<p>I got invited to the College Park Scholars program.. what exactly does that mean? Is it better or worse than the Honors Program? Does anyone know what distinguishes why I got into the Scholars vs. the Honors? And is the scholars program worth it / good?</p>
<p>I’m not really sure myself but I heard that Honors Program is little bit better than Scholars.</p>
<p>I got into the scholars program as well.
I believe acceptance is just based off of a good application-there aren’t certain test scores or GPAs needed to be accepted. (Same for Honors)
Also, I have a friend who is in the scholars program at UMD now and I know he really enjoys it.
Take a look at the UMD Scholar program website-it tells you a lot of information.</p>
<p>Not too sure either. However from ten minutes worth of investigating, I got the impression that honors is more prestigious, but scholars is more selective.</p>
<p>Scholars only admit 70-90 students</p>
<p>70-90 students per each of the 11 programs.</p>
<p>[College</a> Park Scholars](<a href=“http://scholars.umd.edu/about/]College”>Information About Us | College Park Scholars)</p>
<p>Did they notify you of your invitation by email?</p>
<p>I dont think one is better than the other, just different. also I believe honors just underwent an expansion so hence an increase in acceptances</p>
<p>woah there, HOW and when did you guys find out about the scholars/honors program acceptances?</p>
<p>did it say it in your initial acceptance email?!</p>
<p>for scholars: it didn’t say which program I was accepted to, why?</p>
<p>I can’t get on to the decisions page. 
I want to know whether I got into honors or scholars!</p>
<p>i can’t get on the page either! if it didn’t say on the email that I was accepted to honors/scholars, does that mean i didn’t get anything…? im really upset…</p>
<p>i got accepted into scholars but my email only said i was accepted. the scholars/honors info is on the website–it will say it above your major “Also, you’ve been invited into the College Park Scholars”</p>
<p>as for the 11 scholars programs–you don’t get accepted into one, you get accepted into scholars and you get to pick which of the 11 you want to be in. look on the scholars website under prospective students and then under ‘invited scholars’ and it explains it. (see below link)</p>
<p>[College</a> Park Scholars](<a href=“http://www.scholars.umd.edu/admissions/inviteinfo/index.cfm]College”>http://www.scholars.umd.edu/admissions/inviteinfo/index.cfm)</p>
<p>for me it didn’t say in the email, it said what program i got accepted to on the admission decision page. and i tried to get on it for like 3 hours after i initially checked it, it was being extremely slow.</p>
<p>For the Scholars vs. Honors debate, it’s not really a question of better/worse – they’re just different programs. Honors is more of an academically-focused program where you take classes in a variety of subjects (with a variety of professors) that are designed to be more academically challenging. Scholars, on the other hand, is a course that is specific to the particular Scholars program [you will get a letter from the Scholars office soon explaining the process for choosing a program] in a targeted focus area. This course is more specific to the program (rather than an array of “H” (Honors) designated courses), and continues over your time in Scholars. You’ll (generally) stay with the same program director (usually a professor or senior lecturer) and focus on a topic (ex. Global Public Health; Life Sciences; Media, Self, and Society; etc.) and address it from a variety of different angles.</p>
<p>Often people say that Honors is “harder to get into” or “better,” but they’re just generally different. The Honors College’s programs have been on campus longer, and are in that way more established, but they are different. Scholars has a service aspect (for example, on the first day after move-in (Scholars and Honors both get to move in a day early, before general admission freshmen), all Scholars programs participate in a Service Day (which is actually quite fun!). </p>
<p>The Scholars program also has a different sense of community than in Honors. Where in the Honors program, you will likely be in Honors housing, you will be living with a group of random Honors students, who you may or may not take classes with. For Scholars, you’ll live in the Cambridge Community, and the people who live on your floor (as well as a few other surrounding floors in your building) will be in your Scholars program, so you’ll automatically know a group of people who are in your program and likely in a few of your other classes as well.</p>
<p>Thanks for that explanation. That was my understanding, too, based on the experience of a recent grad who did the College Park Scholars program and really enjoyed it.</p>
<p>At a prospective students day, my husband got the impression that the Honors program is given first crack at the applicant pool. They choose who they want to invite to their program, and then hand the pile over to the Scholars program. So, from that standpoint, you could say that Honors was more prestigious/selective. </p>
<p>However, they really do sound so different that it seems as if students should have a chance to indicate a preference–particularly a preference for Scholars over Honors, if that’s the case.</p>
<p>I think Scholars sounds like more my kid’s cup of tea. But…Honors is the program that sent the invitation.</p>
<p>DeskPotato – You could try contact the Scholars office. Although they can’t always make an exception, they occasionally might admit students to the Scholars program who were admitted into the Honors program.</p>
<p>Isn’t it true that if you are not in the Honors program you are not eligible for some of the larger scholarships like the B/K scholarship?</p>
<p>Basically the answer would be yes.</p>
<p>@DeskPotato, call the Honors College and talk to them about your concerns. The programs are NOT equal. You really don’t want to turn down Honors. Some of the most challenging, interesting courses/seminars offered at the University, are ONLY available to Honors College students. “H” classes have many advantages.</p>
<p>@plumazul: Respectfully, I beg to differ. The programs are very different. Honors isn’t going to be better for all students. For students who want more of a community aspect, and a continuous theme of the program, that’s more Scholars-specific. While I understand your points, I don’t think that Honors is automatically the best program for all students.</p>