May 1st College Decision Day - Parents of HS Seniors

[Anonymous]

At a W where 408 applied and 127 accepted, so about 30% accepted. I wish the US system had a better way to match kids with there preferred schools. A big group of the 127 are attending UMD, but another big group are going to the reachiest of reaches. That leaves a lot of the 400 going to Ohio State and Wisconsin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At a W where 408 applied and 127 accepted, so about 30% accepted. I wish the US system had a better way to match kids with there preferred schools. A big group of the 127 are attending UMD, but another big group are going to the reachiest of reaches. That leaves a lot of the 400 going to Ohio State and Wisconsin.

UMD is along the lines of OSU. Only difference is cheaper in-state tuition. I would rank UMD below Wisconsin.

[Anonymous]

4.8 W, 3.97 UW GPA, 34 ACT (only took it once) with tons of IB and AP credits was not admitted to UMD. Attending a top 10 school but going to cost a lot more.

2025 has the largest group of graduates ever, not sure how that impacted admissions or UMD is still insistent that they limit admissions to Montgomery County residents, despite being the most populated county.

Really sucks for our students as there’s no legislation in place to help them. Many states require state schools enroll a certain percentage of in state students. This is why it’s so hard for OOS students to get into UNC, UVA, etc. Mindblowing that high stats kids can’t get into our state flagship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m just affirmatively angry about the way the UMCP treats McPS grads. We pay at least as much or more taxes to support that school and they make the bar almost impossible for McPS grads. I don’t know if there is some way to put political pressure on someone to change this. I’ve seriously thought about moving to another county for senior year so my kid has a fair shot but can’t bear to make my kid move.

FWIW, my oldest is in a top private and feels extremely well prepared by McPS.

A reminder - of the 31k undergrads at UMD more 10k are Moco kids. The next two counties are Howard and PG with 3k each. There is no different treating of mcps kids. Not everyone from every W school can get in - just like kids get denied from River Hill in Howard and Eleanor Roosevelt in PG.

That doesn’t say much. I’d love to know the stats broken down by county of accepted students, then compare that to the population of the county, and of those that applied.

[Anonymous]

Most kids in the wealthy W schools in Moco do not want to go to UMD. Many don’t even apply. They look down on UMD. Whitman for example had the least number of kids applying to UMD out of all the Moco high schools (couple of years ago, not sure about recent numbers) and out of the kids accepted very few kids attend. So why should UMD offer admissions to W school students in the first place?
Both my kids from Whitman attended UMD but told me that the general vibe is ‘i would rather die than go to umd’. Many current students say the same thing even now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m just affirmatively angry about the way the UMCP treats McPS grads. We pay at least as much or more taxes to support that school and they make the bar almost impossible for McPS grads. I don’t know if there is some way to put political pressure on someone to change this. I’ve seriously thought about moving to another county for senior year so my kid has a fair shot but can’t bear to make my kid move.

FWIW, my oldest is in a top private and feels extremely well prepared by McPS.

A reminder - of the 31k undergrads at UMD more 10k are Moco kids. The next two counties are Howard and PG with 3k each. There is no different treating of mcps kids. Not everyone from every W school can get in - just like kids get denied from River Hill in Howard and Eleanor Roosevelt in PG.

That doesn’t say much. I’d love to know the stats broken down by county of accepted students, then compare that to the population of the county, and of those that applied.

It doesn’t say much? Just that ONE THIRD of the student population at the flagship institution in the state come from one county in the state?

[Anonymous]

MoCo is almost certainly overrepresented at UMD, but keep in mind we have the largest population in the state, and we also probably also have a higher %age of students that are college bound.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most kids in the wealthy W schools in Moco do not want to go to UMD. Many don’t even apply. They look down on UMD. Whitman for example had the least number of kids applying to UMD out of all the Moco high schools (couple of years ago, not sure about recent numbers) and out of the kids accepted very few kids attend. So why should UMD offer admissions to W school students in the first place?
Both my kids from Whitman attended UMD but told me that the general vibe is ‘i would rather die than go to umd’. Many current students say the same thing even now.

What a dumb attitude

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:4.8 W, 3.97 UW GPA, 34 ACT (only took it once) with tons of IB and AP credits was not admitted to UMD. Attending a top 10 school but going to cost a lot more.

2025 has the largest group of graduates ever, not sure how that impacted admissions or UMD is still insistent that they limit admissions to Montgomery County residents, despite being the most populated county.

Really sucks for our students as there’s no legislation in place to help them. Many states require state schools enroll a certain percentage of in state students. This is why it’s so hard for OOS students to get into UNC, UVA, etc. Mindblowing that high stats kids can’t get into our state flagship.

Just curious, what HS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is really disheartening as a Terp grad (transferred OOS in the late 90s). Mine is only a sophomore but I’ve begun to accept that the chances of acceptance from our W school are low. UMBC, Towson just don’t have the same vibe as College Park.

Which is? Not trying to be snarky, but I found CP quite depressing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is really disheartening as a Terp grad (transferred OOS in the late 90s). Mine is only a sophomore but I’ve begun to accept that the chances of acceptance from our W school are low. UMBC, Towson just don’t have the same vibe as College Park.

Which is? Not trying to be snarky, but I found CP quite depressing.

Me, too. If it had a lovely campus and vibe like UVA, would have been a no-brainer. But DC really didn't like it, and I felt like we couldn't force them to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is really disheartening as a Terp grad (transferred OOS in the late 90s). Mine is only a sophomore but I’ve begun to accept that the chances of acceptance from our W school are low. UMBC, Towson just don’t have the same vibe as College Park.

Which is? Not trying to be snarky, but I found CP quite depressing.

Me, too. If it had a lovely campus and vibe like UVA, would have been a no-brainer. But DC really didn't like it, and I felt like we couldn't force them to go.

It actually does have a nice vibe if you get off route 1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m just affirmatively angry about the way the UMCP treats McPS grads. We pay at least as much or more taxes to support that school and they make the bar almost impossible for McPS grads. I don’t know if there is some way to put political pressure on someone to change this. I’ve seriously thought about moving to another county for senior year so my kid has a fair shot but can’t bear to make my kid move.

FWIW, my oldest is in a top private and feels extremely well prepared by McPS.

A reminder - of the 31k undergrads at UMD more 10k are Moco kids. The next two counties are Howard and PG with 3k each. There is no different treating of mcps kids. Not everyone from every W school can get in - just like kids get denied from River Hill in Howard and Eleanor Roosevelt in PG.

That doesn’t say much. I’d love to know the stats broken down by county of accepted students, then compare that to the population of the county, and of those that applied.

You can explore UMDs data here:
https://www.irpa.umd.edu/
Under reports you can find enrollment maps.

I took a quick Look at your question for in-state undergrad enrollment % compared to total population %.
Montgomery 8811 (37.5% in-state) vs. 17.1% state population
Howard 3184 (13.4%) vs. 5.4%
Prince Georges 2707 (11.5%) vs. 15.1%
Baltimore County 2232 (9.5%) vs. 13.4%
Anne Arundel 1810 (7.7%) vs. 9.5%

Montgomery county is over represented by 20% of undergraduate enrollment compared to our % of the state population. I wouldn’t be so quick to advocate for a flat % from each high school in the state being admitted to the state flagship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m just affirmatively angry about the way the UMCP treats McPS grads. We pay at least as much or more taxes to support that school and they make the bar almost impossible for McPS grads. I don’t know if there is some way to put political pressure on someone to change this. I’ve seriously thought about moving to another county for senior year so my kid has a fair shot but can’t bear to make my kid move.

FWIW, my oldest is in a top private and feels extremely well prepared by McPS.

A reminder - of the 31k undergrads at UMD more 10k are Moco kids. The next two counties are Howard and PG with 3k each. There is no different treating of mcps kids. Not everyone from every W school can get in - just like kids get denied from River Hill in Howard and Eleanor Roosevelt in PG.

That doesn’t say much. I’d love to know the stats broken down by county of accepted students, then compare that to the population of the county, and of those that applied.

You can explore UMDs data here:
https://www.irpa.umd.edu/
Under reports you can find enrollment maps.

I took a quick Look at your question for in-state undergrad enrollment % compared to total population %.
Montgomery 8811 (37.5% in-state) vs. 17.1% state population
Howard 3184 (13.4%) vs. 5.4%
Prince Georges 2707 (11.5%) vs. 15.1%
Baltimore County 2232 (9.5%) vs. 13.4%
Anne Arundel 1810 (7.7%) vs. 9.5%

Montgomery county is over represented by 20% of undergraduate enrollment compared to our % of the state population. I wouldn’t be so quick to advocate for a flat % from each high school in the state being admitted to the state flagship.

What I think is more murky is that it is likely much harder to get into UMD from Whitman than Wheaton. Certainly within schools discretion to have a cap on admissions by HS. Home school kids at magnet schools also disadvantaged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m just affirmatively angry about the way the UMCP treats McPS grads. We pay at least as much or more taxes to support that school and they make the bar almost impossible for McPS grads. I don’t know if there is some way to put political pressure on someone to change this. I’ve seriously thought about moving to another county for senior year so my kid has a fair shot but can’t bear to make my kid move.

FWIW, my oldest is in a top private and feels extremely well prepared by McPS.

A reminder - of the 31k undergrads at UMD more 10k are Moco kids. The next two counties are Howard and PG with 3k each. There is no different treating of mcps kids. Not everyone from every W school can get in - just like kids get denied from River Hill in Howard and Eleanor Roosevelt in PG.

That doesn’t say much. I’d love to know the stats broken down by county of accepted students, then compare that to the population of the county, and of those that applied.

You can explore UMDs data here:
https://www.irpa.umd.edu/
Under reports you can find enrollment maps.

I took a quick Look at your question for in-state undergrad enrollment % compared to total population %.
Montgomery 8811 (37.5% in-state) vs. 17.1% state population
Howard 3184 (13.4%) vs. 5.4%
Prince Georges 2707 (11.5%) vs. 15.1%
Baltimore County 2232 (9.5%) vs. 13.4%
Anne Arundel 1810 (7.7%) vs. 9.5%

Montgomery county is over represented by 20% of undergraduate enrollment compared to our % of the state population. I wouldn’t be so quick to advocate for a flat % from each high school in the state being admitted to the state flagship.

What I think is more murky is that it is likely much harder to get into UMD from Whitman than Wheaton. Certainly within schools discretion to have a cap on admissions by HS. Home school kids at magnet schools also disadvantaged.

You 100000% have a better chance of getting into UMCP from Wheaton than Whitman with the same resume.

Everybody races to go to the W schools until the kids all give each other anxiety disorders and its actually harder to get into college.