3.73 Unweighted GPA (Most rigorous curriculum given what my school offered.)
33 ACT (34 Superscored)
6 APs, 4 Honors, 2 CC courses by the time I finish high school
Solid Extracurriculars and Essays
OOS (California)
Applied to Clark School of Engineering
Major: Computer Engineering
No one can predict Honors College admissions. LORs, short answers and essays all factor into the decision. Stats alone are not the deciding items. Good Luck.
SoofDad is correct that honors is hard to predict. However, the more relevant question for you is admission to engineering since it it a LEP - it is far more difficult to be directly admitted to engineering as an incoming freshman than it is to be admitted to honors.
At the end of the day, while honors college is a nice nod to/recognition of high school achievement/performance, it is not as valuable as admission to LEP or departmental honors since admission to departmental honors (offered to upper classmen) is based on college achievement/performance.
I’ve seen countless posts over recent years from angry students and parents complaining that if they were recognized as being “smart enough” to be invited to honors college, how is it possible that they were denied admission to engineering? Yes, engineering is “easy” to transfer into after you meet the gateway requirements, and you would still have ability to graduate “on time” as a transfer into engineering, but, direct admission to engineering as an incoming freshman is what people ideally want. Direct admission opens up opportunities for an engineering LLC (living learning community as well as additional support and opportunities from the beginning without having to worry about classes that are restricted to engineering majors only.
Understand that your application will go through 3 reviews. The first is the admission to the university in general. If you pass that review and are admitted to the university, your application is then reviewed 2 more times (not sure of order) by honors/scholars and Clark School of Engineering. They each have their own criteria of what they are looking for which is entirely different. You can be admitted to one and not the other. Yes, there is a large overlap in general of engineering students being invited to either honors or scholars, but that is because those applying to engineering have higher stats than the average applicant in general. It is NOT because they are in honors/scholars that they are or should be admitted to engineering…
@maryversity What do you think my chances are for engineering? I put down Computer Science as my alternate major.
What are your AP’s in? Do you have any EC’s related to computers/engineering?
APs/Honors taken/will take:
(10) Chemistry H
(11) AP Chemistry
(11) AP US History
(11) American Lit H
(11) Pre-Calculus H
(12) AP Calculus AB
(12) AP Spanish Language/Culture
(12) AP English Literature
(12) AP Microeconomics (second semester)
(12) Physics Honors
I did not take any programming courses in school, but I self-studied programming for an internship that I did over the summer of 2015 (and still am doing). I also just finished an online java course from CSU San Bernardino, and passed. (Grading system was pass/no pass). Is there any way I can notify the admissions office about the online course?
Also, I have one more question: If I don’t get admitted to engineering, will they consider my alternate major or will I only be put in letters and science?
Bump
So, I prefer not to “chance” per se…just help you assess yourself. The reason I asked about the AP’s was to see if you had a decent background in math and science, which you seem to, so that’s good that you have your bases covered. The question for you (no need to post, just for you to consider your “chances”) is how well you did in those courses. If you listed your internship (and noted learning/doing programming for it) in your activity list, that is helpful as are any engineering/ STEM-related activities. I wouldn’t worry about not having mentioned the java course unless you earned some recognition in it. If you earned any college credits for the class, you can ask for your transcript to be forwarded to Maryland so that you will get credit for it, but it wouldn’t be considered for admissions purposes if not submitted by Nov 1.
With respect to your question about your alternate major, when you apply to a LEP, it is assumed that you would want to do the gateway courses and re-apply as an internal transfer, so you would automatically be put in letters in sciences as a “holding” place of sorts. If you decide you want to pursue CompSci instead of computer engineering, then of course, it is easy to declare that immediately since CompSci is not a LEP.
Hope that helps. Best of luck! 
@maryversity Thanks!
I’m a little worried about my chances for Clark, so is there any way I can change the major I applied to? If so, I plan to change it to Computer Science. Also, if they just place you in Letters and Science if you apply for an LEP, why do they make you indicate an alternate major if they won’t even consider it?
It’s not that they don’t consider it as much as placing you with advisers that can help you take the correct classes to be eligible to get into your first choice major. Advising for compsci is different than engoneering so class selection would be different. Don’t put the cart before the horse … Don’t bail from your first choice before u even know if u are admitted or not…
@maryversity So it’s possible that I may get placed on Computer Science? Or will it always be letters and science?
I agree with what you said earlier. I decided to wait and see what happens.
While I am maintaining that you should not sweat it before you get your admissions decision, I appreciate your desire to understand why you would be put in letters and science instead of comp sci if you are not directly admitted to engineering. I am posting this long explanation to help others understand the process/reasoning as well. To be clear, a change in major before admissions comes out will NOT change your admission status to the university (as I stated earlier, that is the first and separate application review, not related to major at all) , so there is no advantage to trying to change it now. It is always best to apply for the most competitive major as an incoming freshman as that is your only chance to be a direct admit and have all the benefits of being in that major from the start.
The default to a LEP is always letters and sciences but is easy to change. Again, the reason for letters and sciences is the advising staff to help you plan coursework to re-apply to the LEP you selected as your first choice. With engineering in particular, while it is difficult/extremely competitive to be directly admitted as a freshman, it is NOT at all competitive to be admitted as as in-school transfer (for engineering ONLY…this does NOT apply to business which remains equally competitive as a transfer). However, you are only allowed to do apply once as an in-school transfer, and must have completed the “gateway” requirements satisfactorily (listed at end of this reply) before you apply, and some are different classes than those are required that you take if you are in a different major (such as comp sci). Make sense? So, if you decided to go for CompSci as a declared major, there is a difference in classes you would be taking than if you were aiming for admission to Computer Engineering.
Specificially, for Comp Sci, your first semester would consist of Second Semester
CMSC131 CMSC132
MATH140+ MATH141
ENGL101* Natural Science with Lab
Oral Comm History/Social Science
CMSC100
compared to first semester Computer Engineering (admitted) Second Semester
CHEM135+ CMSC132
ENES100 MATH141
MATH140+ ENEE244
CMSC131 PHYS161
ENGL101* Oral Comm
As you can see, if you went with comp sci, you would not be taking chemistry nor physics, which would make it impossible to apply for engineering in your freshman year and therefore put you behind in coursework, ultimately affecting graduation date. However, as a letters and sciences student, you would have the freedom to take the courses you need to complete gateway requirements.
+In order to get exempt from these classes due to AP credit, you need to have a minimum score of 4. Here is the chart for that info http://www.umd.edu/catalog/attachments/AP.pdf
*Even though you are taking AP English, you would still need to take ENGL101 since it is composition and your AP class is literature (that will get you “out” of a gen ed instead)
So, the question is are you waffling between comp sci and computer engineering out of fear of not being admitted to engineering or are you truly not sure which way to go? Do you know the difference between the majors (comp sci is more about programming in specific)? Take a look at the 4 year plans of each to see the difference (one page has the course call letters but the second includes a truncated course title so be sure to scroll down for each) https://www.eng.umd.edu/sites/default/files/images/current/forms/4yrplan/2013-2014/comp-4yrplan-gep2013-2014.pdf
https://cmns.umd.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/docs/4yr-plans/cmsc.pdf
FYI, this is gateway info/internal transfer info http://www.eng.umd.edu/advising/transfer-guide
Admissions Requirements or Criteria
Both external (outside UMCP) and internal transfers (meaning current UMCP students whose major is NOT engineering) will be admitted to the Clark School if they meet the following admission requirements:
Completion of the Fundamental Studies English requirement (ENGL101/FE)*
Completion of MATH 141/Calculus II with minimum grade of B- or better
Completion of PHYS 161/Physics I with a minimum grade of B- or better
Completion of CHEM 135 OR CHEM271/Chemistry for Engineers or Chemistry II with lab with a minimum grade of C- or better*
A minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 on all college level coursework
Completion of at least one Distributive Studies course from the humanities or social sciences
Must have one of the following codes: HA, HL, HO, SB, SH, DSHS, or DSHU
• Students in other Engineering majors or Engineering undecided who wish to be a BIOE major must complete BIOE 120 with a grade of B-
Hope this helps. As I said, just hang in there.
@maryversity Thank you so much! That was super helpful!
Glad you were able to understand the gist of it despite the formatting that got lost when I hit “post”…I had the first and second semester class listings separated by columns so they didn’t mush together, but, oh well.