some you may have to pay for, but there are quite a few free ones)
-Join a VEX robotics team and compete
-Join high school robotics team

My kid didn't do any CS/STEM summer programs or extra curriculars. No tutor. Only prep was SAT and AP at home practice tests.

But, they were a magnet student with super high stats, with a lot of AP/IB STEM classes, including IB Java and took MVC in HS.

I don't think UMD cares *that* much about activities. They care about rigor and stats.

Correct.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Calc BC by sophomore year. Multi, linear equations and diff equations by senior year. Also, don't wait for AP Stats but start now at your community college with the goal that you complete the Data Science courses offered.

Take intro to coding at your local community college ASAP, something like Intro to Python, Prgramming Fundamentals, etc.

By senior year, complete the community college's CS sequence. That's why it's important to have Calc BC by sophomore year so that you can take upper level courses like optimisation algorithms, etc.

Get a 1530+ on SAT with 780+ on Math portion.

Do this and you have an okay shot at gaining acceptance.

How does the Math path work from MS to get to Calc BC in sophomore year?

DP.. here's what my kid did:

H Alg 7th
H Geom 8th
H Alg2/Trig 9th
IB Precalc 10th
AP BC Calc 11th
MVC 12th

The AP BC Calc is in Junior year, not Sophomore?

What choice do we have if our MS doesn't offer Honors Algebra?

Your choices in MS are to either just take the most rigorous classes your school offers, or get permission to take H Alg in HS.

IMO, you don't need to take BC calc sophomore year to get get direct admit to UMD CS. Most HS in MCPS don't even have MVC, so your kid is fine with the math path I described above, or even ending up with AP BC cal senior year if your HS doesn't offer anything more. Or, they can take MVC at MoCo college.

I would not worry about not being able to take harder math classes compared to other students from other HS. They will look at your HS and whether you took the most rigorous classes there, and you also want a high AP calc and math SAT score.

[Anonymous]

UMD doesn’t care about ECs. It’s a numbers game. I know this because DD with no real ECs was admitted to a different LEP. CS is crazy hard since they cut the program size. Here’s my take on any school program that is competitive. Do not make decisions based on the belief it will mean admission. Ask yourself if you/your child would regret decisions for course rigor, tutoring and ECs if rejected. Will they regret the sacrifice? There is a greater chance that you check all the boxes and don’t get in than that you do. Do not, I beg you, put the extra pressure on your child. Make sure they want this for themselves. It’s hard to imagine most kids won’t change their area of interest between middle school and college. My finance major at UMD wanted engineering until senior year of HS.

CS isn’t all that rosy these days. CS majors at UMD like many schools are struggling to find internships and jobs. The market has been saturated. And the classes are very difficult even for strong students. So don’t push for CS unless this is what your child has said in their own words they want.

[Anonymous]

#1 tip for UMD is don't blindly chase CS direct admit. UMD has dozens of majors

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:#1 tip for UMD is don't blindly chase CS direct admit. UMD has dozens of majors

UMD has indicated that all applicants who choose CS majors MUST have a backup major in case they don't get in, which is highly likely given how tough it is to get in.