UMD Admissions from MCPS

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Isn't the reason why UMD rejects students from Moco is because they think moco kids would go somewhere else instead of UMD? Yield rate?

I don't think so. My observation from my county (not MoCo) is UMD attempts to scoop up valedictorians and top ten percent.

In a certain year, I knew of three or four valedictorians who chose UMD. At least one is in honors but I am mot sure that all are.

I’ve also seen evidence they will accept those outside of top ten if student has significant accomplishments, such as national champion.

What about this who are not vals or don't have national championship related to their resume?

Those kids are getting in too. That person is uninformed. Admits are the “top” 20 to 30% of the class from MCPS.

Nope. And if so that is still a high gpa. We know a few kids not admitted to UMD this year. These are kids with 4.2+ gaps, AP/IB classes, good SATs, and no they were not all applying to CS.

According to B-CC’s school profile 40% of graduating seniors have GPAs of 4.51+. I expect they are the only school were a 4.2 is not near the top 20-30% of the class.

At Poolesville it’s 60% at 4.51+. So no BCC is not the only school where you need to likely be 4.7 or higher to be in the top 20%.

The massive grade inflation and grading policies in MCPS makes it harder for top students to distinguish themselves. Grade inflation results in a lot of average students having the same GPA as very strong students. This is good for average students and hurts strong students.

Unpopular opinion- if you really want your strong student to go to UMD you should consider a private without grade inflation and a strict grading policy. Your student will have a better chance of separating themselves from the pack there. Yes, you’ll have to pay for tuition in high school but you’ll probably save money overall if your child gets in state tuition at UMD (compared to oos public or private college tuition).

We aren’t seeing grade inflation. Maybe you are as the rules are different at each school but with UMD they can only take so many students per school so you are better off at the higher end of a bad school than a so called good school. Where you go to college is far more important than hs.

You need to be able to show that you are at the top of your high school class to get into UMD. This is hardest at a good MCPS high school ( lots of average to smart students ) who all have the same GPA.

No reason to believe that's true, whe UMD already publicly declared that they care more about diversity than "top students".

Obviously they want people that UMD courses can serve, so people at the low end of preparation are routed to community college, but there's no reason to prefer the "top" students over the "good" students except for a few had picked for the Honors program.

All the evidence in this thread points to the fact that the top 10 to 20% of each MCPS school is regularly admitted to UMD.

And presumably, the same at private schools. The question is for a certain type of student is it easier (because of grading policies) to prove that you are in the top 20% of your class in a top public or a private school?

No one knows this. My kid got into UMD from a mid-ranked MCPS school. Only 20% in 4.51 plus. Also the ACT/SAT as reported on school profile are quite low.

Not a "top" student but if I had to guess, from grades/SAT/rigor kid probably viewed as top 15%.. Did not consider UMD a likely admit either. We put odds at 50/50.

that tracks with what people have been saying, that UMD will take top 20% of each HS.

[Anonymous]

Please just look at your HS's Naviance for the real scoop on what's generally needed to get into U-MD.

At our Bethesda-area school, well north of 100 kids get in every year, and of the hundreds represented on scattergrams from recent years, there are fewer than 10 red Xs above the 4.7 Weighted GPA line (again -- that's for applicants for probably 5 graduating years) -- far fewer red Xs above that line than there are green checks below it. Our scattergrams leaves little doubt that WGPA is most important criteria, followed by scores (tops in both are in sea of green). For sure, a kid with a 4.6 WGPA or below can be a great student, and plenty of those get in as well, but a 4.6 means either several Bs in honors or AP courses, or lots of unweighted classes.
But it's pretty clear that the kids with straight or near straight As in honors/AP/IB classes area almost always getting in.

The cut off will of course vary by school, but Naviance will tell you where it is at your kid's school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please just look at your HS's Naviance for the real scoop on what's generally needed to get into U-MD.

At our Bethesda-area school, well north of 100 kids get in every year, and of the hundreds represented on scattergrams from recent years, there are fewer than 10 red Xs above the 4.7 Weighted GPA line (again -- that's for applicants for probably 5 graduating years) -- far fewer red Xs above that line than there are green checks below it. Our scattergrams leaves little doubt that WGPA is most important criteria, followed by scores (tops in both are in sea of green). For sure, a kid with a 4.6 WGPA or below can be a great student, and plenty of those get in as well, but a 4.6 means either several Bs in honors or AP courses, or lots of unweighted classes.
But it's pretty clear that the kids with straight or near straight As in honors/AP/IB classes area almost always getting in.

The cut off will of course vary by school, but Naviance will tell you where it is at your kid's school

Agree it’s a good data point. Unfortunately can’t tell you who got in test optional though.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:That's a bit absurd to do the FC when they have classes from 3-9 vs. having a normal class schedule. UMD should not be doing that.

No one makes a student participate in FC. All FC students are admitted for spring and can do FC, take courses elsewhere, take off thr fall, or go to another school all together.

And the 3-9 thing is only for one semester. They’re regular students after that.

Can non-FC students also sign up for the FC 3-9pm classes or is it limited to FC students? Are they taught by full professors to the same extent as other classes?

[Anonymous]

I grew up in PG county and went to UMCP in the 90s when it was still relatively easy to get in. I loved Maryland and my college days, but now that I’m seeing this through the eyes of my high schooler, there are so many great schools out there besides Maryland and in areas far nicer than college park. I know ppl want the in-state tuition but I don’t understand the hype about Maryland, especially in this area.

[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.

You can definitely transfer in from MC to the Business school. My niece did it recently

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in PG county and went to UMCP in the 90s when it was still relatively easy to get in. I loved Maryland and my college days, but now that I’m seeing this through the eyes of my high schooler, there are so many great schools out there besides Maryland and in areas far nicer than college park. I know ppl want the in-state tuition but I don’t understand the hype about Maryland, especially in this area.

UMD is now a top ranked public university

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Isn't the reason why UMD rejects students from Moco is because they think moco kids would go somewhere else instead of UMD? Yield rate?

I don't think so. My observation from my county (not MoCo) is UMD attempts to scoop up valedictorians and top ten percent.

In a certain year, I knew of three or four valedictorians who chose UMD. At least one is in honors but I am mot sure that all are.

I’ve also seen evidence they will accept those outside of top ten if student has significant accomplishments, such as national champion.

What about this who are not vals or don't have national championship related to their resume?

Those kids are getting in too. That person is uninformed. Admits are the “top” 20 to 30% of the class from MCPS.

Nope. And if so that is still a high gpa. We know a few kids not admitted to UMD this year. These are kids with 4.2+ gaps, AP/IB classes, good SATs, and no they were not all applying to CS.

According to B-CC’s school profile 40% of graduating seniors have GPAs of 4.51+. I expect they are the only school were a 4.2 is not near the top 20-30% of the class.

At Poolesville it’s 60% at 4.51+. So no BCC is not the only school where you need to likely be 4.7 or higher to be in the top 20%.

The massive grade inflation and grading policies in MCPS makes it harder for top students to distinguish themselves. Grade inflation results in a lot of average students having the same GPA as very strong students. This is good for average students and hurts strong students.

Unpopular opinion- if you really want your strong student to go to UMD you should consider a private without grade inflation and a strict grading policy. Your student will have a better chance of separating themselves from the pack there. Yes, you’ll have to pay for tuition in high school but you’ll probably save money overall if your child gets in state tuition at UMD (compared to oos public or private college tuition).

We aren’t seeing grade inflation. Maybe you are as the rules are different at each school but with UMD they can only take so many students per school so you are better off at the higher end of a bad school than a so called good school. Where you go to college is far more important than hs.

You need to be able to show that you are at the top of your high school class to get into UMD. This is hardest at a good MCPS high school ( lots of average to smart students ) who all have the same GPA.

No reason to believe that's true, whe UMD already publicly declared that they care more about diversity than "top students".

Obviously they want people that UMD courses can serve, so people at the low end of preparation are routed to community college, but there's no reason to prefer the "top" students over the "good" students except for a few had picked for the Honors program.

All the evidence in this thread points to the fact that the top 10 to 20% of each MCPS school is regularly admitted to UMD.

And presumably, the same at private schools. The question is for a certain type of student is it easier (because of grading policies) to prove that you are in the top 20% of your class in a top public or a private school?

No one knows this. My kid got into UMD from a mid-ranked MCPS school. Only 20% in 4.51 plus. Also the ACT/SAT as reported on school profile are quite low.

Not a "top" student but if I had to guess, from grades/SAT/rigor kid probably viewed as top 15%.. Did not consider UMD a likely admit either. We put odds at 50/50.

that tracks with what people have been saying, that UMD will take top 20% of each HS.

DP here and I agree. My kid goes to a lower ranked HS in upcounty. 4.6 weighted GPA, high rigor, great ECs, but went test optional. They got into UMD business and many others. I don't know if she would have had the same outcomes if she attended a highly rated HS. At her school, she's probably top 10%.

[Anonymous]

They need to go back to test scores. The test optional is unfair to kids with higher scores in the 1400s when kids get much lower.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Did you read that some programs are limiting to 100 transfers? Information about colleges can get stale.

This may be true about CS but it definitely is not true across the board. If you have a cumulative 3.6 in all your college work it is an auto admit to the business school. 3-3.6 students are eligible for holistic review for admission to the business school.

Note this must be the GPA for college classes, not HS or AP classes. Heard this directly from business school admissions less than three months ago.

hence, the word "some"

[Anonymous]

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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

DEI for low income students of any race is fine. Solely race based is not. Factors like overcoming hardships makes sense as it shows the commitment and grit a student has to overcome their obstacles.

People who are born on 3rd base have it much easier to achieve high stats. Not so much for people born to low income families, and especially ones where the parents don't speak English or are uneducated.

-Asian American

If kids have overcome these hardships and excelled academically, sure. If not, they are better off in a lower tier school that matches their academic preparation. And I say that as a low income, first gen student who went to Stanford.

But, "excelled" for a kid born on first base is vastly different than "excelled" for a kid born on 3rd base.

And I also say this as a child of immigrants, whose parents didn't speak any English. My kid is an academic superstar btw - magnet program, 4.0, and currently has a 4.0 as a dual STEM major in college. They acknowledged that they were very privileged compared to the way I grew up, and their academic achievements was easier to obtain because we as parents were able to give them a huge leg up. I didn't do as well academically, and they said that if I had had the privileges that they had, I'd have done just as well as them. They have some friends in college who grew up more like I did, and they talk about how they grew up. DC is aware how privileged they are, and how that translated into them being academically advanced.

Lower income kids have to work twice as hard as those who are privileged to achieve the same results. So, if they work as much as a privileged kid, and they end up with a slightly lower GPA/SAT score, to me, such a kid has achieved a lot.

The playing field for low income students, particularly those whose parents didn't don't speak English, is not even.

No, I disagree. "excel" means "excel." If we are talking about a 20 point difference on the SAT (so one missed question), then sure. But no, the resources in elite educational institutions should be matched with kids who are actually prepared to engage them, regardless of background, not used for false social mobility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

DEI for low income students of any race is fine. Solely race based is not. Factors like overcoming hardships makes sense as it shows the commitment and grit a student has to overcome their obstacles.

People who are born on 3rd base have it much easier to achieve high stats. Not so much for people born to low income families, and especially ones where the parents don't speak English or are uneducated.

-Asian American

If kids have overcome these hardships and excelled academically, sure. If not, they are better off in a lower tier school that matches their academic preparation. And I say that as a low income, first gen student who went to Stanford.

But, "excelled" for a kid born on first base is vastly different than "excelled" for a kid born on 3rd base.

And I also say this as a child of immigrants, whose parents didn't speak any English. My kid is an academic superstar btw - magnet program, 4.0, and currently has a 4.0 as a dual STEM major in college. They acknowledged that they were very privileged compared to the way I grew up, and their academic achievements was easier to obtain because we as parents were able to give them a huge leg up. I didn't do as well academically, and they said that if I had had the privileges that they had, I'd have done just as well as them. They have some friends in college who grew up more like I did, and they talk about how they grew up. DC is aware how privileged they are, and how that translated into them being academically advanced.

Lower income kids have to work twice as hard as those who are privileged to achieve the same results. So, if they work as much as a privileged kid, and they end up with a slightly lower GPA/SAT score, to me, such a kid has achieved a lot.

The playing field for low income students, particularly those whose parents didn't don't speak English, is not even.

No, I disagree. "excel" means "excel." If we are talking about a 20 point difference on the SAT (so one missed question), then sure. But no, the resources in elite educational institutions should be matched with kids who are actually prepared to engage them, regardless of background, not used for false social mobility.

The issues is not all hs have the course offerings to achieve. Ours does not. So, smart kids don’t get the opportunities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in PG county and went to UMCP in the 90s when it was still relatively easy to get in. I loved Maryland and my college days, but now that I’m seeing this through the eyes of my high schooler, there are so many great schools out there besides Maryland and in areas far nicer than college park. I know ppl want the in-state tuition but I don’t understand the hype about Maryland, especially in this area.

It’s all about the tuition, which is a lot lower than any other option.


Despite the hype on this board, UMD has a really low yield rate. A lot of kids get in there and go elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please just look at your HS's Naviance for the real scoop on what's generally needed to get into U-MD.

At our Bethesda-area school, well north of 100 kids get in every year, and of the hundreds represented on scattergrams from recent years, there are fewer than 10 red Xs above the 4.7 Weighted GPA line (again -- that's for applicants for probably 5 graduating years) -- far fewer red Xs above that line than there are green checks below it. Our scattergrams leaves little doubt that WGPA is most important criteria, followed by scores (tops in both are in sea of green). For sure, a kid with a 4.6 WGPA or below can be a great student, and plenty of those get in as well, but a 4.6 means either several Bs in honors or AP courses, or lots of unweighted classes.
But it's pretty clear that the kids with straight or near straight As in honors/AP/IB classes area almost always getting in.

The cut off will of course vary by school, but Naviance will tell you where it is at your kid's school

What share of kids at your school have a 4.5+ WGPA?

Also curious what folks from other schools are seeing on Naviance about GPA/WGPA vs admissions at their school, and how it compares to the share of kids at their school with a 4.5+ WGPA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

DEI for low income students of any race is fine. Solely race based is not. Factors like overcoming hardships makes sense as it shows the commitment and grit a student has to overcome their obstacles.

People who are born on 3rd base have it much easier to achieve high stats. Not so much for people born to low income families, and especially ones where the parents don't speak English or are uneducated.

-Asian American

If kids have overcome these hardships and excelled academically, sure. If not, they are better off in a lower tier school that matches their academic preparation. And I say that as a low income, first gen student who went to Stanford.

But, "excelled" for a kid born on first base is vastly different than "excelled" for a kid born on 3rd base.

And I also say this as a child of immigrants, whose parents didn't speak any English. My kid is an academic superstar btw - magnet program, 4.0, and currently has a 4.0 as a dual STEM major in college. They acknowledged that they were very privileged compared to the way I grew up, and their academic achievements was easier to obtain because we as parents were able to give them a huge leg up. I didn't do as well academically, and they said that if I had had the privileges that they had, I'd have done just as well as them. They have some friends in college who grew up more like I did, and they talk about how they grew up. DC is aware how privileged they are, and how that translated into them being academically advanced.

Lower income kids have to work twice as hard as those who are privileged to achieve the same results. So, if they work as much as a privileged kid, and they end up with a slightly lower GPA/SAT score, to me, such a kid has achieved a lot.

The playing field for low income students, particularly those whose parents didn't don't speak English, is not even.

No, I disagree. "excel" means "excel." If we are talking about a 20 point difference on the SAT (so one missed question), then sure. But no, the resources in elite educational institutions should be matched with kids who are actually prepared to engage them, regardless of background, not used for false social mobility.

The issues is not all hs have the course offerings to achieve. Ours does not. So, smart kids don’t get the opportunities.

That's where the SAT is supposed to come in...