I've already conceded that it's at the non-W school, but my point is that the minor admissions advantage for UMD from "standing out" due to weaker competition is outweighed by benefits of having stronger competition. Maybe not for PP (and daughter). But it would be for me.

Anonymous wrote:W school has 100 high achieving students in its senior class.

Non-W school has 25 high achieving students in its senior class.

At which school is your child more likely to have a group of close friends who are mostly or entirely high achieving students?

dp.. on the flip side, which student will have a better chance to stand out for college admissions?

W school has 100 high achieving students in its senior class.

Non-W school has 25 high achieving students in its senior class.

At which school is your child more likely to have a group of close friends who are mostly or entirely high achieving students?

MD is a data only school they don’t give a crap that your kid played sports did volunteer work with your church etc

Sometimes student helpers throw apps in the trash if they don’t like the name. Exposed a few years ago..

OOS students full pay get priority over instate stats be dammed

My nephew 2.3 gpa of course he failed out .

Don’t get me started on the medical school where mom or dad call in or daughters in law get a spot bec fil on the board.

Admissions officer

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My bright, high-achieving kid will grow and learn better from being around more like-minded peers, not fewer.

Well, my kid is doing great and has the scores and grades to back it up. She has a good group of friends and is in advanced classes with like-minded peers even at her lower rated school. When it comes to college admissions though, statistically speaking her chances of getting accepted to UMD is higher at her school than at a W when her competition is going be a lot tougher.

And my point is that the benefit of having more like-minded peers at a W school, even if they end up being "competition," outweighs the benefit of marginally increased admissions odds to UMD from a so-called lower rated school.

Okay, not sure why though. She does have like-minded peers at her lower rated school. She's in classes with them and she's friends with them. Only difference with your school and ours is that your school has more high achieving kids which I agree would have overall benefits to the school; but at an individual student level- all that matters is who your kid is friends with, the availability of challenging classes and programs; and talented teachers. My kid has all of these at her school.

I would ignore the pp you are responding to. Some people just like to feel superior. She doesn’t realize there are many high achieving students at non W schools as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My bright, high-achieving kid will grow and learn better from being around more like-minded peers, not fewer.

Well, my kid is doing great and has the scores and grades to back it up. She has a good group of friends and is in advanced classes with like-minded peers even at her lower rated school. When it comes to college admissions though, statistically speaking her chances of getting accepted to UMD is higher at her school than at a W when her competition is going be a lot tougher.

And my point is that the benefit of having more like-minded peers at a W school, even if they end up being "competition," outweighs the benefit of marginally increased admissions odds to UMD from a so-called lower rated school.

Okay, not sure why though. She does have like-minded peers at her lower rated school. She's in classes with them and she's friends with them. Only difference with your school and ours is that your school has more high achieving kids which I agree would have overall benefits to the school; but at an individual student level- all that matters is who your kid is friends with, the availability of challenging classes and programs; and talented teachers. My kid has all of these at her school.

Anonymous wrote:DD has applied from an W school and as we await the results next month, I have questions! What are they looking for? Do they only want high stats? Are they looking for a well rounded student? I’ve heard over and over again how hard it is to get entry, so I’m not expecting anything (but I am hopeful). I just want to know if there’s any chance for the average/high kid- the one who hasn’t taken the most rigor and has gotten a couple of B’s.

It will be high school dependent. Look at the Naviance weighted GPA from your kid’s high school and assume it gets a little harder each year. Also, don’t submit SAT/ACT score unless it’s a strong for UMD and don’t pick a LEP if in doubt.

I’ve seen A/B students get spring and some that don’t get in at all. Based on the Naviance/Scoir from children’s private high schools they were on the border making it a hard target despite having a 3.7-3.8 UW and taking honors/AP at high schools that limited the number of honors/AP. My sense is the top x percent - maybe the top 10-15%, if they actually did class rank, usually gets into UMD fall semester and students right below that it’s a toss up and more likely spring but could also get rejected . Below that is typically not getting in. That’s based on my older kid’s observations of who got in fall and where else they got in and students that got spring admission. YMMV based on high school and intended major.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My bright, high-achieving kid will grow and learn better from being around more like-minded peers, not fewer.

Well, my kid is doing great and has the scores and grades to back it up. She has a good group of friends and is in advanced classes with like-minded peers even at her lower rated school. When it comes to college admissions though, statistically speaking her chances of getting accepted to UMD is higher at her school than at a W when her competition is going be a lot tougher.

And my point is that the benefit of having more like-minded peers at a W school, even if they end up being "competition," outweighs the benefit of marginally increased admissions odds to UMD from a so-called lower rated school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like the surest way to get into UMD is to transfer from community college. Everyone I know who was rejected when applying in HS who then decided to go to community college first were successful when applying for a transfer to UMD. Even those who were not standouts in high school at all.

That may be true but I've also heard that a very high number of CC transfers who get in later bomb out because they aren't adequately prepared.

My org chem professor at UMD and Montgomery College was the same person. Montgomery college has excellent teachers, amazing labs, and great opportunities for students who want to learn. There was no difference in the level of preparation between UMD and MoCo. The classes in Moco are smaller and professors are more accessible. It’s an amazing option for those dead set on UMD who did not get in.

I have to agree with this. I took pre-nursing science classes eons ago at Montgomery College. I was preparing for a 2nd degree in nursing. Classes were taught by NIH researchers. I found them to be excellent. It's a good place!

My DC is trying to transfer into UMD this year. She wants to study music, and her current school doesn't have as good of a program as UMD. 3.89 GPA and 4.7 Weighted. MOCO resident. Worried she won't get in!!

Anonymous wrote:My bright, high-achieving kid will grow and learn better from being around more like-minded peers, not fewer.

Well, my kid is doing great and has the scores and grades to back it up. She has a good group of friends and is in advanced classes with like-minded peers even at her lower rated school. When it comes to college admissions though, statistically speaking her chances of getting accepted to UMD is higher at her school than at a W when her competition is going be a lot tougher.

My bright, high-achieving kid will grow and learn better from being around more like-minded peers, not fewer.

Anonymous wrote:The first level of competition is from within your student's high school. UMD typically takes 50% of the students applying from a particular high school. So your student has to be a standout from their high school first and foremost. They will also have spots for freshman connection - a spring start - although you can start in the Fall and live on campus.

https://reports.umd.edu/

And this I think is one of the benefits for sending your kids to a non-W, lower ranking MoCo high school. My bright, high-achieving kid will likely not be a standout at a W, but I wouldn't be surprised if she makes the Top 25 Seniors at her HS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The people who have said that how hard it is to get into UMD depends what major you are applying for are dead wrong. UMD first admits students to the school without consideration of their major. Once the student is admitted, their applications are then considered by the specific school with their major. If the student applies to a limited enrollment program like engineering, for example, they might get in as a direct admit to engineering or they will be put into Letters and Sciences. If they are put in L &S, they can take the gateway classes to make them eligible to transfer into the engineering school, or biology or the other limited enrollment programs. Note that it will be much more difficult to transfer into the computer science major starting next fall. So if students don’t get directly admitted into CS, the likelihood of being able to transfer in after gateway classes will be much slimmer than in the past.

I wonder how this would work for a kid who has been placed out of the majority of gateway classes. For example, I have a kid at Blair SMCS. They have 5's on both Calc BC and AP CS. They are taking discrete math and linear algebra so should be able to test out of those too. They are currently juniors, so this is hypothetical, and I'd imagine they'd be admitted. I'm mostly just curious.

Obviously a successful SMACS will get direct admit.

The gateway classes included upper intro curses and also include mid-level Intro Engineering classes that aren't at SMACS.

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