Hey, I was not selected for Honors or Scholars, yet I received a 12k President’s Scholarship (I am out of state). How does this work?
Bump, since this would be a make or break for me attending Maryland.
Ummm, not sure what you’re asking. If you accept the Presidential Scholarship, it will be used for your tuition and fees (will show up on your Student Account), and whatever the scholarship doesn’t cover you will need to pay for yourself. I believe you are required to maintain a 3.20 GPA, and there may be other stipulations, see policy statements at
http://www.financialaid.umd.edu/scholarships/presidents_info.php
Sorry, but I’m not exactly sure I understand what your question is - are you asking if you can get into Honors or Scholars later? Here is a link that tells about applying later: http://honors.umd.edu/prospective-current.php. I’m not sure if that’s what you were wondering though.
Is it normal to get this scholarship, but not make it to Honors or Scholars?
Yes this does happen sometimes. There really isn’t any “normal” when it comes to scholarships and honors/scholars programs.
@Terpmom7 Thank you for your response. Is there any way to appeal not being in honors? My guidance counselor was surprised I was not notified as being in honors or scholars (Maryland was a safety).
Doesn’t hurt to try. I’m not sure if you’ll have any luck, but you have nothing to lose. You’re obviously a great student bc you received the scholarship. I have heard of them changing their minds before. Good luck to you!
@terpmom7 I think I’ll give the admissions office a call this Monday then. Thanks for the help!
No problem. I hope it works out for you!
I was selected for the Scholars program but did not receive any merit aid. I find it a bit unusual that the two don’t go hand in hand. Unfortunately, I cannot afford to attend. 
@luvmydog123 Yeah, all this seems very weird…
@yikesyikesyikes My son has a friend who is appealing the University for the honors program. You can definitely appeal. It’s my understanding she must fill out some sort of application and include a letter of recommendation. Good Luck! BTW, we also know of another student who received the President’s Scholarship and didn’t get into either Scholars or Honors. Not sure how any of it works.
Only the Banneker-Key Scholarship ensures enrollment in the honors college. Otherwise scholarships are independent of selection for special programs.
If it helps to know, my son got a Presidential Scholarship, was admitted to engineering (which is a highly competitive LEP - many students are shocked to be invited to honors yet denied direct admission to engineering), and was not invited to honors.
He graduated magna cum laude from a very competitive high school (top 10 high school in our state) in a class of over 700. He had great scores, great leadership, lots of awards, etc, etc. So, why not honors? I never asked the school but now assume it is based on lack of breadth in AP classes. He took advanced levels in history and English but no AP’s in them. All of his AP classes were math and science based. While he was not invited to honors, he was invited to scholars and I came to understand why that was a better fit for him since it was more about outside the class/independent learning.
So, how does that help you to understand why you didn’t get honors or scholars?
For honors, consider your transcript (do the AP’s demonstrate a breadth - what percentage of AP classes that your school offers did you actually take - my son’s high school offered a LOT, with a lot of variety, but he stuck to the 2 areas only).
For scholars, consider your EC’s. Do you have a lot? If you do, have you demonstrated a lot of leadership (or just been a participant in many)?
Merit scholarships I believe are based primarily (or at least in large part) on standardized test scores. To me, that would explain why you might have received a Presidential - do you have high standardized test scores?
Bear in mind that honors and scholars are titles of programs to entice students. They are based on HIGH SCHOOL performance and too many students participate in them to make it something that “stands out” on your resume. At the end of the day, they really don’t count for nearly as much as departmental honors. Departmental honors programs are based on COLLEGE performance, and that is the one that will stand out and show up on your diploma. Honors college only appears on your transcript.
If Maryland is your #1 school, don’t go elsewhere simply because you feel you have been slighted, since it is really not that at all. That is a misconception, so put that aside from your concerns and celebrate getting a Presidential Scholarship!!! Many students in Honors College do not get any merit scholarship money at all.
I forgot to mention one other thing that is taken into account for honors/scholars invites - essays and short answers count for more than you think. At a lot of schools, they don’t really read the essays, but Maryland does!
@maryversity I was admitted to the honors college and the college of engineering and received a president’s scholarship but was not invited to compete for Banneker/Key. Given my stats which are above that of the average recipient, I am quite confused as to why not. Any ideas on why this may be?
Some schools are just now sending out honors invitations.
There are only 400 students invited to compete for the BK Scholarship, out of the over 11,000 that are offered admission. Most of those 400 do not post here on CC. Only 150, out of 400, actually get the full BK and most of those 150 do not post here on CC. BK invites are holistic evaluations just like admission to the Honors college which has at least 1,000 admissions out of the total number of students offered admission. Stats alone wont get a BK invite and the postings of BK stats on here is way too small for any meaningful comparisons.
Seeing as how there is such a small number of Full BK recipients I can see where most don’t post on CC. My son happened to be one of those Full BK kids, and we post here so there is representation. As far as stats go, I do believe BK was based on holistic evaluations. Without going into statistical details, the most impressive thing about my sons application were not his test scores or GPA…sure he was in the 4.0+ range with GPA and his SAT/ACT scores were okay…not overwhelming but very good, he happened to mass over 1000+ community service hours, had a nice assortment of AP classes not all in one subject, but also had awesome essay’s and responses to the questions…in my opinion. There were extra curricular activities that were well rounded not just National Honor Societies and academic clubs, but sports and leadership roles in these clubs as well, but I really don’t think those were unlike any of the other top applicants. I firmly believe the essays and responses, community service hours, an internship in his field of study and most definitely after the invite, his interview all played a major part. He came out of the interview KNOWING he had it. Stated that his interviewers were really impressed with how he carried himself and were really picking his brain on his responses to the application questions and essay…maybe to see if he actually wrote them which he did. They were impressed with his plans for the future and what he wanted to accomplish at UMD. They left him with saying that he had been the best person they had interviewed thus far and that to me is taking a holistic route in assessing these kids, not just looking at stats or scores on a piece of paper.