I’ve recently been accepted into the scholars program. However, the major i want to do (cyber seucrity) has a program in honors and honors alone (ACES). I know another friend with almost the exact same stats who got into honors (difference was less community service. I know honors is in class vs scholars which is more out of class meaning community service. Should i appeal for honors college since without it maryland is not really appealing?
My stats:
SAT: 2120 (730M 680R 710W)
SAT II: Chem 760: Math 2: 780
ACT: Super:33 Math:33 Reading:33 English:35 Science:30 (single sitting 32)
GPA: uw: 3.8. 4.52 weighted and without freshmen year: 3.8 and 4.8 weighterd
AP Scores
US History (5)
US Government (3)
World History (5)
Chem (4)
Computer Science A (4)
Language (5)
Extracurriculars
• Volunteered at Brookside Gardens at the Butterfly Exhibits informing the public about the species on display and ensured public safety.
o Total Hours: 100
• Volunteered at 3 summer camps at Brookside Nature Center and Meadowside Nature Center
working with kids teaching and guiding them as well as enforcing rules to ensure their safety
o Total Hours: 35/week
• National Institutes of Health Paid internship (Student Internship Program) – conducted tautomerism research in commercial databases with Computer Aided Drug Design group
o Total Hours: 40/week
• Sports - Varsity Track and Field, Swim and Dive (9th and 10th grade)
o Total Hours Swim: 6/week, Track:10/week
• Work - Coauthor of NIH Research Publication (pending publication)
• Robotics – programming for robotics competitions (First Tech Challenge)
o Total hours: 9/week
• Science National Honors Society – Tutor
• Clarksburg Children’s Heart Association - Secretary
• National honor society – Tutor
• Investing Club – Founder
Awards and Honors
• NASA Summer Camp Scholarship - 2009
• NIH Fellowship Award - 2014
• Clarksburg High School APPS Scholar Award - 2014
• AP Scholar with Distinction - 2014
• National Honor Society - 2014
• Science National Honor Society - 2014
• Honor Roll grades 6-12
Recs: counselor: good
teachers: good
boss(NIH):good
Since you’re interested in cybersecurity, then definitely. Send a well-written email to the honors committee confessing your interest in ACES (read up on the program first) and talk about how good of a fit you’d be in that program. It’s worth a shot.
I would be unable to pursue a specific program called ACES which is in the honors college only. They do cyber security research and have ties to private corporations.If i stay in scholars I would take normal courses, not the honors courses, and being in scholars would not benefit me at all.
Gotya. If i dont get into Honors - ACES then for a cyber security, I would have to do regular non honors UMD courses which are less appealing than honors or cyber security oriented programs and classes offered by other programs at other universities. Also being in scholars does not help if i plan to pursue cyber security as there is no program for it in Scholars.
There should be numerous internships available at places like the FBI, CIA, NSA, NRO, Homeland Security, NIST and others. There is absolutely NO shortage of cybersecurity organizations in the DC area.
Yes but taking honors vs regular courses marks a difference and makes the student a better choice. ACES also offers smaller classrooms and more specified courses.
I’ll just add one more thing. ACES did not exist 2 years ago and UMD Computer Science graduates were doing quite well. I’ve been in National Defense and Security for several decades in the DC area. Do what is best for you and Good Luck with whatever you choose
May i ask whether they did any other program (UMD Honors or Gemstone) or did they attend the general College of Computer Mathematical and Natural Sciences?
Honors or Scholars are nice, but what really matters is how well you do in your Core CS classes and your understanding of the complexities of enterprise level computer/software systems. Computers are so pervasive in our lives today, there just aren’t enough people to meet the demand.
unfortunately those can only be applied to in junior and senior years. would missing out on those in freshmen and sophomore years be a problem? also i will be done with the core math classes and science classes freshmen year due to opting out from AP Scores
@warunayapa when you say graduate with honors, those are departmental honors, not the honors college. That is not to say that there aren’t perks with being in the honors college, but graduating with honors is a different matter. Each school within UMD has their own requirements and timelines for applying. Employers will be much more impressed with departmental honors than the honors college.
