PLEASE chance me

Colleges & Universities University of Maryland - College Park
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<p>Aright im a junior who is looking to apply this upcoming year. </p>

<p>Male
In state
My dad is an alumni
3.42UW 3.84W
1230 Sat M+CR(610+620)/1840 out of 2400
I played JV baseball for 2 years
2 years JV football 2 years varsity football
4 years varsity letter winner wrestling (captain junior and senior year)
Around 100 SSL Hours
Minds in Motion, Scholar athlete, and Triple Threat athlete award.
Part of my high schools leadership council (“leaders of the pack”)
will have 3 AP’s by graduation
Basically all honors classes except for math.
School does no rank but atleast top 25% if not 15%.</p>

<p>please chance me, i visited yesterday and it is by far my 1st choice. probably majoring in buisness or Criminology but the admissions rep said major does not affect admissions.</p>

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<p>also do you think i should try the act, i received the 1840 my second try on the SAT</p>

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<p>To be completely honest, your standardized test scores and your class rigor is on the lower end of the spectrum. Your ECs are good and show leadership, but aren’t anything especially noteworthy. My guess is that (and keep in mind I’m definately not an admissions officer) is that you’ll have a very good chance of getting in, but you may have to settle for Letters and Sciences major or Spring admit.</p>

<p>Also, I really don’t know why the admissions rep to you this, but major definately does affect admissions. By nature, popular majors will be more competitive and there is a reason why UMD labels certain majors as LEPs.</p>

<p>Lastly, to answer your 2nd question, yes you should most definately take the ACT!! Both tests have different formats and you may find that you prefer one over the other. Everyone has different opinions on the tests regarding both format and difficulty, but I definately preferred the ACT. I took the SAT 4 times and only managed a superscore of 1920. I took the ACT once and got a 34.</p>

<p>I am a current senior and also an incoming freshman at UMD, so feel free to ask more questions. I will try to help the best I can. Good luck!! ^_^</p>

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<p>your unweighted is pretty low, but your gpa is pretty standard But that’s definitely not all that matters, the rigor of your coursework does. your EC’s look good too^^
I’d say if you got into the fall, you wouldn’t get into the business school, but you’d probably be able to get into criminology. The rep is right though, the major does not affect admissions into the university itself. You first have to get into the university, & if you declared a major that’s an LEP, then that college within the university reviews your application just like the admissions officers did and decide whether you’re in the major or not.
So I’d say you’ll most likely get into the spring, but still hope for the fall!</p>

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<p>4everdancer18, why is it they require the ACT writing but dont use the writing session on the SAT. Also should i do any additional studying for the SAT other than what i did for the SAT</p>

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<p>@titans96 that is a really good question, and unfortunately one I don’t have the answer to. If you really want to know the answer, I would suggest contacting UMD.</p>

<p>As for your 2nd question, I’m assuming there was a typo and you were asking about the ACT? Personally, the only thing I did was familarize myself with the test format and the expected difficulty of the questions the night before. Now, I wouldn’t actually recommend that to anyone, especially if you’re really going for a high score. What I did was the bare minimum. I would recommend to start out studying for the ACT the same way you did for the SAT and then tailor it to the ACT if needed. To be honest, test taking is very individualized and you need to find what works for you. Obviously I managed to get a way better score on the ACT than the SAT with less studying, but that is most certainly not the case with everyone.</p>

<p>I apologize for the lengthy post, but hopefully you found this helpful. Let me know if you want a more detailed comparison of the ACT and SAT or if you have any other questions. ^_^</p>

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<p>“Also, I really don’t know why the admissions rep to you this, but major definately does affect admissions.”</p>

<p>The admissions officer (and trackdude) is correct. Major does not affect admissions to the University itself. When you apply, you have to be admitted to the University first and foremost. If you are not admitted to the University, your application does not move forward. </p>

<p>However, those applicants who are admitted to the University then get sent to the individual school (Smith, Clark, etc) for consideration. That admission process (to the major, if you will) is entirely separate. That is why you will have students admitted to the University but not to their major. Many students applying to LEP’s end up under the Letters and Sciences advising college because they are not accepted to their LEP of choice, yet they still are admitted to the University.</p>

<p>So, the assessment of admission itself to UMD, especially given MD residency, is entirely different than assessment of admission to Smith. The SAT score at this point is too low for consideration by Smith - I believe the minimum is 1290 (could be 1300 because keeps getting more competitive) to even have the application reviewed. Those meeting that minimum standard are then competing for the limited number of spots against others who meet and most likely exceed that minimum. Even someone with a 1290 honestly has to be a standout in other ways to be competitive. That’s where “holistic” admission process comes into play - looking at essays, EC’s/leadership, letters of rec, rigor of curriculum.</p>

<p>As for the ACT, that test is best suited for the student who is stronger in math/science. Given the fairly even scores on the SAT, it can’t hurt to try the ACT. </p>

<p>The writing section is required for ACT because it is automatically included in SAT, but is an option for ACT. Since ACT is better for math/science people, if there were no writing component, everyone would flock to ACT for the advantage of avoiding that extra section. The requirement puts both tests on equal footing in that regard, even though the writing score is not taken into consideration for admissions. </p>

<p>“your class rigor is on the lower end of the spectrum”… you are fine. All honors classes (except math) and 3 AP’s is not lower end of spectrum for admission to the University. Having “only” 3 AP’s knocks you out of consideration for honors college (even if GPA/rank were higher), but that is honestly not a big deal.</p>

<p>There is no such thing as an advantage in the ADMISSIONS process if you are a “legacy” at UMD. I asked that a few years ago (I’m an alum and mom of a current Terp) and it holds no merit for admissions. The only thing it does is make you eligible for some scholarships specific to children of alumni.</p>

<p>The most important thing about admissions is applying by the priority Nov 1 deadline for best consideration.</p>

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<p>Thanks i’m aiming for atleast a 29 on the ACT. I am also going to have 250+ community service hours by the end of the summer</p>

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<p>bump…</p>

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<p>bumping…</p>

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<p>bumpbumpbump</p>

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<p>I’m pretty sure your question has already been answered. I don’t think anyone else is going to say much different.</p>