<p>Can someone explain to me the difference?</p>
<p>Which one is considered "more selective" or "better"? </p>
<p>I was accepted into College Park Scholars but I don't understand what the difference is.</p>
<p>This would be super helpful! I was accepted to the Honors college and I don’t know what the difference is.</p>
<p>I was accepted to Scholars as well but I’m not exactly sure of the difference other than the fact that Scholars lasts two years and Honors lasts four.</p>
<p>I would think that since College Park Scholars last two years, it may not be as prestigious as the Honors College. Based on that fact, and the automatic nominations of Honors College freshman for Banneker/ Key scholarship, I would say that Honors College > College Park Scholars.</p>
<p>Honors picks the smartest kids first and then scholars picks their kids. The guy in charge of honors admitted same when I was there in the fall. He tried to avoid the question but a parent pushed him to answer.</p>
<p>Troy12 </p>
<p>I really don’t think that is absolutely true. I see kids with 1200’s SAT get honors. I see kids with lower stats get honors over other with higher stats. Go look and see what I mean.</p>
<p>Honors definitely picks first. Also, I’m pretty sure it doesn’t just come down to stats (I would think essays and recommendations matter too). But being invited to either program is terrific. </p>
<p>As for differences, Honors is something you’re in for four years. Depending on which program you pick, you might not be actively involved for four years, but for example if you join the general University Honors, you can take Honors classes during any of your four years. There are a bunch of Honors seminars that are all different types of subjects. Gemstone is different (but part of Honors), and a full 4-year commitment. Then there’s other programs too, like Humanities. </p>
<p>Scholars is a 2-year program. They’re more specific topics, like art, global public health, and media, self, and society (there’s a bunch more). I don’t know exactly what each programs entail, but you can check out the website (as you can with Honors). I do know the Scholars do community service activities /trips too, which is cool. </p>
<p>In the case of each, Honors students live in a dorm together and Scholars students live in a dorm together Again, both programs are great, and it gives you a chance to be involved in a smaller community. Congrats to those invited!</p>
<p>I was accepted to Scholars and was curious as to why I wasn’t accepted to Honors. My friend suggested that perhaps Honors didn’t have any courses that catered to my major. Is this true? My major, by the way, is electrical engineering.</p>
<p>If you look at the freshman admissions page, you will see that the honors wgpa requirement is higher. That being said, I also think that Honors and Scholars look for specific kinds of students (honors= more “intellectual”, scholars= more “community based”). At least that is what someone on CC said, and he/she said that this was direct words from the admissions office.</p>
<p>Straight from the Honors College site: “There are no numerical thresholds (such as a minimum SAT/ACT or GPA) to be considered for Honors College admission.”</p>
<p>Yeah, I know, I was confused too…until I went here:</p>
<p>[University</a> of Maryland - Freshman Profile Information](<a href=“http://www.uga.umd.edu/counselor/freshmanprofile.cfm]University”>http://www.uga.umd.edu/counselor/freshmanprofile.cfm)</p>
<p>Those are just statistics though. I’ve heard that people with SATs in the 1200s have gotten in.</p>
<p>Can students from either gain entrance to the other program somehow?
i.e. an Honors student wishes to be in the Scholars program.</p>
<p>^^^Yeah those are averages, not minimums.</p>
<p>Going back over my college essays, I think I can see why I’m in Scholars now rather than Honors…</p>
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<p>I don’t think that can be the reason, since my daughter, whose clear interest was in international studies and who was admitted as an Arabic major, was invited to Honors last year, despite the existence of an international studies option in Scholars, but not Honors.</p>
<p>I think it may come down to the essays and those silly short answer sentence completion questions (did they have those this year?) and various intangibles, because there is overlap between the academic credentials of the two groups.</p>
<p>The various intangibles are a big part, though as pointed out, the Honors Program does take first swipe at who they want to offer admission to…that program is much older at UMD and gets priority. </p>
<p>Every year, people feel they’ve been “slighted” of getting into Scholars instead of Honors. I’ll admit that when D2 was admitted, I thought she “should” have been in Honors like her sister was…very similar GPA, SAT scores, etc. However, not long into the program, it became very clear that her scholars program couldn’t have been more perfect for her. She was (and is) very community-service and social-issues oriented, and became an Ambassador for the Scholars program very early on. Her older sister would not have appreciated many of the Scholars activities that were done and was much better off in the Honors program, where she was more self-driven. (she turned down Gemstone). </p>
<p>In terms of longer-term success, when D1 graduated last year, her departmental Honors and grades FAR outweighed her University Honors citation, which she completed her sophomore year. Both Honors and Scholars are great ways for students to feel like they “belong” when they come into the door at UMD. Scholars more for not only being around like-interested people in the same program, but also sharing classes (at least seminars) with them. Honors is a wider group of being with similar people…with at least historically similar perspectives towards studying, learning, good grades, etc.</p>
<p>@astrophysicsmom - thanks for info. My D got an offer for admission to UMD and CP Scholars too. So happy for D to get in to UMD, but we were kind of confuse what CP Scholars can offer my D while in UMD and after graduating from UMD. From your info, I’m thinking my D is more suited for CP Scholars too. So does your D2 like doing CP Scholars? Thanks again!</p>
<p>She has loved it. She’s a junior now, but still participates in some of the on-campus events when prospective freshmen find out about the program, and is still friends with several people in the program she was in (ETE). (In addition to being a Scholars Ambassador, she also hosted on-campus overnight visits when she lived in Centreville). One thing that helped her get excited about the program before she got to UMD was visiting the campus, meeting with the director of Scholars, and talking one-on-one with one of the current freshmen about her experiences. Your D should try that if she can.</p>
<p>Thanks! This is really helpful. Just one more question, so on top of doing CP scholars, you’re D2 was enrolled completing her major? It did not have any conflict at all. BTW, were she ok with the dorm (Cambridge)? Did she stay until sophomore?</p>