My guess is that most of the kids with high stats at UMD are STEM students, and that's why a large % of honors invitees are Stem majors, my own CS/math major kid included. |
| Ton of business kids in honors too, plus I know English and History majors too…. Top scores these past couple years along with high stats, club leaders etc… are not always that helpful. UMD does not want AS MANY MOCO magnet students as they used to, and MOCO students in general. It is more helpful if you come from another MD county. |
Yes, getting FC means you CANNOT get into engineering when you are admitted. It means you must be an internal transfer. GO look at the UMD 2029 Parents Group FB site - Eden Rome Hurley from the admission office has directly confirmed that if you are a spring admit/FC - the engineering school does not even get to school your application. As a spring admit you are automatically put in Letters and Sciences. |
But you have to take the gateway classes first and if you pass the threshold you are an automatic admit. Even as a freshman direct admit you have to pass a certain threshold. If your kid got FC the likelihood of them getting engineering even as a fall admit is very low. It's not the end all be all. They can still take the gateway classes. |
Honors college is not the same as a free ride. There scholarship possibilities, but not guaranteed. I'm just saying that if $$ is the main concern, there are lots of FA options for donut hole families with high stats kids at well-endowed private schools. |
I think UMD PUNISHED TO kids more. My TO kids friends with same or lower GPAs with high standardized scores got in. Same exact GPA and ECs her best friend my kid but she got 35 ACT and my kid did TO. So my kid did not get in. My daughters friend is super nice, but she did take SAT like 4 times and bombed. Then did ACT several times with Prep and tutoring got a 35. So in her case scores helped. UMD should have been clearer how they weight Test scores for SAT and ACT. Some kids may have submitted a lower test score and got peanlized or some kids like my kid did TO and did not realize she should have submitted test. Either way my kid wanted in for bragging rights but was not going to go as she wants to go away to school. But it seems crazy 4.7-4.85 WGPAs from W schools got straight up rejects cause did TO or submitted a test score they should not have. |
That is not High Stats. Most likely squeeked in. Tons of kids those same tats rejected at Churchill. |
Here's the problem: colleges see where your kid is from so they assume your kid has the same access to prep or whatever. Your kid is being compared to kids from their school, and a lot of kids from the W schools score high on ACT/SAT. As someone up thread stated, better to not be in a W cluster. You are just a small fish in a big pond. |
I honestly don't think Honors is about scores -- I think it's about the quality of the teacher recs and the essays (the "holistic" part of the application). My kid did not get Honors despite high scores, but I hold no illusions about DC. Essays and recs probably bore out that DC is not the intellectual type that would thrive in an honors program. |
MCPS high stats is 35 or 1550+, 4.8w+. |
Thank you so much for saying this. Kids may have worked hard and it shows in their scores and GPA but there is so much more to the selection of students at UMD and Honors. I'm grateful to see the breadth of students being given an opportunity to further their education at UMD. |
| Genz living the truth that this entire government agency could've been an email |
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At Churchil 4.65 is a stoner. My kids friend 4.85 with 1,580 was not sure she get in. She did with honors, but scary they so picky she even has to worry. |
Whats your SAT or ACT score? |