From what I’ve read this forum it appears that notification timeline is the following:
President’s Scholarship: Late February/Early March
Deans’ Scholarship: Late March
Is this correct?
I could be wrong, but I think they release both of those merit scholarship awards at the same time…
OK, that’s good to hear. Waiting is the hardest part… 
@maryversity - do you know if it comes as a letter, an email, or on the portal?
i think letter came first but it is also accessible by portal if I recall…
They tweeted it would be late March, which is a shame for people like me who have fly there but would not bother unless we knew the $ was similar to the other school that is a front runner. May have to skip the Terp day thing and plan a trip in April. sigh
Is it something you interview for like the BK?
Nope, but not incurring big costs to go to admitted students day in March as planned if there is no scholarship, so I’ll have to wait and pick one of the April days to give more time.
It is true that without B/K, the largest scholarship available is $12k per year (the Presidential)? We are OOS for UMD and while it is a fantastic school, my DD has some full tuition offers from other schools. We are not opposed to paying some $ for college if it is the right fit, etc. but a large differential would take UMD off the table. She was not invited to apply for B/K so I am wondering if there is any lower scholarship level that will keep UMD somewhat competitive.
Actually, the tweet said by end of March which I guess could mean any time between now and then.
There are other scholarships, such as National Merit and departmental. Here’s the full list of merit scholarships:
http://www.umd.edu/catalog/index.cfm/show/content.section/c/49/s/767
Here is the list for the departmental scholarships.
https://advancement.umd.edu/celebration/listScholarships.php
@maryversity - thank you - is there any way to determine how much those would cover? I clicked on a handful and could not find any information…
I verified with admissions. They again said merit notifications would be sent by the end of March, hopefully sooner.
@fretfulmother No, unfortunately the amounts are not listed. I would guess some are nominal and some are significant, but I don’t know what the actual amounts are. However, I do seem to remember reading one year that a parent that was disappointed about not getting a B/K reported their student getting almost the equivalent from a departmental scholarship, and notification was much later than B/K. However, that was engineering, so I don’t know if that’s applicable for your son…?
@maryversity - Thank you so much! Yes, my son was admitted to Engineering, so that is promising 
- do you remember who the other parent might have been?
Indeed the whole extended family was disappointed about no BK invitation, as UMD was definitely in the running for top three colleges for my DS. It’s true that he got into Princeton SCEA and Yale YES-W, but UMD’s Hillel is just so incredibly strong that it is a huge pull for our family. I wonder if it would be worthwhile to somehow tell them this, even now that BK has come and gone as an opportunity.
We are not eligible for need aid at UMD, so for them to be competitive with the “Ivy” levels of FA we were offered (not even approaching what he’s been offered from other places in merit), he would need significant merit aid.
How does it work to designate a “first choice” school for national merit? DS has not done so yet. In the running for that would I suppose also be U-Mass if that is more realistic as a financial safety before all the numbers are finalized?
Hmm, unfortunately, I don’t recall exactly when but sometime in the past four years since I’ve been on this forum…? I I only remember that the departmental award notification arrived via snail mail and it was right around the same time as remaining merit awards (so by April 1st).
Wow, congrats on those other admissions! VERY impressive! So much to be proud of!
FYI, Hillel is not the only option at Maryland - Chabad also has a great presence and programming (they are located in the area where Greek houses are located - across Rte 1 (but not fraternity row).
So, no clue on national merit designation - sorry.
However, I can give my two cents about engineering. When my son was considering schools, he compared the curricula between schools. It really does make a difference to look at the specific courses required and the electives available. We visited Princeton, but he ended up not even applying because he didn’t like the focus - far too theoretical for his taste. However, he is MechE if that makes a difference (he likes hands-on engineering/design). Interestingly, another school he initially thought he was interested in, he ended up also not applying to. When we visited, and saw the coursework, he realized that the graduate school had the coursework he wanted, not the undergrad. So, it’s important to look at details like that.
There is no need to rule schools out yet as you have until May 1st to decide. Do your research, take your time. Visit and do overnights if at all possible. Let him see where he feels is the best “fit.”
@maryversity - Thank you!! Oh great, you tell me even more Jewish community details to tempt us. And thank you for your kind words!
In a forum search I did find a post from you (thank you again!) about two merit full-scholarships for Clark entering students (Rome and Rubin) but those seem also to look at UMD’s calculation of need. And there’s no reason for me to assume that if my DS was not competitive for BK, that he’d be competitive for something even more competitive at UMD!
Yes, the engineering curriculum is incredibly important. DS liked Princeton’s engineering tours and content (he’s also a theoretical math kind of guy). And, we haven’t heard back from MIT yet (Pi Day!) so I guess that’s in the mix as well.
If DS had gotten a BK invite, we would definitely have flown him down for another overnight with students. I’m not sure what to do at this point, but I hope that maybe we’ll hear something good $$-wise in time to plan one if needed.
Will keep you in mind for Pi Day - hope you hear good news!
Just got a presidential scholarship in the mail! OOS