The new A James Clark Hall…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=QjGf6wK0i-g
Looks great, @maryversity!
Just wanted to bump this up for new admits, and I recommend starting on page one and open all the links for more info. Feel free to ask questions…
Thanks for all the info @maryversity ! My son was admitted into Engineering and Honors. He is now reviewing all his LLP options.
@mommahawk Woo hoo! Congrats! Feel free to pm me with any questions you may have about engineering.
If admitted to engineering and honors, what are the pros and cons to choosing an honors LLP?
Found this forum via random google searching while waiting for UMD’s decision release last Friday. Posts here have been very helpful. Daughter got accepted to Engineering in Scholars. Very excited as UMD is among her top schools. We are in state.
@explorer16 Personally, I do not see any con to CHOOSING an honors LLP. If you find you don’t like it, you can always change to the general honors humanities or drop honors altogether. However, if you choose honors humanities, you cannot change your mind and go into a themed honors LLP.
The pros are enrichment in an area that you have interest in but not necessarily majoring in. As an example, if my son had been invited to honors, he would have jumped at the chance for EIP because many engineers do want to benefit from their own designs/creations by creating startups, so understanding the business aspects/terminology of entrepreneurship is helpful. ***
Other pros are small classes with very interesting topics that are restricted to honors college students (technically, they are also available to students that get in upperclass honors programs such as departmental honors or QUEST, for example)
Being in a themed program allows you to develop a different network of friends because you are taking several classes as a group, so you get to know these people pretty well.
The potential con of being in an honors program is that it does add an extra class each semester to your schedule. For some people, that is a non-issue, for others, it could potentially cause stress to have more classes.
As for the electives needed for honors college in general, I have heard nothing but positive things about the honors seminars. However, I have heard comments that h-versions of core classes (as a random example there is MATH140H which is the honors version of MATH140) are tougher and can be not so great for your gpa. Again, that’s all anecdotal, and every student is different.
*** For those in engineering that were not invited to honors, yet share that interest, please know there are definitely alternatives available! My son was NOT in honors but did 3 things - Hinman CEO’s, QUEST and a minor in Technology Entrepreneurship…below are links to read about those three
http://www.hinmanceos.umd.edu
https://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/programs/undergraduate-programs/academics/fellows-special-programs/quest
http://www.mtech.umd.edu/educate/minor/
BUT THERE ARE MORE COOL THINGS THAT MARYLAND OFFERS FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP AS WELL - too exhaustive to list but some include Cupid’s Cup, Pitch Dingman Competition, StartUp Shell, and soooo many more!
Hope you are all excited about your admission and thought you might enjoy watching this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSt8jZHb7rM&feature=youtu.be
For those with questions about WIE (Women in Engineering), I found saw this article that you have to skip down a bit - about halfway down, they talk about the University of Maryland
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/howard/columbia/ph-ho-cf-laurel-legobots-0118-story.html
For those with interest in Aerospace engineering and/or robotics, check this out…
https://umdrightnow.umd.edu/news/umd-opens-outdoor-flight-laboratory-advance-autonomy-robotics
I am moving a post from another thread to this one as I believe it may be a question that other engineering students would like answered as well…
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
@CContemplative1 asked:
"What are your thoughts on VIRTUS vs EIP for a future engineering student like me?
I’d also like to learn about QUEST because the design, problem-solving and projects with companies appeal to me.
I like the idea of engineering-specific support through a program like VIRTUS.
EIP seems really interesting, but I don’t know what I’d do with the program since I have no business experience. I do think growing a skillset like that would be useful and interesting, though.
I’m probably putting preferences for
1.EIP
2. University Honors
I don’t really care about the other Honors-only programs."
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@CContemplative1, my son had a similar question of choosing between VIRTUS and Scholars, so let me respond to that first.
The VIRTUS program really is an awesome program that provides tremendous support and resources to engineering students. However, my son elected to participate/live in the scholars program instead, and found that some of the career development training is included with the scholars programming. Certainly, some advantage of VIRTUS could not be replicated in Scholars, but he absolutely had access to comparable resources through the Engineering Co-op and Career Services.
The advantages that are unique to VIRTUS are the cluster scheduling (so that you take your engineering core classes of MATH, CHEM and ENES100 with the same group of people) and the Virtus Student Learning and Assistance Center that is housed in the same dorm, which means there is tutoring in your own dorm’s lounge for utmost convenience.
While VIRTUS spends more significant time on resume prep and career fair strategies, both of those topics were incorporated in the scholars programming, and I assume they are also included with honors programming as well.
The advantage of cluster scheduling with other engineering students is only done with VIRTUS, but my son did find that was a significant number of other engineering students in his program/dorm, which created enough of a support system for study groups. Fortunately, he did not have need of tutoring services for classes, but he absolutely had access to tutors through
https://eng.umd.edu/tutoring-resources
http://www.seeds.umd.edu/emt
https://eng.umd.edu/student-services
http://www.keystone.umd.edu/students/keystone-center.
Maryland Engineering is VERY serious about providing support for engineering students! If you know what discipline that you want to pursue within engineering, I can give you links for other resources specific to that (my son did MechE with a minor in Technology Entrepreneurship).
So let me next address the EIP interest without business experience. I think EIP is a great program to introduce you to the world of business - the terms/lingo/perspective. You don’t need any experience with business to want to learn about it. The EIP is not a MBA program, it’s an introduction. It is Entrepreneurship and Innovation = things that many engineering students value as they want to capitalize on the technology they design. Many students in EIP enjoy the program so much that they apply to Hinman CEO’s, which is an upperclass living learning program, housed in South Campus Commons. For those reading this that are not in honors, know that Hinman CEO’s is open to all students/majors wishing to apply. Hinman CEO’s is the same program that Kevin Plank (UnderArmour) participated in as well as Anthony Casalena (Squarespace), among others, and participation in EIP is not a prerequisite for Hinman.
Finally, your interest in QUEST. Yes, yes, and yes. My son was in QUEST and absolutely loved it! When he went to career fairs, that was very attractive to employers because it is so unique. They especially liked the systems philosophy and how engineering, business and CMNS students learned to work more effectively as a team by utilizing each other’s areas of expertise to their full advantage…it’s very cross-disciplinary, which is invaluable.
Understand that QUEST is a 3 year honors program (not a living learning program) that you apply to AFTER your first semester freshman year. If I recall correctly, they do not consider high school grades/accomplishments. They only look at your college performance, and I believe you need one or two letters of recommendation from college professors - gpa alone does not predict/guarantee admission; interviews are critical since they are looking to select people that will work well together.
They will have an information table at the FIRST LOOK Fair in the fall, and they will host several informational meetings starting in November. I don’t know if they still do it, but they did make a presentation at my son’s scholars program (can’t say if it was to his individual class or scholars as a whole), so if they still do that, I imagine they will also do that for honors programs. The application comes out during winter break and then they go through an interview process in February/March. There are 2 cohorts of around 40 students each, so with only 80 slots total, you can imagine it is highly competitive. Only students in the engineering, business and CMNS schools are eligible to apply.
If you have specific questions, feel free to ask.
@explorer16 - I just noticed I made an error in my previous response to you…in post #127, I said you can always change to “the general Honors Humanities” when I meant to say general University Honors. Honors Humanities is actually a themed Honors LLP. It is University Honors that you can always change to from a themed Honors program, but not vice versa.
Posted this on transfer thread but thought it was worth posting here as well for external transfer students interested in engineering…note deadlines…https://eng.umd.edu/clark-opportunity-transfer-scholars-program
Hi @maryversity I was admitted for Computer Engineering & to the honors College. One of my biggest goals is to graduate in three years. I’ve been looking at the four year plans for computer engineering that are available on the UMD website and I’ve been trying to to take as many APs as possible to help me reach this goal. By the end of HS I will have received credit for AP Comp Sci, AP NSL, AP Bio, AP STAT, AP Calc, AP Lang, AP Psychology, AP US History, & AP Physics C mechanics. (I still have to take Psych & US History) I think this puts me in good shape but I’m wondering whether you think this goal is feasible. This might seem a little crazy but I would just really love to shave a year off of college if it’s possible. Also, because I live very close to college park (15 minutes), I’m willing to take one or two summer classes.
Hi @maryversity I was admitted for Computer Engineering & to the honors College. One of my biggest goals is to graduate in three years. I’ve been looking at the four year plans for computer engineering that are available on the UMD website and I’ve been trying to to take as many APs as possible to help me reach this goal. By the end of HS I will have received credit for AP Comp Sci, AP NSL, AP Bio, AP STAT, AP Calc, AP Lang, AP Psychology, AP US History, & AP Physics C mechanics. (I still have to take Psych & US History) I think this puts me in good shape but I’m wondering whether you think this goal is feasible. This might seem a little crazy but I would just really love to shave a year off of college if it’s possible. Also, because I live very close to college park (15 minutes), I’m willing to take one or two summer classes.
@glorianagloriana I think shaving off a semester is absolutely reasonable/possible, but graduating a full year early is going to be challenging.
Understanding that the 4 year plan is a “suggested” semester sequence guide, there is definitely some wiggle room to take a class sooner or later in the sequence. My son did not follow it precisely himself, taking physics first semester and chem second semester, and he took one or maybe two other classes a semester early. However, that was about the extent of his wiggle room only because of prerequisites and co-requisites. Prerequisites are classes that must be completed before enrolling in that class, and corequisites are classes that are meant to be taken concurrently. I remember my son having had to changes some plans for classes after meeting with his adviser (required every semester before signing up for following semester classes) because there are some “soft” corequisites - they are not listed as required to take at the same time, but actually recommended for better comprehension. I distinctly remember that was the case for my son - his adviser saved his butt on that.
You mentioned taking some courses over the summer (or even winter) breaks. The limitation to that is that the courses offered may not be what you need…?
Yes, you can pack your schedule and take more classes (my son took 21 credits) a few times because he was involved in so many programs, but I would not recommend it in most cases. It’s easier to do that when you are taking lower level classes than when you are taking upper level, as the upper level engineering classes are very tough.
Speaking of tough, you really don’t want to be taking all tough courses without a lighter class to break it up…so even though you eliminate a lot of gen ed requirements with AP’s, and you need more than 9 credits a semester to be considered full time, I would recommend considering taking some honors seminar that interests you (I think I remember reading you are in honors) just for your own edification/enjoyment.
So, my question for you is why you are looking to graduate early. If it’s a financial issue, that’s one thing; if it’s an I’m so done with school and want to start working already thing, that’s another.
However, if it’s because you are looking to go to grad school, are you aware of the combined BS/MS program at Maryland? You can only apply to it junior year (by credit year not actually physical third year) for senior year. If admitted, you can take up to 9 credits for dual credit - counting for both undergrad and grad school degrees. https://www.ece.umd.edu/bs-ms
So, the question is, if you want to get a sense of the possibilities before meeting with an adviser… Take a look at http://www.transfercredit.umd.edu/plc/APGenEd.pdf to see what your AP credits will “get you out of.” The credit for AP classes is based on exam score only. It looks like you will def get out of some GenEds! Take note that AP Calc needs to be BC to get you out of MATH140 & MATH141. If you only took the AB or the BC with AB subscore, you only get credit for the one class, MATH140. Cross reference your AP credits with your 4 year guide https://eng.umd.edu/sites/clark.umd.edu/files/resource_documents/comp-4yrplanandcurrl-2017-2018-1.pdf
The other thing to consider is that if you have so many AP credits, it will actually make planning a semester abroad easier. For engineering, since there are so many very specific courses, it is easier to plan to do this earlier so you know what courses to take on campus and what you can complete abroad. Talk to the Engineering Study Abroad office, particularly Ramsey Jabaji (super nice and extremely helpful!!!) https://eng.umd.edu/study-abroad-0. I highly recommend studying abroad - even if you can’t do a whole semester, doing a winter break course led by UMD Faculty is really an amazing experience, and they do have a lot of grants/scholarships to help make that happen.
What is the estimated acceptance rate to the engineering program at Maryland. I am just curious, I have heard some people say its around 25% (Getting into both the school and engineering program).
Also you should think about making an updated forum post with updated stats as I think the ones from 2015 could be considered outdated now.
Haha, true enough about outdated stats. However, the most updated info that is published is still only from last year. They do give the current admission stats at the admitted student day engineering session, but they won’t publish until they know the actual yield figures.
As for your estimation of 25% admission to both university and engineering, I wouldn’t know for sure, but that sounds about right - I have heard that as well, with variation from year to year, of course.
From https://eng.umd.edu/facts-and-figures
AT/ACT/GPA information for the class of 2020 is as follows:
Average GPA: 4.44
Combined math/critical reading SAT scores:
Average: 1402
25th percentile: 1340
75th percentile: 1470
SAT math scores:
Average: 730
25th percentile: 700
75th percentile: 770
SAT critical reading scores:
Average: 671
25th percentile: 620
75th percentile: 720
ACT scores:
Average: 32
25th percentile: 30
75th percentile: 34
109 under-represented minorities: 17 percent
213 women: 34 percent
398 (63 percent) of these students have been selected for the Honors College. Another 93 students (15 percent) are listed in College Park Scholars.