UMD College Park Acceptance Rates for MCPS Students

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you really want to blow your mind, look at the average stats for admitted students:

- Weighted GPA = 4.47
- Midpoint SAT = 1445
- Midpoint ACT = 33

Also, on the 2021 common data set (I believe this is an unweighted GPA) 85% of kids have a 4.0.

Finally, there is the honors college where on an information session, they said the average GPA was 4.65, middle ACT 1480-1560, and ACT 34.35. Mind-blowing.

Man, at first blush I was gonna say that grade inflation is real, but you can’t grade inflate your way to those median SAT scores.

It just goes to show that more kids than ever are smarter and getting good grades so just being smart alone and doing well in school and on test’s isn’t enough to stand out when applying for colleges.

No, it shows that very few kids are submitting test scores now and the only ones who do have good scores. What a shock! It means that the mediocre kids are hiding behind their inflated GPAs.

+1 that's the problem with TO, and grade inflation in MCPS (and other school districts).

Yes. We have been advised to not submit scores unless they are 1450+

Which is NUTS

[Anonymous]

If you haven't played around with the UMD dashboard, there's interesting stuff to find.
https://www.usmd.edu/IRIS/?view=UMCP

When you look at enrollment by county, MoCo makes up 40% of the enrollment, despite having only ~17% of the population of Maryland.
https://reports.umd.edu/tableaupublic/1824

Best quote from an AO - "It's not the University of Montgomery County, it's the University of Maryland".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you really want to blow your mind, look at the average stats for admitted students:

- Weighted GPA = 4.47
- Midpoint SAT = 1445
- Midpoint ACT = 33

Also, on the 2021 common data set (I believe this is an unweighted GPA) 85% of kids have a 4.0.

Finally, there is the honors college where on an information session, they said the average GPA was 4.65, middle ACT 1480-1560, and ACT 34.35. Mind-blowing.

Man, at first blush I was gonna say that grade inflation is real, but you can’t grade inflate your way to those median SAT scores.

It just goes to show that more kids than ever are smarter and getting good grades so just being smart alone and doing well in school and on test’s isn’t enough to stand out when applying for colleges.

No, it shows that very few kids are submitting test scores now and the only ones who do have good scores. What a shock! It means that the mediocre kids are hiding behind their inflated GPAs.

+1 that's the problem with TO, and grade inflation in MCPS (and other school districts).

Yes. We have been advised to not submit scores unless they are 1450+

Which is NUTS

Truly. And if everyone has 4.0 then comes down to the course load, activities, recommendations, and essays? Half of that is all subjective. I am a fan of objective (tests) myself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you haven't played around with the UMD dashboard, there's interesting stuff to find.
https://www.usmd.edu/IRIS/?view=UMCP

When you look at enrollment by county, MoCo makes up 40% of the enrollment, despite having only ~17% of the population of Maryland.
https://reports.umd.edu/tableaupublic/1824

Best quote from an AO - "It's not the University of Montgomery County, it's the University of Maryland".

Which tells you that MCPS is an excellent public school system compared to others, in spite of all the things we like to complain about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you really want to blow your mind, look at the average stats for admitted students:

- Weighted GPA = 4.47
- Midpoint SAT = 1445
- Midpoint ACT = 33

Also, on the 2021 common data set (I believe this is an unweighted GPA) 85% of kids have a 4.0.

Finally, there is the honors college where on an information session, they said the average GPA was 4.65, middle ACT 1480-1560, and ACT 34.35. Mind-blowing.

Honors college at UMD is a complete waste of time and helps zero in getting a job. My daughter was there and graduated 2 years ago. No one cared on her resume or in interviews.

Are there other benefits to honors college like social? I've looked at the choices and don't find it all that compelling and unless there's some reason would advise my kids to follow their interests instead of creating these additional hoops even if they qualify. If you are offered something like BK do you have to participate to get the scholarship?

My kid is a current freshman at UMD CP in Honors College (Honors Humanities).

The social benefits are real. Most of the honors colleges are living/learning communities so the students are living with a bunch of other kids that are generally interested in some of the same things (even when their majors can be wildly divergent, which is fun). It helps build comaraderie right away. My kid found a core group of friends in her first week there and that has been HUGE!

Honors Colleges often (possibly always?) determine dorm assignments. So Honors Humanities is in Anne Arundel and Queen Anne's Halls -- older but centrally located dorms with air conditioning. One of the better options out there. I think I remember her talking about University Honors being in some really nice new dorms. Worth checking out.

The cohort of the dorms tends to be a little more academically minded. I always thought the best part of my kids' experiences in MCPS magnet programs was getting a good cohort of kids. My kid is social sometimes, but isn't in school just to have parties all the time, so this was good for her.

I will say, the quality of the honors college specific courses, at least for Honors Humanities has been somewhat disappointing so far. Maybe my kid just already got a lot of this material at Blair CAP??? But according to her reports there is a decent amount of busy work and then a big sort of independent study project (capstone) in the classes which makes for weird sort of split-personality vibe to the classes. One upshot of this is the kids can bond over complaining about graded Kahoots! Anyway, the specific Honors Humanities classes have been my kids least favorite classes so far, but one should bear in mind that her classes for her major have been SO exciting and interesting for her that this might have colored her judgement!


On the subject of acceptance rates. My kid says she has run into a decent number of kids from New Jersey. I don't know if some guidance counselors from that state have just picked UMD to recommend to their students, but it seems enough to have stuck out to her. Familiar refrain she's heard... "It wasn't as if I was going to go to Rutgers!" which puzzled her since she hadn't heard that it was some notoriously awful school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you really want to blow your mind, look at the average stats for admitted students:

- Weighted GPA = 4.47
- Midpoint SAT = 1445
- Midpoint ACT = 33

Also, on the 2021 common data set (I believe this is an unweighted GPA) 85% of kids have a 4.0.

Finally, there is the honors college where on an information session, they said the average GPA was 4.65, middle ACT 1480-1560, and ACT 34.35. Mind-blowing.

Honors college at UMD is a complete waste of time and helps zero in getting a job. My daughter was there and graduated 2 years ago. No one cared on her resume or in interviews.

Are there other benefits to honors college like social? I've looked at the choices and don't find it all that compelling and unless there's some reason would advise my kids to follow their interests instead of creating these additional hoops even if they qualify. If you are offered something like BK do you have to participate to get the scholarship?

My kid is a current freshman at UMD CP in Honors College (Honors Humanities).

The social benefits are real. Most of the honors colleges are living/learning communities so the students are living with a bunch of other kids that are generally interested in some of the same things (even when their majors can be wildly divergent, which is fun). It helps build comaraderie right away. My kid found a core group of friends in her first week there and that has been HUGE!

Honors Colleges often (possibly always?) determine dorm assignments. So Honors Humanities is in Anne Arundel and Queen Anne's Halls -- older but centrally located dorms with air conditioning. One of the better options out there. I think I remember her talking about University Honors being in some really nice new dorms. Worth checking out.

The cohort of the dorms tends to be a little more academically minded. I always thought the best part of my kids' experiences in MCPS magnet programs was getting a good cohort of kids. My kid is social sometimes, but isn't in school just to have parties all the time, so this was good for her.

I will say, the quality of the honors college specific courses, at least for Honors Humanities has been somewhat disappointing so far. Maybe my kid just already got a lot of this material at Blair CAP??? But according to her reports there is a decent amount of busy work and then a big sort of independent study project (capstone) in the classes which makes for weird sort of split-personality vibe to the classes. One upshot of this is the kids can bond over complaining about graded Kahoots! Anyway, the specific Honors Humanities classes have been my kids least favorite classes so far, but one should bear in mind that her classes for her major have been SO exciting and interesting for her that this might have colored her judgement!


On the subject of acceptance rates. My kid says she has run into a decent number of kids from New Jersey. I don't know if some guidance counselors from that state have just picked UMD to recommend to their students, but it seems enough to have stuck out to her. Familiar refrain she's heard... "It wasn't as if I was going to go to Rutgers!" which puzzled her since she hadn't heard that it was some notoriously awful school.

UMD has always drawn a very large population of NJ applicants. That was two when I went there 20 years ago so not surprised to hear that hasn't changed.

You'd be surprised to learn how much UMD is a dream school for many NJ high schoolers! Not sure why, but it is. Probably cause it's far enough away from home without being too far away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you haven't played around with the UMD dashboard, there's interesting stuff to find.
https://www.usmd.edu/IRIS/?view=UMCP

When you look at enrollment by county, MoCo makes up 40% of the enrollment, despite having only ~17% of the population of Maryland.
https://reports.umd.edu/tableaupublic/1824

Best quote from an AO - "It's not the University of Montgomery County, it's the University of Maryland".

very interesting.

Slightly more males than females. Maybe it's because it's a more STEM focused school? Lots of STEM heavy majors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you really want to blow your mind, look at the average stats for admitted students:

- Weighted GPA = 4.47
- Midpoint SAT = 1445
- Midpoint ACT = 33

Also, on the 2021 common data set (I believe this is an unweighted GPA) 85% of kids have a 4.0.

Finally, there is the honors college where on an information session, they said the average GPA was 4.65, middle ACT 1480-1560, and ACT 34.35. Mind-blowing.

Honors college at UMD is a complete waste of time and helps zero in getting a job. My daughter was there and graduated 2 years ago. No one cared on her resume or in interviews.

Are there other benefits to honors college like social? I've looked at the choices and don't find it all that compelling and unless there's some reason would advise my kids to follow their interests instead of creating these additional hoops even if they qualify. If you are offered something like BK do you have to participate to get the scholarship?

My kid is a current freshman at UMD CP in Honors College (Honors Humanities).

The social benefits are real. Most of the honors colleges are living/learning communities so the students are living with a bunch of other kids that are generally interested in some of the same things (even when their majors can be wildly divergent, which is fun). It helps build comaraderie right away. My kid found a core group of friends in her first week there and that has been HUGE!

Honors Colleges often (possibly always?) determine dorm assignments. So Honors Humanities is in Anne Arundel and Queen Anne's Halls -- older but centrally located dorms with air conditioning. One of the better options out there. I think I remember her talking about University Honors being in some really nice new dorms. Worth checking out.

The cohort of the dorms tends to be a little more academically minded. I always thought the best part of my kids' experiences in MCPS magnet programs was getting a good cohort of kids. My kid is social sometimes, but isn't in school just to have parties all the time, so this was good for her.

I will say, the quality of the honors college specific courses, at least for Honors Humanities has been somewhat disappointing so far. Maybe my kid just already got a lot of this material at Blair CAP??? But according to her reports there is a decent amount of busy work and then a big sort of independent study project (capstone) in the classes which makes for weird sort of split-personality vibe to the classes. One upshot of this is the kids can bond over complaining about graded Kahoots! Anyway, the specific Honors Humanities classes have been my kids least favorite classes so far, but one should bear in mind that her classes for her major have been SO exciting and interesting for her that this might have colored her judgement!


On the subject of acceptance rates. My kid says she has run into a decent number of kids from New Jersey. I don't know if some guidance counselors from that state have just picked UMD to recommend to their students, but it seems enough to have stuck out to her. Familiar refrain she's heard... "It wasn't as if I was going to go to Rutgers!" which puzzled her since she hadn't heard that it was some notoriously awful school.

UMD has always drawn a very large population of NJ applicants. That was two when I went there 20 years ago so not surprised to hear that hasn't changed.

You'd be surprised to learn how much UMD is a dream school for many NJ high schoolers! Not sure why, but it is. Probably cause it's far enough away from home without being too far away.

absolutely true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you haven't played around with the UMD dashboard, there's interesting stuff to find.
https://www.usmd.edu/IRIS/?view=UMCP

When you look at enrollment by county, MoCo makes up 40% of the enrollment, despite having only ~17% of the population of Maryland.
https://reports.umd.edu/tableaupublic/1824

Best quote from an AO - "It's not the University of Montgomery County, it's the University of Maryland".

Which tells you that MCPS is an excellent public school system compared to others, in spite of all the things we like to complain about.

What it really tells you is that Montgomery county has a lot of smart well educated parents who tend to have smart kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you haven't played around with the UMD dashboard, there's interesting stuff to find.
https://www.usmd.edu/IRIS/?view=UMCP

When you look at enrollment by county, MoCo makes up 40% of the enrollment, despite having only ~17% of the population of Maryland.
https://reports.umd.edu/tableaupublic/1824

Best quote from an AO - "It's not the University of Montgomery County, it's the University of Maryland".

Which tells you that MCPS is an excellent public school system compared to others, in spite of all the things we like to complain about.

What it really tells you is that Montgomery county has a lot of smart well educated parents who tend to have smart kids.

What it really tells you is that Montgomery county has a lot of smart well educated parents who tend to encourage their kids to do well in school.

There. Fixed it for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you haven't played around with the UMD dashboard, there's interesting stuff to find.
https://www.usmd.edu/IRIS/?view=UMCP

When you look at enrollment by county, MoCo makes up 40% of the enrollment, despite having only ~17% of the population of Maryland.
https://reports.umd.edu/tableaupublic/1824

Best quote from an AO - "It's not the University of Montgomery County, it's the University of Maryland".

Which tells you that MCPS is an excellent public school system compared to others, in spite of all the things we like to complain about.

What it really tells you is that Montgomery county has a lot of smart well educated parents who tend to have smart kids.

Yes, and those parents vote, pay taxes and pressure schools to do a decent job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
UMD has always drawn a very large population of NJ applicants. That was two when I went there 20 years ago so not surprised to hear that hasn't changed.

You'd be surprised to learn how much UMD is a dream school for many NJ high schoolers! Not sure why, but it is. Probably cause it's far enough away from home without being too far away.

Just like Montgomery County kids at Penn State, I suppose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you haven't played around with the UMD dashboard, there's interesting stuff to find.
https://www.usmd.edu/IRIS/?view=UMCP

When you look at enrollment by county, MoCo makes up 40% of the enrollment, despite having only ~17% of the population of Maryland.
https://reports.umd.edu/tableaupublic/1824

Best quote from an AO - "It's not the University of Montgomery County, it's the University of Maryland".

Which tells you that MCPS is an excellent public school system compared to others, in spite of all the things we like to complain about.

What it really tells you is that Montgomery county has a lot of smart well educated parents who tend to have smart kids.

What it really tells you is that Montgomery county has a lot of smart well educated parents who tend to encourage their kids to do well in school.

There. Fixed it for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you haven't played around with the UMD dashboard, there's interesting stuff to find.
https://www.usmd.edu/IRIS/?view=UMCP

When you look at enrollment by county, MoCo makes up 40% of the enrollment, despite having only ~17% of the population of Maryland.
https://reports.umd.edu/tableaupublic/1824

Best quote from an AO - "It's not the University of Montgomery County, it's the University of Maryland".

Which tells you that MCPS is an excellent public school system compared to others, in spite of all the things we like to complain about.

What it really tells you is that Montgomery county has a lot of smart well educated parents who tend to have smart kids.

If you have that much disdain for Montgomery County, why don't you go somewhere else?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you really want to blow your mind, look at the average stats for admitted students:

- Weighted GPA = 4.47
- Midpoint SAT = 1445
- Midpoint ACT = 33

Also, on the 2021 common data set (I believe this is an unweighted GPA) 85% of kids have a 4.0.

Finally, there is the honors college where on an information session, they said the average GPA was 4.65, middle ACT 1480-1560, and ACT 34.35. Mind-blowing.

Honors college at UMD is a complete waste of time and helps zero in getting a job. My daughter was there and graduated 2 years ago. No one cared on her resume or in interviews.

Are there other benefits to honors college like social? I've looked at the choices and don't find it all that compelling and unless there's some reason would advise my kids to follow their interests instead of creating these additional hoops even if they qualify. If you are offered something like BK do you have to participate to get the scholarship?

My kid is a current freshman at UMD CP in Honors College (Honors Humanities).

The social benefits are real. Most of the honors colleges are living/learning communities so the students are living with a bunch of other kids that are generally interested in some of the same things (even when their majors can be wildly divergent, which is fun). It helps build comaraderie right away. My kid found a core group of friends in her first week there and that has been HUGE!

Honors Colleges often (possibly always?) determine dorm assignments. So Honors Humanities is in Anne Arundel and Queen Anne's Halls -- older but centrally located dorms with air conditioning. One of the better options out there. I think I remember her talking about University Honors being in some really nice new dorms. Worth checking out.

The cohort of the dorms tends to be a little more academically minded. I always thought the best part of my kids' experiences in MCPS magnet programs was getting a good cohort of kids. My kid is social sometimes, but isn't in school just to have parties all the time, so this was good for her.

I will say, the quality of the honors college specific courses, at least for Honors Humanities has been somewhat disappointing so far. Maybe my kid just already got a lot of this material at Blair CAP??? But according to her reports there is a decent amount of busy work and then a big sort of independent study project (capstone) in the classes which makes for weird sort of split-personality vibe to the classes. One upshot of this is the kids can bond over complaining about graded Kahoots! Anyway, the specific Honors Humanities classes have been my kids least favorite classes so far, but one should bear in mind that her classes for her major have been SO exciting and interesting for her that this might have colored her judgement!


On the subject of acceptance rates. My kid says she has run into a decent number of kids from New Jersey. I don't know if some guidance counselors from that state have just picked UMD to recommend to their students, but it seems enough to have stuck out to her. Familiar refrain she's heard... "It wasn't as if I was going to go to Rutgers!" which puzzled her since she hadn't heard that it was some notoriously awful school.

UMD has always drawn a very large population of NJ applicants. That was two when I went there 20 years ago so not surprised to hear that hasn't changed.

You'd be surprised to learn how much UMD is a dream school for many NJ high schoolers! Not sure why, but it is. Probably cause it's far enough away from home without being too far away.

absolutely true.

Wonder if it's like UPitt for MCPS students.

My niece went to Rutgers in New Brunswick. It's super spreadout.