UMD - Spring Admission

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is extremely insulting.

Insulting is the high stats kids being denied any kind of acceptance at all.
My kid will probably not be admitted because of the high school they are graduating from. But same stats graduated from a different county they probably would be in. As a MD grad, I am insulted. We’d jump at a FC offer!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My OOS pretty high stats kid got it and I’m not at all bothered. Way better (for him) than what some other colleges offer…Semester abroad, summer start, satellite campus etc. Looks to be almost 1000 kids who do it…that’s a huge amount all in the same boat!

Personally we are not letting the spring admit at UMD be a show stopper. Not getting direct into Business however is a concern and might rule out UMD

Business is not competitive. Just need to satisfy prerequisites and you're in.

For direct admit into business you need a 3.6 gpa. While many can and do do it it’s certainly not easy. The rest need to apply. It is the second most competitive major to transfer into at UMD.

[Anonymous]

My kid was accepted to FC. She applied as a biology major (LEP) but was placed in the college of letters & science. I understand she can transfer into biology after taking the required courses. Given that this is how she is starting off, is the bar higher for her to become a bio major than kids who were directly admitted as a bio major?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is extremely insulting.

Insulting is the high stats kids being denied any kind of acceptance at all.
My kid will probably not be admitted because of the high school they are graduating from. But same stats graduated from a different county they probably would be in. As a MD grad, I am insulted. We’d jump at a FC offer!

yep, lesson learned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid was accepted to FC. She applied as a biology major (LEP) but was placed in the college of letters & science. I understand she can transfer into biology after taking the required courses. Given that this is how she is starting off, is the bar higher for her to become a bio major than kids who were directly admitted as a bio major?

I don't think so.

https://bsci.umd.edu/benchmarks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you read the other UMD thread, you would see that some high stat kids from W schools were flat out rejected.

No one knows who is in FC. You stay in the same dorms; eat in the same food halls. You just can't take morning classes. Just say you aren't a morning person.

Yup! UMD spring start is one of the best programs out there---you actually get to be on campus, making friends, joining clubs. So the differences are very small versus most spring starts---which are "Do not step foot on our campus during this time" and "don't take classes anywhere except for this sponsored program". So you A) don't report to campus until Jan and when you do arrive in Jan, you are "off semester" schedule as you are one semester behind with courses at many schools.

[Anonymous]

My daughter didn't show me the acceptance email. Do FC admits (Spring 2026) sign up to go to the reg admitted students day or are they assigned to their own days? I looked on the UMD website for FC but didn't see anything.

[Anonymous]

I just emailed UMD FC to find out. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Another person whose child got FC two years ago and was initially "insulted" but decided to go and loves UMD. Was in freshman dorm with freshman roommate and did all the things everyone else did. Liked having later classes. There really is no difference, and I would encourage you to look into it more before ruling it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My OOS pretty high stats kid got it and I’m not at all bothered. Way better (for him) than what some other colleges offer…Semester abroad, summer start, satellite campus etc. Looks to be almost 1000 kids who do it…that’s a huge amount all in the same boat!

Personally we are not letting the spring admit at UMD be a show stopper. Not getting direct into Business however is a concern and might rule out UMD

Business is not competitive. Just need to satisfy prerequisites and you're in.

It can be competitive. You need a 3.6 overall GPA after the gateway classes and I think 45 credits to be directly admitted. With a 3.0-3.59 GPA, your application goes to a competitive review.

Smith is competitive, this is incorrect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I read somewhere that FC connection kids actually end up with higher GPAs that regular admits. I can’t find the source but maybe you can. It doesn’t matter.

I believe this!

[ritap19]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is extremely insulting.

Insulting is the high stats kids being denied any kind of acceptance at all.
My kid will probably not be admitted because of the high school they are graduating from. But same stats graduated from a different county they probably would be in. As a MD grad, I am insulted. We’d jump at a FC offer!

My high stats kid was also rejected. I am interested to know, did your kid's rejection letter mention anything about your alumni status? Mine did in a very poorly written sentence (the entire rejection letter was poorly written). There was no reason to include anything about my being "loyal alumni", and it felt as if that was the reason she was denied. My son got in a few years ago with lower stats and less ECs and not as good LORs, we are baffled. (we are in a high performing school in AACo).

[ritap19]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter didn't show me the acceptance email. Do FC admits (Spring 2026) sign up to go to the reg admitted students day or are they assigned to their own days? I looked on the UMD website for FC but didn't see anything.

If you are asking about orientation, Freshman Connection at least had their own a few years ago.
https://orientation.umd.edu/freshmen-connection/freshmen-connection-do-list

[Anonymous]

ritap19 wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is extremely insulting.

Insulting is the high stats kids being denied any kind of acceptance at all.
My kid will probably not be admitted because of the high school they are graduating from. But same stats graduated from a different county they probably would be in. As a MD grad, I am insulted. We’d jump at a FC offer!

My high stats kid was also rejected. I am interested to know, did your kid's rejection letter mention anything about your alumni status? Mine did in a very poorly written sentence (the entire rejection letter was poorly written). There was no reason to include anything about my being "loyal alumni", and it felt as if that was the reason she was denied. My son got in a few years ago with lower stats and less ECs and not as good LORs, we are baffled. (we are in a high performing school in AACo).

NP here and we got the same form letter citing “loyal alumni” and encouraging DD to apply as a transfer next year. Very disappointing. We would have jumped at FC too.

[Anonymous]

My nephew got into FC many moons ago and thrived. Now at crushing it at medical school.