<p>I was just going through some statistics on the University Maryland page and came across something that caught my eye.
University Honors: </p>
<p>The 3,127 students admitted to the University Honors program had an average (weighted) GPA of 4.25 and the middle 50% scored between 1340-1470 on the SAT and between 30-33 on the ACT. </p>
<p>College Park Scholars:</p>
<p>The 2,690 students admitted to the College Park Scholars Program had an average (weighted) GPA of 4.0 and the middle 50% scored between 1260-1370 on the SAT and between 28-31 on the ACT.</p>
<p>According to these stats, about 6000 students are accepted into either the honors program or the scholars program. This is quite interesting because accordingly, Maryland accepts about 10,000 students each year. With that said, I believe that this is why the stats for admission are so high. If 60% of the applicants are accepted with some sort of honors, does that balance out the other 40% that didn't have statistics anywhere close to that. Just thought some people would be interested to know.</p>
<p>Also, would anyone happen to know if Maryland believes in a holistic review of applications? Meaning that they go beyond just standardized test scores and acdemic GPA's and place an emphasis on extracurricular activities, community service, teacher recs, and/or essays. Are they about building a community or raising their rankings in the U.S. News and World Report?</p>
<p>Well, no school really just looks at gpa and SAT. That's how kids with a 4.0 gpa and 2400 SAT get rejected from Harvard. Of course they look at EC's, essay, teacher rec. etc. There are of course exceptions to stats (gpa and SAT), reserved for top NCAA recruits etc.</p>
<p>I know someone who works in admissions at Maryland and was told there really isn't a lot of analyzing applications past the grades and test scores. A lot of state schools just don't have the staff to evaluate all those apps "holistically"</p>
<p>I would say that the heavy emphasis on SAT scores are one of the biggest flaws in the educational system today. By basing everything on tests, I believe that the wrong message is being sent to excellent students. I know some exceptionally bright people that had very high grades but had severe test anxiety when it came down to taking the SAT. Colleges should place more emphasis on grades and extracurricular involvement rather than just look at SAT scores. In reality just because you score high on standardized tests doesn't mean that you will fare well in the classroom. That's another topic for a different day though. Here I was merely trying to inform people that the majority of people being accepted into the University are honors students, hence why the average requirements appear to be so high. Also Muffy, I have also heard that rumor. Maryland is supposedly one of those schools that doesn't go beyond statistics.</p>
<p>As the University must make fine distinctions among large numbers of highly qualified applicants, the ability to assess consistently all information presented in the application becomes increasingly important. Therefore, the University employs a rigorous review process that engages the expertise of professional educators in performing individualized and "holistic" evaluations of each application. Each applicant is assessed on the basis of achievements and potential in a broad range of academic categories, viewed in the context of the opportunities and challenges the applicant faced. These categories include: </p>
<p>1.Strength of educational performance, as measured by the nature and rigor of high school curriculum and academic achievements.
2.Potential for college success, as evidenced by performance on nationally normed standardized tests.
3.Potential to promote beneficial educational outcomes and to make a positive contribution to campus and community life.
4.Persistence, and commitment to educational excellence, as evidenced by demonstrated success in facing adversity and overcoming obstacles.</p>
<p>This is directly from the UMD admissions philosophy, and they claim that it's holistic. Guess we'll just have to wait and see, from there we can come to our own conclusion.</p>
<p>I agree with you knight, the SAT system is flawed. Some people do have test anxiety who otherwise do rather well in the classroom. Or perhaps you have a bad breakfast, bam there goes your chance at a good score. Then again I also see the GPA system as flawed. Grades can be a reflection of how academically focused and hard working you are, or it can reflect how easily you cheesed your way through high school. By that I'm talking about students who take rather easy classes (ie: cooking,non-honors) to maintain a 4.0 gpa. Furthermore, a recent poll survey shows 64% of high school students have admitted to cheating at least once in their high school career. (an example would be copying someones multiple choice answers on a test, not homework copying). And I can bet most of the other 36% are lying. With grades alone, people could easily cheat/cheese their way into college. The SAT is the other half that prevents that.</p>
<p>its not just cheating, although i agree i'd say 95% of high school students cheat in some way (even copying homework), but many high schools vary in difficulty, weighting, teachers, honors, etc. That is why you cannot use gpa and why the SAT's are the measuring stick (although not really sure what they measure because the last time i checked, being able to imply what a chinese girl who just moved to america wants to do with her life isn't the most important)</p>
<p>I can't agree more misterpop92, I believe that the whole educational system is in shambles. By taking rudimentary courses to maintain a 4.0 rather than taking demanding courses is a big misconception on cetain students part. Almost all selective colleges look at the rigor of your curriculum and many like to see several honors courses and AP's on a transcript. The use of testing has been stressed ever since around the third grade. When you have tests people will cheat on them, why is a question that is just unknown. For example there is a student in my graduating class that is ranked 6th, and to most colleges they would believe that he is a rather intelligent student. In actuality there's not a test that goes by that he misses an opportunity to cheat on, whether it may be the entire test or just on certain questions. This just blows my mind but he most certainly isn’t the only one. This hype of how important tests are leads to a distorted perception in people’s minds. Since GPA’s are everything to them they will stop at nothing to get to perfection, whether that means cheating off someone else’s paper or bringing a cheat sheet into class. If the educational system stops focusing on tests and focused more on applied learning, this problem could be easily solved. </p>
<p>Also if you believe that you can’t cheat on the SAT’s your sadly mistaken. After reading countless periodicals I have read things that would just make your head spin. There have been cases where people were paid to take the test for others, and in some extreme cases a wealthier class of people paid a doctor to write that their child was learning disabled which gave this kid extra time on each section. There are always going to be cracks in the system and naturally they’re going to be exploited. I just hope something is done about this before it’s too late.</p>
<p>The problem with the gpa scoring is that every university must re-weight the score. In some schools, honors are 4.5, some it is 5.0. Some schools will give jump start a 4.5 or 5.0, while they give APs 5.0 or 6.0. If you don't have jump start, it is where you attend only half day to your hs and half day to a cc. Which is ironic that if you take an English course at a cc your gpa will be given a lower gpa. In our school there were strict rules about who was allowed to do jump start, yet many who were allowed decliined to do so since their gpa would be hit compared to the other kids.</p>
<p>With all of that said, that is why the SAT does matter. I use to be a teacher, red flags do go up if there is a huge discrepancy in scores and gpa. No admission office is going to say the kid has a 3.2 w with no APs, but managed to pull a 730 on MA. Either student is lazy, in that case REJECTION or there is something we are missing here (i.e. English barrier) There is a student on another college thread that has been told by another college the reason for rejection was the difference between GPA and SAT. They felt that their course load was not up to par for his abilities.</p>
<p>It is a lot easier for them to give a pass on the SAT if it is lower and you have a high gpa because they do understand text anxiety and bad days. Seeing that you have a high gpa in the hardest course load possible creates reassurance for admissions.</p>
<p>For the essay part, we were told that for Scholars they definitely look at the essay, it is the make or break point, since the niche question really is directed to the program. The 2690 gets broken down to only 672 students per yr...it is the entire scholars program, not the class yr. For US Govt and Politics only has 60 students in the program. They have weekly seminar courses/colloquims and are dormed in Centreville Hall (all Scholar freshman are housed there). These seminars occur in the dorm itself. No dorm houses almost 3K kids. The first day there they are told if you transfer out don't expect to get back in, b/c there is a waiting list. I think Gemstone is in Denton. and can't remember where honors are located.</p>
<p>Forgot to say, Honors, Gemstone and Scholars are invite only and their diploma cites that program upon grad. Gemstone is the engineering arm of Honors. the avg student has a gpa 4.5w and @1450 SAT...which is much higher.</p>
<p>There is also the Smith business school with an avg SAT @1300. I don't know what Phillips Journalism gpa/sat is.</p>
<p>There are 9 LEP programs in total beside those 2. each one is very competitive and strict including the gpa that must be maintained to stay in the program.</p>
<p>There will be people with lower SATs/GPA due to the avg. For example, there are not many AP programs that someone who would like to major in fashion merchandising that they can take in hs. Nor for the kid who wants to major in photography, that is why when I say it depends on your program you apply for will depend if you can get in. If you have an 1150 and a 3.2 uw for fashion, I think you are IN...if you are applying for Smith than NO. If you are undecided than MAYBE</p>
<p>Also one more thing about SATs...ask your parents who took them, back in our day there was no superscoring, and if you took it 3x they avg all of the scores, so most people only took it 2x. If you received 590/M 630CR and than a 600 M 600 CR...your transcripts showed the 1220 not the 1230 which would be todays score. They took the best score in total not the best for ea part.</p>
<p>hah, I hate the educational system. "No Child Left Behind Act" has left more children behind. Yay for new president. And if Obama fails, I'll go to college in Africa.</p>
<p>No insult to you, but you are too young to remember goals 2000. The No Child Left Behind Act has done more for our standards after the horrible failure of Goals 2000 implemented by Clinton.</p>
<p>Not to make this a political thread, but because of the touchy feely feeling that schools had to implement many recent college grads can't understand being criticized...this has actually become news and studies are occurring over the reason why.</p>
<p>When all of my kids were in elementary not one kid did not recieve some kind of award at the end of the quarter, to even include citizen of the month. Awards were given for perfect attendance. Teachers were told not to use red ink because it was scary to the kids, instead use purple (this occured in Fairfax VA). Compare this to whenyour parents went to school..you failed a test a big red F in a circle was placed on your paper. You got recognized for your grades, and maybe for achieving the Presidential Athletic award, but not for some made up reason.</p>
<p>No Child left Behind might seem horrible to you because you had to pass gateway yrs in 3,5 8, and exit. The fact is it prepared you for the SAT. Either you know it or you didn't, dear old Mom and Dad couldn't fight the school...many states still have parental rights (in other words if they say promote the school must do so unless it is a gateway yr). If anybody should hate the act it should be teachers, b/c they could lose their job if the school was graded as failing.</p>
<p>Obama will not remove the no Child left behind, he will probably place a twist on it, my guess is that it will require nationalize tests instead of individual state tests, but it will still exist in some form of testing that will require number oriented results.</p>
<p>Also if you think about it the national SAT scores have continued to increase over yrs, bringing us back on topic to the SAT...everyone of you has had to take standardized testing, it is nothing different than the SAT except they are comparing everybody in the nation instead of just for your 1 school or state</p>
<p>It's a good price for in-state and even better if your in the honors, scholars, or gemstone program. I know I'll get in but I hope I get invited into one of those programs. Even if I don't I'll probaly go their because of the price. Can anyone who is in the program share their thoughts about one of the programs and the difficulty of managing your time and the workload?</p>
<p>You should be at least Honors, Gemstone if you asked for it and probably a BK candidate. Every program is different since they really do relate to your major, so I would suggest that you start a thread saying something akin to GEMSTONE ENGINEERS WHAT IS THE PROGRAM LIKE...or HONORS THEATRE or SCHOLARS INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS etc</p>