Differences for out of state apps?

maryversity
Mon, 22 Jul 2013 05:28:41 +0000

In a word, yes.

OOS admissions are tougher in general, but cost of attendance is considered in award amounts. The only way to be eligible for honors college/college park scholars/CIVICUS, etc and merit scholarships is that you have to submit your application by the Nov 1st priority deadline.

Merit scholarships seem to be awarded in a non-predictable way, but high standardized scores make you a candidate. Presidential Scholarships award amounts do take into account the cost of attendance and range from $2-12,000 per year, renewable up to four years as long as you stay eligible (gpa min of 3.2). IS students are paying IS tuition, so the awards only go up to $8,000 per year whereas OOS students are paying higher tuition and the awards go up to $12,000 per year. The “level” of award is probably equivalent for IS and OOS vis a vis stats, but the amount assigned to each “level” of award takes into account cost of attendance (IS v OOS).

Admission to honors college for incoming students is, again, not predictable and there are no magic numbers. However, anecdotally, it seems that OOS students invites are more competitive than IS, similar to admissions in general. College Park Scholars is another program for academically talented students with strong leadership/EC’s.

However, once matriculated, all students are equally eligible for special honors programs like QUEST, Primannum Honor Society, departmental honors, etc, which are based entirely on your academic performance at Maryland (IS/OOS status is irrelevant). I saw many students at the Primannum (academic honor society) induction that were neither honors college nor college park scholars students.

FYI, there are also some departments/schools that have additional merit scholarships available for students after completing their first year (for example, the school of engineering has many scholarships for engineering students). So, depending on your major, you may be eligible for additional merit awards as a returning student.

Keep in mind that Maryland is a public, state university and therefore does not have the endowments of private universities. So, if you are eligible for merit awards, private universities will likely award significantly more money, but their cost of attendance is also (typically) significantly higher.