Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Having had kids in both public and private there is a big difference in UMD applications. At DCs private school very few applied to UMD, and it was usually kids needing in-state tuition and not necessarily top students. Only 1-2 a year actually go, if that. At DCs Bethesda public school at least 50% of the seniors (so 250 kids) applied to UMD and a large group actually went. There was definitely a snobbery about it in the private school, it was not seen as a desirable choice. At our public school it was a place kids wanted to go and most of the top students at least applied.

So I suspect the private school kids who aren't getting in are not necessarily strong candidates, plus UMD knows they don't have a great track record with some of the private schools.

This is a very useful insight. The only troubling aspect is that you equate needing in-state tuition with not being a "top" student. Are the two mutually exclusive? Surely you get top students who need in-state tuition as well as those who are not top.

The top students who need aid are more likely to get into their first choice school with financial aid or a school with merit aid. Middling students are going to have fewer merit aid options. So while the two groups are not mutually exclusive, when it came down to where they applied there seemed to be a difference.

Anonymous wrote:

Having had kids in both public and private there is a big difference in UMD applications. At DCs private school very few applied to UMD, and it was usually kids needing in-state tuition and not necessarily top students. Only 1-2 a year actually go, if that. At DCs Bethesda public school at least 50% of the seniors (so 250 kids) applied to UMD and a large group actually went. There was definitely a snobbery about it in the private school, it was not seen as a desirable choice. At our public school it was a place kids wanted to go and most of the top students at least applied.

So I suspect the private school kids who aren't getting in are not necessarily strong candidates, plus UMD knows they don't have a great track record with some of the private schools.

This is a very useful insight. The only troubling aspect is that you equate needing in-state tuition with not being a "top" student. Are the two mutually exclusive? Surely you get top students who need in-state tuition as well as those who are not top.

Having had kids in both public and private there is a big difference in UMD applications. At DCs private school very few applied to UMD, and it was usually kids needing in-state tuition and not necessarily top students. Only 1-2 a year actually go, if that. At DCs Bethesda public school at least 50% of the seniors (so 250 kids) applied to UMD and a large group actually went. There was definitely a snobbery about it in the private school, it was not seen as a desirable choice. At our public school it was a place kids wanted to go and most of the top students at least applied.

So I suspect the private school kids who aren't getting in are not necessarily strong candidates, plus UMD knows they don't have a great track record with some of the private schools.

DD1 got into UMD Honors from B-CC in the 2011/2012 cycle (class of 2012). She applied to UMD as a safety and pretty much expected to get into the honors program, since she was applying to more competitive colleges as targets. From her comments at the time, pretty much everyone she hung out with (generally highly motivated kids in the IB program with 2100+ SAT scores) expected to get in and did -- there weren't many surprises. Typically around 50% of kids from B-CC who apply get in (based on Naviance stats), which seems low/moderate, but it was the honors/on-level kids who were generally the ones who didn't get in.

DD2 is now a rising senior at B-CC and is not as academically motivated as her sister; she's in the IB program too but only has an okay GPA (B student) and an average SAT score. We are worried that she won't get in, both because UMD has become more competitive and because her stats are borderline based on recent B-CC students who have been admitted (again based on Naviance.) So I think for kids who will have plenty of options because they're academic stars, UMD is a safe bet. But for the average kids, it's definitely a lot more competitive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Responding to original question. Yes, it is difficult to get in to UMD College Park these days. My DS, who went to public school, was admitted for fall 2017, but a lot of her friends who expected to get in, most of them from private schools, did not get in. To have a good chance for admission, I recommend getting a very high SAT or ACT score. Start test taking early and keep taking until a high score is achieved. Your child must take the most difficult classes offered at his/her high school and do well in them. Your child should be in the top 10% of his/her class and have solid extra curriculars. Aim at the Ivy's and you should be ok for UMD.

If your child is majoring in business, engineering or pre-med, I recommend looking at the University of Pittsburgh as a safety. Apply early, they accept applications in the summer. Pitt awards great merit aid that will make cost equal to UMD. They seem to admit a lot of students from Maryland. Good luck!

Did you even bother to read the thread? A lot of this has been covered, in great detail and specificity.

Pittsburgh should be a thread of its own, its not really comparable. Its the safety school by comparison.

I'm the OP and I appreciate the poster getting this thread back on track. I'd been debating chiming in, but had just decided to give up. Thanks, PP and to the other posters who responded to my original post!

To be fair they aren't really saying anything new, which hasn't already been said on the thread. Unless you want now to start talking about Pittsburgh...

Well, to be fair, the PP posted exactly what I was asking for - anecdotes about people not getting that we're expected to get in, not off topic random statistics comparing Phd stem program in u of Maryland and UVA.

To the PP who claims to know lots of private school kids who didn't get into UMD I'm curious which privates - I'm assuming not the top ones because at my daughter's private, pretty much everyone who applies gets into UMD. I'm not saying it's a bad school but it's definitely not a stretch for anyone from what I've seen.

Having had kids in both public and private there is a big difference in UMD applications. At DCs private school very few applied to UMD, and it was usually kids needing in-state tuition and not necessarily top students. Only 1-2 a year actually go, if that. At DCs Bethesda public school at least 50% of the seniors (so 250 kids) applied to UMD and a large group actually went. There was definitely a snobbery about it in the private school, it was not seen as a desirable choice. At our public school it was a place kids wanted to go and most of the top students at least applied.

So I suspect the private school kids who aren't getting in are not necessarily strong candidates, plus UMD knows they don't have a great track record with some of the private schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Responding to original question. Yes, it is difficult to get in to UMD College Park these days. My DS, who went to public school, was admitted for fall 2017, but a lot of her friends who expected to get in, most of them from private schools, did not get in. To have a good chance for admission, I recommend getting a very high SAT or ACT score. Start test taking early and keep taking until a high score is achieved. Your child must take the most difficult classes offered at his/her high school and do well in them. Your child should be in the top 10% of his/her class and have solid extra curriculars. Aim at the Ivy's and you should be ok for UMD.

If your child is majoring in business, engineering or pre-med, I recommend looking at the University of Pittsburgh as a safety. Apply early, they accept applications in the summer. Pitt awards great merit aid that will make cost equal to UMD. They seem to admit a lot of students from Maryland. Good luck!

Did you even bother to read the thread? A lot of this has been covered, in great detail and specificity.

Pittsburgh should be a thread of its own, its not really comparable. Its the safety school by comparison.

I'm the OP and I appreciate the poster getting this thread back on track. I'd been debating chiming in, but had just decided to give up. Thanks, PP and to the other posters who responded to my original post!

To be fair they aren't really saying anything new, which hasn't already been said on the thread. Unless you want now to start talking about Pittsburgh...

Well, to be fair, the PP posted exactly what I was asking for - anecdotes about people not getting that we're expected to get in, not off topic random statistics comparing Phd stem program in u of Maryland and UVA.

To the PP who claims to know lots of private school kids who didn't get into UMD I'm curious which privates - I'm assuming not the top ones because at my daughter's private, pretty much everyone who applies gets into UMD. I'm not saying it's a bad school but it's definitely not a stretch for anyone from what I've seen.

That would make sense for private schools that weed out the less than stellar students from the get go-- what the parents paying top dollar expect. Most schools don't do that.

^^ top of the top private schools get into any public and almost all privates.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Responding to original question. Yes, it is difficult to get in to UMD College Park these days. My DS, who went to public school, was admitted for fall 2017, but a lot of her friends who expected to get in, most of them from private schools, did not get in. To have a good chance for admission, I recommend getting a very high SAT or ACT score. Start test taking early and keep taking until a high score is achieved. Your child must take the most difficult classes offered at his/her high school and do well in them. Your child should be in the top 10% of his/her class and have solid extra curriculars. Aim at the Ivy's and you should be ok for UMD.

If your child is majoring in business, engineering or pre-med, I recommend looking at the University of Pittsburgh as a safety. Apply early, they accept applications in the summer. Pitt awards great merit aid that will make cost equal to UMD. They seem to admit a lot of students from Maryland. Good luck!

Did you even bother to read the thread? A lot of this has been covered, in great detail and specificity.

Pittsburgh should be a thread of its own, its not really comparable. Its the safety school by comparison.

I'm the OP and I appreciate the poster getting this thread back on track. I'd been debating chiming in, but had just decided to give up. Thanks, PP and to the other posters who responded to my original post!

To be fair they aren't really saying anything new, which hasn't already been said on the thread. Unless you want now to start talking about Pittsburgh...

Well, to be fair, the PP posted exactly what I was asking for - anecdotes about people not getting that we're expected to get in, not off topic random statistics comparing Phd stem program in u of Maryland and UVA.

To the PP who claims to know lots of private school kids who didn't get into UMD I'm curious which privates - I'm assuming not the top ones because at my daughter's private, pretty much everyone who applies gets into UMD. I'm not saying it's a bad school but it's definitely not a stretch for anyone from what I've seen.