<p>I was wondering how important UMD’s freshman essay is to them? What is most important to UMD? The order?</p>
<p>GPA?
SAT scores?
Essay?
Resume?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>GPA/SAT is the most important for admittance, but they do look at all of it. If your essay obviously shows that you spent no effort whatsoever, then it would have a negative effect, especially if you were borderline on your grades/test scores. “Red Flags” in letters of recommendation or something else questionable/bad on your app could probably bring you down…For merit aid, special programs, etc. they look at GPA/SAT, then followed by EVERYTHING else.</p>
<p>I hope they don’t look too hard because when it asked the favorite place I visited, I put down Duke lol!</p>
<p>Boo! Rejection! just kidding</p>
<p>I think the essays, letters of recommendation, and even those short answer things must carry some weight in the decisions about honors/scholars invitations and merit scholarships, because my kid’s experience in that regard at UMCP was better than we expected based on her GPA/class rank and extracurricular record, whereas there are kids with perfect grades, top rank, and extraordinary accomplishments who are surprised every year by being shut out of the B/K. All of those people got accepted, but they didn’t get the love they were expecting.</p>