How are these stats?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Maryland - College Park
1

<p>My son is interested in computer science and would like to apply to UMD. After reading this forum, I am not sure if he would have a chance for admittance or honors. What do you think?</p>

<p>GPA - 4.0 weighted (I think it goes up to 5)
1 AP class (History) in junior year
2 AP's (Calc and English) will take senior year</p>

<p>SAT's - 1400 CR and Math</p>

<p>EC's</p>

<p>4 years Wind Ensemble - 1st bassoon
3 years All South Jersey Band/Orchestra
3 years track
2 years cross-country
1 year soccer
1 year German club</p>

2

<p>Good SAT scores. I think with those and his GPA he’ll be accepted, even with the stiffer competition because he’s coming from NJ (I assume). Probably has a chance at Honors or College Park Scholars, but ??? Good luck!</p>

3

<p>Jersey’s a little difficult. For comparison, I had a 1400 CR+M SAT and a 4.3W GPA and I got Scholars, but I’m also in-state.</p>

4

<p>I read about the Scholars program on the website and it looks really interesting. I like the idea of smaller communities within the larger student body. Can you elaborate on your experience with Scholars?</p>

5

<p>I’m an incoming freshman, so I don’t have a lot of experience yet. Hopefully someone who’s been in Scholars for a year or so can elaborate.</p>

<p>What I can tell you is that you live on a floor with the other members of your Scholars program. Scholars kids take colloquiums together within their programs and (at least in my program) take another 3-credit class together during the first semester. I have older friends in the program who have enjoyed it and highly recommend it.</p>

6

<p>Our DS and astro’s DD are in scholars, different programs within the scholar program though. Ours is in Govt. and I believe Astro’s DD is in environment.</p>

<p>There are several majors within the scholars program that you can select from if accepted.</p>

<p>Scholars is similar and different than Gemstone or Honors.</p>

<p>You will be dormed in Cambridge with Scholar students for at least freshman yr. The program requires a 1 credit seminar per semester, where you will attend a class, AND be required to write papers. You will also be required to intern during the program. If you can’t get an appropriate internship, than you can opt to write a 25 page thesis. Some students opt for this believing it is easier, but typically it is harder, mainly due to procrastination. A 25 page thesis put off to the last 6 weeks of the semester can quickly kill you. </p>

<p>The program only lasts for 2 yrs compared to 4 for Gemstone and Honors. After that when you graduate, you will get an * by your name stating Scholars recipient. Something that can be used for resume building purposes.</p>

<p>Many students love this program because it allows them the “big school” feel, while being in a “small school” atmosphere. This occurs for many reasons.
One: You are dormed with people majoring in your field.
Two: There are specific classes you are required to take, that means you also have constant familiar faces around you. Thus, you don’t feel like a number</p>

<p>Our DS became so close to these people, that they elected to live together as soph as a group of 6. He also interned for Sen Burr on Capital Hill as a sophomore.</p>

<p>As for shamrocks chances…here’s the problem that I see. Their DS only has 3 AP’s. The question is how many did the school offer? Transcripts typically include background info of the school…how many AP/IB classes offered, how many students go to Ivy, 4 yr private, 4 yr public, OOS, CC , trade and no further education. Without those facts it would be difficult to make a true assessment.</p>

<p>South Jersey could mean Cherry Hill or it could mean Camden. Night and day school systems. If the school offers 9 AP’s and he has only taken 3, that can hurt, especially if many students go Ivy. If the school offers 5 and most students go IS, than it can help. </p>

<p>More goes into the admission process than pure stats, decisions are based on a WHOLE approach. The 4.0 wgpa student from Monmouth with 3 AP’s will probably be seen less competitive than the 3.8 wgpa from Trenton with 1 AP. Mainly due to the reason, that Monmouth students have an incredible school system, they traditionally come from college educated families in a school district where tax payer dollars give them an educational edge compared to Trenton. The admissions dept is not going to penalize a child for coming from a lower quality school system. They will penalize them for not taking the best advantage that their system offers.</p>

<p>Additionally, gpa’s will be re-worked by the admissions. This occurs for many reasons. For example, in PW County VA, our grading scale is 10 point and AP is 4.5. In Wayne county, NC. the grading scale is 7 pt, but Honors is 5 and AP is 6. Thus, the wgpa’s would hurt the VA applicant compared to the NC student.</p>

<p>Without a doubt 1400 SAT puts him in the running for scholars, but a wgpa on a 5.0 scale makes me ask for further info because if the rigor of his course curriculum is considered weak from an academic standpoint, that could make him fall out. If you stated you were from central or No Jersey (exception–Newark, Orange, Elizabeth) I would say no to scholars because he doesn’t have the school gpa. </p>

<p>Also, for incoming, you can find yourself immediately thrown out of Gemstone, regardless of the SAT/gpa, just by saying “I do not want to do a group project”. Gemstone requires group project. Our DS had the stats for it, but because he is also AFROTC, he felt he would not have the time to juggle AFROTC, Gemstone AND Classes. SO before you say Yes, I want to do a group project, research Gemstone on their site, and then make a decision.</p>

7

<p>b&p, great post. I just have a couple of comments. </p>

<p>There was a slight reorg in the Honors College starting this year. Gemstone is no longer by invitation. You are invited to the HC, then you are asked to “rate” the different programs as to your interest. Gemstone is now just another option under the HC. This is much better since Gems now only considers HC students that express an interest … also as they add new programs to the HC, they will be able to instantly gauge the interest and make the appropriate changes … </p>

<p>Because of this reorg, when the adcom reads an application, they only look for signs that the student is a strong enough candidate for admission to the Honors College- they do not consider your admission to specific programs. That choice is left up to the student after admission.</p>

<p>I agree that a wgpa is not useful. I’ve been told by several different adcom members from various universities that a gpa is considered and weighted by the individual adcoms according to their own formulas …</p>

8

<p>bulletandpima et. al.,</p>

<p>Wow, thanks for all of the useful information. </p>

<p>I am not sure how many AP courses my son could have taken. I do know one of the reasons he didn’t take one or two more in previous years was because of scheduling of Wind Ensemble and another music elective. For a time he was considering a major in music. So that’s the story behind the number of AP courses.</p>

<p>Another thing I found out after calling his guidance office: my son’s GPA of 4.0 is on a scale of 1-4, not 1-5 as I thought.</p>

<p>I understand what you are getting at as far as the caliber of the school’s reputation. We live in South Jersey, Gloucester County. I have heard that our high school (Clearview Regional) has a good academic reputation, but it has been all hearsay and my own observation. I know that we are considered among the best in our county, but how that stacks up against schools in North Jersey, I don’t know. </p>

<p>Anyway, thanks again for your input, and let me know what you think about his chances with the revised GPA information and explanation about the AP courses.</p>

9

<p>4.0 is a fantastic average. What honors classes has he taken? More CP, or more honors? If it’s all or most honors, he has a good shot of getting into Honors, and CPScholars for sure. Admission is a definite yes. Does he volunteer/work? Honor societies? </p>

<p>SAT scores are great, but above 700 on math + reading are more solid.</p>

10

<p>Thanks for the encouraging words about the chances for admission. </p>

<p>He has taken all honors or AP classes, but never cared to join Honor Society. </p>

<p>Volunteer work is lacking - Relay for Life 2 years and volunteer community band sporadically.</p>

<p>Planning to take the SAT’s again fall.</p>

11

<p>Don’t concern yourself too much about the volunteer issue. People need to realize that colleges are looking for a well rounded student. They want kids who have EC’s and high grades because it shows they can manage their time well, additionally they want to see that they have done it for yrs. 1 sport for 4 yrs will have more of an impact than 4 sports of 1 yr each. The reason why is it shows commitment and dedication to stay with it.</p>

<p>They know how many hours track takes for a student, thus, the ability to volunteer for many things would be difficult due to scheduling logistics.</p>

12

<p>I have put three kids through college and all the drama. Your child should be accepted at University of MD college park with no problem. It is a great school and the average SATs have gotten much higher than they were twenty years ago. The high cost of private colleges means that lots of our brightest children are now attending our fine state universities. This is clearly the case with University of MD. That said. 1400 on his verbal and math combined is an excellent score and you and your student should both be very proud and you both will enjoy U of MD.</p>