<p>I'd like to know if anyone can provide some more recent insight regarding the quality of UMD's business school. (I've looked at the threads already posted, but many of them are 4-5 years old.) My son is a Junior in high school and his long term goal is law; although, he is thinking he'd like to major in finance at Maryland. Specifically, I am interested in knowing:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>How easy is it to obtain internships?</p></li>
<li><p>At what point in your college career do students tend to get these internships and are they paid?</p></li>
<li><p>Does the business school offer many career fairs where companies come on campus and give you an opportunity to share your resume?</p></li>
<li><p>What type of companies tend to recruit from UMD - particularly investment banking?</p></li>
<li><p>What seems to be the current trend for admittance into the business schools as far as SAT's? </p></li>
<li><p>Anything else I didn't think to ask :P</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Hi! Obviously, I am not the best person to answer these questions, but I have seen this posted
<a href=“Bloomberg - Are you a robot?”>Bloomberg - Are you a robot?;
which states minimum for business school SAT is 1300, ACT 29, gpa 3.2</p>
<p>Thanks once again, maryversity! Son number 2 is looking in unknown territory for our family! Do you or does anyone else know anything about the scholarships in the business school. I went to the scholarship link for undergraduates in the business school, but unlike the engineering department, it doesn’t list them individually. This makes it hard to tell how many scholarships are available - on the other hand, it makes it easier to apply. Thanks so much for your help!!!</p>
<p>You are SOOOO AWESOME!!! I had looked at the first link you posted, but what I had really wanted to look at, but couldn’t find was the second link you posted!!! THANK YOU!!! </p>
<p>Regarding the admission side, my daughter has gpa of 3.76 / ACT 28 / top 5% of her class. She got accepted to UMD, but not into their business school. As stated above, they are looking for a higher test score (29). We were hoping her high GPA would help, but it didn’t </p>
<p>dm2011, sorry your daughter didn’t get into the business school. From what I am seeing on college confidential at least, it seems to be getting more and more difficult to get admitted into UMD itself, let alone an LEP major. It’s great that she got into the university. I’m curious, what year is your daughter in? Was she able to transfer into the business school? How hard is it to get into the business school later on and how complicated is the process? Is it worth transferring into the business school or do you think it is better to go to a school where you can get direct admittance into the program of student’s choice?</p>
<p>As the piece in Business Week points out, the minimum ACT is 29 and SAT is 1300. The average SAT score it says is 1363. Honestly, I think that is even low for acceptance currently. My daughter is a freshman in Smith and the people that she knows all had test scores well above the minimums. Like the university itself, it just keeps getting more difficult to gain direct admittance. We have been told that is the hardest school at UMD to get in. Transferring in is an option but it’s wise to have a back up plan in case that doesn’t work out. Many kids do Econ if they can’t get in Smith. You can apply as an internal transfer after you have 45 credits, not including AP credits. Here is a link that talks about the transfer process.</p>
<p>I can say that once you get in, it seems to be worth it. My daughter couldn’t be happier there. She has attended a few career fairs and done a lot of networking already. There are many mandatory events that require business and business casual attire all through the semesters. Internships are there as early as freshman year if you are willing to network and send out your resume. All Smith freshman are automatically in a program called Freshman Fellows. After that you have to apply for specific fellows programs and they are competitive. My daughter was just accepted to one for her sophomore year. If you are on the fence about Smith, I encourage you to go tour the facility and talk to people in Van Munching. That’s the other thing, less important of course, but Van Munching is a beautiful facility. <a href=“http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/about-us/location/van-munching-hall”>http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/about-us/location/van-munching-hall</a></p>
<p>@terpmom7 - thanks for taking the time to respond. I especially appreciate the personal experience that you shared. It certainly does look like it is tough to get into. This makes me wonder then, with SAT’s that high, are most of the kids in the business school also in the honors program. If so, does this raise the curves in many of their courses if most all of the kids are top students to begin with? Since my son’s ultimate goal is law school, his GPA will be something he should consider (I would think - but then again what do I know?!). Oh! I’m just sooo confused! </p>
<p>@davenmame, I’m happy to help. My daughter is in the honors college but most of her Smith friends are not. It is a little surprising given their high stats. In her experience, and obviously this is limited, there are a ton of engineering and bio type students in the honors college.
Has your son gone to visit yet, specifically Smith? Like I said my D is only a freshman, but so far she loves it and my husband and I have been very impressed with all aspects of it. At first it was odd to me that she had so many mandatory and optional events to attend, but now I see that as a very positive thing. </p>
<p>My son has been to UMD many times, as my other son is a senior there now - engineering. We have just never really looked at the business school. I think he is planning on making a visit to see the business school after he gets his March SAT scores back. He took them in December and his scores are “average” in the business school. He doesn’t have a “hook” though and on top of that he is home-schooled. As a result, he is thinking he needs to get his scores up a bit higher to be competitive - especially if he wants/needs a scholarship. I’m glad your daughter seems to like the program so far! The many different programs they have is certainly interesting!</p>
<p>Thank you very much and I wish your son all the best. Remember not everyone has those super high scores. Neither your son nor anyone else should be discouraged from applying and hopefully gaining acceptance to Smith. I sincerely hope that he and the other posters are successful at getting in either by direct admit or as an internal transfer.</p>
<p>@davenmame my daughter applied for fall 2014. She was so excited to be accepted to UMD, but is very hesitant to go there if she isn’t directly admitted into the business program. She got into the business programs at UMass, UConn and Bentley and feel that she might be behind the others at UMD that are in the program their freshman year (getting internships, the ‘special programs,’ opportunities to study abroad, etc). That being said, it was her #1 choice, so we will still visit at the accepted student day and ask all the necessary questions before making a final decision. If I had the time to do this over again, I would have had both of my children take a ACT or SAT prep class to help them get their scores up … both for acceptances and for merit scholarships!</p>
<p>Thanks so much terpmom7 and dm2011! It is crazy how high the “average” SAT score is for the business school! I am quite surprised that they are not all in the honors program!!! dm, I know what you mean regarding the internal transfer - especially as terpmom pointed out about all the special programs that the “Freshman Fellows” has. When my older son applied, it was easier because Maryland residents had more scholarship opportunities such as the MD Distinguished Scholars. This was a big factor in deciding to stay in-state. If an in-state student doesn’t get into MD business school with some of the high stats we have seen posted here, it makes it hard to rationalize staying in MD- especially as I’m sure some of these kids could have substantial scholarships elsewhere. Oh decisions, decisions! Fortunately, our son still has another year before he has to decide.</p>
<p>Good luck! We are OOS, so for us it is difficult justifying spending the extra $ on UMD where she didn’t get into the business school considering the fact we are from MA and she got into the Isenberg school at UMass. She just fell in love with the UMD campus on the tour! It is beautiful …</p>
<p>I don’t know much about UMass, but I’m sure it also has a good business program. One thing that you might want to take a look at when trying to make a decision is the link that maryversity posted several posts earlier - thanks again, maryversity!!! </p>
<p>It takes time to go through the list, but it might help give you an idea about scholarships that your daughter could be eligible for after her freshman year if she should decide to go to UMD. Additionally, you might be able to see if UMass has some of the same or similar scholarships listed on their website. Not to sound shallow, but for our family, money carries a lot of weight. :P</p>
<p>The problem is that my daughter wouldn’t be eligible until her junior year. She can’t apply to the business school until mid-way thru her sophomore year from what I understand. That is her concern … that she will miss out on opportunities that others have that are in the business school from day 1.<br>
So many things to consider!!!</p>
<p>@dm2011, I know that she couldn’t be in the Freshmen Fellows program, but I’m honestly not sure about some of the other events. I think you should contact Smith and see what she can and can’t do. I’m pretty sure non Smith students participate in some of the functions. Also, she could still take the basic classes such as accounting and stats. Many kids do transfer in so I know that they aren’t behind. I hope it works out for her!</p>
<p>Yes, those are some of the questions that we intend to ask when we visit next. Also, she wants to study abroad but realizes that she probably couldn’t sophomore year (since she will be applying to the business school) … and wonders if it would impact her ability to do so her junior year.<br>
We are going with lots of questions!</p>
<p>I want to first say UMD and Smith are GREAT. I have both BS and MBA degrees from there, and had a fine experience. My older son was admitted to engineering in 2012, and that program is even harder to get into than Smith LEP. (Over 700 math SAT and 4.2 average GPA). Unfortunately he went elsewhere, but that’s another post.
My senior son really ONLY wanted to consider College Park and the business school when he applied last fall, and thanks to maryversity for calming my nerves along the way. My son was admitted to CP and Smith, and we are thrilled. However, we had both decided he should NOT go to CP unless he was accepted direct admit to Smith. He agreed to apply to a couple of other colleges, and they also have great programs. Miami Ohio offered him almost full tuition, so it would be cheaper than CP. Indiana has a top 10 business program, and they offered him direct admit, honors, and 11K (but total cost will be over 30K if he chooses to go there). UMD did not offer him honors or scholars. We visited Miami and we both thought it was an awesome school. We will be visiting Indiana this weekend. I suggest you research other schools, especially where it looks like your student may get merit money. (That’s how I approached it). At this point my son is convinced he will be happy wherever he lands, and it was a great growth experience for him. Point is, UMD is great, but there are other schools where your student can also do well. I do recall there being a Wall Street Journal article a couple of years ago, and it listed College Park as one of the most recruited from campuses for business. It’s in a great location for internships and job opportunities, especially for during the year. Sorry about the rambling thread. Hopefully there is something you will find useful here. </p>
Son number 2 is looking in unknown territory for our family! 
Do you or does anyone else know anything about the scholarships in the business school. I went to the scholarship link for undergraduates in the business school, but unlike the engineering department, it doesn’t list them individually. This makes it hard to tell how many scholarships are available - on the other hand, it makes it easier to apply. Thanks so much for your help!!!</p>
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