UMD College Park Results thread

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Np here - not sure if it’s being disputed but the (magnet) IB program at RM really does have median SAT scores of 1500. It’s on the IB school profile...

The other IB schools are for the neighborhood students who want to challenge themselves.

so how do you explain an IB diploma graduate with a 1440 SAT and 3.8ish weighted GPA not getting into UMD?

FWIW, I would be proud if my non IB student had a 1440.

3.8 weighted gpa is kind of low. UMD gives more weight to GPA than SAT

Not sure if that's true but 3.8 weighted gpa is not enough. also remember college admission is more than just two data points - gpa/test score. all these kids with relatively high stats may have f'ed up some other aspects of app

Noted below, the GPA for that kid was not 3.8w, it was 4.2w. Meantime, how would these kids have f'ed up some other aspects of the app? UMCP admissions is like Squid Game.

[Anonymous]

crazy thread. only one thing is for sure. if you kid is rejected, your kid is not attending umcp. i promise you that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:its not being petty but I refuse to hire from a school that does not prioritize instate students and run like a business.

75% of UMD students are in-state. Compared to 66% at UVA. At some point more in-state students in a small state like Maryland actively detracts from the college experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:crazy thread. only one thing is for sure. if you kid is rejected, your kid is not attending umcp. i promise you that.

Shut up FFS. Lots of rejected kids will end up there as transfer students.

[Anonymous]

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Because you're being careless with your claims. You are saying 1500 is considered low in MCPS IB. It's NOT in MCPS IB. You're talking about the IB magnet program at ONE school, Richard Montgomery, which is a very very small, very competitive IB program which takes students from the whole county. Other high schools have regular IB programs, which are NOT the same as RM. They are not competitive to get into (though the classes are demanding), and any kids can participate in them. You'd expect RMIB to have a high median SAT score, because kids had to test even to get INTO the program. It's only high-achieving kids who test well (and many who have parents who send them to test-prep programs.)

shrug.. I don't know what the other IB diploma students SAT scores are since, as you said, they don't publish them. So, I can only go by what RMIB publishes. But, colleges do compare a student to their cohort, whether that be county, specific HS, or IB diploma graudates. If the student has an IB diploma, that would indicate that the student is pretty high achieving.

Also, many non magnet students also go to test prep program, and many manget students do not go to test prep programs. Neither my RMIB kid nor their friends did. They did take several of the free online SAT practice tests via the college board and khan academy. Who's to say that the prior poster's IB kid didn't go to a test prep tutoring program?

FWIW, my kid has never gone to an after school tutoring program, neither has my other DC who is not in a magnet and doesn't want to be.

NP: Colleges, including UMD, do not compare IB students across high schools or at the county level just like they don't compare kids at different STEM magnet schools in the same city or county, e.g. Poolesville vs Blair. As a state institution, UMD considers kids in the aggregate at the county level to ensure that the university is geographically diverse across counties. There is no IB cohort within MCPS. How do I know this, because as a professor I sat on faculty academic committees that advise admissions policies, participate in grad admissions, and I am friends/colleagues with admissions staff.

As the PP noted, you made a blanket statement about RMIB data and tried to apply it to all of the county IB programs. Depending on the school, a 1440 in an MCPS IB program other than RMIB may be average or about the mean. You are right that we don't have this data but I have seen data from other school systems similar to MoCo with IB programs and 1500+ was not the median. IB diploma does not equal 1500+ SAT scores.

OK, so no one really knows what the median SAT scores are for MoCo IB students other than RMIB. But as you stated, UMD will look at students across the county, not just RMIB vs RMIB. So, an IB student at BCC would be compared to an IB student at RM, if they are looking at the county level? That's even worse for the IB diploma kid who has a 1440 SAT.

Even so, weight 3.84 is low for an IB diploma grad. The thread started with both the SAT and weighted GPA being low.

No, I said aggregate, which means all kids regardless of programs to balance out the percentage of kids accepted from each county. Again, UMD does not compare IB kids at different schools. Kids at RM in the general population are not even compared to the IB magnet kids. The issue is not the SAT score, it is as you stated the GPA assuming that the OP didn't make a mistake and it is the weighted GPA. 1440 is not low for an IB diploma.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Because you're being careless with your claims. You are saying 1500 is considered low in MCPS IB. It's NOT in MCPS IB. You're talking about the IB magnet program at ONE school, Richard Montgomery, which is a very very small, very competitive IB program which takes students from the whole county. Other high schools have regular IB programs, which are NOT the same as RM. They are not competitive to get into (though the classes are demanding), and any kids can participate in them. You'd expect RMIB to have a high median SAT score, because kids had to test even to get INTO the program. It's only high-achieving kids who test well (and many who have parents who send them to test-prep programs.)

shrug.. I don't know what the other IB diploma students SAT scores are since, as you said, they don't publish them. So, I can only go by what RMIB publishes. But, colleges do compare a student to their cohort, whether that be county, specific HS, or IB diploma graudates. If the student has an IB diploma, that would indicate that the student is pretty high achieving.

Also, many non magnet students also go to test prep program, and many manget students do not go to test prep programs. Neither my RMIB kid nor their friends did. They did take several of the free online SAT practice tests via the college board and khan academy. Who's to say that the prior poster's IB kid didn't go to a test prep tutoring program?

FWIW, my kid has never gone to an after school tutoring program, neither has my other DC who is not in a magnet and doesn't want to be.

NP: Colleges, including UMD, do not compare IB students across high schools or at the county level just like they don't compare kids at different STEM magnet schools in the same city or county, e.g. Poolesville vs Blair. As a state institution, UMD considers kids in the aggregate at the county level to ensure that the university is geographically diverse across counties. There is no IB cohort within MCPS. How do I know this, because as a professor I sat on faculty academic committees that advise admissions policies, participate in grad admissions, and I am friends/colleagues with admissions staff.

As the PP noted, you made a blanket statement about RMIB data and tried to apply it to all of the county IB programs. Depending on the school, a 1440 in an MCPS IB program other than RMIB may be average or about the mean. You are right that we don't have this data but I have seen data from other school systems similar to MoCo with IB programs and 1500+ was not the median. IB diploma does not equal 1500+ SAT scores.

OK, so no one really knows what the median SAT scores are for MoCo IB students other than RMIB. But as you stated, UMD will look at students across the county, not just RMIB vs RMIB. So, an IB student at BCC would be compared to an IB student at RM, if they are looking at the county level? That's even worse for the IB diploma kid who has a 1440 SAT.

Even so, weight 3.84 is low for an IB diploma grad. The thread started with both the SAT and weighted GPA being low.

No, I said aggregate, which means all kids regardless of programs to balance out the percentage of kids accepted from each county. Again, UMD does not compare IB kids at different schools. Kids at RM in the general population are not even compared to the IB magnet kids. The issue is not the SAT score, it is as you stated the GPA assuming that the OP didn't make a mistake and it is the weighted GPA. 1440 is not low for an IB diploma.

Aggregate means that the kids are compared to each other within the county, as you say. So they are all part of the group, but wouldn't they take notice of a student with an IB diploma and compare them to other IB diploma students? Which makes sense if the PP's kid was rejected but other non IB students with lower stats was accepted.

And I'm pretty sure the 3.8 was weighted. Don't know if that was a typo though.

[Anonymous]

DS was admitted.

MCPS. 3.9/4.6. Test Optional. Engineering Program + 4 AP + OK Extracurriculars. The GPA is empty IMO due to silly MCPS grade inflation. He basically slept through the 11th grade covid year and didn't do a lot of the work; has challenges completing assignments on time.

Scored approx. 1120 in junior year with very little prep. Probably could have got him close to 1300 with practice and classes. Has ADHD and doesn't do well on tests. Decided not to bother taking the test senior year, and not to submit scores.

Also admitted to Carillon Community within UMD. Will have to read up about that. Would love to hear from anyone familiar with the program.

[Anonymous]

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Congratulations! Isn’t the hook Asian American, or is affirmative action not considered a hook?

Asian American is basically white. So no.

Uh no, Asian Americans are not white. Maybe you mean not under-represented?

Very qualified Asian Americans are actually denied because they are OVER REPRESENTED in colleges. Which means that the colleges think that there are lots of them with excellent academics and ECs. Not only they don't get any affirmative action but lower stat Whites get preference over them. In truth, Asian-Americans are not over represented. They just have a culture of valuing education and going to college. So Asian Americans in American universities are APPROPRIATELY REPRESENTED FOR THEIR CULTURAL VALUES or ARCV.

State schools benefit because they take these students to bolster some of their departments. For example, UMD is not known for all their majors but it is highly ranked for many STEM majors. Thankfully, these students can easily go instate based on their academics and ECs. Most of these students have the profile for MIT, Stanford etc and they get rejected due to demographic.

In the end, it is a win-win for state flagships and these students. But, unfortunately, it can penalize many other good in-state students because UMD ceases to be a match for them.

What a bunch of conjecture. You really want to say, that because of Asian students others can’t get in? You sure that’s what you mean? Really sure?

[Anonymous]

PP here. Forgot to add, applied and admitted as undecided ("Letters and Sciences").

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Because you're being careless with your claims. You are saying 1500 is considered low in MCPS IB. It's NOT in MCPS IB. You're talking about the IB magnet program at ONE school, Richard Montgomery, which is a very very small, very competitive IB program which takes students from the whole county. Other high schools have regular IB programs, which are NOT the same as RM. They are not competitive to get into (though the classes are demanding), and any kids can participate in them. You'd expect RMIB to have a high median SAT score, because kids had to test even to get INTO the program. It's only high-achieving kids who test well (and many who have parents who send them to test-prep programs.)

shrug.. I don't know what the other IB diploma students SAT scores are since, as you said, they don't publish them. So, I can only go by what RMIB publishes. But, colleges do compare a student to their cohort, whether that be county, specific HS, or IB diploma graudates. If the student has an IB diploma, that would indicate that the student is pretty high achieving.

Also, many non magnet students also go to test prep program, and many manget students do not go to test prep programs. Neither my RMIB kid nor their friends did. They did take several of the free online SAT practice tests via the college board and khan academy. Who's to say that the prior poster's IB kid didn't go to a test prep tutoring program?

FWIW, my kid has never gone to an after school tutoring program, neither has my other DC who is not in a magnet and doesn't want to be.

NP: Colleges, including UMD, do not compare IB students across high schools or at the county level just like they don't compare kids at different STEM magnet schools in the same city or county, e.g. Poolesville vs Blair. As a state institution, UMD considers kids in the aggregate at the county level to ensure that the university is geographically diverse across counties. There is no IB cohort within MCPS. How do I know this, because as a professor I sat on faculty academic committees that advise admissions policies, participate in grad admissions, and I am friends/colleagues with admissions staff.

As the PP noted, you made a blanket statement about RMIB data and tried to apply it to all of the county IB programs. Depending on the school, a 1440 in an MCPS IB program other than RMIB may be average or about the mean. You are right that we don't have this data but I have seen data from other school systems similar to MoCo with IB programs and 1500+ was not the median. IB diploma does not equal 1500+ SAT scores.

OK, so no one really knows what the median SAT scores are for MoCo IB students other than RMIB. But as you stated, UMD will look at students across the county, not just RMIB vs RMIB. So, an IB student at BCC would be compared to an IB student at RM, if they are looking at the county level? That's even worse for the IB diploma kid who has a 1440 SAT.

Even so, weight 3.84 is low for an IB diploma grad. The thread started with both the SAT and weighted GPA being low.

No, I said aggregate, which means all kids regardless of programs to balance out the percentage of kids accepted from each county. Again, UMD does not compare IB kids at different schools. Kids at RM in the general population are not even compared to the IB magnet kids. The issue is not the SAT score, it is as you stated the GPA assuming that the OP didn't make a mistake and it is the weighted GPA. 1440 is not low for an IB diploma.

Aggregate means that the kids are compared to each other within the county, as you say. So they are all part of the group, but wouldn't they take notice of a student with an IB diploma and compare them to other IB diploma students? Which makes sense if the PP's kid was rejected but other non IB students with lower stats was accepted.

And I'm pretty sure the 3.8 was weighted. Don't know if that was a typo though.

I have never seen or heard of that happening (grouping IB students together from different programs). I am also good friends with two admissions directors, one at an Ivy and another at a top 20 school and they haven't mentioned anything along those lines. However, universities are increasingly using enrollment algorithms to determine yield and to achieve demographic goals (e.g., gender balance, full pay/financial aid, URM, etc.) so the process has become more opaque, meaning that could explain why the IB kid was rejected but a lower stats non-IB student was accepted. BTW, I'm not arguing any of this is good.

This may be of interest: https://www.brookings.edu/research/enrollment-algorithms-are-contributing-to-the-crises-of-higher-education/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can we get back on topic?

My DC got into the honors college and wants to major in physics. I am thrilled and think UMD would absolutely be the best choice for him (their physics dept ranks 14 in the country on at least one ranking I saw.) But he doesn't want to go to school so close to home. I'm biting my tongue for now, till we see where else he gets in, and how much aid he's offered. But it will be hard not to pressure him to go to UMD even if can afford the other schools (with help from his grandparents) because it really makes sense to choose the less expensive option. Interested in hearing people's experience with the honors college. (Seems he has to submit his preferences as to which one he wants to be in. We know little about them.)

Yes, I am trying to get DD excited too. The Honors Colleges look terrific. But, she really wants to go somewhere different. I get that. Right now, this is her only acceptance (rejected SCEA), but hopefully there will be others in RD. The challenge will be if UMD offers a Banneker/Key or a bunch of merit. I've told her the money is hers. If she saves it by going to UMD, she can have it for grad school. But, she is welcome to invest it in another experience if she gets accepted. We should get some aid at top schools, so we'll see if she has a happy problem.

Just so you know, if your DC majors in physics, grad school will be paid for.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, yes I expect so. He’s already eyeing graduate school…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can we get back on topic?

My DC got into the honors college and wants to major in physics. I am thrilled and think UMD would absolutely be the best choice for him (their physics dept ranks 14 in the country on at least one ranking I saw.) But he doesn't want to go to school so close to home. I'm biting my tongue for now, till we see where else he gets in, and how much aid he's offered. But it will be hard not to pressure him to go to UMD even if can afford the other schools (with help from his grandparents) because it really makes sense to choose the less expensive option. Interested in hearing people's experience with the honors college. (Seems he has to submit his preferences as to which one he wants to be in. We know little about them.)

Get the honors college application in ASAP. If he's interested in cybersecurity especially that one is super-popular and has a really nice dorm.

My DS is a sophomore at UMD double majoring in physics and CS. He's in University Honors. Maybe because of the pandemic, but UH hasn't made a significant difference for him -- he's taking the last of his required Honors humanities classes (which he has really enjoyed) this semester, and had to take a nothingburger 1 credit class his first semester, but there's really not been anything UH has done to promote bonding or camaraderie in any way. It's a nice thing to have on his academic resume but UH doesn't seem like a cohesive experience.

We live in MoCo and it's been great having DH at UMD -- he's just 30 minutes away around the Beltway so can come home for the weekend, but hardly ever does -- generally he texts at 2 am when he thinks of something he needs, and otherwise I have to demand proof of life to hear from him. It's also plenty big enough that he certainly sees people he knows from time to time but it's not a small pond, so he's not constantly surrounded by his HS classmates.

We had to make this decision at the outset of the pandemic, but DS's other options were also large (out of state) public universities with strong physics/quantum physics research institutes. The pandemic definitely influenced the decision to go to UMD over the OOS universities, but UMD has been a really good fit for him overall and for us financially with other kids to put through school.

[Anonymous]

*DS not DH at UMD lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I am really surprised by some of the rejects people have posted. My DS got in, as I expected he would, for Fall and selective major. Most of his friends from midrange non W MCPS public also got in (although not sure if FC or not, didn’t ask, didn’t tell). It must be somewhat of an advantage to come from a lower performing school? Maybe these kids went test optional but pretty sure they didn’t break 1300 and are in calculus now, senior year and only had a few APs. Mixed messages. I guess just count my blessings….

Usually 50% of those who apply get in from my kid’s W school. What percentage of kids get in from your non W school?
Sorry, what is a a W/non W school? Thanks

It’s used as shorthand for the higher SES high schools in MCPS - Whitman, Wootton, Walter Johnson, Winston Churchill.

And Watkins Mill

LOL!!! This made me smile. I went to a school in the county similar to WM and laugh at the superiority complex of the typical W schools. Get over yourselves!

It is funny…and to give it a name like “The W’s.” It’s really funny…

+1 the W’s are like the Wannabes…no advantage over other MCPS schools…too funny

Who said they did?

The Wannabes did

So people who go to schools other than W schools want the W school people to be wannabes?

Hahahaha, “the W schools” - too funny…

Living rent free in your head