<p>I got into Gemstone and Honors, but I heard everyone ends up dropping out of gemstone cause its so much extra work. Anyone considering actually doing gemstone?</p>
<p>Just checked the web site......I am in! </p>
<p>No email sent, just happened to check the site this am. Was deferred last month and now I will be "terpgonnabe". Good luck to all.</p>
<p>terpwannabe: Did you get a letter from admissions in Feb? Was it a wait list letter? Did you apply priority? My d. is wait listed for fall (accepted in spring) and I was just wondering if the same applied to you....admissions counselor told her she was "high up" on the wait list for fall because she's accepted in spring. A bit confusing to me...</p>
<p>desvw,</p>
<p>Receievd a letter in Feb saying decision was pending review of first semester high school grades. The letter said would be notified "before April 1". Never received a spring acceptance, so I assume I was right on line and needed to be compared to regular admission apps. Good luck to your d.</p>
<p>Umd sure is thorough, isn't it? Congrats to you! D. is hopeful to get accepted off the wait list for the fall. It would make things much easier for her...not having to enroll somewhere else for one semester. It's very hard to tell what the stats would be for her to get in. Lots of people got in last year off the wait list, but it varies from year to year, so you never know.....still waiting.....</p>
<p>hahahahahahahahhahah terpgonnabe hahah</p>
<p>I got in too! Yay. Now I can go back to being optimistic (didn't wanna jinx myself).</p>
<p>My son was accepted to Honors/Gemstone and received a $5K/yr x 4 yrs presidential scholarship. </p>
<p>GPA = 4.23
Class Rank 17/297
SAT I 1500 (750m/750v)
Mult AP classes; all AP exams = 5</p>
<p>He's going to give Gemstone a try. The opportunity to participate in research and even more important, to make connections with key individuals in the industry, and intern with prominent local employers (NASA, NIH, NSA, DOD, all the tech companies around DC) seems to be the greatest benefit. Unfortunately those who quit because it seems like too much work might not realize the opportunity cost of their decision. The program requirements do not seem unreasonable and are well documented on the website:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.gemstone.umd.edu/Students/fouryears.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.gemstone.umd.edu/Students/fouryears.htm</a> </p>
<p>To offset the extra classes, students with good SAT scores and AP classes get a break from taking many of the CORE courses. I learned from the UMD website that students are exempt from Freshman english and math if their SAT scores are above a certain level. Check out this link:</p>
<p>In addition, many of the AP credits count as transfer courses, sometimes credit is given for TWO college courses (up to 8 credits). Here's a chart of AP transfer credit offered by UM:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.tce.umd.edu/apchart.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.tce.umd.edu/apchart.html</a></p>
<p>If you are even remotely interested in entering graduate school, I encourage those of you who have been invited to the Honors or Gemstone programs to challenge yourselves and go for it. Even if you don't plan to go to graduate school, at least you will be getting a more well rounded education that will help you to be more successful in your careers. </p>
<p>Best of luck to you all -</p>
<p>My D is in the Honors program at UMDCP and loves it! I had heard last summer they treat the kids like gold and its true.
Gemstones is a research oriented program. Its not "above" honors..its just different. When she answered her questions on the app. they ask about things like research and she indicated it was not an interest of hers.
Many students enoy the challenge of Gemstones but many feel its extra work (due to the research) and opt to do Honors instead.</p>
<p>Gemstone and Honors Humanities are a subset of Honors students - the invitees are chosen from the pool of 700 Honors students - 50 slots for Honors Humanities and 195 slots for Gemstone. </p>
<p>Selection is based on a composite of academic achievement, extracurricular activities, HS courses, and interests relevant to the program(s). Gemstone seeks students with crossover interests of Science, Technology, and Society. Honors Humanities also seeks 'crossover' students, is geared towards fine arts, and also has a research requirement. </p>
<p>I think my son was offered a choice of either program because he has the academic record and crossover interests in multimedia technology (3D computer design), Music, Engineering, Math, Chemistry and Physics. </p>
<p>Once the programs are completed, the participants will have earned additional citations over and above the regular Honors citations on the graduate's diploma, and in addition they gain great real-world experience and make important contacts in the industry of their future careers. </p>
<p>If you get the invitation, it definately seems worth giving a try -</p>
<p>Admitted from the fall wait list.....finally!</p>
<p>Hey Desvw..thats awesome! I know how much you all wanted it. Congrats!</p>
<p>As far as gemstone goes..there are some questions on the application that are geared towards research and I think that plays a role in who is invited. We know kids who were offered gemstones and took it and others who turned it down.</p>
<p>My D. says that she knows alot of kids who dropped it because groups or individuals come up with the projects but then some of the kids dont like what is voted on and selected to do. Her one friend said it was just an enormous amount of work. He is getting one credit for a gemstone course that takes about 80% of his time.
Of those she knows in the program many have dropped it because they did not feel the work was worth the return. HOWEVER that will vary according to the individual of course.</p>
<p>I turned down gemstones b/c I decided to participate in Inventis instead.</p>
<p>how many students are selected for the honors program?</p>
<p>i got honors, gemstone, a couple of other special programs, and an 8k x 4yr pres scholarship... would it be too much work to do all of them? i also want to double major. im going to UMD, but i just wanted to know whether or not i should take all the programs.</p>
<p>ps the other two programs are Hinman CEO's (<a href="http://www.hinmanceos.umd.edu%5B/url%5D">www.hinmanceos.umd.edu</a>) which is an entrepreneurial program, and global communities (basically international dorm, but you have to write essays and take a 1 credit seminar every semester for 2 yrs).</p>
<p>should i do all the programs? or will i just be doing work nonstop?</p>
<p>Pick the ones you want the most - Gemstone is enough "extra work" all by itself, but it is great for grad school. esp. if you are in sci or tech or engineering - "original research" carried out in a group over 4 years - nice package.</p>
<p>If you're a business major I would do the others instead (unless you want to work towards a patent or starting a company right out of undrgrad - then do gemstone)</p>
<p>my dad saw the gemstone site and started freaking out about how great it would be...</p>
<p>here's the problem. i am terrible at chemistry, and im thinking that a considerable amount of the topics will be science and engineering based... 10th grade physics was even a challenge for me. bio was ok, but all in all, i suck at science. will this be a problem if i choose to do gemstone?</p>
<p>originally i planned on doing as "science-free" a curriculum as possible, as i will get 4 chemistry credits for my IB (similar to AP) chem class. (in total, i will receive 20 credits for my IB coursework. does this change anything in regard to workload etc?)</p>
<p>basically what i'm asking is... if i do gemstone, will i be in big trouble considering that i am quite bad at science?</p>
<p>I will have my D. ask her friend, who is in gemstone, your question about the science..she is away right now so will have her ask next week.
Note though if you try it and dont like it..you can always do regular honors. She has a few buddies who quit gemstone and are now in regular honors. Gemstone is a lot of work.</p>
<p>OK! I'm "angstridden's" daughter and I've been told someone's got a question about MD's Gemstones program...</p>
<p>Nope, Gems doesn't equal science. Or at least, it doesn't <em>have</em> to. What basically happens (as my friends have described it) is this: Students in the Gemstones program take a couple of one-credit courses designed to introduce them to intensive research (and boy, is it ever intensive!), thought, and group work. During the course of these classes, first-year Gemmies come up with research project ideas and (some of them) eventually submit these projects to the Gemstones group as a whole. Gem kids then vote on the research projects that interest them. So far, submissions have run the gamut from social reform and research to, yeah, doing some of that more engineering-oriented stuff you aren't so keen on.</p>
<p>MOST of the science projects for this year appeared to be biology oriented, and the final project picks seemed to run about half-science and half-social. In the science department, then, you're fine. <strong><em>Whether or not the final projects your peers pick are interesting to you, though, is the question.</em></strong> I had one friend drop Gems not because of the undeniably large workload (the main reason I've seen for Gems dropouts), but because none of the final projects for his year appealed to him.</p>
<p>Hope that helped!</p>
<p>Congrats to all accepted! Can some of you share your stats? I’m a junior who really wants to go to UMD and I want to see if I have a shot at getting in. Thanks!</p>
<p>moonman- this thread is from 2005. i dont think anyone will answer :/</p>