Agree…my daughter is graduating High School after only 3 years and will also have her AA degree when she graduates. She has a 3.958 GPA that is unweighted and has taken 20 credit hours along with high school band, is a 3 sport athlete and in every club she can be in. But her ACT test scores did not reflect any of the hard work she put into school. She is a detail orientated person and reads for detail and meticulously approaches everything. The time limit of the ACT was her biggest challenge. She happened to fall into the right time and place and has been accepted to Criminology at UMD, Penn State, and George Mason.
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Do we know if SAT scores say received on 11/08, is that considered post Early Action? Would that mean we are now considered RD?
Hi All,
Excuse me if this is not the correct thread. My son was admitted to UMD L&S. We applied for CS (we are OOS). In his admission letter, it said he was invited to FIRE program. I have read about it a little on the website and it seems interesting. I see here people talking about honors, scholars, and LLP programs, not sure how those programs compare against FIRE. Is one program better than the other? I’d appreciate it if someone can provide some insight. Are there any additional things we have to do to set up him to have the best experience? Thanks.
I believe so. I have read previously that UMD is very strict about receiving everything by the 11/1 date. If a file is not complete, the application gets rolled over to RD right away.
D22, in-state
4.14/4.0W, 8 Honors/Advanced (no AP offered)
SAT 1510 (not superscored)
Strong and varied EC with leadership
NASA summer internship
Excellent LOR from teachers and GC, almost certain
Strong essay
Legacy (mother, grandfather), we know it’s not a factor at UMD, still…
Already accepted (no condition) at a T20 REA & T40 EA (both <20% accept rate) plus 2 others (including $55k/yr merit)
UMD decision: spring admit with FC
Stumped and stung. Any plausible explanation for not getting fall admission, especially for an in-state candidate?
Historical yield from her school is very low. Does UMD admission have an implicit bias against low yield schools??
We know there is a path through FC but spring admission eliminates possibility of merit money, LLP, etc.
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I don’t think it makes any difference. All scholarships will be released by the end of February.
I am wondering if perhaps that is a reason. My daughter is from a small school (60 graduating in a class) and is a spring admit from OOS.
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Unfortunately no one is really going to be able to answer your questions.
UMD is a mystery about some things. It is surprising but the good thing is she’s admitted if she chooses to attend.
Sounds like she has several other amazing options too. Congratulations on that.
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It’s not her first choice, just one of the first we’ve heard from. Most of her schools won’t release decisions until mid to late March. I don’t honestly think UMD is much of a contender, especially without the honors college piece.
Accepted-Bio Major
OOS White Male
4.15/4.7W
7 AP including Sr Year (Submitted all tests taken - 3, 4, 4, 5)
SAT 1420
Varsity soccer 1-4, MVP Jr year and Academic All Conference Sr year
Varsity Unified Track (varsity sport and volunteer hours)
NHS, Key Club, Link Crew
3 years work experience, 1 as pharmacy technician
8 years of premier club soccer, 3 captain
Significant volunteer hours
Good LOR’s
Good Essay
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UMD is very strict on dates. My son’s SAT scores came on Nov 3 and they would not let us update the application from Test Optional and consider the scores.
I am at a large public high school in Mo Co MD which has a high yield to UMD. There are kids with 3.7 s & 3.8s who got Honors and a 4.0/4.8 W (with the highest rigor) who got spring admit. Very hard to figure out.
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Thanks. I guess the UMD decision will remain a mystery and we’re glad she has options. It will likely end up being inconsequential in this case, but may be not so in other cases.
Although neither of my kids were in FC all of their friends loved it. It isn’t sloppy seconds. After having two kids go through this process there is no rhyme or reason for decisions colleges make. Sometimes I feel that the kids with outstanding stats don’t get in because they know they aren’t going to come to a particular school. If you got multiple kids from the same zip code with similar stats and one has slightly better essay or extra curriculars that kid going to get in and both kids deserve too. Both Kelly (which my daughter got into) and Wisconsin (which both kids got into) are great places. In fact, I always say if you could drop the city of Bloomington into College Park that would be the best place in the country to go to school. College Park itself is pretty dumpy and this is coming from an a guy who has one kid who goes there now, a second who just graduated and both my wife and I went there. Washington DC is not far away and for many that is a major plus. Internships are plentiful if you look. Both of my kids got good merit money from IU and UMD and both got nothing from Wisconsin. FC is good and cheaper for the first semester. I don’t know anyone who was in FC that doesn’t like it although I do understand how it can make one feel.
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We called them as well. Very different conversation. As you can see, the status of her application, since 10/18, has shown as “Completed”. She had listed some summer courses (primarily pre-vet) that she took over the summers at various colleges as enrichment under her extracurricular activities (NOT under “courses”). Totally for fun, nothing to do with high school credits. They told me today (even though the portal shows “Completed”) that her application is not complete and they would not review it because she did not send the transcripts from these summer courses. After much back and forth, they advised me if she sends them asap, they will consider her under EA. Two of the schools don’t even provide transcripts because they were not for credit. As an aside, she has already heard back from 5 schools (not one required this) and I called 8 more schools and they all confirmed they do not require this either. It’s been a fun day of nothing but phone calls and emails.
I would think that “complete” means that the application is actually “complete” and ready to review. Not “complete, except for some activities that sound like they might have some grades and please send those transcripts to us otherwise we won’t look at the application.” The joys of working with a Big State U. My DD is likely to end up at one - I’m prepping her now to get ready to learn to deal with bureaucracies. Its a good life lesson. Bless you @momoftwo77 for sticking with it.
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Have you heard back? I was on hold and left messages today with no response. Just wondering if you had any luck contacting them?
At leat you got a call back. I waited for 2.5 hours and hung up on me. I called back and said they were closed until after 3pm. Then I called back at 3pm and hit 1 to "not lose my place in line. Never heard back. Kind of done with it. Sorry to hear about your situation. Weak.
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Wow
Yup that’s a terrible experience for sure. I do telephone IVRs for a living and the surest way to piss someone off is to do what Maryland has done to you - either by disconnecting after a set amount of time or by allowing you to request a callback but then not fulfilling that callback.
My guess is that when you asked for your callback at 3 pm you did not reach the top of their phone queue before everyone went home for the day so it’s possible your callback could happen tomorrow. But again a bad business model to have your staff leave for the day when there are still outstanding requests.
Sorry that you had to experience this.
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