I applied to the school of engineering at Maryland, but I was accepted to the Honors College and it says my major is Letters and Sciences? What does this mean? Thanks.
It means that you didn’t get into the engineering school. people who don’t get into clark, but are accepted into UMD, get into letters and sciences
OP, this doesn’t mean you can’t eventually enter the engineering school. You made the honors college so I’m guessing you were on the bubble.
I dont understand how they can tell a kid that they were among a “highly talented group of applicants” and that they “were impressed with your academic achievements, talents and experiences” and that “The Honors College attracts some of the most brilliant minds from throughout the U.S. and around the world”
…
and then not admit you to your major. Joke.
@pacollegekid97 I know you are disappointed that you weren’t a direct admit to Clark. This happens every year to kids that they are admitted to honors or scholars but not their major. Transferring to engineering is really straight forward though. If you complete the gateway courses, you are in. You won’t be behind at all. Transferring to other majors is sometimes more difficult. For example, transferring to Smith, business, is very competitive, requiring more than just completion of the courses.
If you really love UMD, I hope you won’t let this deter you from accepting your offer. It is a great school and has sooo much to offer.
pacollegekid97, the same thing happened to my son. Receives the nice letter congratulating him on getting into MD and the Honors College. But then at the bottom of the page you see that he didn’t get into the school of engineering. Instead they’ve put him in some sort of holding pen. Insulting is the best way I can describe it.
I was admitted into Clark but got Scholars instead of Honors. I think it was mostly based on my GPA that I didn’t get into Honors.
My son is in-state, has nearly a 4.6 weighted GPA, 32 ACT score (35 on Math), 770 SAT 2 Math 2, will have 8 APs by the time he graduates (so far 5s on all APs taken, including Calculus BC and Physics), decent but not great ECs, a legacy. What more does Maryland want???
frannie465 (and OP) , this is exactly the same question I had last year. See the link…
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/16883838/#Comment_16883838
Posts #12 and 19
In any case, you will soon realize that your son has nothing to feel disheartend about. My friend’s D is at UMich COE and did very well in her first semester. It is just the way it “still” goes at UMD… their loss for turning away good candidates! Good luck to your son.
@frannie465 UMD seriously made their point (to me and my classmates) that the engineering school is very difficult to get into. A college rep visited my high school and did say that.
.
by the way, for you to say that your son was placed into a “holding pen” is insulting. Don’t act like people who are in Letters & Sciences are somehow lower and inferior. Geez.
-sincerely, an undecided student that was also placed in the “holding pen”
kmaya13, it was your decision to enter Maryland as undecided, but not my son’s. I never intended to insult or hurt anyone’s feelings. What I can’t understand, however, is why, like pacollegekid97, he was admitted to the Honors College but not to the Engineering school. It makes absolutely no sense.
You have to understand that it’s two different admissions comittees. The geniuses in the undergraduate admissions office determine scholars and honors before it gets sent to the clark school. Each group is going to emphasize different criteria.
It was all in the SAT/ACT scores. Dr. Dorland told me he doesn’t care about SAT scores, only GPA, course rigor, and leadership. SAT scores matter for admission to Clark, merit scholarships, etc. etc. No need to hate UMD because your son didn’t get his major; he can still apply for admission to the major when he’s at campus.
Is it possible – just maybe – that your son’s essays came off sounding as entitled and dismissive of the rigor of the rest of the university as your posts have?
My son’s essays were fine, Mr. Old Guy.
My problem with UMD is that one hand doesn’t seem to know what the other hand is doing. It’s very confusing to me that MD can admit an applicant to its highly competitive Honors College yet “reject” him from his first choice of study. I see being admitted to the Honors College as an attractive way to convince students to attend, but if you can’t study what you want (or at least initially, but no guarantee you will be able to transfer once there), why even matriculate?
@frannie465 It’s much easier to transfer into Clark than you’re assuming. If your son attends UMD, he will take the same classes as engineering majors, he will just transfer in after completing those weed-out classes.
Vctory, I hope you are right. Thanks for the words of encouragement!
@pacollegekid97 Not sure if you saw the thread I created on engineering and addressed your situation in post #5
If you take the time to read all the posts, which I doubt you have since you are understandably disappointed, the point that you need to understand is that there is a limited number of seats specifically so that they can provide sufficient resources to support. People accept that MIT turns away top students because it’s a small school. Same concept. The engineering “school” is small compared to the university itself. However, unlike MIT, it’s not a closed door.
The university recognizes your academic talent and that’s why they want you and put you in honors college. You will have the opportunity to take advantage of some really amazing programs and opportunities through the honors college if you can stop for a minute and just read about the honors college living-learning programs. http://www.honors.umd.edu/overview.php - open the tab on living learning programs
Then, read my posts in full and you will see you can still get into engineering also if that’s what you really want. I will tell you that the engineering school does a pretty damn good of identifying those that will succeed in the engineering school. Sometimes, they just don’t have enough room to offer spaces for everyone they would like to. Grades and test scores alone are not the only indicators for admission to engineering.
As for the other postings on this thread…
For the record, I agree that the term “holding pen” is insulting.
Also, being a “legacy” is only relevant for a specific scholarship eligibility. It does NOT carry any weight for any admissions considerations.
Frannie and pacollegekid:
UMd is an excellent university (for the sciences, math, and engineering, and perhaps lots of other areas too) - the best public university on the East Coast in my opinion (okay, followed closely by GA Tech, Rutgers, UNC, UVa, …)
It is quite easy to transfer to almost engineering major at the end of the freshman year (especially if you’re coming in with 5s in CalculusBC and PhysicsC, since it’s likely you will do well in CalcIII, PhysicsIII etc in your freshman year.)
That said, you will discover (you might have already!) that UMd is an administrative nightmare like most of the rest of the great state of MD, particularly the city of Baltimore, and Montgomery and Prince George’s (home to UMd) Counties, owing to a few well-entrenched, lazy, stubborn, ill-informed individuals on staff at almost every level of every unit who wield enormous decision-making authority.
With 5s in the APs you’ve listed, a sensible outcome is admission with a full scholarship, in my view. (The merit aid offer might still be forthcoming, though for mysterious reasons you’ve not been directly admitted to your major of choice.)
If you like UMd (even a fraction of as much as I do, despite its flaws) don’t let this ridiculous outcome (just be prepared for more such ones!) deter you from attending and savoring it.
@frannie465 No problem! I’m an honors freshman at UMD, and many people in my program had the same issue as your son. Although I’m not an engineering major, everything I say I heard from them. They still take all of the classes as students from Clark, and will be transferring in as soon as they can. It’s almost a guaranteed thing. When asked for their major, most of them say “undecided engineering,” but that’s the only difference between them and a MechE/ChemE major, which they will soon become. It’s honestly nothing more than a small hiccup!
This is something @maryversity posted in another thread:
Here’re the most relevant posts from that thread:
Also, AP credit comes into play. It’s possible to just have to take PHYS161 before you can apply for the internal transfer.
@pacollegekid97 You should read through this post too!
I’m off to lecture! Congrats on your son’s admission, especially to honors!