<p>I was invited to be a College Park Scholar... can anyone give me more info about this? Is it an honors program? </p>
<p>congratulations to everyone who got accepted!</p>
<p>yeah i got into scholars too. i'd love to hear from someone who's been through the program.</p>
<p>My son was just accepted for fall 2008 into the college park scholars. It states it is an honors program. They stated the result was based on your answers in the application (of coarse as well as academics). For eg., my son stated that he preferred not to work in team research therefore, he would not be put into Gemstone. That was my take on it.</p>
<p>If you go to the website from where you were accepted, there will be a link for college park scholars that you can read.</p>
<p>I would also like to hear from other people who are in the CP scholars program.</p>
<p>My question would be is it only for 2 years? What happens at the end of the 2 years...are you no longer in honors?</p>
<p>I actually called yesterday, b/c I had too many questions, the adviser was very kind and generous with his time. I also had a very specific question that I knew they needed to answer (ROTC if that interferes). </p>
<p>The program is 2 years, you do live in the Cambridge community, you graduate with honors citations. He explained that each honors program is tailored to the students desired degree. In Gemstone they do research projects. This is why my s was not offered gemstone (he too didn't want that ---not really applicable to his major) Honors humanities is also not applicable to his course study. All of that being said his stats placed him into Scholars.</p>
<p>The Scholars program has 12 majors. Each student is required to complete the program within 2 years. They have more one on one time with profs and are not in the 200+ class, even for their macro econ class. The dorms are situated that each floor is for a particular major, i.e. Child advocacy majors live on the same floor, then the next floor would be all of the international studies, etc. They feel that it aids for camraderie and studying, since you all take particular classes for ea. semester, there is always someone else taking it with you, and people you can go to who have already taken the course if you need help. </p>
<p>You can request a non-scholar roommate, but remember it is a request and they try to reserve cambridge community for honors. It also defeats the purpose because they are trying to bond the kids within their major.</p>
<p>Ea. scholar must go on a field trip per semester and it is the students choice.</p>
<p>Finally, on March 28, April 4, and April 10th they will be having open houses for scholars, where they spend about 3 hours touring the cambridge community including the dorms. If you accept scholars you must do so by 3/14, but it is not binding, it just holds your spot.</p>
<p>As far as scholarships, there are certain ones that oopen up nationally for students in this program, but UMD per se does not offer just because you are in honors/scholars/gemstone</p>
<p>S is currently in the first year of a Scholars program. If possible, talk to people who are in that same program because the caliber of its offerings varies greatly depending on who is running it. Some meet more regularly and the content of the colloquium is more meaningful to that major. Others are just window dressing and a recruiting tool for the university. Also, it turns out that NO ONE in S's program chooses to remain in the Cambridge community housing for sophomore year because it is old and not air conditioned. OTOH, at least it gives your child an edge in securing on-campus housing. Also, there is a high attrition rate between freshman and sophomore year in his program as students weigh its value.</p>
<p>which program did he chose? Our ds is debating between 2 of them.</p>
<p>Thank you so much bullet.. and worrywart for the responses. They are definitely helpful.
Worrywart, what program is your son in?</p>
<p>I looked at the college park scholars website and I still am not clear on some things. If I want to be in the Life Sciences program, what kind of classes do I have to take? It is classes based on my intended major or what? Can someone clear that up for me?</p>
<p>i only received an email of my acceptance.... what website do i check online to see my decision? is that how you know if you made the honors program?</p>
<p>Go onto decision thread in 5 days p3 (?), there is a link. When you go there you will put your email and password. At the very bottom it will say what else (honors, gemstone, scholars) you are qualified for. We didn't see it the 1st time...saw congrats and then closed the page, it was only the second time we loked at it that we saw it</p>
<p>I also find the info. on the Scholars program confusing. The website page listing Special Academic Programs lists it separately from University Honors, so I assume that College Park Scholars cannot take honors courses. Is this correct?</p>
<p>Honors is different than Scholars, from what I found out yesterday it depends on what you declared as your intended major and if you want to research.</p>
<p>Scholars, must take specific course regarding their major. They also have the colloquims. If you look under the scholars program for what you desire to major in, it states you must take these course during specific semesters (1st sem fresh/2nd sem fresh/1st sem soph/2nd sem soph)</p>
<p>There are only 12 majors that you can get as a scholar. If you were accepted to both, my guess is your declared major is why you got both.</p>
<p>Maybe somebody with experience can chime in so the blind aren't leading the blind :D</p>
<p>Are people deferred from the school of engineering and into this program? I applied to the school of engineering, but it said that I was placed in the college of letters and sciences......</p>
<p>Dinkswizzle,</p>
<p>I don't know what college of letters and sciences are...ds admission letter says scholars, and so does the on line. Scholars admission decision has a link to explain the program, maybe that is also true for letters and sciences</p>
<p>map: you are correct that Scholars students cannot take Honors seminars or H-versions of courses. These are reserved solely for students in the University Honors Program. (Honors students cannot take Scholars colloquiums or Scholars sections of courses either.)</p>
<p>Dinkswizzle: The College of Letters and Sciences is the general term for where they put students who are undecided majors (or incoming freshmen who did not declare a backup major and applied to an LEP). So you did not get accepted into the Engineering program, but you still got accepted into the university. Letters & Sciences is not Scholars, they are two completely separate and different things.</p>
<p>bulletandpima: Scholars programs are not "majors"-- you can be in the "Business, Society, and the Economy" program even if you are not a business or economics major. Some students choose a program with no relation to their major (like a math major being the the "Arts Scholars" program) to get some extra insight into an area they enjoy.</p>
<p>Bad choice of words on my part calling the Scholars program "majors". I do understand the difference. </p>
<p>But here is my $1,000 question: What are the benefits for participating in the program? Will being in this program get me a better job with a better starting salary when I get out (i.e. it's something recognized outside of UMCP as a plus for hiring me)? Do I get recognized at graduation with a special diploma? Is it the fact that I get to go to "special" or smaller classes? Or is it the fact that I'm participating in elite seminars? Or is it simply the fact that I am insured "special" housing for my first two years there?</p>
<p>Bottom Line: what makes this program worth my time?</p>
<p>Not trying to be harsh, I'm just excited to be recognized for entry into this program and I want to understand how it can help me out at UMCP.</p>
<p>Lots of people will say that scholars is a waste of time but really i would have taken the same classes if i wasn't a scholar. SO i didn't waste TIME. As a business major and a business scholar it is EXACTLY the same classes. Do i think scholars teaches me anything? No. The 1 hour colloquium (spelling?) is useless. In fact we only meet twice this semester. The other classes are just regular classes. So where is it different than not being in it?</p>
<p>The fact that you get to meet people with your interests in irreplaceable. For me, i lived in a building with 70 business majors. We would study for our classes together. Now walking into business classes i recognize 10 people off the from scholars. Last year living in the building was fantastic for studying for tests.</p>
<p>Scholars overall is FANTASTIC but for the only reason that you meet great friends who are on average pretty smart and dedicated but most importantly share your interests. Freshman year is where you make the friends you will be with for your years at maryland. Tonight i went out with 5 people, 4 of which are in my scholars program. So even when we are not living in the same building we still are good friends. We are all business majors and study all the time. It is much harder to meet people within your major living in a random dorm and getting to REALLY know people in your classes is much harder. I love to study with people and this makes it too easy.</p>
<p>Scholars won't get you a job but it does look nice. It is a citation program that goes on your transcript.</p>
<p>Thanks for the words. cheapseats!</p>
<p>Geez, where ya been cheapseats? Good to have you back. So are you one of the many business scholars who opted not to live in Cambridge for sophomore year? Where are most living this year? What are your prospects for next year given the dire housing shortage for rising juniors? (Comment not intended to derail this thread.)</p>