Sorry for the rejection but that explains it. There were many other UMD applicants from Blair who took much more rigorous AP courses & exams including AP Calc BC, AP physics C, AP English lit, AP US History, AP Chemistry, etc., while your student applied with just an SAT score and high weighted GPA that was built with less rigor honors courses. |
Blair magnet isn’t an AP program. The most rigorous courses are more in depth than AP. |
I wonder what his class rank was. I teach in a MD public high school and have DCs who have/will apply to UMD. In the past few years, UMD only seems to accept the top 10%. |
PP, tell the counselors not to encourage SMCS students to take Hon English or History classes. SMCS alone isn’t a free ticket to UMD when others in the same school (and the same program) are maxing out their APs and flexing their well-roundedness. When our kid started CAP, the counselors were pushing AP Physics on the CAP 9th graders. I’m glad my CAP kid took that class and AP Calc AB. It made them all the more competitive against the high achievers at Blair. |
Not PP but you don’t understand. This kid will have had all the rigorous magnet courses which go beyond AP and May have taken AP exams too (without taking the course, like any Blair magnet student - none of them take the course for AP calc, for example). uMD is very familiar with this program and considers it appropriately - as beyond AP. There is no AP quantum physics, for example. Or marine biology, |
Class rank? I thought MCPS high schools only reveal top 5% and that is only at graduation. I don’t think that information is reported to colleges at the time of application. |
Sigh. You have to take hon English. There’s no other option in MCPS until later. |
MCPS doesn’t calculate class rank! |
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Admitted Fall 2024
OOS Government and Politics Major 3.9 W TO |
That’s the issue: 4.73 whoa is actually very low for Blair SMCS: https://old.mbhs.edu/departments/magnet/ParentResources/MagnetProfile.pdf It’s the bottom 15% of students in the program, which you wouldn’t know from the regular school profile and I have always wondered why Mr O puts additional breakdowns on the smcs profile. |
This! Although I will say my husbands takeaway was also “now we know what to do with DC2” but I disagree. You can do all the things and still not get in. If you don’t have a naturally driven DC (our kids do well but they’re not superstars) it’s not worth pushing it when you can still end up rejected. |
Not at all, lol. College Park was never on our list because it's an ugly, provincial place. It honestly just makes me sad, with so many excellent colleges out there that so many of you have such a small window for "success" for your kids. You only want them to have one of two or three majors, you only want them to stay in this area, you only want them to work for a limited number of government-subsidized local companies or agencies. Your kids have so much potential, and this is all you can see. |
What the hell is wrong with you? This happened to more than one highly-qualified kid at Blair. It's a numbers game. It's upsetting enough without your false insinuations. |
You have so much entitlement. For some of us instate is THE ONLY option. |
Really? Because with merit aid private colleges are actually cheaper for us. I don't think we can afford to send DC to instate--to either UMBC or St Mary's. |