<p>Hey guys..So I have a single sitting score of 1440 by CP's standards. 730 CR and 710 Math. I have extensive research experience with the NIH, and really want to have the opportunity to participate in a project such as Gemstone students can. SAT wise, how do I gear up for honors, and specifically, gemstone. My GPA is good (3.6ish at a very very tough private school), a great recommendation from my pathology teacher and English teacher, and a probably insane supp. rec from one of the chiefs of a branch of the NIH. How do I stack up, with just these bare-bone stats, for UMD HON/GEM?</p>
<p>P.S my school does not have AP courses, as most of our courses are considered by teachers to be harder than the AP curriculum (instead of bio, we have biochem, which i took as well as pathology, and im taking organic next year)</p>
<p>thanks for reading this convoluted mess</p>
<p>what’s GEM? What’s “CP’s standards”?</p>
<p>@ Mitch, gems is short for gemstone which is a special program in the honors college </p>
<p>[About</a> Gemstone, Honors College, University of Maryland](<a href=“http://www.gemstone.umd.edu/about/]About”>About | Gemstone Honors Program)</p>
<p>“CP standards” refers to the fact that (Univ of Md) College Park only considers M + CR scores on the SAT’s.</p>
<p>@seekere - it’s hard to say, especially since your school does not have AP classes - do any students take AP exams? That’s a better measure of how “hard” your class is, not “what the teachers consider” to be hard. If students take those classes and get 5’s on the AP exams, then that class is prob on par with AP level. Otherwise, your teachers opinions are just that - opinions. (This is not to say that your courses aren’t challenging.)</p>
<p>Your stats are certainly very good, but you need to understand two things: 1. there is no magic threshold for honors invitations 2. Research opportunities are not exclusive to Gemstone, so even if you don’t get invited to Gemstone, you can still have very impressive research options available to you as an undergrad at Maryland.</p>
<p>Your SAT score is definitely good enough for honors (I believe 1400 is the avg). To me I think your biggest weakness is the GPA. I’ll be honest here, a 3.6 GPA is NOT good, for honors at least. You can make all the excuses in the world saying “oh my school is so tough”, and “I’ve taken hard classes”, but the reality is many UMD students, specifically honors, have a 3.8+ and most of them have taken a TON of AP classes and have gone to some top high schools. If there is anything that will hold u back from GEMS, it probably is the GPA. But u never know; there’s no magic recipe to get into the honors college.</p>
<p>Maryversity is right, u don’t need to be in GEMS to do research as an undergraduate. Undergraduates, even non-honors students have to opportunity to participate in research. Not to mention Gemstone, whilst it is a great program, is much more time consuming then if u do your own research project with a professor. I get the impression based on the classes that you’ve taken and based on your internship at NIH that you are interested in Biology/ Pre-med, so you also might want to consider the ILS honors program where a research internship is a requirement.</p>
<p>^ thanks for the words…</p>
<p>and i wouldn’t just say that my school is tough or my classes are hard, but that my teachers don’t give A’s like a normal school… a la I had three teachers this semester who said straight up that they have never given an A before…</p>
<p>just a different idealogy</p>
<p>The most important thing to remember is to apply by the November 1st priority deadline. It is not a commitment like early decision at other schools, however it is the only way to be considered for honors/scholars/merit scholarships.</p>
<p>Also, when you fill out your application, don’t “throw away” the short answer questions or essay. Give them careful consideration as they are looked at very closely for determining special program invites.</p>
<p>thanks so much! and will do…even though my school does things a lot differently than most, I do feel like my writing is above and beyond most students my age, and hope to show that when i apply.</p>
<p>This year the average SAT was “above 1400” for the honors college.
Source: Just went to orientation for honors students and they said this</p>
<p>My daughter had higher SATs and grades and many APs with 4s and 5s and got into Scholars, not Honors. She will be attending a top LAC instead.</p>
<p>@Deaston, I sincerely hope that your daughter’s decision to attend another school was because the other school was a better fit for her and not because she was invited to scholars instead of honors…the difference in the two programs is honestly negligible.</p>
<p>Seriously, honors and scholars serve little purpose other than determining what dorm you live in your freshman year.</p>
<p>Gemstone - NO AC, Close to diner, Research program
DCC - Best dorms, AC, larger rooms, but worst location for freshmen
ILR/EIP - AC, Close to Diner, probably best pick</p>
<p>It was about size and fit. Her graduating class had 75 students and with an average class size of 15. The major appeal of honors over scholars was the smaller class size. Despite the nice scholarship offered by UMCP, Wesleyan is the right choice. Perhaps she’ll follow in our path attend University of Maryland for law school.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how UMD has been marketing their honors program. People in the honors program take the SAME classes as other people in their major. There is no difference in class size.</p>
<p>@OMG…true that people in honors do take same classes as other students in their major (so many are large). </p>
<p>However, in addition to those courses, students in the honors program also take honors classes (that have prefix HONR) that generally have around 20 seats per class.</p>
<p>Also, there are some honors versions of regular classes that are common to all majors, like math, that have a suffix of H after the course number and they are similarly limited in size. </p>
<p>@Deaston, glad to hear. Coming from a graduating class of 75, it makes sense that the size of Wesleyan would be easier to adjust to (besides the fact that Wesleyan is an outstanding school, of course!) and I wish her all the best. :)</p>