chance for honors or gemstone?

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

<p>'m interested in premed, but i'm not sure is this is the right school for that. i have lots of in state friends who are going to umd to study premed because it's such a cost efficient way to get into a great grad school later on.</p>

<p>so just to start off, i plan on joining peace corps after undergrad, and then after my residency, i will join doctors without borders.
maybe become a ob/gyn because they are desperately needed in doctors w/o borders (medecins sans frontiers)</p>

<p>if this has any relevancy, i'm asian (chinese)
but from i've heard, being asian is a disadvantage under affirmative action.</p>

<p>my wgpa is 4.3 but unweighted is 3.6
not too good in my opinion.</p>

<p>sat II's
chemistry 770
i'll take bio this oct/nov and i think i'll get at least 750 on that</p>

<p>studied five years of french at my school and im fluent in chinese, if that's a lang plus?</p>

<p>APs</p>

<p>AP AB Calc- 4
AP Chem- 5
AP gov't and politics-5
AP Psychology- 5</p>

<p>senior year (this year) i will take
AP Human Geography
AP statistics
AP environmental science
AP biology</p>

<p>SATs (i know i need to improve)</p>

<p>math 650
writing 720
critical reading 660
essay 11 (but i heard essays aren't that important)
SAT: 2030</p>

<p>ACTs (i'll raise this to at least a 33)
English 30
Math 27
Reading 33
Science 24
Writing 11
Composite 29</p>

<p>Extracurriculars</p>

<p>Founder of Charity for China (raised $2,000)
Secretary of Technology Honors Society
Treasurer of Fantasy Literature Club
National Honors Society
French Honors Society
Treasurer of Chesapeake Bay Club
Tutoring Club (teach local middle schoolers)
American Red Cross (3 years)
Track & Field (2 years)</p>

<p>275+ hours of community service</p>

<p>thanks thanks.
how important is teacher reccomendations?
my gpa will be the death of me. </p>

<p>i want to get into gemstone more than anything right now, but from the way i see it, it's a slim chance unless i raise my test scores.</p>

2

<p>You are in, and I would say gemstone too, just remember to check the group box, if you don’t then they won’t consider you for gemstone</p>

3

<p>i heard gemstone is VERY hard to get into, and my high school is really really competitive :3</p>

4

<p>I think you are definitely for honors. Your SAT II scores as well as your AP scores and ECs are great. But UMD is such a numbers-based school that it’s hard to tell if the fact that you’re obviously an over-achieving smarty-pants will come through and propel you into Gemstone ;).</p>

<p>3.6 is pretty good for a MD student, but for Gemstone it is probably slightly below average. That is really your only questionable factor. My brother got into Gemstone with similar SAT scores and ECs but a higher GPA (3.9). He also got a small scholarship, though.</p>

<p>I would say if you raise your SAT or ACT you are a shoe-in :). But right now I’m kind of unsure as to how they would look at you, if they would take those AP scores/SAT IIs/ECs into consideration at all. If they do there’s no way they won’t admit you…but you can’t be sure you’ll get in unless your SATs are a little higher, I think.</p>

5

<p>It’s hard to say with the combo of your SAT scores and GPA. Also, were your B’s freshman year or junior year (they look at that—how your grades are trending). You will be admitted, but whether you get into Gemstone or Honors probably isn’t a lock. D2 will be in the Scholars program…IMO, that program is much more geared towards her interests and personality. </p>

<p>FWIW, D2 had UW GPA of 3.7, W 4.5 and CR 730, Math 710, Writing 740. Out of curiousity, I asked what were the determinations that placed her into Scholars instead of Honors. Her B’s came during Junior year (trending downward), and although she had 9 AP courses (5 5’s and 4 4’s), she had not taken what they considered the “most difficult course load available to her” (most were in humanities, languages, and Environmental Science, and stats…and not Calc or AP Physics or Chem. </p>

<p>She got a presidential scholarship and a departmental scholarship, and the Scholars program she’s in seems to have been designed just for her, so she’s way excited to be heading to UMD. I’m sure she’ll thrive there. </p>

<p>Her sister was the math/science geek of the 2, and was admitted to Gemstone for fall 2007, even though she didn’t think she answered the questions on the app that would indicate she was interested. She had uw 4.0 (weighted over 5.0) and her SATs were high. Having survived too many “group projects from hell”, she chose not to do Gemstone, and finished her Honors Citation in 4 semesters. She, however, would probably not have enjoyed the Scholars program. I think UMD did a good job in placing both girls in programs best suited for them.</p>

6

<p>I do agree, UMD does a good job in placing the students into their programs, so if they place you in Scholars and not gemstone or gemstone, but not honors, they have seen something that makes you a better candidate for their program</p>

7

<p>Unless you raise your SAT scores I doubt you will get into Honors/Gemstone (average SAT score this year was a 1404 out of 1600 for Honors, so it seems to be that in order to be in the running for Gemstone you should have a SAT score of 1400+ (not that would be guarantee of getting in, but rather a score that would put you in the running)</p>

8

<p>I just noticed that they put writing in the middle, I thought they had 1370, not 1310. My bad. Looking back I would say scholars, and that’s a maybe. The GPA weighted should get you in, the SAT and ACT hurt you.</p>

9

<p>If you do only get into scholars but feel like honors would be a better fit, it’s fairly simple to transfer into the honors program after your first semester if you receive good grades. I had a friend who easily got into the honors program after receiving mostly As her first semester.</p>

<p>Now, you may not even really want to do honors…I personally found honors really stupid…it’s like a way to complete CORE (you take lower level H version classes or seminars as opposed to random classes…if you actually had a lot of CORE to complete these are good as CORE classes and the people in them can be really mind-numbing). BUT coming in with as many APs as I did…I didn’t need to DO any core besides a couple ones. So the honors classes were just like…extra lower levels. Kind of worthless!! </p>

<p>Scholars sounds like it was more of a real program…they did some interesting things and it seemed easier to get involved/get leadership positions through it, though admits generally have slightly lower GPA/SATs than those in honors. </p>

<p>And Gemstone has its share of haters as well…although some people love it others WERE stuck with the “group from Hell” as astrophysicsmom puts it. And it is a LOT of work so even if you have a good group, people sometimes get frustrated/overloaded…now imagine…if you do not like your team >< Oh boy.</p>

<p>So really…whatever you get into I’m sure it’ll work out fine.</p>

10

<p>Hey everyone,</p>

<p>I am going to be applying to maryland in the fall, with a 3.65(u)/4.45(w) and 1600. I am very intent on doing either molecular bio or biochem, likely in tandem with premed. Can anyone explain to me these various programs I am hearing about, and how they could tie in with my intended field of study (I would like to participate in programs that reinforce my classroom learning - research, hands-on, etc). Thanks for your help!</p>

11

<p>I would start a new thread on here asking about molecular or bio chem.</p>