Not Accepted to Honors/Scholars, help me out

Colleges & Universities University of Maryland - College Park
1

I consider everything in life as a learning experience. I was very pleased to find out that I was accepted to Maryland for Computer Science. However, I was a little disappointed in not being selected for Scholars or Honors… Since I do not want to miss similar opportunities during my college years and beyond, I want you guys to try to assess where exactly I fell short. Here is a quick profile of me.

Unweighted GPA: 3.7/4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.09 (As of end of Junior Year)
Class Rank: 25 of 300
SAT Score: Try 1: 2080, Try 2: 2250, Superscore: 2300
School Type: Suburban, Diverse, Public NJ

GPA Trend: Improvement from Freshman to Sophomore year and big improvement between sophomore and junior year.

As of Junior Year: taken 6 AP classes and 9 Honors classes (covering all the academic subjects, some electives, and 1 world language [world language honors starts at level 4] )

Passed 6 AP exams with scores of 4 and 5 (not the same exams necessarily as my classes)

Senior Year Schedule: 6 AP classes

Subject Tests:

Math: 740
Biology: 770

Extracurricular—

-Eagle Scout Candidate (Project in-progress)
-President of a Science related club (one of the largest student organizations in the district, if not the largest)
-Captain of Debate Team (Varsity)
-Held multiple leadership positions in Boy Scouts since 9th grade (6-month terms, the highest position being equivalent to Vice President)
-DECA awards at State and Regional Level
-Science Olympiad Medals at Regional Level
-National Honors Society
-String Orchestra all 4 years (every year since 4th grade)
-Tri-M Music Honors Society
-World Language Honors Society
-Model Congress (Award)
-Model UN

Volunteer Work—

-Volunteer at an after school program
-Volunteer at School Library
-Volunteer at local elementary/middle school science fair multiple years (two years as a mentor included)
-Summer Volunteer at County Library summer before 9th-11th grade
-Total Volunteer Hours: 280-350

Other/Misc./Experiences—

-Worked full-time in the summer after junior year as an intern in a local firm helping to develop some innovative financial software (Provisional Patent Application under process)

-Currently Working at a learning center

Background—

-Race: Asian/other, South Asian

-Family Income Bracket: 120-160k/ annum

Recommendations/Referrals (Estimate)—

Recommendation 1- 9/10
Recommendation 2- 8/10
Counselor Recommendation- 8/10

2

You have great credentials. This just speaks to the intense competition for the honors program! I think a lot of it has to do with being OOS, but I’m unsure. Perhaps GPA, but thats understandable because your course load is very difficult. Congrats on being accepted, best wishes!

3

To be honest, I see no reason why you shouldn’t have been admitted to at least scholars. My test score and GPA are lower than yours and I was admitted (I am in state, however). Perhaps your second test scores were not sent in on time to be reviewed for EA? Did you take it during the Nov. or December sittings?

4

@nuhsgrad, I took my 2nd SAT in June, and my subject tests in November.

5

If it makes you feel any better, I was accepted into Honors, but not accepted to my major. I’d gladly trade places with you. Can’t see myself attending anymore, which is really a shame because UMD was No. 1 or 2 on my list.

6

Did you have some terms with a significantly lower GPA?

7

@JustOneDad Maybe freshman year to an extent- but GPA was always upward trending.

8

Great stats, your out of state that’s likely why you didn’t get honors.

9

It could be that there are a lot of kids in your selected major that are way up there. CS tends to have some high powered students.

10

@pacollegekid97 Trust me, this happens to a lot of people. If you’re an engineer, you have no idea how easy it is to switch back into your major. You just need to take the general engineering courses, that everyone in Clark is also taking, and do a few pages worth of paperwork. I definitely wouldn’t take UMD off your list because of that.

11

OP–I’d guess it’s your weighted GPA. That’s what UMD looks at (and each advisor knows your school’s policy). Your weighted GPA, coupled with your class rank, might not qualify you for honors/scholars.

12

@Vctory‌ if i wasn’t accepted into clark engineering directly would i be missing any classes that people who did get into clark would have taken. Pretty upset that i got moved down to letters and sciences

13

@terpfanforever Absolutely none! You would miss 0 classes, career fairs, or opportunities.

14

@Vctory‌ Also i was not admitted into honors college nor scholars would i still be able to transfer into clark, and is there any way i can have UMD look again and try to put me in honors because i think my stats are there and i am in state.

15

I would recommend calling and asking Admissions if you can be reconsidered. I was just speaking to someone yesterday that said this happened to his son last year. We were discussing Honors requirements for different colleges. His son called, they reviewed his credentials, and he was told it was an oversight. I’m not sure what his stats were, but it can’t hurt to call and ask.

16

I am in a similar situation to the OP. I was surprised to see I wasn’t admitted to any honors or scholars program. I’m in-state as well.

ACT: 32 C (29 M, 33 E, 30 R, 35 S, 8 W)
GPA: 3.95 (unweighted/school does not rank or weight)
7 AP Courses taken by the time of graduation (we can’t take AP courses until junior year and the school is very strict about the number you can take)
Majority Honors Courses
JV Tennis all four years (co-captain in 11th), Junior Team Tennis (11), 2 Science summer internships, member of 3 honor societies, volunteer every Sunday with adults with developmental disabilities.
I thought my essay was pretty solid along with my rec letters.

Would it be worth calling to ask to be reconsidered?

Thank you all!

17

@Nattybow2015 Definitely call. You have a rigorous course load, high GPA, and moderately high ACT. Call admissions, and if that doesn’t work call honors.

18

I agree both of you (@nattybow2015, @yikesyikesyikes) should call admissions, I cannot think of a good reason why either of you would not be admitted to at least scholars with the stats listed unless your essay was completely disastrous - it probably was an oversight.

19

I’m in a similar situation where I didn’t get in to Honors nor Scholars at UMD. I’m in state, 2280(1490) SAT, 4.24 GPA (13th percentile), 7 APs, and great in other categories. Maybe it’s my GPA or maybe I’m unlucky, but either way I’m going to see if I can be reevaluated because UMD isn’t as appealing to me without Honors or at least Scholars. And I almost forgot to mention I applied for a major in Computer Science or Mathematics.

20

You can certainly call, you’d ultimately speak to the honors/scholars program. @Vctory‌ is correct, you won’t miss any of the most important stuff (classes and career fairs).

Its not because you are out of state, and this is why I am hesitant when people post weighted and unweighted GPAs, make sure you calculate it the same way UMD does. Honors and AP courses are counted the same for their weighted GPA, but they look a lot different on paper. I am going to make a post about why people with seemingly higher stats may not get programs.

My advice: Call honors if you can find a specific program that is really important to you, but don’t get stressed about not getting it if you don’t. You made no mistakes in the past, but don’t enter any university thinking that simply doing well academically will set you up for success in the future. You have done plenty of things outside the classroom, keep doing those things, you would be surprised who you may meet who may have a job that you would fit or may know someone you should talk to. I know people who went to interviews and got the job because the recruiter liked them so much, and they barely talked about the job.