D2 has an SAT score in the low 1400s (M+CR combined) after the June 2015 sitting - it was her second time. She has a fantastic 4.0 GPA, is interning at a federal agency this summer and is also a fine cellist.
But she says she really wants to try for the BK Scholars program at UMD. We are a bit concerned though about her test scores for consideration for the BK scholar program. Do you have to have scores of SAT 800 or ACT 36 in all sections to be selected for BK scholars?
We would appreciate hearing the feedback of current and former BK scholars. Thanks in advance.
@ldwendy - My D is not a BK scholar, but I’ve been following this forum for a couple years, so I’ll chime in. First off, your D has to submit her application and all related material by Nov 1, to be considered for any Merit scholarships. After that date, you’re out of luck.
There is no other application, test, essay or anything for getting merit aid.
Also there is NO SAT score that will guarantee a BK Scholarship.
UMD accepts 12,000+ applicants… out of those, 400 or so are invited to interview for the BK. That’s all it is, an interview. All 400 get some kind of merit aid, but only about 150 get the full BK.
It seems that most of the BK invitees are kids who have been admitted to the Honors College and as such tend to have high stats, but Honors College admission is a holistic evaluation. High stats alone will not guarantee admission to the Honors College.
I personally know a student who got a Full BK (and Honors College) last year with an SAT scores below 1300.
There are other merit scholarships, but I don’t know anything about them.
I don’t see a lot of obvious information for SAT/ACT test scores and its correlation to BK Scholar invitations. It looks like you have to cross reference official admission threads with BK threads. I will see what I can dig up with search.
Test scores are not the main deciding factor for BK scholarships from what I know. You can have near perfect SAT/ACT and perfect grades and not get a scholarship. The kids I know who have perfect SAT scores have all gotten the scholarship but then again they are amazing kids beyond that. Otherwise there is no telling why certain kids get the scholarships and others don’t. If your daughter has proof that she is a good cellist that should help (in orchestra obviously, competitions etc). From what I can tell the essays and short answers are extremely important. If your daughter is not a natural writer I would consider getting help with that aspect of the application.
B/K is not about test scores but if I had to quantify it, I would say that while there is always the exception to the rule as SoofDad pointed out, the typical profile seems to be more of the ivy league score range. Lots of students that apply to Maryland have her stats and then some. That’s why Maryland is getting increasingly competitive, since the quality of student applying is getting more and more competitive. In addition to that, there is usually something exceptional in the resume.
Understand that there are other merit scholarships possible (Presidential, Dean’s, Departmental) even though none offer as sweet a deal as B/K. While those stats likely make her eligible for Honors college, there is no guarantee of that either. She could be invited to Scholars instead depending on a lot of factors. She shouldn’t apply based on expectation of a certain program or scholarship. She should apply only because the school is a good fit, has a program that she wants, and has a lot to offer in other respects as well.