When is BK day? I thought the students only know their interview day. Do they also know BK day?
From what I have seen about 400 students receive B/K invites and about 150 actually enroll. As you implied, many have the option of attending Ivy/T20 schools.
Maybe Iām the only person who calls it Banneker Key Day. I just remember the students going early in the morning for a āreceptionā with their school of acceptance (BSOS, Arts and Humanities, Clark Engineering, Smith Business, etc.). Then the students had luncheon in a ballroom in the Stamp Student Union and a lengthy presentation (āpitchā) was given by the director of the Honors College. In the afternoon, students had their individual interviews scheduled as well as some sort of fair they could attend with student and faculty representatives. There was also a panel discussion led by current B/K students and an ice cream social. I donāt remember getting the full schedule until a couple of days before the event occurred. Since the whole day encompassed much more than the interview, I call it BK Day, but thatās my terminology. There were actually 2-3 of these days, depending upon when your child was scheduled. Parents were invited to the luncheon, in particular. Maybe around half of the students had parents with them, obviously not for the interview.
I loved this day so much more than the admissions presentation that we attended before my daughter applied, which seemed to focus on showcasing fancy STEM equipment and āGo Terps.ā
I hope this full-day program isnāt truncated due to COVID, but thatās always a possibility. A lot has changed in two years.
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Itās changed to a virtual format this year
The kids who got BK invitesā¦ what got them the invite? Are they editor and chief of their school newspaper? President of their class? Did they win some sort of national award? I am very curious to know what their background is.
Based on the kids we know who have received the invites over the past 8 years or so, there doesnāt seem to be much rhyme or rhythm to the selections. The kids are all high stat, although not always the ones with the very highest stats (keeping in mind that there is often a miniscule difference between number 1 in the class and number 10 in the class, for instance). A few of the kids have been super high achievers who have done something really out of the ordinary, but most are just good students who are involved in the school and/or community to some degree. Some are involved in sports, others in music or art programs, robotics, or whatever. Most of them havenāt been involved in anything at the national level, though. Iām not sure if it makes a difference, but we are in state.
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Worried of the risk that the student can be identified if we post the stats here.
We were in this position. My advice is to find your local admissions rep on their site (I then had to Google to find her email as they donāt list it on their website) and contact them directly. Once I found her, she was very responsive and kept us in the loop. If you just use their general phone number or email, I feel like you fall into the dead zone. Itās better to correspond directly with someone focused on your geographic area.
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Hi, does anyone know in what month admitted students day typically occurs? TIA!
Thatās a shame. Will the virtual format at least have some panel discussions?
They could start at the end of this month. UMD should be notifying admitted students soon regarding dates and registration
Does UMD send any additional material about the school, major, etc and/or swag to admitted students?
Not in years past.
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Swag, probably not. Most Departments/Majors have their own UMD websites where they provide a lot of information.
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FWIW, we were able to schedule a zoom with the head of the animal science department, along with two current animal science students, for a very intimate and focused hour-long session, which was super helpful. So if you are looking for more information specific to your kid and their major, I would recommend doing this.
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Thanks @momoftwo77. Thatās good to know, and weāll probably do that. My D has a few questions before making up her mind.
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I appreciate hearing this is possible. Terps are encouraged to be fearless and take initiative, seek info, etc.
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Hi!! Thank you so much for thisā¦ I could not find the email ID of my admissions rep so if you donāt mind could you please give me the site through which you got their contact?
@vicky2304 go here: Admission Representatives by Region | UMD Undergraduate Admissions. Find your rep, and then google themā¦they donāt list their emails but I found our repās email on the internet (somewhere?!). The naming convention, at least for ours, was [lastname]@umd.edu so you could also try that.