<p>i think everyone should have gotten the freshmen first letter.</p>
<p>I think so too. I know Gemstone has it's own pre-program and I still got one. Freshman First seems like a bit of a waste of time though.</p>
<p>I agree, does seem like a bit of a waste of time. I plan on marching with the band anyways, so I doubt it would work out with band camp and all :P</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>thank you, and congrats to your son
nope i haven't made my final decision. right now it's my top choice, the merit aid has definitely made umd a major possibility--as of now its even cheaper than SUNY Bing! but there are still six more schools I haven't recieved decisions from yet. </p>
<p>i'm visiting for the open house this friday, so that should help me when it comes to decision time</p>
<p>hey
for merit scholarships are u notified only by mail or does it show up on your testudo finicial aid status also?</p>
<p>It shows up on both.</p>
<p>IDK,
So that you do not feel that you are alone. My son has 2330 SAT, 800/780 SAT2s, 3.9 uw in full IB program in one of the best publics in the country. He is OOS, was not accepted into Honors and was offered a "generous" 5K merit scholarship. Obviously UMD has too many students with 2300+ SATs...</p>
<p>isn't it a possibility that there's an upper boundary above which the university feels the applicant will most likely not enroll since he/she is "ivy" material?</p>
<p>debworks99,
Yes I read about colleges doing that the other day. It's likely.</p>
<p>UPdate. Today I did receive a Presidential Scholarship of 12K. SO for those of you still waiting something may come yet. Still not going to UMD but at least they did finally get around to reading my application.</p>
<p>idk - are you IS or OOS? What are some of your stats? Where will you be going? Can we have your 12K? ;)</p>
<p>
[quote]
isn't it a possibility that there's an upper boundary above which the university feels the applicant will most likely not enroll since he/she is "ivy" material?
[/quote]
This is the whole purpose of merit aid - bribing the best applicants. If the student decides to go somewhere else, UMD keeps the money, so there is no downside to making an offer.</p>
<p>Sadly, Since money is an issue. UMD was a top choice for me until they mishandled my application. My parents say admissions was aggravating to deal with and not very helpful. (We made a special trip to talk to them in person which is how we found out about the application mess up they are having this year. ) Promises made were not kept. At that point my parents convinced me to look more seriously at other offers, which were, in fact, more generous.</p>
<p>Agree with others on here about the inconsistencies from UMCP; so many head-scratchers about their award basis logic, or lack thereof. Received >$30K from Villanova/yr; $20K from American/yr; and $375/yr from UMCP (yippee!), even though accepted into Honors.</p>
<p>My guess is they’re so inundated with volume they just want to ‘get it over’, even if common sense & accuracy don’t prevail. </p>
<p>And philosophically disagree that ‘OOS should get more $ since their tuition is higher’ being OOS; this applies to all state schools. In-state students should have lower costs, since they’re supporting their state run schools, and higher merit to OOS should not be used to make up the difference.</p>
<p>u of md was serious contender for son but not know - $5k x 4 years was low in regards to other merit aid received; i.e. full ride plus laptop at u of so carolina; $12k x4 at univ of pitts; $5k x 4 at rose-hulman.</p>
<p>School apparently messed up the application and awarded CP Scholars and then later said, oops, Honors. Not sure how that happened and how that might have affected B/K. </p>
<p>Got $5K plus Distinguished Scholar for $3K. That nets to approx 1/4 of what full-fare would be at privates, a number worth serious consideration.</p>
<p>We are in California. My D accepted to UMD Honors, but no merit money, yet.
I loved the honors seminars brochure.</p>
<p>UCs: Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Davis, Berkeley — no merit scholarship such as Regent’s
Brandeis: no merit scholarship
Univeristy of Maryland: waiting to hear about merit scholarship</p>
<p>Need to choose between Berkeley and University of Maryland. But UMD is really in the running only if they give some merit money.</p>
<p>We will visit UMD open house this Friday, April 3.</p>
<p>UMD all over the place with merit money - My S offered only C.P. Scholars program, not full Honors, but did get 5K/yr. We’re in NY</p>
<p>18chai…wow my D and yours are so similar…Got into UCSD, Davis, Berkeley, but not UCLA or UVA (her top 2 choices.) She loved UMD and was accepted into the Honors Humanities program. Will go see it again April 17. Doesn’t really want to see Cal…</p>
<p>Ouch!!! Just found out that UMD gave us ZERO merit money.
I am so disappointed…
Even in the Honors program.
We are visiting the offical home house this Friday, April 3. I am going to talk to someone in admissions about this.</p>