Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just thinking about my kid’s prospects for UMD now. Will likely have a C or 2 on their transcript and a handful of APs. Coming from a W school and applying to either Psychology or Business programs. What do you do think? Could also apply as an Education major.

I can tell you as a 2025 parent at Blair and based on my child's friends, tiny chance with a C and not much rigor. Friend with similar profile (grades/APs) as your child that applied for Education was denied. It looks like the majority of kids that were accepted at Blair were in the magnet/CAP with 3.9+UW/4.75+W GPAs.

Does legacy mean anything at Maryland these days??? This is really absurd.

There are lots of legacies. We were serious when we said is really competitive.

https://irpa.umd.edu/CampusCounts/Admissions/apps_ug.pdf

Interesting document, thanks for posting.

Why is a 45% acceptance rate considered "highly competitive"?

I also note that just over 20% of admitted first-time UMD students accept, meaning nearly 80% go somewhere else.
From experience over the last 40 years talking with college selection committees, a quietly spoken truth is that you are less likely to get a letter of acceptance, even if qualified, if the school deems your chance of accepting is virtually nil. So if your highly qualified child's apps are to only the Ivy's and Stanford, and then also to a single mid/high tier state school, the state school might not actually accept you, as your accepting is less than a crap shoot for them. Hint, colleges want to offer admission to students likely to attend.

Looking at those numbers, looks like one has a 60%+ chance of acceptance as a transfer from a MD Community College, as opposed to that 45% as direct enroll. Sounds like a decent way to up ones chances. And from the school's perspective, over 60% of transfers accept, making them a safer pick.

Finally, no college wants it's freshman class to be overcrowded with students from a small number of schools. Just like Harvard doesn't want to be considered a finishing school for Phillips Academy, I suppose UMD doesn't want to be considered a finishing school for MCPS W schools. They gotta hold some Redneck DEI seats for the hicks form Garret County after all. (And I can say that because I was a redneck good old boy DEI admit to Cornell way back in the day, but got a letter of rejection from my 3rd tier redneck state school, lol)

The point is not that UMD is highly competitive against an Ivy but that it’s competitive generally. It’s the state flag university. Many parents who went to college 20/30 years ago are not expecting that it may require in average a 4.4 GPA and 1400-1500 SAT score. Also the number of applications is increasing. This mean it is no longer your in state safety school or one of lower picks on kids list.

Same is true for UVA.

UVA and UMD are not anywhere near the same caliber.

It's honestly embarrassing how the parents across the river think they are in the same league as us!

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:According to the Grading Policy a DA = B

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/policy/pdf/ika-ra%20master.pdf

Doesn't surprise me with MCPS's ridiculous grade inflation. Such a joke.

It's because they don't use the percentages actually earned in the class (say, (60+90)/2=75=C).

Instead, they use (1.0+4.0)/2=2.5, which rounds up to 3, which is an A.

The problem with this is that if student gets a 59.5 (D) and a 89.5 (A), they end up with a B for the semester. So ridiculous and hopefully colleges know about this loophole.

Agree that they should use the actual % earned to determine the grade.

So the D and the A don't show up on the high school transcript? Just the B for the year average?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just thinking about my kid’s prospects for UMD now. Will likely have a C or 2 on their transcript and a handful of APs. Coming from a W school and applying to either Psychology or Business programs. What do you do think? Could also apply as an Education major.

I can tell you as a 2025 parent at Blair and based on my child's friends, tiny chance with a C and not much rigor. Friend with similar profile (grades/APs) as your child that applied for Education was denied. It looks like the majority of kids that were accepted at Blair were in the magnet/CAP with 3.9+UW/4.75+W GPAs.

Does legacy mean anything at Maryland these days??? This is really absurd.

There are lots of legacies. We were serious when we said is really competitive.

https://irpa.umd.edu/CampusCounts/Admissions/apps_ug.pdf

Interesting document, thanks for posting.

Why is a 45% acceptance rate considered "highly competitive"?

I also note that just over 20% of admitted first-time UMD students accept, meaning nearly 80% go somewhere else.
From experience over the last 40 years talking with college selection committees, a quietly spoken truth is that you are less likely to get a letter of acceptance, even if qualified, if the school deems your chance of accepting is virtually nil. So if your highly qualified child's apps are to only the Ivy's and Stanford, and then also to a single mid/high tier state school, the state school might not actually accept you, as your accepting is less than a crap shoot for them. Hint, colleges want to offer admission to students likely to attend.

Looking at those numbers, looks like one has a 60%+ chance of acceptance as a transfer from a MD Community College, as opposed to that 45% as direct enroll. Sounds like a decent way to up ones chances. And from the school's perspective, over 60% of transfers accept, making them a safer pick.

Finally, no college wants it's freshman class to be overcrowded with students from a small number of schools. Just like Harvard doesn't want to be considered a finishing school for Phillips Academy, I suppose UMD doesn't want to be considered a finishing school for MCPS W schools. They gotta hold some Redneck DEI seats for the hicks form Garret County after all. (And I can say that because I was a redneck good old boy DEI admit to Cornell way back in the day, but got a letter of rejection from my 3rd tier redneck state school, lol)

The point is not that UMD is highly competitive against an Ivy but that it’s competitive generally. It’s the state flag university. Many parents who went to college 20/30 years ago are not expecting that it may require in average a 4.4 GPA and 1400-1500 SAT score. Also the number of applications is increasing. This mean it is no longer your in state safety school or one of lower picks on kids list.

Same is true for UVA.

UVA and UMD are not anywhere near the same caliber.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:According to the Grading Policy a DA = B

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/policy/pdf/ika-ra%20master.pdf

Doesn't surprise me with MCPS's ridiculous grade inflation. Such a joke.

It's because they don't use the percentages actually earned in the class (say, (60+90)/2=75=C).

Instead, they use (1.0+4.0)/2=2.5, which rounds up to 3, which is an A.

The problem with this is that if student gets a 59.5 (D) and a 89.5 (A), they end up with a B for the semester. So ridiculous and hopefully colleges know about this loophole.