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Anonymous wrote:Rejected. In state, legacy, 1400 SAT, 3.7 uw, 4.3 w
I am so pissed.

To add: applied Arts & Sciences

I’m a professor at UMD, a liberal arts department. This is bonkers to me. There is no way that some of the students I have in intro courses could have these high school grades and stats. Some of them can barely write a coherent paragraph.

Not even a Spring admit?

I'm sorry, but a 4.3 is not hard to get in MCPS, if that is the school district.

She's not in MCPS. What's wrong with those grades?

I suspected. Is she in a private? Our kid coming from a Catholic HS could not compete with the GPAs coming out of public schools, and was rejected by UMCP.

We don't know yet if the PP's child is coming from a non-MCPS public or a private. Based upon my experience with MCPS, a 4.3W is low for public school. I typically see parents of kids with 4.5, 4.6, 4.7 bragging of admits on these message boards. The kids in MCPS can take honors everything except for PE, beginning foreign language, and algebra, I believe. Beginning art is non-Honors, but a talented kid can skip the lowest-level class. My kid happened to skip Spanish 2.

For the PP with the 1400/4.3W, is your child coming from private or public? How many AP classes has she taken? How many 4's and 5's did she have to report? No, UMD doesn't mandate that students report their AP scores, but great scores certainly don't hurt.

As far as I know, legacy status doesn't count at all at UMD. It stings, but that's the truth. Also, what major did your daughter indicate she wanted? The competition for slots in CS and engineering can be brutal. Perhaps in business as well.

For those who mentioned that UMD takes gender into account, I would assume that this is within majors. A young woman might still have a slight edge applying to CS or engineering. A young man might have a big edge applying to study Russian literature or English. Overall, UMD is around 50/50 male/female, which I see as a plus.

UMD really likes to report the average weighted GPA for its incoming freshmen, whereas a lot of other schools report the average unweighted GPA, which is more uniform across school systems around the country.

Anonymous wrote:In OOS with 28 ACT 3.5 weighted.

Congrats - which state is he/she from?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rejected. In state, legacy, 1400 SAT, 3.7 uw, 4.3 w
I am so pissed.

To add: applied Arts & Sciences

I’m a professor at UMD, a liberal arts department. This is bonkers to me. There is no way that some of the students I have in intro courses could have these high school grades and stats. Some of them can barely write a coherent paragraph.

Not even a Spring admit?

Oh, dear Professor. I’m sorry to break the news to you, but high schools have generally removed rigor in the way an older person might understand it. Look at your local public school system.

You’re a wacko

In OOS with 28 ACT 3.5 weighted.

There are some crazy high academic stats in this thread for this year's admitted students and for some students who must have narrowly missed.

Question for the board. Are the UMD stats for DC Area candidates much different than for UVA Admissions at this point?

Actually the math section of the SAT has a strong correlation with intelligence.


Nope.

Not if you have adhd, and it's the last section on a 6 hour test!

Also, not if you've taken prep classes and tutoring geared to teaching how to do well with the content.

Also, not in a host of other circumstances. Just no. The SAT tests how well you take the SAT. Intelligence is only 1 of many factors.

This is beyond ridiculous. PP is suggesting math correlates to intelligence, as opposed to English/reading? Lol. My DS scored perfect on English/reading (did not miss a question), so 99%. That does not indicate intelligence? Btw, he scored 96% on math. I don’t think these scores do anything other than indicate he is a smart kid who a has better natural facility for humanities than math, and that he is good at standardized tests.

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Anonymous wrote:Rejected. 4.7 weighted. 3.98 unweighted. 27 act. Upset.

ACT definitely not in line with GPA....red flag

This should not be a red flag. This will likely be my daughter next year. She has a slight learning disability but she excels in school because she is a very hard worker and is diligent. She just can’t seem to ace her standardized tests. Any school would be lucky to have her because she works hard and gets good grades.

It's not a red flag. A red flag is low GPA and high test scores -- not the other way around. Idiot.

A 27 ACT signals perhaps the child is not that naturally intelligent and that the GPA might be reflective of a less rigorous grading policies. Look I am not an admissions officer. I agree it means the kid is hard worker. But come on, that has to be why the 4.7 in-state kid didn’t get in. Right???!!

My daughter is the one with the learning disabilities. She’s taking three AP classes and all the other classes are honors classes. Her classes are rigorous. She is a hard worker and studies. The standardized test only test for how quickly can you retrieve information that you learned. Some people are more quickly able to retrieve information than others. If she has time to sit and think she can come up with the answer. But a timed test is much more difficult. By the way she is not my only child. I have a son who does not work hard at all that manages to get very high grades and is able to ace the standardize tests. My daughter is much more organized and a hard worker. My son is very disorganized and hardly works at all. They are very different people and a school would be lucky to have either one of them. Not just my quick thinking son

You make a very good point. School came very easily to me. I scored in the 99th percentile on standardized tests (a LONG time ago mind you). My DC, who has several mild learning disabilities works SO much harder than I ever did. He is so persistent and conscientious. He is willing to do whatever it takes, and does well in school. I think he is the better bargain than me (for an employer or college administrator).

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Anonymous wrote:3.6 uw/1520/top private school. In at a top 10 university already. Rejected from Maryland. What a wild ride.

Yes. They like to screw over the private school kids. Oh well, you’ll see how well prepared your child is when they land at college.

Not really, as you are placing too much weight on the output / past performer of a 14-17 year old in relation to future success. They may or may not be well-prepared, and privates or publics don’t predict either. There isn’t that much of a delta between privates and public in this area, in terms of teacher qualifications, curriculum, co-curricular activities, course offerings, etc., to make such old predictions. Maybe in other parts of the country but not in the DMV.

Anonymous wrote:3.6 uw/1520/top private school. In at a top 10 university already. Rejected from Maryland. What a wild ride.

Yes. They like to screw over the private school kids. Oh well, you’ll see how well prepared your child is when they land at college.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rejected. In state, legacy, 1400 SAT, 3.7 uw, 4.3 w
I am so pissed.

To add: applied Arts & Sciences

I’m a professor at UMD, a liberal arts department. This is bonkers to me. There is no way that some of the students I have in intro courses could have these high school grades and stats. Some of them can barely write a coherent paragraph.

Not even a Spring admit?

I'm sorry, but a 4.3 is not hard to get in MCPS, if that is the school district.

She's not in MCPS. What's wrong with those grades?

I suspected. Is she in a private? Our kid coming from a Catholic HS could not compete with the GPAs coming out of public schools, and was rejected by UMCP.

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Anonymous wrote:Wow, just wow. Good for UMD. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since Maryland consistent tops the league tables for high school academic achievement. For example, Maryland had the highest PSAT threshold this year, higher than California and New York.

Wow. We should have moved to Alabama before kid took the PSAT! Lol!!

yea, I was joking about this with a neighbor. Did we screw our kids by moving into a high performing school? Big fish, little pond and all that.

Definitely! Folks need rethink privates if it’s primarily for admissions. Same percentages from top MCPS HS and Big 3 into great and good schools! The privates marketing and sales departments are feeding you a lie. Why did privates eliminate AP courses around the same time studies pointed to better success on AP exams then privates…hmmmm. Save your money and use that account as your “scholarship fund”

As a parent of children who have attended private since preschool, I totally agree with you. I honestly think if selective college admissions is your only objective that you have a better shot in public school to get into some of these top schools. However, for us, it is about the journey.....the teachers, the peer group and the classes they are exposed to. If they don't get into UMD or an ivy, that's ok. We still think it is worth the money spent on education, which is a top priority for us. But if you are only looking at colleges admission, I would encourage you to strongly consider staying in public school. I do think that "privilege" is seen as a negative to the admissions offices of colleges. Then again, they need some to pay full freight, so full pay can be a hook.

Skipping publics - especially in this area with well regarded public schools (in the eyes of higher institutions) - is simply the equivalent of sheltering your kid. MCPS, FCPS etc are just microcosms of life and how to interact with diverse thoughts, diverse backgrounds (social and other), and diverse relationships. Unfortunately, privates are out of favor for the appearance on non-inclusivity and privaledge. The exceptions are maybe the religious schools, of course..

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rejected. In state, legacy, 1400 SAT, 3.7 uw, 4.3 w
I am so pissed.

To add: applied Arts & Sciences

I’m a professor at UMD, a liberal arts department. This is bonkers to me. There is no way that some of the students I have in intro courses could have these high school grades and stats. Some of them can barely write a coherent paragraph.

Not even a Spring admit?

Oh, dear Professor. I’m sorry to break the news to you, but high schools have generally removed rigor in the way an older person might understand it. Look at your local public school system.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rejected. In state, legacy, 1400 SAT, 3.7 uw, 4.3 w
I am so pissed.

To add: applied Arts & Sciences

Are you in a MD public school district?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rejected. 4.7 weighted. 3.98 unweighted. 27 act. Upset.

ACT definitely not in line with GPA....red flag

This should not be a red flag. This will likely be my daughter next year. She has a slight learning disability but she excels in school because she is a very hard worker and is diligent. She just can’t seem to ace her standardized tests. Any school would be lucky to have her because she works hard and gets good grades.

But it is and was a red flag, PP did not get in. You don't send a 27 with that kind of GPA and you certainly don't send a 27 to UMD, when you have the option to not submit scores.

Enough already. This is an actual kid we’re talking about. I think a separate thread about when to go test optional at UMD would be a useful thread, especially when we have more data.

Yes this is my kid. Our college consultant told us to submit the 27. She has kids getting to UMD all the time. She didn’t think the 27 would hurt her chances. I am obviously not so sure I agree, but either way, UMD rejected her. It’s upsetting when you child has worked so hard throughout highschool.

Based on past years, I might have thought the same. This year is crazy. I’m sorry about this denial. But thank you for sharing. It’s helpful for those of us with younger students watching this.

Thoughtful and kind post. I'm sorry for this kid. It is helpful as I have a sophomore for whom standardized tests are pretty much like shooting craps.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, just wow. Good for UMD. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since Maryland consistent tops the league tables for high school academic achievement. For example, Maryland had the highest PSAT threshold this year, higher than California and New York.

Wow. We should have moved to Alabama before kid took the PSAT! Lol!!

yea, I was joking about this with a neighbor. Did we screw our kids by moving into a high performing school? Big fish, little pond and all that.

Definitely! Folks need rethink privates if it’s primarily for admissions. Same percentages from top MCPS HS and Big 3 into great and good schools! The privates marketing and sales departments are feeding you a lie. Why did privates eliminate AP courses around the same time studies pointed to better success on AP exams then privates…hmmmm. Save your money and use that account as your “scholarship fund”

As a parent of children who have attended private since preschool, I totally agree with you. I honestly think if selective college admissions is your only objective that you have a better shot in public school to get into some of these top schools. However, for us, it is about the journey.....the teachers, the peer group and the classes they are exposed to. If they don't get into UMD or an ivy, that's ok. We still think it is worth the money spent on education, which is a top priority for us. But if you are only looking at colleges admission, I would encourage you to strongly consider staying in public school. I do think that "privilege" is seen as a negative to the admissions offices of colleges. Then again, they need some to pay full freight, so full pay can be a hook.