Is UMD's ranking accurate?

[Anonymous]

PP, where did your DD end up going?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD was not accepted to UMD with a 4.0 GPA, and I was told that the adv. GPA for this year was 4.2. I also attended the graduation and a good portion of the speakers, including Wallace Loh, mentioned they would not have been accepted if they applied today. My DS loved every minute a UMCP, a great value.

UMD

Fall 2015 admitted freshman profile:
GPA: 4.22
SAT middle 50%: 1260-1420
ACT middle 50%: 29-33

They use MCPS grading system for wGPA.

[Anonymous]

UMD has greatly benefited from the growth and gentrification of the DC area over the last 20 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UMD has greatly benefited from the growth and gentrification of the DC area over the last 20 years.

Plus rapidly increasing college costs. It's a killer for DC middle class in terms of affordability.

[Anonymous]

UMD is a great school that gets destroyed by how ugly the campus and immediate locale are.

Academically it is miles better than a school like Colorado.

However Boulder is a billion times better locale.

If there was a huge effort towards QoL, beautification, and other capital projects that went towards making the school and area more appealing it would shoot up the rankings

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UVA is more prestigious in general, harder to get into, and superior to UMD for business or pretty much any of the liberal arts/humanities. UMD, however, has the edge in most of the STEM fields. A lot more science is coming out of UMD than UVA.

This sounds correct to me.

[Anonymous]

Actually I think it's really depressing that UMD is trying to move towards being like one of the big midwestern football schools. The focus should be academics, not sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD was not accepted to UMD with a 4.0 GPA, and I was told that the adv. GPA for this year was 4.2. I also attended the graduation and a good portion of the speakers, including Wallace Loh, mentioned they would not have been accepted if they applied today. My DS loved every minute a UMCP, a great value.

UMD

Fall 2015 admitted freshman profile:
GPA: 4.22
SAT middle 50%: 1260-1420
ACT middle 50%: 29-33

They use MCPS grading system for wGPA.

So that average GPA is weighted?

What are DC's chances?:

3.98 GPA weighted
MCPS magnet program
SATs 1600

[Anonymous]

^^^PP here. 1600 SATs on a 1600 scale. 2330 on 2400 scale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD was not accepted to UMD with a 4.0 GPA, and I was told that the adv. GPA for this year was 4.2. I also attended the graduation and a good portion of the speakers, including Wallace Loh, mentioned they would not have been accepted if they applied today. My DS loved every minute a UMCP, a great value.

UMD

Fall 2015 admitted freshman profile:
GPA: 4.22
SAT middle 50%: 1260-1420
ACT middle 50%: 29-33

They use MCPS grading system for wGPA.

So that average GPA is weighted?

What are DC's chances?:

3.98 GPA weighted
MCPS magnet program
SATs 1600

Uh...it's a safety. Despite what the UMD boosters say UMD is not that difficult to get into. If you look on naviance you'll see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually I think it's really depressing that UMD is trying to move towards being like one of the big midwestern football schools. The focus should be academics, not sports.

when it comes to state schools big 10 is proably the most academically oriented conference besides to upper half of the pac12.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually I think it's really depressing that UMD is trying to move towards being like one of the big midwestern football schools. The focus should be academics, not sports.

Right, unlike, say, Big Ten schools Michigan, Wisconsin, and Northwestern. Maryland would be so lucky if it could come anywhere close to those institutions. And, by the way, would anyone in VA even consider going to Maryland over UVA? No sir. One is great and one is mediocre-plus, at best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD was not accepted to UMD with a 4.0 GPA, and I was told that the adv. GPA for this year was 4.2. I also attended the graduation and a good portion of the speakers, including Wallace Loh, mentioned they would not have been accepted if they applied today. My DS loved every minute a UMCP, a great value.

UMD

Fall 2015 admitted freshman profile:
GPA: 4.22
SAT middle 50%: 1260-1420
ACT middle 50%: 29-33

They use MCPS grading system for wGPA.

So that average GPA is weighted?

What are DC's chances?:

3.98 GPA weighted
MCPS magnet program
SATs 1600

Is 1600 M&R only? UMD only considers Math and Reading portion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UVa has a very strong reputation in this region, but it is not well known in places like Chicago, Los Angeles, San Franciso or anywhere in Asia. If you plan to stay in the mid-Atlantic, UVa is a great value.

Nope. It's nationally known.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Completely agree with PP, am a research physician who went to Ivy undergrad and med school, but if UMD is the best financial deal to avoid huge debt by the end of med school, then go for it, particularly if the other option is UVA, from a med school perspective in terms of admissions, no difference (only HYPS, MIT, Caltech,or that caliber private would give any leg up in terms of getting into med school with slightly less stellar grades). UMD honors college in particular is excellent, and loads of research opportunities at UMD itself, or at NIH or other local places can be a big advantage. UVA area nowhere near as rich scientifically.

This is the OP. Thank you for your post. We have a bright, hard-working child and want to give him the best advice possible. It would be sad if our inability to pay for (or qualify for FA) at the more prestigious schools were to cost him a shot at med. school. We can definitely manage UMD. I learned a lot from your post.
(by the way, we are not really considering UVA as it is OOS but we were wondering whether middle class kids in MD like ours are at a disadvantage compared to middle class kids in VA)

Yes, of course they are at a big disadvantage. Va has UVA and W&M. Maryland doesn't.