UMD College Park Results thread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rejected. 1440 SAT. 4.2 WGPA. Full IB diploma.

Total BS!

UMD admission comm has a deep knowledge of area public schools.

It depends on what major the candidate above applied to.

UMD is hard to get in some of the majors. Especially CS. Howard and Montgomery county schools are full of super high performing students and there are huge benefits of getting into UMD for the hard sciences at least.

DP... not to be mean, but for an IB student, 1440 and 4.2 WGPA are not very high stats. I would expect better numbers. But, yes, major also matters.

[Anonymous]

UMD is getting and swooping up the best brains in MD as in-state students. And why not? UMD (and very rapidly UMBC) are becoming a powerhouse because this area has high SES and very educated community. They also benefit from its proximity to DMV and the various federal and other organizations that offer very impressive internships.

They are not just picking up magnet kids from MCPS. They are picking up the best students from other MD schools too. MCPS does not have a monopoly on the best brains. Here is one non-MCPS student who is going places. What caliber of student is he? An MIT, Harvard caliber student who was well served in UMD. This is who is going to UMD ...

https://cmns.umd.edu/news-events/features/4751

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
UMD is getting and swooping up the best brains in MD as in-state students. And why not? UMD (and very rapidly UMBC) are becoming a powerhouse because this area has high SES and very educated community. They also benefit from its proximity to DMV and the various federal and other organizations that offer very impressive internships.

They are not just picking up magnet kids from MCPS. They are picking up the best students from other MD schools too. MCPS does not have a monopoly on the best brains. Here is one non-MCPS student who is going places. What caliber of student is he? An MIT, Harvard caliber student who was well served in UMD. This is who is going to UMD ...

https://cmns.umd.edu/news-events/features/4751

All schools feature their star students...but it does not mean that the school is the reason that kid got the award.

TBH, I am seeing this now with my own child. She has won several national awards/high profile internships. It is all over her school's social media. That is fine, but she won those things because of her initiative and hard work. Faculty were generous with writing recommendations, but other than that, my kid did it all on their own. This is why schools give merit aid to strong applicants. They are hoping that the student will bring honor to the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spring Admission - In state - 32 ACT and 3.8 UW with 7 APs. Internship, sports. Very dissapointed. Trying to decide what to do now.

Congrats! Why disappointed Spring is still a yes just a semester late

There’s a good study abroad program for fall that is for Freshman Spring Admits and Freshman Connection students. That’s one option.

Another is community college in fall then transfer the credits.

A job or internship in area of interest is another way to fill the gap.

+1. If this is your child’s first choice and they want to be on campus in the fall, make sure you enroll in Freshman Connections (FC) after accepting the spring semester admission. Looking online, it looks like March 1st is when the FC form opens. The fact that there is an option to still be on campus in the fall IMO, makes a spring admit easier if the concern is that you don’t start with everyone else. There are some nuances to the FC program - classes are between 3pm-9pm M-Thu and 8-5pm on Friday and get a later registration priority in the spring of that year but the FC classes are smaller and after that semester, it’s the same class schedule as everyone else.

I can see why this might be the best available option for a student....but I don't really appreciate the mindset it suggests. Cramming the bright-eyed new students into a schedule that is convenient for the school. Not really student-centered, more of a business mentality.

It’s optional. Your child is free to start in the spring or choose to go to another institution where they have a fall acceptance. Having a spring admit/January start admission offer isn’t exclusive to just UMD. Offering a pathway to still be on campus in the fall for spring admit is less common. Of course it has to make business sense for UMD to offer it - otherwise why would they do it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
UMD is getting and swooping up the best brains in MD as in-state students. And why not? UMD (and very rapidly UMBC) are becoming a powerhouse because this area has high SES and very educated community. They also benefit from its proximity to DMV and the various federal and other organizations that offer very impressive internships.

They are not just picking up magnet kids from MCPS. They are picking up the best students from other MD schools too. MCPS does not have a monopoly on the best brains. Here is one non-MCPS student who is going places. What caliber of student is he? An MIT, Harvard caliber student who was well served in UMD. This is who is going to UMD ...

https://cmns.umd.edu/news-events/features/4751

I’ve never seen or heard anyone argue there aren’t great minds outside of MoCo. They’re just disproportionately concentrated there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rejected. 1440 SAT. 4.2 WGPA. Full IB diploma.

Total BS!

UMD admission comm has a deep knowledge of area public schools.

It depends on what major the candidate above applied to.

UMD is hard to get in some of the majors. Especially CS. Howard and Montgomery county schools are full of super high performing students and there are huge benefits of getting into UMD for the hard sciences at least.

DP... not to be mean, but for an IB student, 1440 and 4.2 WGPA are not very high stats. I would expect better numbers. But, yes, major also matters.

I'm not the person you're responding to, but you are childish. 1440 is 97th percentile on the SATs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rejected. 1440 SAT. 4.2 WGPA. Full IB diploma.

Total BS!

UMD admission comm has a deep knowledge of area public schools.

It depends on what major the candidate above applied to.

UMD is hard to get in some of the majors. Especially CS. Howard and Montgomery county schools are full of super high performing students and there are huge benefits of getting into UMD for the hard sciences at least.

DP... not to be mean, but for an IB student, 1440 and 4.2 WGPA are not very high stats. I would expect better numbers. But, yes, major also matters.

IB is an extremely hard program and many great students will see a dip in grades. In fact, I am always shocked that MCPS institutes IB in the lowest performing schools in the hopes that kids will magically become high performers. It is a great disservice.

I don't think many parents and students understand what they are signing up for. Unless you are a very well prepared student who has been enriched and accelerated and has the wherewithal and knowledge to create a scaffolding of academic support - this is a grade-killer.

There was a reason the RMIB did well in the past. It was a program dedicated to high performing students to begin with and the admission criteria was also tough and race blind.

Another bitter truth is that IB curriculum and course requirements does not jive with the college admissions process and requirement. In that sense, even hard programs like Blair SMACS and PHS SMCS, prepares students for competitive colleges due to their curriculum, internship, internships and AP offerings.

I think IB students should at least get a 1 point GPA jump and a 100 points SAT jump by college admission comm.

- My two cents

[Anonymous]

I was listening to a former admissions officer and dean saying that a full IB program is a bit better regarded in private admissions than AP. I’m guessing UMD doesn’t parse things as finely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if this will prove to be a mistake by umdcp - rejecting very strong MCPS candidates who would have likely attended. The tippy top may be more likely to go elsewhere. Or not - I don’t know these days. Scores have definitely been rising the past couple of years. It’ll be interesting to see.

Average SAT scores at UMD have definitely risen over the past decade. Selectivity has decreased every year as well. It used to be seen as a party school. I don't think that is as accurate any longer.

Many tippy top ARE attending UMD at least among my neighbors. Cost is big factor. If you aren’t qualifying for much or any need based aid, even if you do crack the code on acceptance to a T20, is it worth almost 80K a year X 4 years, by how many kids you have to put through college … especially if your kid wants to be an engineer or STEM field where the outcome would likely be the same no matter the school? Where they can get merit, the school may not be as strong as UMD for that field so financially it wouldn’t make sense to pick the other school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, just wow. Good for UMD. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since Maryland consistent tops the league tables for high school academic achievement. For example, Maryland had the highest PSAT threshold this year, higher than California and New York.

Wow. We should have moved to Alabama before kid took the PSAT! Lol!!

yea, I was joking about this with a neighbor. Did we screw our kids by moving into a high performing school? Big fish, little pond and all that.

Definitely! Folks need rethink privates if it’s primarily for admissions. Same percentages from top MCPS HS and Big 3 into great and good schools! The privates marketing and sales departments are feeding you a lie. Why did privates eliminate AP courses around the same time studies pointed to better success on AP exams then privates…hmmmm. Save your money and use that account as your “scholarship fund”

Huh? We were talking about whether we made a mistake sending them to RIMB.

[Anonymous]

I know kids that turned down Ivies to attend Maryland state schools. A full ride at state was way better than a half ride at Ivy. Ivy is for wealthy, wealthy most of the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rejected. 1440 SAT. 4.2 WGPA. Full IB diploma.

Total BS!

UMD admission comm has a deep knowledge of area public schools.

It depends on what major the candidate above applied to.

UMD is hard to get in some of the majors. Especially CS. Howard and Montgomery county schools are full of super high performing students and there are huge benefits of getting into UMD for the hard sciences at least.

DP... not to be mean, but for an IB student, 1440 and 4.2 WGPA are not very high stats. I would expect better numbers. But, yes, major also matters.

IB is an extremely hard program and many great students will see a dip in grades. In fact, I am always shocked that MCPS institutes IB in the lowest performing schools in the hopes that kids will magically become high performers. It is a great disservice.

I don't think many parents and students understand what they are signing up for. Unless you are a very well prepared student who has been enriched and accelerated and has the wherewithal and knowledge to create a scaffolding of academic support - this is a grade-killer.

There was a reason the RMIB did well in the past. It was a program dedicated to high performing students to begin with and the admission criteria was also tough and race blind.

Another bitter truth is that IB curriculum and course requirements does not jive with the college admissions process and requirement. In that sense, even hard programs like Blair SMACS and PHS SMCS, prepares students for competitive colleges due to their curriculum, internship, internships and AP offerings.

I think IB students should at least get a 1 point GPA jump and a 100 points SAT jump by college admission comm.

- My two cents

It is recognized as a very rigorous education, and kids receive "points" in the eyes of any school or employer familiar with the process. No weak performer should take it on. But the idea of giving literal extra points to someone who went into it with their eyes open is silly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These reports scare me. My straight A junior daughter is taking a few AP classes but not the most rigorous course load. Her PSAT this fall was 1280. I hoped UMD would be a match school for her, but looking at these stats, I’m thinking reach?

It’s gonna be a reach.

Do you think it helps or hurts to be at a PGCPS school? Are most of these posters reporting Montgomery County students?

Although I don't know, my guess is that UMD wants a variety of kids from around the state. Eventually, taxpayers would complain if UMD was choosing all or mostly from just one affluent area.

From my personal observation, they seem to accept a lot of kids from ERHS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rejected. 1440 SAT. 4.2 WGPA. Full IB diploma.

Total BS!

UMD admission comm has a deep knowledge of area public schools.

It depends on what major the candidate above applied to.

UMD is hard to get in some of the majors. Especially CS. Howard and Montgomery county schools are full of super high performing students and there are huge benefits of getting into UMD for the hard sciences at least.

DP... not to be mean, but for an IB student, 1440 and 4.2 WGPA are not very high stats. I would expect better numbers. But, yes, major also matters.

IB is an extremely hard program and many great students will see a dip in grades. In fact, I am always shocked that MCPS institutes IB in the lowest performing schools in the hopes that kids will magically become high performers. It is a great disservice.

I don't think many parents and students understand what they are signing up for. Unless you are a very well prepared student who has been enriched and accelerated and has the wherewithal and knowledge to create a scaffolding of academic support - this is a grade-killer.

There was a reason the RMIB did well in the past. It was a program dedicated to high performing students to begin with and the admission criteria was also tough and race blind.

Another bitter truth is that IB curriculum and course requirements does not jive with the college admissions process and requirement. In that sense, even hard programs like Blair SMACS and PHS SMCS, prepares students for competitive colleges due to their curriculum, internship, internships and AP offerings.

I think IB students should at least get a 1 point GPA jump and a 100 points SAT jump by college admission comm.

- My two cents

Those programs were NOT located in low performing schools with the thought that they would bring up the academic performance of the kids already there. The idea was that they would attract VERY high performing kids into the environment, as a form of integration. I am not sure it worked though, because I am not sure how much the kids in the honor type program mix with the school's general population.

[Anonymous]

It looks to me like if you didn't come close to cracking 1500 on the SAT or 35 on the ACT, it's better to go test optional. I wonder what percentage of students study humanities vs. business, engineering or hard sciences.