Priority vs Regular

Kinda curious on numbers of admittances for regular decision into engineering. My D applied ED somewhere else and waited for that decision before applying to UMD (submitted 12/15). She was not offered admission to UMD but secured offers from VT, UDel, Lehigh, Villanova & GT. It just didn’t make sense that UMD passed when some very competitive schools offered her admission and decent finaid packages. She selected VT. We never contacted admissions because she was pretty disappointed that UMD declined without even an offer of a waitlist or Spring admission. I’ve been wondering whether UMD had very limited capacity in engineering after the priority offers. We are in-state MD and she has stellar stats.

I can only share our own experience with UMD. Our high school counselor and UMD regional admission rep. have reminded students to submit their applications by the priority deadline (11/1) as there is no reason to wait. In particular, if you want to be considered for any merit-based scholarships, submission before the priority deadline is strongly recommended. My D did apply by the priority deadline. She received some scholarship and is committed to the school of engineering.

UMD accepts a TON of students during priority consideration times. Obviously, that leads to TONS of filled spots before the regular deadline comes around. I’m not from MD, but I’ve heard that it’s much easier to get accepted if you apply priority than if you apply regular.

Here is a thread with an article about admissions this year at UMD

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/university-maryland-college-park/2043867-washington-post-takes-you-inside-the-umd-admissions-room.html#latest

Regarding the Engineering LEP, UMD gets about 3,000 more admitted students, who have selected Engineering as their major, than they can accommodate every year.