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

[Anonymous]

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.

UMD doesn’t select from major BUT there are majors for that are Limited Enrollment. Meaning you could potentially get accepted to UMD, but not get accepted to that major. CS and even Business are some of the LEP majors.

+1. See here:

https://admissions.umd.edu/academics/limited-enrollment-programs

+2

I really want to emphasize this because it is confusing for students and parents. UMD admissions office is the first gate for admission to the university. Only after students are admitted to the university do the LEP programs get to see the applicants for specific programs. If a student is admitted to UMD but not the desired LEP, they are placed in Letters & Sciences and will declare a major later.

Many of the LEPs have guaranteed transfers in upon meeting gateway requirements EXCEPT computer science. If you aren’t admitted to the LEP they will reject you from UMD completely, because they won’t take internal transfers anymore. (Note - this may change if CS demand drops due to students figuring out how hard it is to get a job in CS now.)

I'm STILL confused. Are you saying thta for business and engineering, those not admitted to LEP will still be admitted to UMD. But if you named CS as your major, you'll be rejected from UMD if not admitted into CS? ??

[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.

UMD doesn’t select from major BUT there are majors for that are Limited Enrollment. Meaning you could potentially get accepted to UMD, but not get accepted to that major. CS and even Business are some of the LEP majors.

+1. See here:

https://admissions.umd.edu/academics/limited-enrollment-programs

+2

I really want to emphasize this because it is confusing for students and parents. UMD admissions office is the first gate for admission to the university. Only after students are admitted to the university do the LEP programs get to see the applicants for specific programs. If a student is admitted to UMD but not the desired LEP, they are placed in Letters & Sciences and will declare a major later.

Many of the LEPs have guaranteed transfers in upon meeting gateway requirements EXCEPT computer science. If you aren’t admitted to the LEP they will reject you from UMD completely, because they won’t take internal transfers anymore. (Note - this may change if CS demand drops due to students figuring out how hard it is to get a job in CS now.)

I'm STILL confused. Are you saying thta for business and engineering, those not admitted to LEP will still be admitted to UMD. But if you named CS as your major, you'll be rejected from UMD if not admitted into CS? ??

I was at the UMD info session and tour last week, and they said for CS you could still be admitted to UMD but placed in Letters & Sciences if not admitted into CS, and you should then be prepared to choose a different major besides CS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

UMD doesn’t select from major BUT there are majors for that are Limited Enrollment. Meaning you could potentially get accepted to UMD, but not get accepted to that major. CS and even Business are some of the LEP majors.

+1. See here:

https://admissions.umd.edu/academics/limited-enrollment-programs

+2

I really want to emphasize this because it is confusing for students and parents. UMD admissions office is the first gate for admission to the university. Only after students are admitted to the university do the LEP programs get to see the applicants for specific programs. If a student is admitted to UMD but not the desired LEP, they are placed in Letters & Sciences and will declare a major later.

Many of the LEPs have guaranteed transfers in upon meeting gateway requirements EXCEPT computer science. If you aren’t admitted to the LEP they will reject you from UMD completely, because they won’t take internal transfers anymore. (Note - this may change if CS demand drops due to students figuring out how hard it is to get a job in CS now.)

I'm STILL confused. Are you saying thta for business and engineering, those not admitted to LEP will still be admitted to UMD. But if you named CS as your major, you'll be rejected from UMD if not admitted into CS? ??

I was at the UMD info session and tour last week, and they said for CS you could still be admitted to UMD but placed in Letters & Sciences if not admitted into CS, and you should then be prepared to choose a different major besides CS.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Thanks! Was this in the last couple of years? Can anyone else confirm that kids have been getting in with grade-level math (ending in pre-calc or stats) rather than accelerated to reach calculus in HS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Thanks! Was this in the last couple of years? Can anyone else confirm that kids have been getting in with grade-level math (ending in pre-calc or stats) rather than accelerated to reach calculus in HS?

For some majors and depending on the HS you are from/connections, its possible but its pretty surprising that that is considered rigor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Thanks! Was this in the last couple of years? Can anyone else confirm that kids have been getting in with grade-level math (ending in pre-calc or stats) rather than accelerated to reach calculus in HS?

For some majors and depending on the HS you are from/connections, its possible but its pretty surprising that that is considered rigor.

What do you mean? Whether or not you're going to be able to reach calculus in high school is basically already decided for you by the time you're 10 years old (if you don't get recommended for accelerated math at the end of 3rd and/or 5th grade.). Isn't rigor based on the most rigorous classes available to you (i.e. taking honors or AP math classes at the level you're currently at, whether on-grade or ahead)? Or are kids really not able to be considered as taking a highly rigorous courseload if their 5th grade teacher didn't think they were ready for accelerated math at 10 or 11 and so they can't get to Algebra 1 until 9th grade?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Thanks! Was this in the last couple of years? Can anyone else confirm that kids have been getting in with grade-level math (ending in pre-calc or stats) rather than accelerated to reach calculus in HS?

For some majors and depending on the HS you are from/connections, its possible but its pretty surprising that that is considered rigor.

What do you mean? Whether or not you're going to be able to reach calculus in high school is basically already decided for you by the time you're 10 years old (if you don't get recommended for accelerated math at the end of 3rd and/or 5th grade.). Isn't rigor based on the most rigorous classes available to you (i.e. taking honors or AP math classes at the level you're currently at, whether on-grade or ahead)? Or are kids really not able to be considered as taking a highly rigorous courseload if their 5th grade teacher didn't think they were ready for accelerated math at 10 or 11 and so they can't get to Algebra 1 until 9th grade?

Algebra 1 in 8th is the on level track in MCPS. You can do Alg. 1 in 8th, leading to calculus with no summer classes, even if you didn’t do accelerated math at 10.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Thanks! Was this in the last couple of years? Can anyone else confirm that kids have been getting in with grade-level math (ending in pre-calc or stats) rather than accelerated to reach calculus in HS?

For some majors and depending on the HS you are from/connections, its possible but its pretty surprising that that is considered rigor.

What do you mean? Whether or not you're going to be able to reach calculus in high school is basically already decided for you by the time you're 10 years old (if you don't get recommended for accelerated math at the end of 3rd and/or 5th grade.). Isn't rigor based on the most rigorous classes available to you (i.e. taking honors or AP math classes at the level you're currently at, whether on-grade or ahead)? Or are kids really not able to be considered as taking a highly rigorous courseload if their 5th grade teacher didn't think they were ready for accelerated math at 10 or 11 and so they can't get to Algebra 1 until 9th grade?

Algebra 1 in 8th is the on level track in MCPS. You can do Alg. 1 in 8th, leading to calculus with no summer classes, even if you didn’t do accelerated math at 10.

No. Math 8 OR Algebra 1 is on-level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Thanks! Was this in the last couple of years? Can anyone else confirm that kids have been getting in with grade-level math (ending in pre-calc or stats) rather than accelerated to reach calculus in HS?

For some majors and depending on the HS you are from/connections, its possible but its pretty surprising that that is considered rigor.

What do you mean? Whether or not you're going to be able to reach calculus in high school is basically already decided for you by the time you're 10 years old (if you don't get recommended for accelerated math at the end of 3rd and/or 5th grade.). Isn't rigor based on the most rigorous classes available to you (i.e. taking honors or AP math classes at the level you're currently at, whether on-grade or ahead)? Or are kids really not able to be considered as taking a highly rigorous courseload if their 5th grade teacher didn't think they were ready for accelerated math at 10 or 11 and so they can't get to Algebra 1 until 9th grade?

Algebra 1 in 8th is the on level track in MCPS. You can do Alg. 1 in 8th, leading to calculus with no summer classes, even if you didn’t do accelerated math at 10.

No, totally inaccurate. Algebra 1 comes after math 8. To get into Algebra 1 in 8th grade you need either compression of 4-6 into 2 years in ES or compression of 6-8 into 2 years in MS. (If you have acceleration/compaction in both ES and MS you will be 2 years ahead and take Algebra 1 in 7th.) Not getting recommended for accelerated math by your 5th grade teacher means you miss out on your last chance to make it to algebra in MS and calculus in HS unless you take summer classes or take two math classes the same year or do some non-standard skipping that requires you to miss some math content in MS (none of which most kids will do.)

Can folks clarify how big of a disadvantage this puts you at for UMCP? Will high schools not check the "most rigorous" box for kids who can't make it to calculus in HS because they run out of time? Does UMCP care about the "most rigorous" box and/or the lack of calculus itself?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Thanks! Was this in the last couple of years? Can anyone else confirm that kids have been getting in with grade-level math (ending in pre-calc or stats) rather than accelerated to reach calculus in HS?

For some majors and depending on the HS you are from/connections, its possible but its pretty surprising that that is considered rigor.

What do you mean? Whether or not you're going to be able to reach calculus in high school is basically already decided for you by the time you're 10 years old (if you don't get recommended for accelerated math at the end of 3rd and/or 5th grade.). Isn't rigor based on the most rigorous classes available to you (i.e. taking honors or AP math classes at the level you're currently at, whether on-grade or ahead)? Or are kids really not able to be considered as taking a highly rigorous courseload if their 5th grade teacher didn't think they were ready for accelerated math at 10 or 11 and so they can't get to Algebra 1 until 9th grade?

Algebra 1 in 8th is the on level track in MCPS. You can do Alg. 1 in 8th, leading to calculus with no summer classes, even if you didn’t do accelerated math at 10.

No, totally inaccurate. Algebra 1 comes after math 8. To get into Algebra 1 in 8th grade you need either compression of 4-6 into 2 years in ES or compression of 6-8 into 2 years in MS. (If you have acceleration/compaction in both ES and MS you will be 2 years ahead and take Algebra 1 in 7th.) Not getting recommended for accelerated math by your 5th grade teacher means you miss out on your last chance to make it to algebra in MS and calculus in HS unless you take summer classes or take two math classes the same year or do some non-standard skipping that requires you to miss some math content in MS (none of which most kids will do.)

Can folks clarify how big of a disadvantage this puts you at for UMCP? Will high schools not check the "most rigorous" box for kids who can't make it to calculus in HS because they run out of time? Does UMCP care about the "most rigorous" box and/or the lack of calculus itself?

DP.

Alg1 in 8th is on track - this gets you to calc in 12th grade
Alg 1 in 7th is advanced - this gets you to calc in 11th grade (that's both my kids)
Alg 1 in 9th is behind

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Ok so then when they reject students with high stats, it is probably due to the unstated cap per HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Ok so then when they reject students with high stats, it is probably due to the unstated cap per HS.

Probably. As they've said... "this isn't the university of Montgomery County". They could fill the entire freshmen class with students from a handful of MCPS HS based on scores alone. But, they don't want to do that.

[Anonymous]

It will be interesting to see what happens with CS admissions even that the job prospects for that major look very poor now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It will be interesting to see what happens with CS admissions even that the job prospects for that major look very poor now.

Nothing will happen. They will only admit 700 to the program . It's still a popular major.

[Anonymous]

Folks let's be real. If you are in UMD provosts' shoes, with significant cutting of research funding and strict-than-ever rules on accepting international students, how do UMD keep up its revenue to survive? Of course it's admitting more out-of-state students. This has happened to UCLA, UC Berkeley, etc. for multiple years, and it's just landing on UMD not long ago.

What to do? Save more for your kids' out-of-state tuitions for other flagship universities as other states are facing the same issues; or lower your expectation and aiming at UMBC or other in-state ones.