<p>How selective is the UMD Honors Program?</p>
<p>Interesting question because hard to quantify. </p>
<p>I think astrophysicsmom is the best person to answer this question because she has two terp daughters (one graduated recently) – one was invited to honors while the other was invited to scholars. If you think you might be considered for an honors invitation, you should also look into the scholars program because there is a chance you may be invited to scholars instead. However, I can give you some insight in the interim from a personal perspective.</p>
<p>My freshman was invited to scholars instead of honors and I was a little surprised given stats and invitations for honors at other schools. From what I can tell, looking at the admissions threads, the key to honors at Maryland for incoming freshman is not straight stats, per se, but also the number and breadth of AP classes taken in high school. My engineer only took AP classes that were in science or math, and therefore didn’t have a lot even of AP’s (even though the rest of the classes were honors)-- but did have a lot of leadership roles in outside activities. </p>
<p>Honors invitations seem to go to students with AP classes that run the gamut, where scholars are strong academically but seem to have more outside activities. That is not a hard and fast rule by any means, since many honors kids do have a lot of outside activities also; outside activities just don’t seem to be a necessity for an honors invitation whereas they are a necessity for scholars.</p>
<p>It also seems that it is tougher for OOS students to be invited to honors than IS, which is in line with general admissions practices anyway, so not a surprise. However, if you look at stats alone, there is no way to predict. </p>
<p>Another confusing thing is that while you need to be invited to honors to be considered for a Banneker Key (full or partial ride) scholarship, honors does not necessarily mean more merit money than scholars. Note that not all honors students receive an invite to compete for B/K, it is just a prereq for being considered to get an invite to interview. Based on the reports of cc posters on the threads, some students invited to scholars got higher levels of merit money than those invited to honors (Presidential scholarship is 4 years whereas Dean’s scholarship is only 2 years if I am not mistaken).</p>
<p>So, why choose scholars at Maryland when offered honors elsewhere? Well, it’s called fit and looking at the big picture. As a whole, Maryland engineering offered more cross-disciplinary training than other highly ranked engineering schools and has more unique opportunities available. Maryland did recognize strong stats and class rank with a Presidential scholarship, and looking at the scholars program more critically, it actually is a better fit since research and internships are built into the program.</p>
<p>Out of the class experiences are the hallmark of scholars where honors level classes are the hallmark of honors - from what I can tell. If you get invited to scholars, and the prestige of saying you are in “honors” is critical for you, you still have the opportunity to qualify for honors through your department/major once you are there.</p>
<p>Another factor for considering Maryland is student satisfaction. I have never met a student that went to Maryland that was not happy with their choice (although with this big a student body, there has to be some!). I earned my embarrassing mother status several times over by doing random spot interviews with lots of students on lots of different campuses. In the spirit of full disclosure, I am an alum, but I didn’t have any control on the student responses! I tried to be very consistent in my interrogations. Maryland really did stand out in the positive responses. The exclamation point on this sentiment came from friend’s parents who shared stories of their kids’ experiences. One mom in particular favors Maryland over ivy leagues because her child that went to Maryland had better and more job opportunities than her kids that went to Harvard and Cornell! </p>
<p>So, in the overall picture, the distinction of getting into honors as freshman seems less relevant than what Maryland has to offer as a whole and what you do when you get there…</p>
<p>Thanks maryversity!</p>
<p>Glad to help…I forgot to mention that you can only be considered for Honors, Scholars and merit money by submitting your application by the priority deadline - it was Nov. 1 but was extended to Nov. 9 because of Sandy.</p>
<p>Best of luck to you in the college application/selection process.</p>
<p>Was over at the Maryland Marque Day on 10/26 with my son and they spoke about this. They said that 25% of the accepted students were offered admission into Honors and another 25% into Scholars. It was surprising to me that 50% of the accepted kids were offered into one of these programs. I honestly thought it would be more selective than that.</p>
<p>To clarify for others reading your post, Marquee Days are sort of a recruitment program - students invited to attend are those that score very high on the PSAT’s (we went last year and that was what I was told). Invitation to a Marquee Day (there are only 3 in the early fall and invites go out in the late summer) does not guarantee admission, and in the same vein, if you didn’t get invited to a Marquee Day, it does not mean you won’t get admitted!</p>
<p>So, in answer to your question, I suppose those figures are probably a fair assessment to a degree, but it is all relative. Remember, they are trying to entice the students with higher stats to accept admission and a lot more “academically talented” students are applying to Maryland and ultimately attending. </p>
<p>While they no longer post the range for invites to honors and scholars, in previous years they did post the following…</p>
<p>This was from 2011 freshman profile:</p>
<p>Honors College: </p>
<p>The students admitted to the University Honors program have an average (weighted) GPA of 4.35 and the middle 50% scored between 1330-1480 on the SAT and between 30-33 on the ACT. </p>
<p>College Park Scholars:</p>
<p>The students admitted to the College Park Scholars Program have an average (weighted) GPA of 4.05 and the middle 50% scored between 1320-1420 on the SAT and between 30-32 on the ACT.</p>
<p>Interestingly, they didn’t post these stats for the fall 2012 freshman class…I have a feeling that they do not want to be bound by these stats (and therefore will get less complaints from parents asking why their child didn’t get into a certain program). </p>
<p>Anecdotally, I noted that LEP admissions, which are more competitive than general admissions, are not necessarily tied to scholars/honors invites. In fact, there were students that got invited to honors/scholars but did not get accepted into the LEP they applied to…In some cases, invites to honors/scholars seems to be a recognition that yes, they are very strong academically even though they didn’t get into the LEP. Yes, there are some students that got into an LEP and honors/scholars, but not all admitted to LEP were invited to honors/scholars nor were all that were invited to honors/scholars admitted to a LEP.</p>
<p>Further, (note: this is a personal impression only and may not be entirely accurate) there seems be varying degrees of levels/competitiveness within each program based on the numbers admitted. For example, not every student invited to honors college is accepted into Gemstone (which is seems to be the most highly regarded). Similarly, in scholars, you rank the order of preference for the program you want, but only 70 students are accepted in some of the programs whereas others have around 200 and some were disappointed by not getting their first choice program. The amount of work within the programs (at least for scholars) seems to vary also. Some scholars programs don’t seem to have the same amount of workload as others… </p>
<p>Just my personal impressions, fwiw, from the parent of a freshman - definitely not an “official” answer.</p>
<p>What are the differences between honors and scholars?</p>
<p>Again, I defer to astrophysicsmom if she sees this thread…</p>
<p>In the meantime, the differences between the two are primarily in-class challenge (honors takes honors version of courses) vs out-of-class challenge (scholars don’t take honors classes, but have colloquium and practicum which includes an internship or research project as its highlight). </p>
<p>Both are living-learning programs meaning you live in the same community (residence halls) with other students in your program. Both have many subcategories of program focus (ie honors has Gemstone; Digital Cultures and Creativity; Life Sciences, etc and scholars has Science, Technology and Society; International Studies; Public Leadership, etc). In addition, scholars do service projects and other outside experiences during the year together.</p>
<p>This is link to get you to honors page to explore
[Honors</a> College University of Maryland](<a href=“http://www.honors.umd.edu/overview.php]Honors”>http://www.honors.umd.edu/overview.php)</p>
<p>and this is the link to scholars page
[College</a> Park Scholars - What is Scholars?](<a href=“http://www.scholars.umd.edu/about/what-is-scholars]College”>Information About Us | College Park Scholars)</p>
<p>Search back in this thread for past posts about this… I’ve had a kid in each…each was the right program for them…scholars seems to have a lot of people with a lot of community service background, in addition to good grades. In the seniority of things, the honors program has been around much longer, and they make their choices first… they tend (but don’t always) pick the students with higher GPA and/or test scores, but if a student has a significant amount of community service, they will be in scholars. There are advantages to both programs, but I wouldn’t have my heart set on one or the other. You cannot be selected to Banneker/Key if you aren’t in Honors, but otherwise one is not better than the other…they are just different. Good luck!</p>
<p>Honors is important in that you live in the honors dorms and form friends with other somewhat smart/academic people. This is especially essential, as say, if you’re an engineering student, you’ll find most of them in honors programs. Otherwise, it’s no more than bragging rights and taking slightly harder versions of some core classes. Department honors in your junior/senior year will be far more impressive on your resume.</p>
<p>Scholars is even more of a joke. There’s not much to respect academically that you’re in the scholars program. It’s a state school ranked below 50, it’s not exactly the most competitive place. Your fellow students will not be impressed that you’re in the scholars program, outsiders will especially not give a damn. Those in the program themselves will tell you, it’s extra work (fluff class and/or community service) for nothing.</p>
<p>Research, Labs, Projects within these programs are ultimately a interesting way to engage the underclassmen, but they are far less significant than the activities you should get involved with related to your major further on.</p>
<p>With all due respect CriesandWhispers, I think your assessment that honors is “no more than bragging rights” and “Scholars is even more of a joke” is not accurate. </p>
<p>Research, labs, projects, and internships are actually more significant than you realize. Typically, students engage in activities that are either directly related to their major or are a complement to their major, thereby augmenting their skill sets. When it comes time for you to write your resume (not anything like the “activities” resume you submitted when applying to college), you will have a better understanding of how helpful these things are. Without question, you do NOT need to be part of honors or scholars to participate in research, labs, projects, or internships! The difference is that participation in one or more of these is actually a requirement for/built into some of these programs. Thus, I believe that students have more support in obtaining internships and the like than students who seek to do these things on their own.</p>
<p>Further, part of the scholars program is outside learning. Therefore, students have the opportunity to visit places they would not be able to on their own. Sometimes, students are able to make contacts at these visits that turn into internship opportunities.</p>
<p>As for honors just offering slightly harder core classes, you missed seeing that some of the most interesting general education classes (required for graduation) are only available to honors students.</p>
<p>Another advantage of being in these programs is that it gives students the opportunity to have the same professor for several consecutive semesters, which becomes helpful with references. Typically, it is more of a challenge to get the same prof several times because of scheduling conflicts or spaces available in the class. That doesn’t mean you can’t develop relationships with professors, it just means that you have to make more of an effort to build a relationship in a single semester should you need a reference.</p>
<p>Is it extra work? Yup. Sometimes it may be fluff, sometimes it is tedious, and often the amount of work required in the different programs is not consistent - some programs have a lot more work than others, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles. </p>
<p>Having said that, your statement that “department honors in your junior/senior year will be far more impressive on your resume” is why students not being invited to honors or scholars as freshman shouldn’t feel bad. The opportunity is still there for those that are willing to work for it.</p>
<p>I know this is a very late post, but for anyone still searching for information on this topic, one of my good friends was accepted into the Honors program last year. I’m applying this year, hoping I’ll get in. His SAT composite was a 2070 and his GPA was about a 3.8-3.9. Not many ECs, but secretary of Spanish honor society, National Honor Society, choir (leadership role), and several APs with good scores. He’s in it now with a bio major!</p>