Every year. when decisions come out, there is usually some controversy about who did, or didn’t, get into Honors, Scholars. their intended LEP, or Spring Admission.
People will question why they got Scholars instead of Honors; why they got Honors but not their LEP, why they got their LEP but a Spring admission.
Well, there are different Admission committees at UMD, looking for different things in the applications.
The first one decides if you get a Fall admission, a Spring admission, or a rejection.
The next two decide who gets Honors and who gets Scholars. Honors gets to pick first.
Both Honors and Scholars admitted students tend to have high STATS. So this is where the rest of your application comes into play. Your Essay. ECs, and LORs. I believe that these are factors that make a difference in who gets what. STATS alone are NO guarantee that you will get into either program. Getting into either of these is NO guarantee of getting a merit scholarship
Now on to LEPs. Each LEP has it’s own Admission Committee. They are not concerned with the Honors/Scholars decisions. They are looking for the best fits for their particular LEP. STATS are important, but here again they look at the Essay, ECs, and LORs to determine what the student is bringing to the table. They have to make tough decisions because, by definition, they have more applicants than they have resources to accommodate. The Good News is that, excluding Business, the LEPs are NOT competitive for internal transfers.
Spring Admit/Freshman Connection. Every year, there is a person or two. usually a parent, who is upset that their child has been given Spring Admission/Freshman Connection. All I can say is that I’ve never seen anyone who ACTUALLY did Freshman Connection express regrets about doing so.
Re: Freshman Connection, one of my daughter’s friends freshman year was in Freshman Connection and I don’t remember how long it was before she even found that out but it was quite a long time. So not that there is any reason to be ashamed about being in it, but if you don’t want people to know they won’t know unless you tell them.
If you or your kid gets into Freshman Connection, be happy. There a tons of kids who get rejected every year who would kill to be in Freshman Connection. Feel fortunate that you weren’t rejected outright.
Ok so I have a question on the acceptance letter at the bottom it list my daughter’s major as Business marketing and list the school of business as her advisor etc . I assume this means she is in smith school ?
Yes, so true my daughter and the rest of her honors college dorm mates were too busy melting in their non-air conditioned dorm to care lol. I think they saved the better dorms for the Scholars! ; ) I asked her what Freshman Connection was. She did not know. The kids literally do not care who is in what. They are just trying to keep their grades up, make new friends (esp if OOS), and make sure they attend every basketball game!
Still a little confused about committing to FC. Seems like it’s advantageous to get in as soon as possible, namely March 1. We were expecting to have to make our decision about which college in the May 1 time frame - now it’s being moved up by a full two months. What am I missing? If we need to send in the ~$400 non-refundable payment - so be it, we’ll do it. Just don’t know if we’re missing some aspect of the FC in general. Is FC really first-come first-served? Is there a risk in waiting until, say, early April to register for it? Those kind of questions… Thanks.
@huchord - I guess it depends on what other decisions you are waiting for, and when you expect them.
Last Fall, there were 1,032 students in Freshman Connection.
You may want to call the FC office first with your questions. You could maybe wait a week or 2 to do this, for things to calm done. That will still be well before the March date for enrollment
@user_491972 It should be included in the acceptance letter in which LLP (if any) he/she is invited to join. At least that is how we found out about my kid’s invitation to Scholars 2 years ago.
There are so many different LLP programs it is hard to answer. This page will help explain. http://reslife.umd.edu/llp/
In almost every case the participants dorm together. So selecting a program determines which dorm you will be assigned.
For Honors, your acceptance letter will not state a LLP because you will be ask to request your preference. You can change your mind later but each program takes a limited number of students. The honors ACES and ILS are very diffficult to get into. ACES is for cybersecurity, live in a very new, A/C dorm. Only Honors students can request.
ILS (Intergrated Life Science) is made up mostly of pre-med and biology majors but that is not a requirement. Ony about a third of request make it in and you can only request if you are in Honors. The curriculum assumes you have Biology credit through AP Biology in HS (4 or 5) Their dorm (LaPlata floor 9&10) is older but has A/C.
I believe Scholars uses a similar process. It is possible to self nominate yourself into Scholars if not originally placed.
If your acceptance letter states a LLP program than your selection of LLP is already made but participation is not mandatory.
In general, what would might be a typical SAT range or minimum for Honors, Scholars, and FIRE?
My junior son and I are going to the Discover Maryland event on Monday and the info sessions for these 3 programs are at the same time–so we’re trying to decide which one to attend (or which one he has the best shot of getting). Right now, he has a 4.0/4.5 with AP and IB, 1400 SAT (will take at least one more time) and a good mix of extras & volunteer (but nothing extraordinary). Planning on biology major and pre-med classes. Are any of these programs a likely match for him?
Thanks.
My son just got admitted to chemistry major, in-state, 3.75uw, 4.16w, 1400 SAT. He was given biofire LLC. I’m sure others can give you more statistics or information. In the end I think ECs can away things too.
@Siennacat4 my daughter (in state) with 3.9/4.6 GPA and 1490 SAT was admitted to engineering and scholars. Most of friends with similar or higher stats not going into engineering or CS were offered honors. If he is interested in research I’d check out FIRE. I think I would look at scholars otherwise. Not sure of the roll ECs play. My kid has stellar ECs but they put her more in line with scholars so that may have played a roll in her placement.