My mom, however, is less excited than I am. She has the belief that you can somehow transfer LLP’s, that is, if I bug admissions enough they may put me in the Honors College. She insists because she got it in her head that the honors college is the most “prestigious” program (and the one that offers the Banneker Scholarship).
This is definitely not a thing, right?
I’m happy with the program I’m in and I need to stop mom from bugging me about it. She won’t let me fill out the Scholars Preferencing form too.
I’m glad you are happy with the program you are in and I think you have the right attitude about it. I’m assuming UMd puts a lot of thought into who they invite into their Honors College and who they invite into their Scholars program. Unless you could demonstrate some material mistake or omission in your application or some late-breaking news I doubt they’d be willing to consider a change.
I’m in a similar situation. I was accepted into College Park Scholars, but as an out-of-state student, my only opportunity to attend UMD would be to qualify for the Banneker/Key scholarship, which, as you mentioned, is only available to students in the Honors College. I sent an email to admissions last night asking if it is a possibility to transfer from Scholars to Honors; I’ll update you on the result when I hear back. If the college says that Scholars and Honors are on equal levels of prestige, I wish both would have the opportunity to qualify for the scholarship, since I think I would enjoy being in Scholars more than I would Honors.
If you ask, you’ll probably get a response saying that you can’t change the decision from Scholars to Honors. The Honors College rarely reconsiders an application, unless there is something extreme that was left out of the original application. LLPs are all about fit, anyway. If you think you will be happy in the Scholars program, definitely insist on it and stand your ground! College is all about finding what makes YOU happy, not about what others think will be best for you.
Our DD also was accepted as a college park scholar, and it sounds like a wonderful experience because it provides a social network of peers and professors right from the start, as well as opportunities for participating in special activities that will help build skills and knowledge that are critical for future research and careers. We also hope to use the designation as a boost when she applies for private scholarships. Since we’re in-state, the cost is within reason, although she did get scholarships from other state schools that she’ll have to forgo. It’s worth it, we think, for a program like this one.