@pickledginger Still no change for my son for his top 2 after tonight’s chat. He is going with EIP then UH. He is not so sure about his 3rd preference. He originally thought it would be DCC but now thinks he’d put Humanities Honors.
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.
I honestly don’t know that much about EIP, since I live so far away from them on campus and don’t have friends with experiences in EIP. I also don’t know anything about VIRTUS, unfortunately.
I can, however, help with QUEST. (Here’s a link to the QUEST program’s info page, if you haven’t read it already: https://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/programs/undergraduate-programs/academics/fellows-special-programs/quest). You’d apply for QUEST during your second semester freshman year. From what I know about it, QUEST is basically a program put together by the business school, CMNS, and engineering department where students from all three disciplines work together on some sort of project they create (it might be a product, some kind of software, etc). They also work with professionals in the real world and create lots of connections with them through networking events/mentorships! People say QUEST is a big time commitment, but I’ve heard it’s 100% worth it from people currently in QUEST and QUEST alum! I’d definitely look into it and apply, when the time comes around. It’s SUPER competitive, so it’s also important to keep up your GPA.
EIP will probably teach you the skills you need to succeed! All the Honors programs are designed with the intention of being able to educate all students, regardless of prior knowledge on the subject. I encourage you to go for it!
Remember to submit your preference form by today (2/16) for best consideration by the admissions committees for the LLPs!
I may have forgotten about time zones while sending in my Honors preferences
Anybody else having trouble submitting the Honors Preference form? Mine’s been auto-refreshing for the past hour. I tried resending the form, but same thing keeps happening.
Yikes! @CContemplative1 Did your preference form ever go through? If not, I would send an email right away to let them know and follow up with a phone call first thing EST on Monday…
FYI, it may not be as big a disaster as you think…per the honors college page with LAST year’s dates, (http://www.honors.umd.edu/newterps.php)
“For best consideration, please submit your preferences for a living and learning program by February 17, 2017. The final deadline to submit your preferences is March 10, 2017.”
So, maybe this was just a best consideration deadline and not the final? Is there any mention of that for this year? Obviously, there have been a lot of changes with the way they do a lot of things now that they switched to the Coalition App this year, so I don’t want to raise false hope, but keeping fingers crossed…
Maybe @whenyoubelieve has a better idea about this?
@Maryversity this thankfully wasn’t the final but might hurt my chances at EIP. Sadly got confirmation at 2:00 AM Feb 17.
The best to make of this situation is to remember that
- March 9th is the actual final date for preference; Feb 16 was priority.
- There are so many ways to customize your education at UMD: VIRTUS, QUEST, Hinman CEOs, and various MTech support for students.
- I'll definitely get into University Honors which will help with smaller honors versions of required classes.
I emailed them this morning to figure out the decision process for post-Feb 16 people, and I’ll update when I get a response.
Some in-demand LLPs consider priority deadlines when admitting students, but it’s usually a tie-breaker between impressive students.
Well, if u need evidence that u thought u were meeting the deadline but merely forgot about time difference, your posts on this thread are time and date stamp proof of your intention …
Ds auto refreshed for about 10-15 minutes but she did it the 15th. It may have been more crowded on the 16th. I would just send them an email. Good thing about submitting on time is that you find out by 3/1.
I emailed the Honors address, and they were kind enough to provide the “best consideration” status! I’m sorry if I hijacked the thread; I was desperate and needed to vent. Your patience and help show how much support there is for students, and I appreciate that.
I guess I’ll wrap this up by saying thank you, and don’t be like me and try to do amything important last minute.
-CContemplative1
YAY!!! Thanks for letting us know!!! Hope you get into EIP!
FYI, thought you would appreciate this info about Maryland’s innovation and entrepreneurship rankings http://innovation.umd.edu/about/ie-rankings-and-impact/
I’ve been looking at posts and at the UMD website for honors and I keep hearing that honors makes the school smaller and you have smaller classes. But for the required classes like Chemistry, Calculus, etc, are their honors sections or are these classes of 300+. I’m so confused because I don’t see these classes offered as honors, yet I hear about small classes.
Not all courses have equivalent Honors offerings. Each Department decides which courses it will offer in an Honors version. I would guess that most, if not all, of the Freshman Foundational courses are large lectures with smaller discussion sections. It is my guess that Honors version classes are more likely to be offered for upper level courses For example, Calc II is being offered as an Honors course during the current semester. But not all Honors courses are offered every sememter Of course, all of the Honors Seminars are small classes and these are generally open to freshman.
@explorer16 Honors definitely makes the school smaller. Like SoofDad said, the department chooses which classes to offer Honors sections for every semester. Typically, the H-Level classes are in the lower-level classes of a major (but that doesn’t mean there aren’t H-levels of upper-level requirements). In the Honors versions of classes, the class lecture sizes are much smaller than a normal one. For example, in my major requirement and class CMSC216 (not H-level), the amount of students in my lecture is 270 and my discussion section has 34. In the honors section (which there is only one of), the amount of students in the lecture AND in the discussion is 25. Most major requirements (especially chemistry and calc) behave similarly. In the schedule of classes on Testudo, H-level classes are marked with an H at the end of their name. (So MATH141, calc II, would be MATH141H).
As you reach upper-level classes, the class sizes already get smaller (since the upper-level classes aren’t usually REQUIRED classes, but upper-level electives that students may choose to take to fulfill their major’s elective requirements), so there’s typically no need to have H-levels for those. Check Testudo’s schedule of classes for more major-specific course offerings of class sizes.
Honors seminars are always small (capped at 20 people) and are open to all in the Honors College (or departmental honors students). They can be difficult to get into, though, because of their small class size.
Hope this helps!
signed into my son’s coalition account, and see that he was placed in his fourth choice for his Honors LLP. He is at work tonight, and is going to be devastated to find this out. He is a Computer Science / Cyber security major, and ACES is his first choice program. He literally turned in his preferencing form the very night he was accepted into the Honors College on January 26th. This is the whole reason he wants to go to UMD. Deposit is paid. He would have even been happy with his 2nd choice, DCC,but 4th choice? Everything I heard from all of the students in these programs was to get your preference in right away, as that makes a difference. It obviously does not! If those who are currently placed in his top 2 choice programs do not end up attending UMD, then spots become available, correct? Is there a reconsideration process to fill those spots, and if so, someone please advise. I believe somewhere on this thread is an honors student that is in the ACES program. If this comment could be directed to them, or if any other student or parent has insight on this, please let me know. Thank you!
Same thing happened to my son. General Honors which was his 4th choice. He too is a CS major but had DCC #1 Aces #2 and E&I #3. Wait until he figures out the dorm doesn’t have air conditioning! My guess is that spots will open up but I agree it is a bit ridiculous. Especially since you have put a deposit down and I have not yet.
Same thing here I got my 4th choice university honors. ACES was first choice
@NowTerp @sdevorefl @WardenElite ACES is VERY selective because of the limited amount of beds available to the program in Prince Frederick Hall (same for DCC).
Putting in your preferences definitely makes a difference (I submitted mine the very day I got the email link to the preference form), but, sometimes, it’s hard to fit in all the applicants that rank certain programs as their first.
I can’t say much about the admissions process, since I’m not part of the board of directors, but if you would like to contact the ACES program with any questions you might have about admissions into the program, look here: https://aces.umd.edu/contact-us .
Whichever program you get into, though, you’ll definitely make friends and learn to enjoy it! I know people that didn’t get into their first-choice program, but ended up LOVING the LLP that they ended up in. And for those that think dorms without A/C will be terrible, they’re really not that bad. The social lounges usually have A/C, meaning that at the beginning of the year, everyone on the floor hangs out there, leading to lots of socialization and quick friend-making! My friend from Hagerstown said that that’s how she met her closest friends.
Don’t put UMD out of your list of top schools just because you didn’t get into your first-choice program!
@sdevorefl , I hope you are right about spots opening up in these programs, but I am doubtful about my son’s first choice of ACES, as it seems everyone in the world knows about this program now. His Honors College acceptance letter has his designated major as CS/Cybersecurity, and as I mentioned, not only was his preference form turned in within an hour of acceptance on the coalition, our deposit was also paid right then and there. I never dreamed that he would be given anything below his 2nd choice. Cybersecurity is his career choice, and a very involved major. I cannot see him in this major without having the support within this cohort, and living in the Humanities LLC, and have separate project obligations for this program It makes no sense. This will be beyond frustrating for him. I cannot believe a Cybersecurty major would not be matched ACES. Wow, sorry about this long rant.
@whenyoubelieve , if you see this thread, can you speak to the possibility of being reconsidered for ACES in the scenario above? Is there a process for this?