What does it take to get merid aid at UMD College Park?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My teen has straight As in 10th grade so far (a couple of Bs in 9th).
All Honors classes plus 2 APs in 9th grade (score of 3 and 4), 2 APs in 10th grade.
He has a disability and doesn't have any extracurriculars - how much will that count against him?

What does he need to do to get significant merit aid?
Also, because of his disability, we are considering his living at home, at least for the first year. Is that possible? This would be for 2023, so presumably after the pandemic.

I don't get why parents expect merit aid? If he's living at home, tuition isn't that expensive. So, finical aid or pay.

[Anonymous]

Most Private colleges use merit aid as a discount for their overpriced tuition.
UMD as a state University gives merit aid to keep cream of the crop from moving out of state.

[Anonymous]

I would say if your kid would have as good of a shot as any then BK is a possibility. The kids that I know that got full BL passed them up one for Yale the other for Duke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My teen has straight As in 10th grade so far (a couple of Bs in 9th).
All Honors classes plus 2 APs in 9th grade (score of 3 and 4), 2 APs in 10th grade.
He has a disability and doesn't have any extracurriculars - how much will that count against him?

What does he need to do to get significant merit aid?
Also, because of his disability, we are considering his living at home, at least for the first year. Is that possible? This would be for 2023, so presumably after the pandemic.

I don't get why parents expect merit aid? If he's living at home, tuition isn't that expensive. So, finical aid or pay.

That's incredibly unstrategic and tone-deaf of you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My teen has straight As in 10th grade so far (a couple of Bs in 9th).
All Honors classes plus 2 APs in 9th grade (score of 3 and 4), 2 APs in 10th grade.
He has a disability and doesn't have any extracurriculars - how much will that count against him?

What does he need to do to get significant merit aid?
Also, because of his disability, we are considering his living at home, at least for the first year. Is that possible? This would be for 2023, so presumably after the pandemic.

I don't get why parents expect merit aid? If he's living at home, tuition isn't that expensive. So, finical aid or pay.

That's incredibly unstrategic and tone-deaf of you.

Its not tone-deaf. A lot of parents seeking merit aid live in expensive houses with large incomes over $200-300K and it seems bizarre that you wouldn't save enough to pay for UMD. We make far less and saved for state college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My teen has straight As in 10th grade so far (a couple of Bs in 9th).
All Honors classes plus 2 APs in 9th grade (score of 3 and 4), 2 APs in 10th grade.
He has a disability and doesn't have any extracurriculars - how much will that count against him?

What does he need to do to get significant merit aid?
Also, because of his disability, we are considering his living at home, at least for the first year. Is that possible? This would be for 2023, so presumably after the pandemic.

I don't get why parents expect merit aid? If he's living at home, tuition isn't that expensive. So, finical aid or pay.

That's incredibly unstrategic and tone-deaf of you.

Its not tone-deaf. A lot of parents seeking merit aid live in expensive houses with large incomes over $200-300K and it seems bizarre that you wouldn't save enough to pay for UMD. We make far less and saved for state college.

And you don’t know ANYTHING about OP’s situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of the merit recipients are from MCPS magnet program with strong scores.

Why MCPS magnet? Howard county has very good schools also right?

Because, the magnet high schools are one of the best ones in MD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of the merit recipients are from MCPS magnet program with strong scores.

Why MCPS magnet? Howard county has very good schools also right?

Because, the magnet high schools are one of the best ones in MD.

By definition, magnet schools have a choice of students, so they get the best students who then receive a superior education. Howard County schools are good, and there are excellent students spread out through all the schools. There are no magnet programs in Howard County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 3 kids are older (graduated already) but 2 got b/k and 1 got presidential scholarship. All 3 went to MCPS magnets. They all had almost perfect scores.

My son is not at a magnet or a W school (think second-tier MCPS), but has 1560 SAT, 4.0 UW GPA and will have 4.82 ish WGPA at time of application. He'll have taken 10 APS total after junior year, has pretty good extracurriculars and has been a varsity athlete since freshman year. Do you think he has any chance at getting merit from UMD?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My teen has straight As in 10th grade so far (a couple of Bs in 9th).
All Honors classes plus 2 APs in 9th grade (score of 3 and 4), 2 APs in 10th grade.
He has a disability and doesn't have any extracurriculars - how much will that count against him?

What does he need to do to get significant merit aid?
Also, because of his disability, we are considering his living at home, at least for the first year. Is that possible? This would be for 2023, so presumably after the pandemic.

I don't get why parents expect merit aid? If he's living at home, tuition isn't that expensive. So, finical aid or pay.

That's incredibly unstrategic and tone-deaf of you.

Oh, another person on DCUM who thinks their life is exactly the same as everyone else’s. How original.

Its not tone-deaf. A lot of parents seeking merit aid live in expensive houses with large incomes over $200-300K and it seems bizarre that you wouldn't save enough to pay for UMD. We make far less and saved for state college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 3 kids are older (graduated already) but 2 got b/k and 1 got presidential scholarship. All 3 went to MCPS magnets. They all had almost perfect scores.

My son is not at a magnet or a W school (think second-tier MCPS), but has 1560 SAT, 4.0 UW GPA and will have 4.82 ish WGPA at time of application. He'll have taken 10 APS total after junior year, has pretty good extracurriculars and has been a varsity athlete since freshman year. Do you think he has any chance at getting merit from UMD?

NP
I think he does.
He might even look more accomplished given he came from “average” high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of the merit recipients are from MCPS magnet program with strong scores.

Why MCPS magnet? Howard county has very good schools also right?

Because, the magnet high schools are one of the best ones in MD.

By definition, magnet schools have a choice of students, so they get the best students who then receive a superior education. Howard County schools are good, and there are excellent students spread out through all the schools. There are no magnet programs in Howard County.

Correct, but OP was asking why Magnet high school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 3 kids are older (graduated already) but 2 got b/k and 1 got presidential scholarship. All 3 went to MCPS magnets. They all had almost perfect scores.

My son is not at a magnet or a W school (think second-tier MCPS), but has 1560 SAT, 4.0 UW GPA and will have 4.82 ish WGPA at time of application. He'll have taken 10 APS total after junior year, has pretty good extracurriculars and has been a varsity athlete since freshman year. Do you think he has any chance at getting merit from UMD?

I think so. See the pp above whose kids got about $5k/yr merit from UMD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 3 kids are older (graduated already) but 2 got b/k and 1 got presidential scholarship. All 3 went to MCPS magnets. They all had almost perfect scores.

My son is not at a magnet or a W school (think second-tier MCPS), but has 1560 SAT, 4.0 UW GPA and will have 4.82 ish WGPA at time of application. He'll have taken 10 APS total after junior year, has pretty good extracurriculars and has been a varsity athlete since freshman year. Do you think he has any chance at getting merit from UMD?

I think so. See the pp above whose kids got about $5k/yr merit from UMD.

But $5k/yr is a drop in the college expense bucket. This generation of parents need to let go of the idea their kids are going to be funded by merit aid. It's a different world.

[Anonymous]

DC 2022 Blair magnet 4.0 UW GPA, 4.83 W GPA, 1580 SAT, 800 Math SAT2, 10 APs all 5s, got $5K/year merit scholarship