Anonymous
Post 10/29/2025 22:52     Subject: About UMD
My Terp is graduating this year. Academically when she applied in 2022, she was likely bottom 25% of the accepted class. Her HS grades were good but could have been better and she took mostly honors rather than AP. But, she offered a tremendous background in leadership and community service. When she was accepted and many peers with better academic credentials were not, it occurred to me - big schools need students who will be involved in campus, too. So an applicant like my Terp was probably appealing for that reason. And she has been very active these past 4 years and contributed in lots of ways to the UMD community. So in our experience, ECs can make a difference if they stand out enough.
Anonymous
Post 10/29/2025 20:55     Subject: About UMD
Also want to know, what stats do UMD CS accept normally? For example, MD public school, GPA3.9-4.0, high but not the highest rigorous, SAT 1500-1530, normal EC, no leadership. can this type of kids get admitted?
Anonymous
Post 10/28/2025 23:18     Subject: About UMD
Anonymous wrote:It's crazy hard to get into UMD for CS and it's even harder to transfer into the program once you're a student. Engineering is easier because it's not limited enrollment like CS. Consider UMBC for computer science, computer engineering, or mechanical engineering. UMBC does not have an EE program but computer engineering comes close and is such a great mashup of CS and EE.


How is the school?
Anonymous
Post 10/28/2025 19:07     Subject: About UMD
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Does UMD care about EC, such as leadership, sports, etc? Is it friendly to high stats students without much EC, especially from good public high schools in MD?

I know CS in UMD is very competitive. How about EE? Is it a bit easier to get in?


Yes, based on my kids' good public high school in Maryland for HS class of '25. My kid had very average ECs but top academic rigor and high stats (very high GPA, very high SAT, very high AP).

He was admitted to UMD engineering with Honors & merit as an Asian male. Engineering is also limited enrollment there, but I'm not sure if it's an easier admission than CS. It might be, just because there are more engineering students, but I don't know how many people apply for CS vs eng. This past cycle, UMD received a total of 66,000 applications!

Your kids will be mostly compared to those from their high school, so if you have Naviance or something similar, you can at least check general trends for UMD.


Congrats! Your should be proud. It’s not easy to get merit there. Based on my kid’s school, it is not hard to get into UMD. I saw many average GPA got in. If my son would go with other majors, there is no worry. The issue is with CS.

I actually wonder, if someone’s 3 desired majors in common app are: CS, EE, ME. But he is not strong enough, will UMD just reject him or put him in a different major that he didn’t specify?




They will accept him to the school but not the specific major.

Curious how you know the GPAs of students from your kids school???


There is a scatterplot in some school account. X is GPA and
Y is SAT. You can see any college’s applicants from your high school in previous years. Red dots were rejected and green accepted. Only dots, no students’ names. Your kids should know how to access it. My son showed me. But it’s not very helpful because the dots generally spread wildly.
Anonymous
Post 10/28/2025 18:03     Subject: About UMD
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Does UMD care about EC, such as leadership, sports, etc? Is it friendly to high stats students without much EC, especially from good public high schools in MD?

I know CS in UMD is very competitive. How about EE? Is it a bit easier to get in?


Yes, based on my kids' good public high school in Maryland for HS class of '25. My kid had very average ECs but top academic rigor and high stats (very high GPA, very high SAT, very high AP).

He was admitted to UMD engineering with Honors & merit as an Asian male. Engineering is also limited enrollment there, but I'm not sure if it's an easier admission than CS. It might be, just because there are more engineering students, but I don't know how many people apply for CS vs eng. This past cycle, UMD received a total of 66,000 applications!

Your kids will be mostly compared to those from their high school, so if you have Naviance or something similar, you can at least check general trends for UMD.


Congrats! Your should be proud. It’s not easy to get merit there. Based on my kid’s school, it is not hard to get into UMD. I saw many average GPA got in. If my son would go with other majors, there is no worry. The issue is with CS.

I actually wonder, if someone’s 3 desired majors in common app are: CS, EE, ME. But he is not strong enough, will UMD just reject him or put him in a different major that he didn’t specify?




They will accept him to the school but not the specific major.

Curious how you know the GPAs of students from your kids school???
Anonymous
Post 10/28/2025 17:51     Subject: About UMD
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Does UMD care about EC, such as leadership, sports, etc? Is it friendly to high stats students without much EC, especially from good public high schools in MD?

I know CS in UMD is very competitive. How about EE? Is it a bit easier to get in?


Yes, based on my kids' good public high school in Maryland for HS class of '25. My kid had very average ECs but top academic rigor and high stats (very high GPA, very high SAT, very high AP).

He was admitted to UMD engineering with Honors & merit as an Asian male. Engineering is also limited enrollment there, but I'm not sure if it's an easier admission than CS. It might be, just because there are more engineering students, but I don't know how many people apply for CS vs eng. This past cycle, UMD received a total of 66,000 applications!

Your kids will be mostly compared to those from their high school, so if you have Naviance or something similar, you can at least check general trends for UMD.


Congrats! Your should be proud. It’s not easy to get merit there. Based on my kid’s school, it is not hard to get into UMD. I saw many average GPA got in. If my son would go with other majors, there is no worry. The issue is with CS.

I actually wonder, if someone’s 3 desired majors in common app are: CS, EE, ME. But he is not strong enough, will UMD just reject him or put him in a different major that he didn’t specify?


Anonymous
Post 10/28/2025 07:48     Subject: About UMD
Or… just hear me out…maybe instead of consulting dcum turn to UMD’s CDS which tells you exactly what they look for. (And yes, ECs are considered important)

https://www.irpa.umd.edu/InstitutionalData/cds.html
Anonymous
Post 10/28/2025 07:16     Subject: About UMD
Anonymous wrote:Does UMD care about EC, such as leadership, sports, etc? Is it friendly to high stats students without much EC, especially from good public high schools in MD?

I know CS in UMD is very competitive. How about EE? Is it a bit easier to get in?


Yes, based on my kids' good public high school in Maryland for HS class of '25. My kid had very average ECs but top academic rigor and high stats (very high GPA, very high SAT, very high AP).

He was admitted to UMD engineering with Honors & merit as an Asian male. Engineering is also limited enrollment there, but I'm not sure if it's an easier admission than CS. It might be, just because there are more engineering students, but I don't know how many people apply for CS vs eng. This past cycle, UMD received a total of 66,000 applications!

Your kids will be mostly compared to those from their high school, so if you have Naviance or something similar, you can at least check general trends for UMD.
Anonymous
Post 10/27/2025 23:49     Subject: About UMD
It's crazy hard to get into UMD for CS and it's even harder to transfer into the program once you're a student. Engineering is easier because it's not limited enrollment like CS. Consider UMBC for computer science, computer engineering, or mechanical engineering. UMBC does not have an EE program but computer engineering comes close and is such a great mashup of CS and EE.
Anonymous
Post 10/27/2025 23:43     Subject: About UMD
Anonymous wrote:Does UMD care about EC, such as leadership, sports, etc? Is it friendly to high stats students without much EC, especially from good public high schools in MD?

I know CS in UMD is very competitive. How about EE? Is it a bit easier to get in?


Engineering at UMD is super competitive. And will likely remain so until the end of time. But it seems to be very stats driven. Good ECs will only help, but I think UMD engineering and CS prioritize the stats. But it is a state school, so Montgomery County students will have a tougher time than students from more underrepresented counties.
Anonymous
Post 10/27/2025 23:09     Subject: About UMD
Anonymous wrote:Have you looked at JHU (Baltimore)?

What?
Anonymous
Post 10/27/2025 22:42     Subject: About UMD
Have you looked at JHU (Baltimore)?
Anonymous
Post 10/27/2025 22:09     Subject: About UMD
I can’t say for sure but I feel like ECs aren’t that important. DD has now graduated UMD but was admitted with basically no ECs (just one very minor one). It’s more of a numbers game.
Anonymous
Post 10/27/2025 22:02     Subject: About UMD
let's see if CS is still going to be hot at UMD - but yeah i don't think UMD cares much about EC - grade/rigor/test are probably more important.
Anonymous
Post 10/27/2025 21:57     Subject: About UMD
Does UMD care about EC, such as leadership, sports, etc? Is it friendly to high stats students without much EC, especially from good public high schools in MD?

I know CS in UMD is very competitive. How about EE? Is it a bit easier to get in?