He will for sure make friends at either school. Being in Honors will likely provide contacts w/ a smaller network and make it easier to make friends, right? (I don’t know the program). I think if there was a huge discrepancy, maybe choose the expensive school, but if the less expensive is relatively comparable AND also offering honors AND way less expensive, that is a big deal!
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If I were in your position, I would have my child attend Penn State, especially because he is in the honors program and because he is afraid to go off on his own. College should be a time of HUGE growth for our kids. Of course at UMD he would make new friends as well, but I couldn’t justify paying oos tuition for UMD over Penn State. These are comparable schools imho. Lots of Maryland kids want to go to Penn State rather than UMD.
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For Liberal arts, choose Penn State - Schreyer Honors.
It is a well close-knit community within the broader college.
Save the $$.
If it was CS, one would have seriously considered U-Maryland before deciding.
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Penn State Schreyers is a very competitive admit. He should be proud of that. Much harder to get that than to get admitted to UMD overall.
We are instate for PA and my daughter was admitted to Penn State (she did not apply to Schreyers) with a $5k annual scholarship and UMD Honors with a $12k annual scholarship. We are spending prob $15k more per year to send her to UMD than Penn State. We can afford that so we didn’t force the issue of attending PSU because it was cheaper.
But she also got into Lehigh off the waitlist. We would have spent twice the amount to send her to Lehigh (which is my alma mater by the way). I couldn’t justify that extra amount ($140k over 4 years) to send her to Lehigh even though we could have paid it out of pocket.
At some point you really need to think about whether your kid will come out 4 years later that much better off to justify spending a lot more for their education. Obviously the definition of “a lot more” is specific to everyone’s financial circumstances.
One yardstick I would use is if you or your student have to take out loans to attend UMD but not to attend PSU then PSU should be the answer.
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Is there any advantage or disadvantage to putting a deposit down early and committing. My kid loved UMD and I dont see a likely outcome with other deferred school. If he keeps waiting he might lose housing options. Any suggestions.
For UMD, I am pretty sure you can put down a deposit and sign up for housing and dining without committing to enroll.
Only disadvantage I can think of is you’ll lose the $50 if your son ultimately goes elsewhere.
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I don’t see any disadvantages to enrolling now. My D enrolled in mid-March, back in 2014. It was good to have things decided so that she could focus on her future, instead of waiting.
Housing at UMD is predetermined based on LLPs or is randomly assigned by ResLife. Freshmen do not get to pick dorms.
In the end it’s a personal decision.
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I there anyone still waiting for decisions? I applied mid january and still haven’t heard anything.
My OOS daughter applied EA in October and hasn’t heard anything. She’s tried calling and sent an email with no luck. Definitely the least impressive application experience.
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what does her portal say? I would find an admissions counselor on linkedin, call the switchboard and ask for them.
I hope you got good news today. UMD Admissions posted on Facebook today
“Congratulations to our newly admitted Terps! Admission decisions are now available on the Terps Application Portal for students who applied and submitted all required materials by the freshman regular deadline! #NowATerp #UMD2026”
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Does anyone know the required scores needed on AP’s
The following link provides info and a link to AP credit scores
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It’s still saying “submitted/complete” as of Oct 19th with no status update. I sent an email Friday morning with the subject line listing our home state (California) as directed in their instructions for expedited response.
Here are screenshots of her portal. Are we just missing something??
So time to stalk. Find two names and call them. Google LinkedIn + UMD admissions or get names from their website.
Last year I called several times and got help.
All that said if you applied in October, why are you just looking to act now?
My daughter wanted to take the lead on the entire application process. She is extremely responsible and the other schools she applied to have been completely smooth. She has tried emailing and calling repeatedly. She even called other departments hoping to be transferred to ANYBODY that will be able to put her touch with a person but has had zero luck. I thought she may have missed a “differed” notification and figured I’d just wait until RD before getting involved.
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We are ‘25, not ‘26 applicant. May have waited on hold but always was able to talk to someone.
If you stalk, reach out to ten…call Presidents Office…someone will get back to you. But hopefully you have an even better school that handles the situation better in mind.
See list below. Send notes on LinkedIn.
https://www.admissions.umd.edu/explore/admission-representatives
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RD results are out? because my portal doesn’t show anything
Neither does ours.