<p>I've been hearing a lot about people getting accepted in the Limited Enrollment Programs on TerpNet and College Confidential. I saw the application on my UMD account, but I have no clue what it is.
Are some freshman automatically invited into the program? I want to know more about it and the differences between taking regular classes and being in a LEP. Also, is there a deadline for it? I'm waiting on other decisions, and I do not want to accept my acceptance at UMD until I hear back from my other schools.</p>
<p>I think you may be confusing a couple of acronyms…? You don’t get “invited” to a LEP. LEP stands for Limited Enrollment Program, which is basically the major you apply to. Not every major is a LEP.</p>
<p>[University</a> of Maryland - Limited Enrollment Progams](<a href=“http://www.lep.umd.edu/]University”>http://www.lep.umd.edu/)</p>
<p>It is the LLC’s that you get “invited” to; it is a great program and LLC stands for Living-Learning Community. </p>
<p>[Department</a> of Resident Life: Living and Learning Programs](<a href=“http://www.resnet.umd.edu/llp/]Department”>http://www.resnet.umd.edu/llp/)</p>
<p>Invitations to these programs are primarily based on your application - not just stats and gpa, but also how you presented yourself through essays and short answers</p>
<p>I’m not sure what you mean by the differences between regular classes and being in a LEP… other than you can only take certain engineering classes (for example) if you were admitted to engineering (which is a LEP). There is a distinction between regular classes and honors classes, with honors being more challenging. However, honors level classes are restricted to only those students in the honors college.</p>
<p>This post is for Maryversity
Does one have to be in scholars to participate in the LLC and my child did not get his major Biochem (part of LEP) and is placed in the Letters and sciences, what are the chances of being transfered to the LEP?
If the student does not get the major is it worth to consider UMD or does the student ends up doing a major which is not what they intended to do
Need you feedback, I see most of the posts about engineering programs here, any info on the Biological sciences</p>
<p>Biochem is the newest program to become an LEP, I believe…couple of years maybe? Therefore, I don’t know that we’ve heard of anyone who wanted to transfer in or how long it took. As long as your son gets good grades and starts out taking courses that he would need in that major, he could probably transfer in after a semester or two. The key is the grades…</p>
<p>LEP are often hard to get into on purpose. They tend to be ones that require a lot of costs to educate or are of high demand. There is no reason you can not transfer into LEP later as long you get good grades. There are people who are admitted to the major that drop off because they were not really as prepared as their application package made them appear. Then there are others like you(with slightly less stats) who maybe ready to take on college and rise to the occasion. Basically the college is allowing the higher stats kids to enter since they are a better bet. Now we all know underdogs that become winners don’t we.</p>
<p>"Does one have to be in scholars to participate in the LLC "</p>
<p>To participate, yes. Classes are restricted to Scholars students in the same way that engineering classes are restricted to engineers. </p>
<p>However, students not in scholars can still be housed in the Cambridge Community (which includes Cumberland, Cambridge, Centreville, Bel Air and Chestertown dorms):
a. either by a friend in scholars requesting your student as a roommate (request has to be mutual and submitted to Resident Life)
or
b. by random luck. There are a few extra rooms here and there in each dorm in the Cambridge Community that are not filled by Scholars students, but by other students based on random availability and random chance.</p>
<p>thanks for the feedback</p>
<p>Believe it or not, I am still a bit confused by what exactly an LEP is and how or why one gets in. For example, my son wanted to study engineering. Did he need to complete an application for an LEP?</p>
<p>@dowzerw - no worries, all the acronyms are a bit confusing.</p>
<p>Let me start with a disclaimer that I am a mom of a freshman in engineering and what I am posting is based on my understanding…more specific questions or clarification/confirmation of what I say should be directed to the school itself. Go to an accepted students’s day with a list of your questions. In the meantime, let me address your specific question about the engineering LEP in the hope this helps…</p>
<p>So, engineering is a LEP (limited enrollment program), and based on past tense of “wanted” to study engineering, I am assuming your son was placed in Letters and Sciences for his advising college. If that is correct, then your son was accepted to the University, but because they only offer a limited number of “seats” in the engineering college for direct admission, your son was not offered one of those initial “seats.” </p>
<p>It does not mean your son is not “good enough” but it means that of those requesting to be in engineering, there were more students than seats available, so basically those with highest stats have the better shot at getting offered one of those initial “seats.” It is very competitive to get into the University itself, but even more competitive to get into engineering “directly” as a freshman, and the engineering school makes its own admissions decisions once students are accepted into the University itself. They limit the number of seats in engineering to make sure they have sufficient resources. </p>
<p>You need to understand that retention in engineering is a challenge because a lot of people like the idea of engineering, but the reality of it is not what they were expecting. That is not unique to Maryland - it’s a reality at every engineering school. Once students start taking college level classes, students find the work tough but manageable, OR they realize that if this is what freshman year courses are like for engineering, and it’s only going to get tougher…well, they sometimes reconsider what they want to major in. So, that’s why Maryland makes the extra effort to retain students in engineering, but in order to maintain high quality, they have to limit the number of students they start with.</p>
<p>So what does that mean for students that are not admitted to engineering as freshman? FYI, there are a LOT of students in that position. Specifically, last year, of the 5,000 applications to the engineering school, only 1625 were offered “seats” (direct admission). That puts the engineering acceptance rate last year at 32.5% (if I am not mistaken - not personally strong in math!). I don’t know what it was this year, but the general acceptance rate to the University dropped from 47% to 41.5%, if I remember correctly from another post. So, it’s pretty safe to assume the acceptance rate to engineering also dropped.</p>
<p>What happens to the more than 70% of students that still want to major in engineering? They take the same basic core courses needed both for the university and engineering. These are called “gateway” classes as follows (from website):</p>
<p>Admissions Requirements</p>
<p>ENGL101, Fundamental English (FE)
With a 2.0 grade or better:
MATH141, Calculus II
CHEM135 or CHEM271, Chemistry for Engineers or Chemistry II with lab
PHYS161, Physics I
Only 1 repeat of one of the required ENGL, MATH, PHYS, or CHEM courses is
allowed.
One Distributive Studies or general education course (CORE)
Overall GPA of 3.0 in all college course work
For Bioengineering students, BIOE120 with a 3.0 grade or better</p>
<p>Once you complete these, you reapply as in-school transfer. Here is the link for more info (yes, there is an application you have to fill out):
[Undergraduate</a> Advising: Transfer Students Guide | A. James Clark School of Engineering](<a href=“http://www.eng.umd.edu/advising/transfer-guide]Undergraduate”>http://www.eng.umd.edu/advising/transfer-guide) </p>
<p>Once accepted, you can then start taking classes that are restricted to students in the school of engineering. There are a few classes offered by the school of engineering that are not restricted to engineering students, but the majority are. </p>
<p>While I cannot speak from personal experience, I have heard rumors that as long as you take the required classes and get the required GPA, you’re in. It’s not like what I have heard it’s like for the business school, where the rumor is even if you take the gateway classes and do well, you still might not get in.</p>
<p>The fact is that if you can’t get that GPA with those gateway classes, engineering may not be for you. A lot of students “directly” admitted find this out also!!! </p>
<p>There are sufficient resources within the university (not just engineering, not just VIRTUS, Scholars, Honors, or any of the living-learning programs/communities) to make sure students get help to succeed…group study sessions, tutoring, etc, plus office hours with the professors and teaching assistants…BUT students have to seek those services out, they don’t come knocking at your door and ask if you need them.</p>
<p>While taking these “gateway” classes required for engineering, students also take the regular “general education” classes required by the university for graduation…things like oral communication, humanties, history & social sciences, etc. So, they are not “wasting” time. At graduation, there is absolutely no way to tell who was admitted directly to engineering in the fall of their freshman year, and who started as Letters and Sciences and then transferred in.</p>
<p>Hope this helps, and if there are any other students who can add/correct/clarify what I said, I hope they will chime in!</p>
<p>are these gateway classes for 1st semester, do you have ant idea about the Biochem( ehich is also a LEP)
major</p>
<p>@cpmd2013, check out these sites and see if your questions are answered.</p>
<p>[University</a> of Maryland Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry](<a href=“http://www.chem.umd.edu/]University”>http://www.chem.umd.edu/)</p>
<p>[Sample</a> plan leading to a BS Degree in Biochemistry | University of Maryland Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry](<a href=“http://www.chem.umd.edu/undergraduateprogram/currentstudents/programinformationforchemistryandbiochemistrymajors/sampleplan0]Sample”>http://www.chem.umd.edu/undergraduateprogram/currentstudents/programinformationforchemistryandbiochemistrymajors/sampleplan0)</p>
<p>If you still have specific questions after looking over the dept. site, I will be happy to answer them.</p>