Did anyone accepted RD this year receive honors or a merit scholarship?
What’s the difference? Business major v direct admit? How can you tell from the decision letter ?
My son applied EA but scores didn’t reach before November 1. Got RD . Bottom of the letter said business major . We thought that meant direct admit 
My son is a direct admit into the school of business on the bottom of his admissions letter it says
major: Business: Finance
advising college: Robert H Smith School of Business
If you did not get direct admit, I believe your advising college would be Letters and Sciences and your major would be undecided.
Ty. That’s what it says on my son’s as well. Congratulations!Did your son accept?
yes, he did
Did you get a decision?
Did you hear back from UMD?
Yes. Accepted, no honors or scholars. No aid. Going to cornell or berkeley instead 
Hbu?
Oh wow! Good for you. My son got accepted as well. He accepted and enrolled right away.
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awesome for him! I would’ve done that but these people gave me no aid just because of an SAT arriving late in a test optional year. Also, they didn’t even change my major even though they said they did. So i didn’t even get into engineering. So yeah, i couldn’t take the school seriously after that 
CMU or Cornell would be the same price as UMD for me. Insane
They were pretty clear that everything had to be in by the deadline. If you missed it, then that’s not on the school. If it was a college board issue you could have discussed it with them, but if it was you who sent them, then a lesson learned.
100% know that it’s on me. Definitely, a lesson learned and to be applied to the future. What I’m trying to bring up is that NO other school has been this misunderstanding throughout the pandemic, so I’m just not gonna consider it due to personal circumstances (The fact that I have no aid, scholarships, etc.) when I have much better options. OF course if it was my only reasonable option, or most reasonable, i’d still go there. I’m not out on some personal revenge quest against UMD just because i messed up 
My son had applied to UMD in the RD round and recently received an acceptance to CS, but for the Spring session starting Jan 2022. Not sure what to make of this offer and how to interpret that compared to a Fall 2021 waitlist, for example. The acceptance letter did not mention anything about regular Fall 2021 waitlisting, but did mention the “Freshman Connection” program as an option for Fall.
Is anyone else here in a similar situation and any thoughts about the pros/cons of the FreshmanConnection + Spring admission option? Is there a reason why such candidates would not be automatically put on a Fall waitlist as well?
A freshman connection is much better than a waitlist. They will go to school in the fall, they can take classes, live in the dorms, no one knows they aren’t just like everyone else. The only caveat is they can only take classes their first semester later in the day.
The following 2 threads may have some useful info for you to consider
If you can go to Cornell for the same price, go for it! I like UMD, but yes, its application process can be a turn-off. It’s always been a nitpicker for deadlines.
A large number of students in the most popular majors get offered spring admission. I would go for it if you have no other objections.
Nothing wrong with freshman connection and spring admit. With FC students can start in the fall, live in the forms and take classes like everyone else, they’re just scheduled later in the day. Congratulations on the direct admit to CS. A slight bonus to FC that I didn’t see noted yet, the tuition is slightly cheaper.
Thank you @skkm0906 , @SoofDad, @mdmamma1707, @MarylandJOE for all the responses and pointers to prior threads on Freshman Connection and Spring admission. They have been very helpful, and it sounds like FC is a not an unreasonable option.
One thing I am not sure I still understand is why they would offer a confirmed spot to someone for Spring, but not (also) offer a waitlist spot for Fall (in case something opens up). Is there some other calculus at play in this situation?
Thanks again for the very helpful responses. We hold the UMD-CS program in high regard, which is why we wanted to give the FC option a full consideration vis-a-vis the other options my son has to-date (the two other top options so far being Wisconsin-Madison and NYU). Any thoughts on these three choices (either for CS or more generally) would also be welcome!
@CCDad2025 - AFAIK, UMD does not use waitlists. However, there is another issue in play - with the Spring Admit/FC option, UMD does not have to include the Stats of those students, in their Freshman Profile reports.
I have no particular knowledge regarding NYU or Wisconsin. I do know that the DC area has an abundance of opportunities for CS internships and jobs, but I think that cost needs to be a important factor in any final decision.