<p>Need some others' perspective here, please. Those of you who are getting $5K, $8K, or $12K....can you bounce back if you are instate or out; and also if you were accepted into Honors or even Honors/Gemstone. Thanks</p>
<p>Our D was accepted into Honors and Gemstone; we're instate. I believe only ~800 kids get into Honors, and then only around 192 of those get into Gemstone. So....on the merit side of things.....we get not even a sniff of B/K interview and the only merit is $1500 for a single year, not even multiple years; so that comes out to $375 in merit annually! Can this be right?
Now we're first timers at this, but this doesn't compute!
How can someone get accepted into Honors/Gemstone on 1 hand, but not be worthy of any merit $?
Appreciate anyone else's opinion on this, who perhaps might know how UMD figures things. Can reply back on here or privately; thanks!</p>
<p>I'm out of state (california) and accepted into Honors and Honors Humanities. As I posted on page 2, I got a $5000 president's scholarship and $3950 from some unknown UMD scholarship that shows up on my financial aid page.</p>
<p>I got $5000 Presidental
Gemstone/honor
In State
WGPA: 4.54, GPA: 3.77
SAT: 1480/2210
Good Essay? - I think...
Good EC, but not as "outstanding" as the people invited to B/K</p>
<p>By the way, even though there are less than 200 invited to Gemstone, does not mean all 190+ people will get the Merit. I heard people are Gemstone in previous year did not get any $$$. Gemstone is a program for doing a group project. </p>
<p>Instate D had a 1380/2020 on SAT (nice but not stellar as a test taker); 4.0/4.43 GPA; 3 AP tests taken so far with two 5's and a 4; taking 5 AP's in senior year. Top 1% class rank.
Outstanding ECs, with national leadership recognition incl Time magazine; several positions held in school and state student government; over 400 hrs comm service; American Museum Natural History national science award winner; sits on county Bd of Education. US Senate Page; Congressional intern (and no we're not connected in any way politically)</p>
<p>Accepted to Honors/Gemstone......and woo hoo!! $375/yr in merit from UMCP. (Yes, that's three hundred, seventy-five dollars)</p>
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<p>Do state schools sometimes give more $ to OOS than IS? We figured more $ would go to instate students. Waiting to hear from UVA too, but since we're OOS, not expecting much for that reason. Is this the right assumption regarding in vs out of state?</p>
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<p>Selection to Gemstone is based on interest in participating in group research projects and by itself would not make a student more qualified for the B/K Scholarship or merit money. Not all Honors students expressed an interest in participating in this type of research and many did not indicate an interest in it on their application, therefore were not considered for it. So selection to Gemstone would not necessarily mean that a student would be more eligilbe than the next for B/K consideration or more merit money. I believe the entire application is evaluated for B/K consideration and merit money including GPA, essay, test scores, EC's and teacher recommendations.</p>
<p>definately there is more money for OOS. Well, let me rephrase that. the merit awards are larger for OOS students. There is probably more state grant aid for IS since that is usually not available to OOS.</p>
<p>Perfect example. My D received an $8,000 presidential scholarship from UMDCP, but from our own IS school, UNC Chapel Hill, she received nothing. In fact, she was not even invited to honors, while many OOS students with lesser stats were given merit scholarships that amount to a full ride.</p>
<p>Sometimes I feel like it is musical chairs. It is cheaper for parents of one state to send their bright students to a college in another state etc...</p>
<p>UMD is going to have to find a way to come up with more Merit money in the future if they really want to attract the best OOS students. At least IMHO</p>
<p>In-state Student
Unweighted 4.0 Weighted 4.22
Valedictorian
SGA President, Student Representative to BOE, NHS, Class Cabinet, Community Coalitions
SAT: 2020
Maryland Distinguished Scholar Semifinalist
Commended by National Merit Scholarship
AP Scholar With Honors</p>
<p>& UMD invited me into Honors & Honors Humanities....
....BUT is not offering me any merit aid.</p>
<p>Does anyone else find this kind of ridiculous? I'm pretty ticked.. I WANT to go to UMD, but because of this a very expensive private school in PA is just as, if not a little more, affordable (Huge Scholarship..).</p>
<p>I posted this on another site but will repost this here.
OUt of state student
Salutatorian
97.8 average unweighted, 101.8 average weighted
SAT I 2330 with perfect 800's in Verbal and Writing sections
Full EC"S
7 AP classes
Commended by National Merit Scholarship
2x ALL STATE CHORUS and ALL EASTERN CHORUS (btw incredulously music dept rejected me without even letting me audition!)
AP Scholar</p>
<p>Invited to join Honors program but not Honors Humanities.
No MERIT AID</p>
<p>I applied on time by Dec 1 deadline. UMD does not dispute that. HOWEVER due to a computer glitch in their program my application along with many others were erroneously marked incomplete and not processed. We went to the school personally and found this out on Feb 17 AFTER acceptances had already gone out. I was assured that I would be given full consideration for all scholarships including B/K. Clearly this was not the case. I feel that my application was processed in bad faith. My mom called UMD when she learned B/K invites had already gone out and my application had STILL not been processed at that time despite promises that it would be. I am not going to UMD. Acceptance notices were sent out Feb 2, according to the University. If you received your acceptance after that date you may have fallen into the same group of applications I did. YOu may want to check . BTw they are not very helpful.</p>
<p>Okay, you beat me. That sucks! I'm sorry :( Although (and don't take this the wrong way) I'm glad to hear it's not just me. Their admission system is just so overloaded. They need to make the deadline earlier in the year or something to give themselves more time to process everything. There are also many biases in the selection process. From what I hear, it is far easier to get accepted if you live in Prince George's County (the county UMD is located in... MD's most populated) which is ironic because most of the people that work in admissions live in PG... hmmm. I mean not that this matters to you directly being OOS, but it's bothersome nonetheless.</p>
<ul>
<li>idk-
Sorry to hear that. That is really suck!
However, If you still interested in attending MD
I suggest you call the 'school' which you have been accepted.
Based on your stat, you definitely can have some merit $ out of the "department" if the admission office is too late to give it to you.</li>
</ul>
<p>I have a friend who are invited to B/K years ago. The Engineering school told her if she cannot get a full-ride, she will get it from Eng. school. I heard each department has its own money...</p>
<p>Another post show a previous MD OOS student got $8K from admission office but $12K from Engineering school.</p>
<p>Don't give it up yet...make a call to the school you have applied to.
Maybe at end, you will get full-ride from the school instead. </p>
<p>If you haven't been offered a scholarship yet, do you think it is too late. Have the departamental scholarships been offered yet? Is there anywhere you can check for this information online?</p>
<p>Wondering the same thing....got Freshman first letter but nothing about merit. Is freshman first for Honors students also or does the Honors/Honors Humanities have a different kind of pre-program?</p>