UMD admissions - from which grade did your kid prep?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What the title says.

My kid is interested in CS and is in MS now.

What should my kid be doing starting 7th grade to be considered for admissions into UMD CP? Tutoring on the side? Extra curriculars? I'm looking for guidance from people whose kids got admitted.

-Be on highest math and science track
-Take CS APs in high school and score 5s
-Do well on SAT (1500+)
-Do coding competitions (lots online)
-Participate in CS/STEM summer programs (some you may have to pay for, but there are quite a few free ones)
-Join a VEX robotics team and compete
-Join high school robotics team

My kid didn't do any CS/STEM summer programs or extra curriculars. No tutor. Only prep was SAT and AP at home practice tests.

But, they were a magnet student with super high stats, with a lot of AP/IB STEM classes, including IB Java and took MVC in HS.

I don't think UMD cares *that* much about activities. They care about rigor and stats.

Correct.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Calc BC by sophomore year. Multi, linear equations and diff equations by senior year. Also, don't wait for AP Stats but start now at your community college with the goal that you complete the Data Science courses offered.

Take intro to coding at your local community college ASAP, something like Intro to Python, Prgramming Fundamentals, etc.

By senior year, complete the community college's CS sequence. That's why it's important to have Calc BC by sophomore year so that you can take upper level courses like optimisation algorithms, etc.

Get a 1530+ on SAT with 780+ on Math portion.

Do this and you have an okay shot at gaining acceptance.

How does the Math path work from MS to get to Calc BC in sophomore year?

DP.. here's what my kid did:

H Alg 7th
H Geom 8th
H Alg2/Trig 9th
IB Precalc 10th
AP BC Calc 11th
MVC 12th

The AP BC Calc is in Junior year, not Sophomore?

What choice do we have if our MS doesn't offer Honors Algebra?

Your choices in MS are to either just take the most rigorous classes your school offers, or get permission to take H Alg in HS.

IMO, you don't need to take BC calc sophomore year to get get direct admit to UMD CS. Most HS in MCPS don't even have MVC, so your kid is fine with the math path I described above, or even ending up with AP BC cal senior year if your HS doesn't offer anything more. Or, they can take MVC at MoCo college.

I would not worry about not being able to take harder math classes compared to other students from other HS. They will look at your HS and whether you took the most rigorous classes there, and you also want a high AP calc and math SAT score.

[Anonymous]

UMD doesn’t care about ECs. It’s a numbers game. I know this because DD with no real ECs was admitted to a different LEP. CS is crazy hard since they cut the program size. Here’s my take on any school program that is competitive. Do not make decisions based on the belief it will mean admission. Ask yourself if you/your child would regret decisions for course rigor, tutoring and ECs if rejected. Will they regret the sacrifice? There is a greater chance that you check all the boxes and don’t get in than that you do. Do not, I beg you, put the extra pressure on your child. Make sure they want this for themselves. It’s hard to imagine most kids won’t change their area of interest between middle school and college. My finance major at UMD wanted engineering until senior year of HS.

CS isn’t all that rosy these days. CS majors at UMD like many schools are struggling to find internships and jobs. The market has been saturated. And the classes are very difficult even for strong students. So don’t push for CS unless this is what your child has said in their own words they want.

[Anonymous]

#1 tip for UMD is don't blindly chase CS direct admit. UMD has dozens of majors

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:#1 tip for UMD is don't blindly chase CS direct admit. UMD has dozens of majors

UMD has indicated that all applicants who choose CS majors MUST have a backup major in case they don't get in, which is highly likely given how tough it is to get in.

[Anonymous]

My advice would be to never do anything just for the sake of college admissions. And especially not starting to think about this in 7th grade.

My kid is CS major at UMD now and went through the SMCS magnet in MCPS. I think taking the most rigorous STEM classes, good SAT/ACT, AP scores are likely he most important things for admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My advice would be to never do anything just for the sake of college admissions. And especially not starting to think about this in 7th grade.

My kid is CS major at UMD now and went through the SMCS magnet in MCPS. I think taking the most rigorous STEM classes, good SAT/ACT, AP scores are likely he most important things for admissions.

The advice you get depends on the student. There is an industry of college consultants (and their clients) with whom you will be competing. 7th grade is not too early to think about college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem with getting into UMD CS is that it recently capped the number of CS students to something like 600 freshmen. It also is incredibly hard to transfer into the program from another major. So it's relatively easy to get into UMD, but exceedingly difficult to major in CS.

For fall of 2024, UMD capped direct CS admission to 600. Previous years it was 450. The biggest change is transfers into the program going from 1,000 to 100. https://dbknews.com/2023/12/06/umd-computer-science-transfer/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My advice would be to never do anything just for the sake of college admissions. And especially not starting to think about this in 7th grade.

My kid is CS major at UMD now and went through the SMCS magnet in MCPS. I think taking the most rigorous STEM classes, good SAT/ACT, AP scores are likely he most important things for admissions.

The advice you get depends on the student. There is an industry of college consultants (and their clients) with whom you will be competing. 7th grade is not too early to think about college.

I did not say to not think about college. Kids should be doing things because they are interested in them. Encourage their interests not say "oh you need to do this so you can get into UMD CS".

[Anonymous]

DD: She was identified as gifted at age 3. Lots of great opportunities.

DS: did nothing exceptional to prepare until Grade 9.

[Anonymous]

For UMD CS, just doing the basic is enough
Good grade and test score, take AP CS, calc BC
Nothing over the top needed.
DD was offered merit (5k every year + honors college) with just the above

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For UMD CS, just doing the basic is enough
Good grade and test score, take AP CS, calc BC
Nothing over the top needed.
DD was offered merit (5k every year + honors college) with just the above

Is merit something the kid has to apply for like a scholarship or is that different? Do HS counselors guide you regarding the available opportunities?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For UMD CS, just doing the basic is enough
Good grade and test score, take AP CS, calc BC
Nothing over the top needed.
DD was offered merit (5k every year + honors college) with just the above

Is this true? So UMD CS is easy to get in so long as you took Calc BC and took an AP CS class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For UMD CS, just doing the basic is enough
Good grade and test score, take AP CS, calc BC
Nothing over the top needed.
DD was offered merit (5k every year + honors college) with just the above

Is this true? So UMD CS is easy to get in so long as you took Calc BC and took an AP CS class?

No, plenty of people like that are rejected. It can be a bit of a lottery. Even Blair magnet students do not all get in, and they go so much higher in math than that and have lots of CS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My advice would be to never do anything just for the sake of college admissions. And especially not starting to think about this in 7th grade.

My kid is CS major at UMD now and went through the SMCS magnet in MCPS. I think taking the most rigorous STEM classes, good SAT/ACT, AP scores are likely he most important things for admissions.

The advice you get depends on the student. There is an industry of college consultants (and their clients) with whom you will be competing. 7th grade is not too early to think about college.

Those consultants are destroying the reputations of the colleges with AOs that get fooled by consultants. It's not good to send your kids to college with those fake kids.