<p>I recently applied as a priority freshman applicant. I applied to the Philip Merrill College of Journalism for Broadcast News. This is an LEP, and I have heard that one must have 600 on the CR in order to be admitted. I'm a caucasian female who lives in MD. Here is my information:
SAT: 1780 / 2400
CR: 550
M: 580
W: 650
Unweighted GPA: 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.3
APs: U.S. Government and Politics, English Language, U.S. History, and English Literature
Recommendations: Very good</p>
<p>Activities, Clubs, and Sports:
Newspaper (10-12), Staff (10), News Editor (11), Editor-in-Chief (12)<br>
Sentinelettes Dance Team and Band Auxiliary (9-12), First Lieutenant (11), Co-Captain (12)<br>
The National Honor Society (11-12)<br>
Mock Trial Team (10, 11)
Tennis Team (9-11), Junior Varsity (9-10), Varsity (11)
Yearbook, Student Life Editor and staff member (11)
Net Aid (11-12)</p>
<p>Volunteer Work:
Summer Intern at a local radio station
Volunteer at hospital for 8 hrs./week in the summer
Youth Group</p>
<p>Awards:
Academic Honor Roll (2009-2012)
Elizabeth & Wayne Hill Journalism Award and Scholarship (2012)
Shining Star: Honors English III (2011)
Excellence in AP English Langauge Award (2012)
Optimist Club Youth Appreciation Award (2012)</p>
<p>My senior courseload this year includes 2 APs, 3 honors courses, an early-college class, and a required tech-ed class.</p>
<p>Do I have a good chance of being admitted into UMD-CP as well as the journalism program?</p>
<p>I can’t speak for the journalism program; I don’t know much about the LEPs, as I didn’t attempt to get into one, but as for the chances of getting into the university, eh, it’ll be close.</p>
<p>Your flawless unweighted GPA is great, and the fact that you come from in-state is also a plus. Your wealth of out of school activities is impressive, as well as your volunteering and awards to complement that. However, you have one glaring weakness: The SAT.</p>
<p>1780 is certainly a good score, just shy of a full standard deviation above the mean of approximately 1500. A lot of people don’t realize how impressive this actually is. However, from your post, there’s something you need to know that you may not be aware of: UMD does NOT take your writing score into account for admissions.</p>
<p>This lowers your SAT strength, as the writing was your best section. Your total is 550CR + 580M = 1130 M + CR. While this isn’t bad, it’s well below what Maryland is looking for. If you’re really strong in the one section you plan on focusing on in college, you can make up for the relative weakness of another section. Me for example: I’m a secondary education/Math major, who got 740M and 560CR. Unfortunately, your writing strength will not be considered and your middling math and CR scores are weighing you down.</p>
<p>Your relative strength in other criteria, however, is impressive and I wish you the best of luck, but I hope your essays were excellent because you’re going to need them to be. It will be a tough call for the admissions people. Anything can happen, though, and if you’re lucky, you’ll be admitted into the College Park Scholars, a living and learning program for people that have unique extracurricular contributions. I was admitted into the Scholars program despite a 3.4 UW GPA. There is hope for you!</p>