What does it take for MCPS kids to get into UMCP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do people think it is a disadvantage to apply to UMDCP from a magnet like Blair or RMIB if they are limiting the number of kids they take from each school?

Yes, absolutely

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you want a reference from '23? My kid was admitted Honors to a Humanities major with a 4.67 weighted gpa, a dozen AP courses (but he skipped the 12th grade exams and had mostly 5s on the others) and a 35 out of 36 on his ACT. He did come from a "W" school, although I'm not sure UMD differentiates where kids come from within MCPS. They could also see on his transcript that he'd had a resource class for 9th and 10th grade and no first period in 12th grade. (He has special needs, but they didn't see the IEP.)

Also, UMD swears that they don't select by major, and they say that their freshman class mostly comes from Early Action applicants.

They absolutely do cap students from each high school, not the whole county. They even know specific teachers at larger schools like Blair and BCC to know “oh that lower grade isn’t as concerning because Ms X is a hard grader.”

You’re competing against other kids at your own high school mostly.

What are you talking about? Teacher names are not on the transcript.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you want a reference from '23? My kid was admitted Honors to a Humanities major with a 4.67 weighted gpa, a dozen AP courses (but he skipped the 12th grade exams and had mostly 5s on the others) and a 35 out of 36 on his ACT. He did come from a "W" school, although I'm not sure UMD differentiates where kids come from within MCPS. They could also see on his transcript that he'd had a resource class for 9th and 10th grade and no first period in 12th grade. (He has special needs, but they didn't see the IEP.)

Also, UMD swears that they don't select by major, and they say that their freshman class mostly comes from Early Action applicants.

They absolutely do cap students from each high school, not the whole county. They even know specific teachers at larger schools like Blair and BCC to know “oh that lower grade isn’t as concerning because Ms X is a hard grader.”

You’re competing against other kids at your own high school mostly.

Well hopefully they know more than you, because BCC is not part of the largest MCPS high schools.

[Anonymous]

The bottom line is that if you're in a close-in MCPS school and are NOT a stellar student, you're not getting into UMD.

My friend's kid at Walter Johnson experienced this last year. She was a mediocre student who was accepted to Ohio State and rejected at UMD. I'm sure there's an Ohioan with the same profile as hers who was accepted to UMD and rejected from Ohio State!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child and friends did MC2. All got into UMD early decision except one.

UMD does EA not ED.

I misspoke. I always get those two mixed up. Nonetheless, we are very grateful for that program and recommend it highly. MCPS would be smart to expand it.

[Anonymous]

The simple answer is approximately top 20% of the class.

UMCP enrolls about 1000 MCPS student per year, a lot 10% of high school graduates in MCPS. Plus many students get in but choose to go somewhere else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child and friends did MC2. All got into UMD early decision except one.

This is Middle College Dual Enrollment, not Maryland Cybersecurity Center.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/northwesths/careercenter/mcdual/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s school dependent. UMD want geographical diversity so what’s good at W school means nothing to you.

At our school Poolesville 1484 and 3.96 UW was average for acceptance.

My son with 3.98/ 1520 SAT and 14 APs plus MV was accepted to Scholars plus one of the toughest majors to get into think CS Business Engineering.

Average isn't very useful. Bottom 10%ile of admits is useful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you want a reference from '23? My kid was admitted Honors to a Humanities major with a 4.67 weighted gpa, a dozen AP courses (but he skipped the 12th grade exams and had mostly 5s on the others) and a 35 out of 36 on his ACT. He did come from a "W" school, although I'm not sure UMD differentiates where kids come from within MCPS. They could also see on his transcript that he'd had a resource class for 9th and 10th grade and no first period in 12th grade. (He has special needs, but they didn't see the IEP.)

Also, UMD swears that they don't select by major, and they say that their freshman class mostly comes from Early Action applicants.

They absolutely do cap students from each high school, not the whole county. They even know specific teachers at larger schools like Blair and BCC to know “oh that lower grade isn’t as concerning because Ms X is a hard grader.”

You’re competing against other kids at your own high school mostly.

This, exactly. You're up against those from your own HS. If you have access to Naviance, take a look at it for recent trends as well.
At my kids' HS, UMD accepted ~25% of applicants in 2025. In 2024, it was ~35%. In 2023, it was around 55%!

I see a similar big drop in the % and number of students accepted from our MCPS high school in the past few years. The number of students applying has been pretty consistent, but the number accepted has dropped a lot. What's the reason for the big change in the past two years?

2020 - 152 applied, 79 accepted (52%)
2021 - 181 applied, 88 accepted (49%)
2022 - 183 applied, 86 accepted (47%)
2023 - 187 appliec, 88 accepted (47%)
2024 - 145 applied, 54 accepted (37%)
2025 - 171 appliedd, 48 accepted (28%)

Pines wants more Geographic diversity. MoCO is over represented compared to population and they are working to correct it. Ask parents with kids in NoVa they are doing the same thing.

Do UMD students cluster by home region?

Do the suburban students mix with the underqualfied rural students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The simple answer is approximately top 20% of the class.

UMCP enrolls about 1000 MCPS student per year, a lot 10% of high school graduates in MCPS. Plus many students get in but choose to go somewhere else.

Sounds like UMCP protects their yield and increases geographic diversity by admitting about top 20% of each MCPS HS of EA applicants—not just the top 20%. So how badly do you need to save $$$$.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The bottom line is that if you're in a close-in MCPS school and are NOT a stellar student, you're not getting into UMD.

My friend's kid at Walter Johnson experienced this last year. She was a mediocre student who was accepted to Ohio State and rejected at UMD. I'm sure there's an Ohioan with the same profile as hers who was accepted to UMD and rejected from Ohio State!

Define the two words in bold in this context:
steller at which "close-in" school
and
what does mediocre look like at WJ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The bottom line is that if you're in a close-in MCPS school and are NOT a stellar student, you're not getting into UMD.

My friend's kid at Walter Johnson experienced this last year. She was a mediocre student who was accepted to Ohio State and rejected at UMD. I'm sure there's an Ohioan with the same profile as hers who was accepted to UMD and rejected from Ohio State!

Define the two words in bold in this context:
steller at which "close-in" school
and
what does mediocre look like at WJ?

DP here. But the issue isn't that mediocre students at WJ or other Ws are not getting in. That makes sense, actually. It's that many smart and high stat students at these schools are not getting in because there's more competition at their schools, whereas similar students at a non-W would most likely get in. Not gonna lie but I'm thankful my kid doesn't go to a W for this reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How rigorous a courseload are they looking for? How many APs do you typically need to take to get in-- do kids sometimes get in with only a handful of AP classes or do they need to be closer to maxing them out? Do they have to be on the advanced math track/make it to calculus by senior year to get in, or is it okay to be on grade level and just do pre-calc or AP Stats senior year (if not interested in STEM)?

28:15 here, our kid had 12 APs, mostly humanities (not math/science), but also Econ, and got 5s on all AP exams, including micro and macro economics.

My MCPS Wootton grad did not have close to 12 APs. Maybe he had 7? He didn’t have all 5s for scores either. All his other courses were honors though, except the PE and art credits. UMD wants to see rigor but is not over the top in expectations. He did have a great GPA (4.7 weighted) and a good SAT and I think that in recent years both have been required for admission.

What year was this, and what subjects were his higher vs lower rigor classes in? What was his highest class in math? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How rigorous a courseload are they looking for? How many APs do you typically need to take to get in-- do kids sometimes get in with only a handful of AP classes or do they need to be closer to maxing them out? Do they have to be on the advanced math track/make it to calculus by senior year to get in, or is it okay to be on grade level and just do pre-calc or AP Stats senior year (if not interested in STEM)?

28:15 here, our kid had 12 APs, mostly humanities (not math/science), but also Econ, and got 5s on all AP exams, including micro and macro economics.

My MCPS Wootton grad did not have close to 12 APs. Maybe he had 7? He didn’t have all 5s for scores either. All his other courses were honors though, except the PE and art credits. UMD wants to see rigor but is not over the top in expectations. He did have a great GPA (4.7 weighted) and a good SAT and I think that in recent years both have been required for admission.

What year was this, and what subjects were his higher vs lower rigor classes in? What was his highest class in math? Thanks!

AP Precalculus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The simple answer is approximately top 20% of the class.

UMCP enrolls about 1000 MCPS student per year, a lot 10% of high school graduates in MCPS. Plus many students get in but choose to go somewhere else.

Sounds like UMCP protects their yield and increases geographic diversity by admitting about top 20% of each MCPS HS of EA applicants—not just the top 20%. So how badly do you need to save $$$$.

UMD doesn't yield protect.