UMD EA Today?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Rejected. In total shock. High stats (4.6 W, 11 APs, 34 ACT), great ECs, MCPS. We're hoping it's a yield thing, and this doesn't bode badly for DCs RD applications

I empathize. My kid had basically that same stats, except your ACT was better, and was denied. Ticks me off being an alum and now I'm going to have to shell out more money.

Think that I'll mention that fact the next time the University asks me for donations.

You are part of why legacy admissions won't die. If you only donated to give your kid legacy advantage, you are basically trying to buy your kid's way into college.

Didn't you know that UMD doesn't give a fig about legacy status? Didn't bother checking that out first before you tried to buy your kid's way in?

Listen, bub. I'm not a big firm lawyer, bank manager or GS-15. I'm a middle class (poor by DCUM standards) single parent. Every single dollar that I spend matters.

Now that in state tuition is off the table, I'm going to have adjust my retirement and life plans accordingly while trying to get my kid the best education possible.

This is not some bragging rights issue for me. It's a life impact issue.

I'm on your side PP. I think public universities should be obligated to take high stats, in-state students. Who cares about their "story"? Who cares about whether "they want to be there"? That is all ego on the part of the college, and if they want to use ego, they need to work at a private. In-state students who have innate intelligence or who have put in the work to score well should automatically be at the flagship. No questions asked. It benefits the taxpayers. It benefits the college to take the highest performing students.

IMO this wouldn’t work either because then Maryland would need to have a Texas style system where the top x percent are guaranteed from each high school. I think UT Austin is top 6% guaranteed. So could you imagine at some of these schools in Maryland where 25% of the class has 4.6 GPA what that would look like - it would be Hunger Games trying to get ahead for the guaranteed admission. We don’t have multiple universities where the typical high stats kids would want to attend (think UVA/VT/William and Mary) or UT Austin and TAMU) so you would still end up with high stats kids getting shut out of the state flagship/affordable option even under the guaranteed option.

Love the Hunger Games reference, PP! This is what UMD college admissions has come to!

A Big Ten school inside the beltway of the Nations Capital has driven people insane. My kid didn’t get in so went to Montgomery College, got straight A’s them was admitted as a transfer.

But the question is - why? Getting straight As at MC, where the majority of students required remedial education, does not prove your student's ability more than their high school AND they are cheated out of better quality during that time. UMD should have just have taken them in the first place.

Please stop with this - yes, there are students at MC that need remedial education, and there are classes for that. And there are plenty of students who take the regular classes (which are college-level, as MC is a college) and don't get A's. Plus, students who are looking to transfer can take their gen-ed requirements in smaller classes at MC than they would have at UMD. It's a great option for motivated students who don't happen to luck out in the UMD lottery and want to go there, as opposed to one of the other in state options.

Another benefit of MC is that it can be less expensive for families where cost is a factor.

Plus, especially with the pandemic, there are students who perhaps weren't as focused as they could have been in HS or who need a little more time to mature before they are sent off to live in a dorm and be completely self-directed in their study. Attending MC can be an opportunity for them to develop those skills and to demonstrate to UMD or another college that they are able to handle college study.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does UMD not evaluate on unweighted GPAs? This seems odd to me to use weighted GPAS as each district applies weights differently. Our school does not give any weight for honors and also since we moved during HS (military kid) he lost all the weighting from his first two years (FCPS). He got in direct admit to CS, but no honors, and I wonder if that could be why.

Don't know your schild's situation, but UMD admissions understands how each SD is different. They probably even understand how each HS works and what courses are available to students. At least they do for in-state schools.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Rejected. In total shock. High stats (4.6 W, 11 APs, 34 ACT), great ECs, MCPS. We're hoping it's a yield thing, and this doesn't bode badly for DCs RD applications

I empathize. My kid had basically that same stats, except your ACT was better, and was denied. Ticks me off being an alum and now I'm going to have to shell out more money.

Think that I'll mention that fact the next time the University asks me for donations.

You are part of why legacy admissions won't die. If you only donated to give your kid legacy advantage, you are basically trying to buy your kid's way into college.

Didn't you know that UMD doesn't give a fig about legacy status? Didn't bother checking that out first before you tried to buy your kid's way in?

Listen, bub. I'm not a big firm lawyer, bank manager or GS-15. I'm a middle class (poor by DCUM standards) single parent. Every single dollar that I spend matters.

Now that in state tuition is off the table, I'm going to have adjust my retirement and life plans accordingly while trying to get my kid the best education possible.

This is not some bragging rights issue for me. It's a life impact issue.

I'm on your side PP. I think public universities should be obligated to take high stats, in-state students. Who cares about their "story"? Who cares about whether "they want to be there"? That is all ego on the part of the college, and if they want to use ego, they need to work at a private. In-state students who have innate intelligence or who have put in the work to score well should automatically be at the flagship. No questions asked. It benefits the taxpayers. It benefits the college to take the highest performing students.

IMO this wouldn’t work either because then Maryland would need to have a Texas style system where the top x percent are guaranteed from each high school. I think UT Austin is top 6% guaranteed. So could you imagine at some of these schools in Maryland where 25% of the class has 4.6 GPA what that would look like - it would be Hunger Games trying to get ahead for the guaranteed admission. We don’t have multiple universities where the typical high stats kids would want to attend (think UVA/VT/William and Mary) or UT Austin and TAMU) so you would still end up with high stats kids getting shut out of the state flagship/affordable option even under the guaranteed option.

Love the Hunger Games reference, PP! This is what UMD college admissions has come to!

A Big Ten school inside the beltway of the Nations Capital has driven people insane. My kid didn’t get in so went to Montgomery College, got straight A’s them was admitted as a transfer.

But the question is - why? Getting straight As at MC, where the majority of students required remedial education, does not prove your student's ability more than their high school AND they are cheated out of better quality during that time. UMD should have just have taken them in the first place.

This depiction of MC is just false. It is nowhere near "majority remedial education. " Clearly, you have no direct experience. MC has challenging classes and is a great way to go to UMD. Friend of mine did MC to UMDB on scholarship and is just finishing graduate degree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Rejected. In total shock. High stats (4.6 W, 11 APs, 34 ACT), great ECs, MCPS. We're hoping it's a yield thing, and this doesn't bode badly for DCs RD applications

I don’t understand how this individual did not get into UMD? What is going on?

what is the kid UW GPA? 50% mcps kid have weight gpa of 4.5 and above so that 4.6 may not be a good indicator? any C's on AP classes?

That’s untrue about the weighted gpa percentage.

It is at Churchill.. i would think other mcps schools will be similar, may not be 50% but upward of 40%. Check your school profile to make sure. So 4.6 is not categorized as high gpa unfortunatelly.

There's more that goes into it than GPA. Not all honors and AP courses are alike. In CS, AP computer science principles isn't as hard as AP computer science A. AP physics isn't as hard as AP physics C. AP Calculus AB isn't as hard as AP Calculus BC. A kid who took the easier of those groups of tests might have the same GPA as a kid who took the harder courses, but those students would be evaluated differently by the colleges. Stats don't tell the whole story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rejected. In total shock. High stats (4.6 W, 11 APs, 34 ACT), great ECs, MCPS. We're hoping it's a yield thing, and this doesn't bode badly for DCs RD applications

I don’t understand how this individual did not get into UMD? What is going on?

Several possibilities:

1. Did not take AP exams or report 5s and 4s. For a high stats kid, admissions officers are going to wonder about their absence.

2. Note that MCPS weighs Honors the same as APs in the GPA, unlike some other school systems. Which means MCPS GPA can be inflated and all the colleges recalculate it - but perhaps for PP's kid with 11 APs, that's moot.

3. The personal statement did not show a clear direction and failed to directly reference UMD. Essays are VERY important for mid-level 30-50% acceptance rate colleges, most of which do "holistic" admissions and seek a diversity of student voices. They are deathly afraid of the high stats kid with a generic essay, because they immediately think "yield protection, this kid wants to go elsewhere". Make the college think they are your top choice, always. The Common App allows for a customize personal statement. Save your general statement elsewhere, then tweak it for each college before hitting submit.

No...

Parent of high stats Magnet kid here. My child wrote one essay for all colleges. The same common app went to all colleges. Only the college-specific essays and questions differed, and my child was admitted to CS + honors at UMD.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I'm hearing that some RMIB students did not get into UMD EA. That's somewhat shocking. I don't know what their stats are, though. Has anyone heard this, too?

Yes - they only take so many per high school

But in previous years, I thought pretty much all RMIB kids who applied got in. Is it just that there are more quality applicants from all over?

I do think college admissions has become like the Hunger Games (to use a PP's reference).

It’s a number of things. A Big Ten school inside the Nations Capital beltway…the flagship of a highly educated state…no other great option like VT or Pitt in the state to compete with the flagship… top ten national public in research funding … the preppy lacrosse culture angle… the overall academic community with Big Ten UMD, Georgetown, Navy Annapolis, John’s Hopkins all in a 25 mile radius.. low cost in state tuition…the incredible alumni with world changing impact in culture/economy… Big Ten sports.

Wow. When you put it like that, the only question is: why wasn't it selective before?

I don't know if this link has been posted before on this thread already (it has in other UMD threads), but the UMD acceptance rate went from 51% in Fall 2020 to 34% in Fall 2022. Since a small quarter of their freshman class is in Honors, it would put this year's Honors admit rate at about 8%. If the trend continues, UMD general admission will be more selective than UVA in the next two years.

https://www.irpa.umd.edu/CampusCounts/Admissions/apps_ug.pdf

Current administration wants UMD to be like UCLA - a public ivy - so its only going to get more selective, well until the 2008 Financial cliff applications drop significantly and then they will have to re-consider how they get enough students to pay the bills.

What's this? You mean 2028 applicants?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm hearing that some RMIB students did not get into UMD EA. That's somewhat shocking. I don't know what their stats are, though. Has anyone heard this, too?

Yes - they only take so many per high school

But in previous years, I thought pretty much all RMIB kids who applied got in. Is it just that there are more quality applicants from all over?

I do think college admissions has become like the Hunger Games (to use a PP's reference).

It’s a number of things. A Big Ten school inside the Nations Capital beltway…the flagship of a highly educated state…no other great option like VT or Pitt in the state to compete with the flagship… top ten national public in research funding … the preppy lacrosse culture angle… the overall academic community with Big Ten UMD, Georgetown, Navy Annapolis, John’s Hopkins all in a 25 mile radius.. low cost in state tuition…the incredible alumni with world changing impact in culture/economy… Big Ten sports.

Not the PP, but I think they’re referring to the financial downturn of 2008 when the housing bubble burst.

Wow. When you put it like that, the only question is: why wasn't it selective before?

I don't know if this link has been posted before on this thread already (it has in other UMD threads), but the UMD acceptance rate went from 51% in Fall 2020 to 34% in Fall 2022. Since a small quarter of their freshman class is in Honors, it would put this year's Honors admit rate at about 8%. If the trend continues, UMD general admission will be more selective than UVA in the next two years.

https://www.irpa.umd.edu/CampusCounts/Admissions/apps_ug.pdf

Current administration wants UMD to be like UCLA - a public ivy - so its only going to get more selective, well until the 2008 Financial cliff applications drop significantly and then they will have to re-consider how they get enough students to pay the bills.

What's this? You mean 2028 applicants?

[Anonymous]

Current administration wants UMD to be like UCLA - a public ivy - so its only going to get more selective, well until the 2008 Financial cliff applications drop significantly and then they will have to re-consider how they get enough students to pay the bills.


What's this? You mean 2028 applicants?

Sorry, I somehow flubbed my earlier response. Let me try again. I'm not the PP, but I think they were referring to the 2008 market crash when the housing bubble burst and we all lost tons of money in the market/retirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Current administration wants UMD to be like UCLA - a public ivy - so its only going to get more selective, well until the 2008 Financial cliff applications drop significantly and then they will have to re-consider how they get enough students to pay the bills.

What's this? You mean 2028 applicants?

Sorry, I somehow flubbed my earlier response. Let me try again. I'm not the PP, but I think they were referring to the 2008 market crash when the housing bubble burst and we all lost tons of money in the market/retirement.

Well, the recession promised for 2023-2024 is showing signs of not being nearly as dire as initially feared. So this might not happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rejected. In total shock. High stats (4.6 W, 11 APs, 34 ACT), great ECs, MCPS. We're hoping it's a yield thing, and this doesn't bode badly for DCs RD applications

I don’t understand how this individual did not get into UMD? What is going on?

Several possibilities:

1. Did not take AP exams or report 5s and 4s. For a high stats kid, admissions officers are going to wonder about their absence.

2. Note that MCPS weighs Honors the same as APs in the GPA, unlike some other school systems. Which means MCPS GPA can be inflated and all the colleges recalculate it - but perhaps for PP's kid with 11 APs, that's moot.

3. The personal statement did not show a clear direction and failed to directly reference UMD. Essays are VERY important for mid-level 30-50% acceptance rate colleges, most of which do "holistic" admissions and seek a diversity of student voices. They are deathly afraid of the high stats kid with a generic essay, because they immediately think "yield protection, this kid wants to go elsewhere". Make the college think they are your top choice, always. The Common App allows for a customize personal statement. Save your general statement elsewhere, then tweak it for each college before hitting submit.

No...

Parent of high stats Magnet kid here. My child wrote one essay for all colleges. The same common app went to all colleges. Only the college-specific essays and questions differed, and my child was admitted to CS + honors at UMD.

Same. CS+honors FCPS (VA)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does UMD not evaluate on unweighted GPAs? This seems odd to me to use weighted GPAS as each district applies weights differently. Our school does not give any weight for honors and also since we moved during HS (military kid) he lost all the weighting from his first two years (FCPS). He got in direct admit to CS, but no honors, and I wonder if that could be why.

Out of the Common App schools DC applied to this year, UMD was the only one that required them to manually enter classes/grades/honors or not. This enables UMD to compare apples to apples in unweighted GPAs, while recognizing that different systems weight honors class GPA bumps differently (.5 vs. 1.0). FWIW, most colleges have some method of putting grades into their own systems to allow unweighted apples-to-apples comparisions while also recognizing whether the student took rigorous/honors classes. In other words, it wasn't weighting that was the difference between Honors and no Honors for your kid.

Also, FWIW, my oldest DC is in CMNS double-majoring in CS and Physics; they are in Honors but really it's no big deal and they complain about the extra work of the Honors classes rather than being glad they're in it. Your kid can put together a really great undergrad experience without Honors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does UMD not evaluate on unweighted GPAs? This seems odd to me to use weighted GPAS as each district applies weights differently. Our school does not give any weight for honors and also since we moved during HS (military kid) he lost all the weighting from his first two years (FCPS). He got in direct admit to CS, but no honors, and I wonder if that could be why.

Out of the Common App schools DC applied to this year, UMD was the only one that required them to manually enter classes/grades/honors or not. This enables UMD to compare apples to apples in unweighted GPAs, while recognizing that different systems weight honors class GPA bumps differently (.5 vs. 1.0). FWIW, most colleges have some method of putting grades into their own systems to allow unweighted apples-to-apples comparisions while also recognizing whether the student took rigorous/honors classes. In other words, it wasn't weighting that was the difference between Honors and no Honors for your kid.

Also, FWIW, my oldest DC is in CMNS double-majoring in CS and Physics; they are in Honors but really it's no big deal and they complain about the extra work of the Honors classes rather than being glad they're in it. Your kid can put together a really great undergrad experience without Honors.

Anyone know how they evaluate kids who transferred in high school? We moved and our kid started at a school without honors before MCPS. There’s no way to compete with the weighted GPAs in MCPS. Will he still be compared to his classmates for gpa?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rejected. In total shock. High stats (4.6 W, 11 APs, 34 ACT), great ECs, MCPS. We're hoping it's a yield thing, and this doesn't bode badly for DCs RD applications

I empathize. My kid had basically that same stats, except your ACT was better, and was denied. Ticks me off being an alum and now I'm going to have to shell out more money.

Think that I'll mention that fact the next time the University asks me for donations.

You are part of why legacy admissions won't die. If you only donated to give your kid legacy advantage, you are basically trying to buy your kid's way into college.

Didn't you know that UMD doesn't give a fig about legacy status? Didn't bother checking that out first before you tried to buy your kid's way in?

Listen, bub. I'm not a big firm lawyer, bank manager or GS-15. I'm a middle class (poor by DCUM standards) single parent. Every single dollar that I spend matters.

Now that in state tuition is off the table, I'm going to have adjust my retirement and life plans accordingly while trying to get my kid the best education possible.

This is not some bragging rights issue for me. It's a life impact issue.

I'm on your side PP. I think public universities should be obligated to take high stats, in-state students. Who cares about their "story"? Who cares about whether "they want to be there"? That is all ego on the part of the college, and if they want to use ego, they need to work at a private. In-state students who have innate intelligence or who have put in the work to score well should automatically be at the flagship. No questions asked. It benefits the taxpayers. It benefits the college to take the highest performing students.

IMO this wouldn’t work either because then Maryland would need to have a Texas style system where the top x percent are guaranteed from each high school. I think UT Austin is top 6% guaranteed. So could you imagine at some of these schools in Maryland where 25% of the class has 4.6 GPA what that would look like - it would be Hunger Games trying to get ahead for the guaranteed admission. We don’t have multiple universities where the typical high stats kids would want to attend (think UVA/VT/William and Mary) or UT Austin and TAMU) so you would still end up with high stats kids getting shut out of the state flagship/affordable option even under the guaranteed option.

Love the Hunger Games reference, PP! This is what UMD college admissions has come to!

A Big Ten school inside the beltway of the Nations Capital has driven people insane. My kid didn’t get in so went to Montgomery College, got straight A’s them was admitted as a transfer.

But the question is - why? Getting straight As at MC, where the majority of students required remedial education, does not prove your student's ability more than their high school AND they are cheated out of better quality during that time. UMD should have just have taken them in the first place.

Not space in the freshman class. if they are willing to wait and be a transfer, then there might be space. And they can attend another 4 year institution for "better quality education" during that year. For transfer students, UMD (like all universities) is just looking to fill the open seats. It's a money venture, and at that point they just need kids who will graduate eventually and all As at MC or any CC will likely do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Current administration wants UMD to be like UCLA - a public ivy - so its only going to get more selective, well until the 2008 Financial cliff applications drop significantly and then they will have to re-consider how they get enough students to pay the bills.

What's this? You mean 2028 applicants?

Sorry, I somehow flubbed my earlier response. Let me try again. I'm not the PP, but I think they were referring to the 2008 market crash when the housing bubble burst and we all lost tons of money in the market/retirement.

The birth rate dropped as a result of the 2008 financial markets. So HS grad 2026, College class 2030 - there is a prediction that college application will have a steep drop off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does UMD not evaluate on unweighted GPAs? This seems odd to me to use weighted GPAS as each district applies weights differently. Our school does not give any weight for honors and also since we moved during HS (military kid) he lost all the weighting from his first two years (FCPS). He got in direct admit to CS, but no honors, and I wonder if that could be why.

Out of the Common App schools DC applied to this year, UMD was the only one that required them to manually enter classes/grades/honors or not. This enables UMD to compare apples to apples in unweighted GPAs, while recognizing that different systems weight honors class GPA bumps differently (.5 vs. 1.0). FWIW, most colleges have some method of putting grades into their own systems to allow unweighted apples-to-apples comparisions while also recognizing whether the student took rigorous/honors classes. In other words, it wasn't weighting that was the difference between Honors and no Honors for your kid.

Also, FWIW, my oldest DC is in CMNS double-majoring in CS and Physics; they are in Honors but really it's no big deal and they complain about the extra work of the Honors classes rather than being glad they're in it. Your kid can put together a really great undergrad experience without Honors.

Anyone know how they evaluate kids who transferred in high school? We moved and our kid started at a school without honors before MCPS. There’s no way to compete with the weighted GPAs in MCPS. Will he still be compared to his classmates for gpa?

I suggest making a small note of it: there's a box where you can add any additional information you think the college should know. That way you're sure they will bear it in mind.