Hi. Wondering if anyone has an intel on the UMD Scholars programs…
are they worth it? does being in that move the needle at all in terms of choosing UMD? it forces you to live in a specific dorm for 2 years I think (Cambridge Community?)- how is that?
is it more work? does it help with getting classes you want, internships, networking…?
pros/cons?
You can read all about the Scholars program here:
Kids I know that are in the Scholars program have really enjoyed their experience.
Honors and Scholars kids get very nice dorms, so being assigned to a Scholars dorm is a big plus, not a negative.
My daughter is just finishing her Scholars Program- she’s finishing her sophomore year. It has been great for my daughter as she’s made her best friends in college through meeting people in the program.
Her program was Life Sciences and all the hard classes she took for Life Science were required by her major anyway. The specific classes for Life Science Scholars only - were all easy As. One advantage of LS Scholars is that her lab was restricted to others in her program and the lab class was slightly smaller than if she had been in the non-Scholars section. The program also required a special single class taken by all students once a week (easy A). Finally, the program required all students to live in Centreville as a Freshman. The combination of the Scholars lab, class, and living community really provided the students with many opportunities to make friends. At the end of two years, she presented a capstone project based on an internship she had. Motivating freshman to find internships is another advantage of the program.
They say the program doesn’t have to relate to your major but Life Science really only works if you are interested in Biology/ Public Health. Why take a weed out Chem class if you are an English major for example etc? Most of the kids who started in my daughter’s cohort completed the program and her Scholars program had a very high retention rate. Generally the ones who dropped out had majors unrelated to Biology/ Public Health. I would image this is the case for many of the programs. Don’t apply for a program unrelated to your major!
The biggest disadvantage of the program is you have a dedicated class every Wednesday for 2 years. For my daughter that meant she couldn’t attend many GSS Chem sections.
At the end of 2 years assuming you keep a 3.0 in your class program, you’ll earn a scholars citation.
TLDR, Life Science Scholars was a great way to make a big school small. The additional workload was insignificant (as long as you were majoring in a Bio related field). It was a good program, mostly for the social aspect.
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