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Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Maryland - College Park
1

Hi all,

I am a graduate of UMD, and maybe more importantly a former worker at the undergrad admissions office. I was in your shoes, experienced UMD, and can answer almost any question about the school, the programs, and how the whole process works.

It all seems like a mystery behind the curtain, but it isn’t really all that magical. I figured I would come here and see if I could help any of you with any questions you have now that decisions have gone out and I am sure those that got in, but not to their LEP, their program, got spring admission, or just want to know more about the school and the process may want to know.

I no longer work there and I CAN NOT get your decisions changed, but anything else is fair game.

MODERATOR’S NOTE: Anyone is free to ask or answer questions in this thread.

2

How competitive is Banneker Key selection? What would you say are the average qualities and stats of students that receive the scholarship?

3

Very.

One thing you have to keep in mind is that a public university like Maryland does not have the endowment nor donations to offer full ride scholarships to a large amount of students. Because of this less students receive high $$$ scholarships but more students end up getting some money. To give you an idea, usually around the top 20% of the incoming class is offered some form of scholarship.

Only the top students from the top 20% are then invited to interview for Banneker Key. I can’t give you average stats because it can really range, but keep in mind they are already among the top students to begin with. Where Banneker Key differs from the other scholarships is that students have to interview for it.

Qualities that are significant are not things that everybody can do (AP courses, 5 sports teams, etc), they are things that separate the student from the 25000 others that apply. Whether that is overcoming a hardship, finding a way to impact others lives, or any other thing that differentiates you is best.

Keep in mind that the students, and parents, posting on forums like this are not necessarily representative of the entire applicant pool. Many of you are driven and overachievers, just because you are not the top student on here, does not mean you may not be a very strong student in the applicant pool.

4

I am going to answer a few other common questions, admissions related and not.

Q - I didn’t get into scholars, honors, etc., can I be reconsidered?

A - Generally the decisions for these programs are close to final. However, they are not concrete, if you have a strong reason to believe you were overlooked (and that doesn’t mean I heard someone with lower SAT scores got it), call and inquire about what can be done.

Q - Does everyone do a living and learning program, will I miss out if I am not in one?

A - No, absolutely not, in any way. First, not everyone is invited, nor does everyone choose to participate in a living and learning program as a freshman. In fact I was not in one, and I had/have friends that participated in them and like me did not. NONE of us felt that we missed out on anything. The most important things you will learn your first year are time management, and being independent. Any large events, or things that students are going to do are generally open to everyone or you will find something else to do as well. After a year or two you will not be able to tell whether the person next to you was in one of these programs or not.

With that being said, these are all great programs and if you are invited they will allow you to have the opportunity to take advantage of interesting experiences outside of the classroom.

Few more notes:

If you did not get into honors but still want to be able to take honors courses or have honors on your transcripts you can apply for honors after your sophomore year for departmental honors (and I believe university honors as well). You have to do well on your GPA but if you want something to put on your resume this is how you can do it.

With that being said, if you want to do honors or scholars because you think it will separate you from the other 4,000 gradates that year, you will find that employers and graduate schools have seen 100 other students doing the same program earlier that day.

Finally, there are so many other living and learning programs you can take advantage of once you are at the school, that if it interest you to live with people who are in the same program, you will find others once you are at UMD.

Join any one of the 800 other clubs on campus and you will find similar people you can live with as well.

5

Thanks for offering to answer questions! Our younger daughter applied, but does not yet see a decision on the application portal. The site shows her application was submitted Oct 31st. Do you think it’s better to email admissions or call them, or do something else?

6

@mdhelp‌ thanks a lot. This was very useful.
I have emailed the international-counselor to reconsider me for Honors EIP! That’s the sole reason I applied.
I shall call them too taking your advice.

7

@mdhelp‌ It’s great to have your input on here. Many of us who have students there try and give advice and answer questions based on our limited knowledge and the experience of our own kids. You are a great resource for these new Terps and their families.

8

Woo hoo @mdhelp! I second @terpmom7’s welcome! Wholeheartedly and with much relief. :slight_smile:

9

@mdhelp - can you comment on the differences between Scholars and Honors? I’ve read a lot of different opinions… Would love to hear your take on it.

10

@mdhelp - By any change, do you have any first-hand experiences or testimonies from friends about the Philip Merrill College of Journalism? Or the Global Communities program?

11

I would recommend both calling the office as well as e-mailing. They should be able to let you know if something was not received or if it just fell through the cracks. If everything was in on time they will review the student like they were a priority decision and get a decision out relatively soon. If, however, something was missing you would have to send that material in as soon as possible.

12

They are both great programs that are actually more similar then they are different. They like to stress that it is an inside the classroom experience in honors vs outside the classroom experience in scholars. To be honest both of the programs only last for half of your college career and you can get similar experiences even if you are not in either (research and outside the classroom experiences).

Honors level courses are not the same as they are in high school, nearly everybody at this university is highly qualified and even if you were in the top 5 percent of your class, so many other students will be at the same level as you that the difference in difficulty between the honors and regular classes are very dependent on how the professor and other students are in the course.

They are both great programs, but they are ultimately a small part of your experience at UMD (except for gemstone which is 4 years). I was in neither honors nor scholars but had roommates and plenty of friends that were in both. I never felt that being out of it that I was missing anything. The friends you meet from the program will likely have a lot larger impact then the actual experiences inside or outside the classroom. After your freshman year you will have no clue who did honors, scholars, freshman connection, or any of the other programs. Enjoy it if your in it, but if your not you will find so many other things to enhance your experience that you may not have found out if you were in a program.

Ultimately if you are expecting these programs to make a difference to grad schools or companies after you graduate, they simply won’t care. Way too many people have been in the programs and they are not the kinds of things that will separate you. Instead focus on getting internships, lab experiences, meeting with professors, and getting involved in different clubs and organizations. Nearly any experience will be open to you if you look for it whether you are in scholars, honors, or any other living and learning program.

If your offered it, take the living and learning program, if you hate it you can leave. If your not, just find what you want to do and you will find it at UMD.

13

Friends that have done both.

The journalism school has a brand new building with all kinds of resources for the journalism students. It is a great program that suffers slightly because of the lack of jobs in the field. The two people I know that graduated are not actually working in journalism even though they had internships and other experiences. Now with that being said, they kinda stopped looking for those jobs after they got the offers for jobs outside of the field.

The school has plenty of people that do get jobs in the field. The diamondback is a great student newspaper that you can write for and be a part of as a student. If you are looking to do broadcast journalism then they have their own TV studio and programs that you can be a part of.

As for global communities, everyone I know that has been has had a great experience. It is a great program that gives you an experience that is unmatched unless you decide to study abroad. That is a much smaller program then scholars and honors and you will likely know nearly everybody in it. If I was offered it I would take it.

14

Would you be able to describe my chances of admittance if I gave you these qualities:
Coached football in ninth grade
Youth Group for five years
Applied Regular Decision
Varsity Cross Country ( 3 years)
Varsity Track(Two years)
6 AP Classes: Calculus AB, BC, Lang, World, Physics, Biology, Computer Science
3.7 GPA (Weighted)
First in family to be able to graduate from college

15

@mdhelp

16

Most of what you said about Honors/Scholars is credited, except:

I completely disagree (particularly with the bolded, but also with the general sentiment). In the honors college, you’re surrounded by exceptionally bright students, and this is most apparent in honors classes. I walked into a 440 person lecture yesterday and sat in the second row. When I looked around, I recognized almost everyone in the front three rows from Honors events. Honors kids typically care more about their schoolwork than the annoying slackers who come to only the first lecture. Not being in honors doesn’t mean you don’t care, and there are a few honors students who don’t care about their coursework, but there is a distinct difference between the average honors student and the average regular student.

It’s all in the networking. Honors allows you to be surrounded by smart kids, which you are less likely to get outside of the program.

If you’re not in honors, you’re at a slight disadvantage. We get direct admittance into many departmental honors programs (which matter much more on a resume), and employers always like to see the honors citation (your program’s something great to talk about in interviews). While non-honors students can seek these opportunities out, they’re handed to us without much effort. They’re at a disadvantage because they have to spend time finding opportunities, while they’re given right to us (particularly through our programs, but also through the daily honors newsletter).

17

@mdhelp-- do you know what the admit rate is into the biological science program? Is this a very competitive program to get into directly? Need some sort of consolation, if there is any, to give my child who did not make it into Honors.

18

@Vctory‌ and everyone else, the honors college won’t get you automatically accepted in Smith departmental honors. You have to apply like everyone else. It is very competitive. My daughter is in the honors college but still had to apply for Smith honors. She was accepted, and so was a friend of hers that originally had been a freshman connection student. If you work very hard regardless of which program or no special program you were involved with, you can succeed. It’s up to you the student to make the most out of your time at UMD. The opportunities are there if you seek them out.
The overall quality of student at UMD is very high. There will be some slackers just like anywhere else. I would suggest that you not worry about what Vctory sees as “the annoying slackers who come to only the first lecture”, and simply work on being the best student you can be and taking advantage of any and all opportunities that come your way.

19

@terpmom7 Credited advice. I was just a tad bitter after the kids in the back half of the 500 person lecture hall wouldn’t stop talking over Dr. Sarna yesterday, which prompted the “annoying slacker.” It starts out with all 440 kids coming to the first lecture, but next week there’ll be <100. My friends and I love the slackers–they help us out with the curve.

Still, I’d argue that the average quality of a UMD student is somewhat low. B’s and C’s with maybe a few A’s. Not all students care about their coursework. It may just be my experience, and it’s something I wouldn’t share with my parents, but if you’re one of the 10-25% of students putting forth effort then you’ll do extremely well–and honors students are more likely to be in that category. Just look at the grade distributions for honors classes and non-honors classes–the difference isn’t because professors are more lenient. Professors even give honors students more work and are harsher graders than the TA’s who usually lead discussion in regular sections.

Example:
http://www.ourumd.com/class/gvpt100
http://www.ourumd.com/class/gvpt100h

Like I said earlier, I’d argue that the average quality of an honors student is higher than the average UMD student. It’s all about putting in effort, but more honors students put effort into their classes than non-honors, and it helps to be surrounded by somewhat competitive people who’re all working hard to get the grades. To me, that’s one of the biggest benefits of the honors college.

If you work hard, regardless of program, you’ll succeed. You can find opportunities if you look for them. The only difference is how hard you have to search.

Edit: I may have been a bit too critical of non-honors students in this post. I rephrased some language. If your son/daughter wasn’t admitted to the honors college, then there’s no need to fear so long as they are a hard worker. If your son/daughter was admitted to the honors college, then you shouldn’t immediately think they will get straight A’s without being a hard worker. If you are willing to work, you can do well and set yourself up for any grad school/career (including I-banking @ Goldman/JP Morgan/etc. and possible consulting at MBB, all of you Smith kids), but that requires you to work. You can’t get sucked into the “only come to lecture once in a while” mentality. I have many friends in the honors/scholars/regular/freshman connection programs. If my friends work, they do well. Those friends who don’t work don’t do well.

20

^To add to my edit above (time expired):
I may have been a bit too critical of non-honors students in this post. I rephrased some language. If your son/daughter wasn’t admitted to the honors college, then there’s no need to fear so long as they are a hard worker. If your son/daughter was admitted to the honors college, then you shouldn’t immediately think they will get straight A’s without being a hard worker. If you are willing to work, you can do well and set yourself up for any grad school/career (including I-banking @ Goldman/JP Morgan/etc. and possible consulting at MBB, all of you Smith kids), but that requires you to work. You can’t get sucked into “only come to lecture once in a while” and “i’m only here to party” mentalities. I have seen very few people in the honors college with these mentalities, and many in the other programs with them. However, **I have many friends in the honors/scholars/regular/freshman connection programs. If my friends work, they do well. Those friends who don’t work don’t do well. It’s as simple as that./b. The only difference between the honors students and non-honors students, without mentioning the specific benefits of the honors college, is that honors students have to try if they don’t want to be around a hard working, smart crowd; while non-honors students have to seek out a hard working, smart crowd.

However, that being said, there are still benefits of being in the honors college that I won’t shake. You won’t miss out on much, but to say there’s nothing a non-honors student would miss out on is ridiculous and might turn away some potential Terps. Honors students surround themselves with other bright students. It’s possible to do this if you’re not in honors, but I would have to try to be not surrounded by them. The honors college gives you exceptional opportunities wrt luncheons/ networking events/meeting professors and gives your resume a bit of a “boost” while you’re a freshman/sophomore looking for internships. The honors college vetted you, and they recognize that like they would recognize a student studying at Dartmouth/Cornell. Additionally, you have a great alumni network within your program, especially for Gemstone. Honors Humanities kids have direct access to some of the leading minds in studying the antiquities (Dr. Staley’s right downstairs). ACES brings in a huge amount of speakers and if you don’t receive a job offer, from what I understand, you’re doing something very wrong. DCC’s great. EIP’s great. University Honors is flexible, but you still get the benefits I mentioned earlier. Your programs are what you make of them, but in the honors college, opportunities find you–not the other way around.