<p>I'm sure this happened to many other people so I am starting a thread about it. I was accepted to the university, but not the engineering school directly. I am told that I will just have to take the prerequisite courses and do an internal transfer. As long as I have at least a 3.0 GPA after the first year, I will basically automatically get in. Will I be behind at all if I transfer in? Is there really any difference once I transfer? Will I graduate at the same time? Please feel free to provide more info so other people can see it. </p>
<p>Hmm, I didn’t realize it’s automatic admission to Engineering if you finish freshman year with at least a 3.0. Daughter is in same boat- got admitted to “Letters and Sciences” as a College Park Scholar but not directly into the Engineering program. That lessens the blow a bit considering we noticed some directly admitted with lesser stats than hers but are in-state (not sure if that makes a difference but I think in general, it’s a bit tougher to get in competitive programs as an OOS student). Thanks for the links as well maryversity. I believe those are the same that jkeil911 sent me from your post. </p>
<p>People, S1 is in his second semester in L&S using gateway classes to get into Clark for Electrical engineering. He finished with a 3.0 first semester. Words of advice: have your child immediately speak to the L&S advisors and tell then EXACTLY what your intended major is. You may also want to walk in and speak to an engineering advisor for the exact courses that are needed. REMEMBER some classes have pre-requisites. If your child is weak in calc, chemistry or physics take other classes that you kid could ace to keep up the GPA. S1 got a C, (2.0) in Chem and made that up with an A, (4.0) in English. Tell your child that they will be in a dorm with Poli Sc, Gov’t and ect. majors. these people seem to have free time. ENGINEERS do not have free time especially when you need a 3.0! to get into Clark.S1 took a winter session class in speech at home to take the pressure off the second semester. OH if you do a winter session class make sure it will transfer through your advisor. Good Luck to all and work hard. This is a business trip not a vacation. </p>
<p>So I did some research with the links that maryversity provided. This is what I put together for an engineering student who did not get into the James A Clark school:</p>
<p>You have to take those 3 courses regardless and i chose the SB course because it interested me specifically. For MATH 141 and PHYS 161, you need MATH 140 as a pre-req. For CHEM 135, you only need MATH 115 which is lower than MATH 140 so I assume MATH 140 would work as a pre-req anyway. Please let me know if I am missing something and how would this all fall into my schedule as far as semesters </p>
<p>@coleman4 from what I have read, yes AP credit does count towards several of those courses. Definitely the pre-requisites and most likely some of the others</p>
<p>@puckhound95…just want to clarify something that you wrote about “Social and Behavioral Sciences (SB) (two courses)” - that is a “core” requirement and does not apply to you. The link for CORE you provided in the post above does not apply to you.</p>
<p>Prior to Fall 2012, students took “core” classes to fulfill University requirements. In the Fall of 2012, “core” was REPLACED with “gen ed.” There are still many students (current juniors and seniors) that fall under the “core” class guidelines, so that is why the info is still there. However, remember “ignore core” …anyone matriculating Fall 2012 and on now has “gen ed” reqs instead. If you want to get more info on gen ed start from here <a href=“http://www.gened.umd.edu/about-gened/aboutgened.php”>http://www.gened.umd.edu/about-gened/aboutgened.php</a></p>
<p>Hope I explained it cleary…? </p>
<p>And yes @coleman4, if, for example, you take the Calc BC exam and get a 4 or 5, you have the option to “place out” of the first few math classes and start with MATH241 (Calc3) instead of MATH140. Since MATH140 and MATH141 are 4 credit classes, you start out with 8 credits completed, and one AR (analytical reasoning req for gen ed completed from MATH140). Why do I say option? There are some who hold the belief that high school AP classes are really not as thorough as the college version, and in certain majors (ie engineering) having a firmer foundation is critical for long term success so some choose to re-take it in college. That’s a separate discussion though.</p>
<p>@puckhound95…sorry I forgot to answer your question about reconsidering application after mid-year grades…while I can’t guarantee, I do remember hearing of one case on the cc discussion board where that is exactly what happened…mid-year grades were submitted and they were successful in their reconsideration request. So, if everything else is good…?</p>
<p>I am not sure what the criteria is to get accepted directly to the UMD school of Engg. But my friend’s D has good credentials and though she got accepted in the School of Science, she did not make it to the Engg. school… the choice in her app. Maybe the selection to Engg. directly is tougher for OOS…we are from PA.</p>
<p>She has been accepted at GTech, Purdue, UIUC, Penn State, Wis-Mad and UMinn… all good Engg. schools. What this means is that UMD is going to miss out on a lot of good folks who have similar credentials like her. Oh well… </p>
<p>there’s just not enough space in Clark. However, it is not difficult to move from Letters and Sciences to Clark, an internal transfer. She can take the same courses she would have taken at Clark her first year and then, if she has a 3.0, she can transfer. Here are the application requirements for internal transfer to Clark:</p>
<p>If she can’t get a 3.0 in those first math and genEd courses then we probably don’t want her designing the bridges and circuit boards of Maryland or any other state anyway. ;+)</p>
<p>@i012575
Re engineering admission:
This info is from the accepted student day for my son back in 2012:
around 5000 applicants, with 1625 admitted
28% women
15% minority
average SAT (CR=M) 1381
75th percentile SAT 1460
25th percentile SAT 1320
average HS GPA 4.2</p>
<p>I imagine the criteria is similar this year, if not even more competitive. The thing about admissions being more competitive at UMD v GTech (which is one of the highest ranking engineering schools), from what I have seen/heard, is the difference is really about the weed out process. GTech is less competitive to get in (based on stats), and does weed-out through classes. I say this based on friends’ experiences and all I have read. UMD focuses more on retention and support to keep students in engineering (trying to avoid the weed out class mentality as much as possible) so they “weed out” by being more competitive. HOWEVER, they do understand that not everyone tests well, so they make internal transfers easy - as long as you “prove yourself” by successfully/satisfactorily completing the gateway classes, you will have no problem being admitted to engineering and graduating on time. A lot of people assume that because they are good in math/science, they should be an engineer. However, that is not always the case since there is a lot more involved - it’s a pretty intense field and it isn’t for everyone. The program is limited to ensure that there are proper resources to give the most support possible for engineering students to help them stay in engineering.</p>
<p>I totally understand your friend feeling slighted that her daughter, with strong credentials, was not admitted to engineering. However, you will see students admitted to honors and scholars (so, academically talented) but not admitted to LEPs. </p>
<p>@ maryversity ^ my daughter’s stats were higher than that and she didn’t get accepted directly into the Engineering program either. She was assigned ‘Letters and Sciences’ and College Park Scholars. I noticed some with stats lower than hers that got directly in so I was surprised about that. Made me wonder how they decide a bit. Those were in-state and she’s out of state (could that matter?). Her stats are GPA: 3.7 / 4.5, ACT: 34, SAT: 1420 (CR+M). </p>
<p>Yes, OOS is tougher…there are always unknown factors such as essays/responses, quality of letters of recommendation, coursework (not just gpa but demonstrated heavy interest in the math/sciences), etc…</p>
<p>I was under the impression that the difference was which intended major you selected. My stats are pretty good for UMD, and I was put directly into Engineering. I was also accepted to the honors college, so maybe there’s some merit to the argument that it’s stat-based. </p>
<p>? which intended major you selected ?
Not sure what you mean…are you referring to discipline within engineering? If so, that is not the case. They don’t have x number of ChemE they will accept, y number of MechE, and z number of undecided engineering kind of thing. </p>
<p>Yes, it absolutely is stat based for the most part, but there are other factors that we don’t have access to (essays, letters of rec, EC’s, etc) that may set students apart despite having similar high stats or perhaps make one student stand out more than someone else with higher stats…</p>
<p>The issue is that if the criteria for an OOS student to get directly into Clark is so severe that this student can get into the MITs, CMUs, UCBs of the world, there is very little reason (maybe monetary) for that person to consider UMD. This was my case too when we were applying for my D1’s Med school. We did not apply to UNC or UT coz their OOS acceptance rates were so abysmally low… but we knew that going in. She is happy at Pitt BTW.</p>