Can members in this forums help me understand if Applying EA in UMD (for CS) has advantage over Regular Decision.
Indian male in CA (Northern CA)
Intended Major: CS
SAT: 1340 (Math: 760, EBRW: 580)
GPA: 4.06 UC/CSU GPA and 3.63 (unweighted)
Courses: AP Calc BC (5), AP Physics C (4), AP Comp Sci A (4), AP Staistics, Phy Hrs, Pre calc Hrs, Chem hrs, have enrolled for Multivariable Calculus Dual enrollment (local community college)
His grades are on a upward trend starting his freshman till Junior Year. He is hoping that he will finish strong in both semesters of his senior year.
Summer Courses/Activities:
University of California, Berkeley, CA Summer of 2021 Coursework: Linear Algebra
Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA Summer of 2020 Coursework: AI Camp Python Programming, command lines, and statistics Data manipulation and machine learning Fundamentals in deep learning
Kaggle Courses, Online Summer of 2020 Coursework: Python, Pandas, Data Visualization and Introduction to Machine Learning
Did an Internship in summer 2021 researching the applications of Linear Algebra in Data Science and Machine Learning.
Participated in a Hackathon at a technology company. Applied Natural Language Processing to improve DevOps quality.
ECs:
■ Nationally Ranked Chess Player Feb 2013-Present
■ Competed in 237 tournaments over a period of 9 years
■ Ranked 17th in the US in the U-17 age category and consistently featured in the top ranking lists since 2016
■ Earned National Master Title in 2021 and placed in the 98.2 percentile of all junior chess players in the US
Leadership and Volunteer Experience at High School: Chess Club President Aug 2020-Present
■ Lead the organization by sending out emails, setting up zoom calls and advertise the chess club to attract members.
■ Setup online and in person chess games over the board at school and acted as tournament director, adjudicating the results and reporting them
■ Spread Chess throughout the school by hosting weekly tournaments
■ Created a safe place for friends to chat while enjoying the game of chess during the 2020-21 remote-learning school year
■ Donated Chess boards and gave free chess lessons for underprivileged and needy people in homeless shelters
Volunteer June 2019-Present
■ Teach members of local Chess Club once a week every Friday at 7PM to 8PM
■ In person before pandemic and online via zoom post pandemic
Awards and Honors
■ National Master in Chess - Title and certificate awarded by US Chess Federation in 2021 ■ Life Candidate Master - norms based title awarded by US Chess Federation in 2021
■ Represented US in 2019 Pan American Youth Chess Championships held in Ecuador
■ 2018 US Open blitz chess Under-2000 champion
Technical Skills: Java, Python, C, Calculus, Microsoft Office
Interests: Chess, Mathematics and Computer Science.
Thanks!
I am not sure if UMD has ED applications, but I agree with tsbna44. CS is a different animal. Even top students get rejected. Published acceptance rate for that school doesn’t apply for Engineering and Computer Science. It is a highly impacted major throughout the country unless attending small LAC.
I think what the colleges look at first is GPA. Your son’s GPA may not be strong, but he has amazing ECs and accomplishments including high level college courses under his belt, and advanced knowledge of Computer languages.
Maybe he will need to explain why his GPA is not competitive. Maybe his high school doesn’t take the grades from the dual enrollments? Or dual enrollments affected his grades? Or he challenged too much to take so many courses at a time?
I can’t find stats but I’ve read b4, few get in regular decision. Also, per their website, only early action qualifies for scholarships. So yes - get it done or find another school. Good luck.
The freshman early action deadline for fall admission is November 1. If you submit a completed application by this deadline, you will receive priority consideration for admission to the university, merit-based scholarships and special programs. For more information, please review our complete listing of all application deadlines.
Q: Is the early action deadline binding? If I’m admitted, when do I have to confirm my enrollment?
The November 1 early action deadline is non-binding. If you are admitted, you will have until May 1 to confirm your enrollment at UMD.
Q: What happens if my application is incomplete by the early action deadline? What about the regular deadline?
If you are unable to complete your application by the early action deadline, you can still be considered for admission if you submit a completed application and all required materials by the January 20 regular deadline.
Applications completed after the regular application deadline will only be reviewed on a rolling, space-available basis.”
“Based on the most recent data available, applying to the University of Maryland during the Early Action round is almost a requirement. The Class of 2023 saw 59.4% of EA applicants accepted and just 4% (not a typo) of Regular Decision applicants achieving the same positive result. A stunning 97.3% of the incoming class was accepted via Early Action. The overall acceptance rate for that cohort was 44%.”
Also, another quick question along the same lines: Does this EA deadline where the 90% of seats are taken in the CS dept only or in other dept like math from the college of letters and science as well? My son is interested in the applied math and scientific computation major as well. He is also looking at the data science major.
Please help me understand.
Thanks.
Apply EA or don’t apply at all - for any major. Again, your odds are tiny RD and you can’t get any scholarships.
The only people who would apply to UMD RD either 1) were unprepared or 2) made a late decision to apply. I don’t want to give #3 - are lazy as that’s mean - but that might be a reason too
Apply Early or find another school. This is similar to many schools by the way that offer a non-binding early action.
The info /stats linked above are for all first years. It seems you are hesitant to apply early action, why is that? EA is non-binding, and clearly important at Maryland.
Here is info on the CS major, definitely do one of the workshops:
Thanks again. I am not hesitant to apply EA. We are very new to this college application process and we are going thru this journey for our first child and we are immigrant parents (now citizens). We don’t know how this college application process works . I am glad people like you here are enlightening us.
Thanks a lot.
Is there a reason to focus on UMD? For out of state students, it’s more competitive than for in state students, as UMD is mandated to take a good portion of students from in state. If applying to UMD, then apply EA, regardless of major, as others have already pointed out.
What does the rest of the list look like? The UC’s are highly competitive for CS, so build a safety first list so your child is not shut out. ASU and University of Arizona come to mind. I have also seen University of Utah mentioned. For CS, it’s what the student does in terms of self initiated projects etc. So plan may be to get a degree from a respectable CS department and do a lot of projects while in college to land a good internship. That was the path my first child took (also of Indian descent) and is now employed in NYC.
For an Indian male, the GPA/test scores are relatively low for CS; the EC’s are great . Whether that will make up for the GPA is something I am not sure about. One would have to see the grade distribution - what grades were obtained in the more rigorous courses?
In general, where it’s offered and non-binding, you want to apply early. If it’s Early Decision (binding), then you don’t - unless you 100% know that school is your top choice and you 100% can afford it.
Many schools have early - both binding and non-binding.
Many only have binding (early decision) and then regular decision. So no early opportunity that’s not binding. Of course, you can still apply to those early but under the regular decision program. It’s a weight off to get the applications out early so you can focus on other things.
Some schools - like the UCs and the Florida publics (at least UF and FSU) have one time frame to apply by and that’s it.
In the case of UMD, they really have one timeframe to apply - their early deadline. They’ll let you apply after - but it’s not truly an option because few get in and you can’t get scholarships. I assume you asked because of the GPA - and wanting to have first semester grades seen.
Many schools ask you to send in your first semester transcript as a normal course - and others may defer you and ask you to send the transcript because they are on the fence about you.
Maryland you always want to apply EA, it gives you the benefit of getting scholarships and into their honors/scholars/etc programs. I don’t think 90% gets filled in EA, but it is more like 65%/35%
Maryland says they decide to admit you or not, THEN it goes to your college. So if CS doesn’t accept you, you get admitted into Letters & Sciences and can transfer into CS. There are some gateway classes you need to take to transfer, but it isn’t as hard for CS as it is for say Business.
Maryland doesn’t defer anyone that I’ve ever seen.
Good luck for your child! And when I say EA, that means every single thing confirmed there by 11/1. If ANYTHING comes past that? They push you into RD. Including test scores. So make sure those scores get sent and check your checklist often to make sure they have everything. Submit it well before the deadline to be able to make sure they have all of it (we submitted like 10/18 I think).
Two letters of recommendation (1 Teacher and 1 Counselor)
Official copy of your high school transcripts
Official copy of your college transcripts (if necessary)
Official standardized test scores (unless applying test optional - You will be able to indicate your test-optional status on your application.)
Activities and awards list or resume
Essay
After you submit your Application, you will get access to a UMD portal that will show which items have been received. Check it periodically. You do not have direct control over all the the items that are needed, but you can let your school know that you have a deadline to meet
When it shows everything received, take a screen shot and save it. Do not wait until the last minute to get everything done.
UMD will NOT notify you that items are missing from your application.
Sure, great. Thanks for the reply. He has already gotten into ASU (CS) and University of arizona(Pre CS). My son is interested in good math+ CS programs. In UMD, CS is his first choice, but my son is interested in applied math and scientific computation as choice2 and math-applied math track as choice 3 in UMD. My son will take one of his 3 choices. As you said, UCs are crazy here in CA. We dont have any hopes for him at UCs (although we will be applying to math/applied math tracks in UCs). We do have few midwest schools in the math-cs, applied math, Data science track as well.
Thanks for the info regarding University of Utah.
Thanks again!
