Should I appeal my decision? [UMD Honors College]

[SoofDad]

This is quite a discussion.

I want to state upfront that a student can be successful at UMD and in life without Honors, Scholars, or any other special program. UMD has many opportunities for student involvement in research and other activities, BUT the student must look for them and they are easy to find. A much more important opportunity for students, IMO, is Departmental Honors. This requires a student to complete and defend an original Honors Thesis Research Project.
I am including the following link because I think it is relevant to this discussion.

The Value and Prestige of Living Learning Programs

First off, congrats to all new Terps! There have been a LOT of questions about the value of doing living learning programs (LLPs), the prestige in general and relative to other LLPs. I think it would be valuable for new admits to have a separate thread on this specific topic. I am merely starting the discussion, and fully expect to see other parents (and hopefully current students) give their perspectives. While FIRE is technically not a LLP, for the sake of admission decisions and this topic, I think it’s appropriate to include it in this discussion since it is a special program invite. First let me address the question of VALUE: is it worth doing these programs or is it a distraction for students with particularly intense/rigorous/challenging majors such as engineering. I use engineering as my example simply because I can speak to that specifically as the mother of an engineer. Short answer? Yes, absolutely sign up/accept the invite to the program. -Being placed in one of these…