Anonymous
Post 12/01/2025 16:00     Subject: UMD---Reach or Match

How about for 1530 SAT from out of state? (weighted 4.05 / physics major?)for UMD?
Regular decision Nova school.
Anonymous
Post 12/01/2025 15:18     Subject: UMD---Reach or Match

Anonymous wrote:Somewhere between safety and match. Should be fine. Good luck.


+1
Anonymous
Post 12/01/2025 14:56     Subject: UMD---Reach or Match

Safety to match for straight admission. No guarantees for Honors or if applying for CS.
Anonymous
Post 12/01/2025 14:24     Subject: UMD---Reach or Match

Anonymous wrote:DS has similar stats. A few more APs and all 5s so far and some national recognition in ECs. But from DCPS, so hoping that helps.


Doesn't help at all. Different state, and didn't state outcome.
Anonymous
Post 12/01/2025 14:21     Subject: UMD---Reach or Match

Anonymous wrote:Yes, UMD is not a safety for anyone any more. Has it become a reach?

Kid stats: 1560, MV/DE, LA, CMech, CE&M, Chem, Lang, and Bio. All 4s and 5s. Will be looking at biochem, math, or physics. ECs are creative writing and DnD but no leadership roles.


Check scattergrams and application history on Naviance. Also, have your kid ask their counselor.

My kids' MCPS high school saw a large drop in UMD admits over the past several years. Last school year (2025), UMD had a ~25% admit rate. In 2024, it was ~35%. But in 2023, admit rate to UMD from same HS was ~60%!

Anonymous
Post 12/01/2025 14:01     Subject: UMD---Reach or Match

Anonymous wrote:Yes, UMD is not a safety for anyone any more. Has it become a reach?

Kid stats: 1560, MV/DE, LA, CMech, CE&M, Chem, Lang, and Bio. All 4s and 5s. Will be looking at biochem, math, or physics. ECs are creative writing and DnD but no leadership roles.


Definitely reach!
Anonymous
Post 12/01/2025 14:00     Subject: UMD---Reach or Match

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My Churchill kid had similar stats (1550), lots of APs, 2 Bs overall, high AP scores. This was a couple of years ago and was admitted to the Scholars program at UMD. But there were a couple of kids with similar stats who didn't get in. But I don't know their profiles in detail-- just SAT and the fact that they're in lots of APs with "high GPA." I also know people from W schools admitted to Penn and and Georgetown in the last couple of years who weren't admitted to UMD. I guess that makes it a match for those stats? (A match is a school where you're pretty likely but not necessarily be admitted.). I wouldn't count it as a safety for anyone.

Check scattergrams for more detail.


I can only believe this is true for Georgetown, which has a 12% admissions rate (Penn is less selective than UMD, so it's moot) if the student applied regular decision to UMD. It's well known that you need to apply early action, because UMD takes the majority of its freshman class from its EA round.


Penn is the University of Pennsylvania, not Penn State. (Don’t worry, everyone does that.) Far more selective than Georgetown or UMD.
Anonymous
Post 12/01/2025 13:47     Subject: UMD---Reach or Match

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:From what high school? That can be the critical piece.


MCPS Churchill


Yikes then


In what regard? Coming from Churchill makes UMD a Reach?


Yes.


100% BS
Anonymous
Post 12/01/2025 13:37     Subject: UMD---Reach or Match

PP here: presumably the grade distributions will change with this year's and esp next year's graduating classes due to the new grading system, but you have to make due with what you have, which is the years of experience under the old, inflated, grading system
Anonymous
Post 12/01/2025 13:35     Subject: UMD---Reach or Match

Will depend on the reason for the 4.67 GPA and how your DC's grades in the most rigorous classes compared to their classmates.

A surprisingly high % of graduates from our different Bethesda-area HS had 4.8 and above, (indicating straight or near straight As with at most one or two unweighted classes other than PE), and that seemed to be the point at which UMD turned almost entirely green on scattergrams. Of course plenty of kids got in with lower than 4.8, but once you are out of the green sea, it's really a crap shoot.

Only UMD admissions can tell you relative weight of GPA v test scores, but I would guess that once you are above a particular score threshold, GPA matters more, esp in the MCPS schools where half the class applies to UMD.
Anonymous
Post 12/01/2025 12:55     Subject: UMD---Reach or Match

Anonymous wrote:My Churchill kid had similar stats (1550), lots of APs, 2 Bs overall, high AP scores. This was a couple of years ago and was admitted to the Scholars program at UMD. But there were a couple of kids with similar stats who didn't get in. But I don't know their profiles in detail-- just SAT and the fact that they're in lots of APs with "high GPA." I also know people from W schools admitted to Penn and and Georgetown in the last couple of years who weren't admitted to UMD. I guess that makes it a match for those stats? (A match is a school where you're pretty likely but not necessarily be admitted.). I wouldn't count it as a safety for anyone.

Check scattergrams for more detail.


I can only believe this is true for Georgetown, which has a 12% admissions rate (Penn is less selective than UMD, so it's moot) if the student applied regular decision to UMD. It's well known that you need to apply early action, because UMD takes the majority of its freshman class from its EA round.
Anonymous
Post 12/01/2025 12:48     Subject: UMD---Reach or Match

My Churchill kid had similar stats (1550), lots of APs, 2 Bs overall, high AP scores. This was a couple of years ago and was admitted to the Scholars program at UMD. But there were a couple of kids with similar stats who didn't get in. But I don't know their profiles in detail-- just SAT and the fact that they're in lots of APs with "high GPA." I also know people from W schools admitted to Penn and and Georgetown in the last couple of years who weren't admitted to UMD. I guess that makes it a match for those stats? (A match is a school where you're pretty likely but not necessarily be admitted.). I wouldn't count it as a safety for anyone.

Check scattergrams for more detail.
Anonymous
Post 12/01/2025 12:12     Subject: UMD---Reach or Match

Anonymous wrote:Did I miss the GPA?
4.67
Anonymous
Post 12/01/2025 12:06     Subject: UMD---Reach or Match

Did I miss the GPA?
Anonymous
Post 12/01/2025 12:05     Subject: UMD---Reach or Match

DS has similar stats. A few more APs and all 5s so far and some national recognition in ECs. But from DCPS, so hoping that helps.