Transferring to UMD (Current American University Student)

Transfer Students
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Hello! I’m considering transferring out of American University, aiming for admission into the University of Maryland. I’m a freshman right now and I don’t think I’ll be able to afford AU’s exorbitant tuition going forward. My stats include:

  • 3.93 GPA fall semester
  • Federal Work Study job (working at a middle school)
  • 1 volunteer position (remote)

Are my stats okay? I’m currently looking for more volunteer opportunities, and this summer, I could possibly be a Fulbright scholar. I’ve already taken a STAT class at AU, and I’ll have completed my WRT requirement by the end of this semester. By the end of my freshman year, I’ll have all the credit hours UMD requires for transfer students.

I plan on applying for UMD’s spring semester of 2026 EA, so by August 1st. At AU, I’m undecided, but at UMD, I plan on majoring in Economics (maybe with a minor in Chinese Language). Please let me know what I should be currently doing to improve my chances of getting into UMD. If anyone’s been in my shoes before, I would appreciate some advice. Thanks!

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Forgot to mention I’m also planning on taking the ACT and adding that to my application. Does that sound like a good idea?

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Are you in-state in Maryland?

Did you apply to UMD out of high school? If so, what happened?

The ACT and SAT exams are intended for high school students. I do not think that UMD, or any other university, will care about your results once you are a university student.

This is quite good. Is this one A- amongst what are otherwise A’s?

Lots of A’s in university courses will help quite a bit. I would be cautious about doing anything that takes away from the effort that you put into your university courses.

Best wishes.

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Thank you so much for your response!!

  1. I live in Maryland, so yes, I’m in-state. I did apply to UMD as a high school senior, but got rejected.
  2. Really? I didn’t know that, thanks.
  3. Yes, I had all As in four courses and an A- in one course.
  4. Thanks for the advice, I was just unsure if my current activities were lacking.
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What were your high school stats?

I think that doing well in your university courses is the most important thing right now.

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As a transfer applicant for soph year, your HS record will be an important part of the admission decision because you will only have one year of college completed when you apply. What school/major did you apply to last year?

Will you attend American in the Fall 2025 semester? Did you have any other options last year, ones that might be more affordable than American?

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My high school stats were abysmal, which is why I’m a little worried. I ended with an unweighted 3.27 and a weighted 3.67. I never did any APs, but I did manage to complete the IB Diploma program and get my IB diploma. For my first 2 years, due to issues at home, I was absent a lot and had poor grades, so my GPA was in the 2s. Junior and senior year, I started applying myself, and raised it to what I graduated with, which was still pretty low. Hopefully my AU GPA makes up for it.

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Congrats on your academic achievements in college so far. But typically if you apply to transfer after one year of college, your HS record will be part of the review process.

Also agree that it is not worth taking the ACT now as the exam is meant for HS students.

If American is not affordable, consider applying to one or two less competitive in-state schools as well.

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Thanks for your reply!

To be honest, I can’t recall what specific school I applied to for UMD, but I think my intended major was political science.

Not to be rude, but I’ve been slowly filling out my UMD application on ApplyWeb, and it says I won’t need to submit my high school transcript if I’ve completed over 30 semester hours (by the end of this semester, I’ll have completed 34).

I don’t know if I’ll attend AU this fall. I’m still thinking things over, but I’m more inclined towards working full time at my job instead, but I don’t know if that’s a good idea. I did get into 2 other schools aside from AU, but I never found out what their aid packages were.

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Thank you!

Sorry, but on the UMD transfer application website thing-y, it says that I only have to submit my high school transcript if I’ve completed fewer than 30 credit hours post HS graduation, and by the end of this semester, I’ll have over 30 credit hours.

Thanks for your advice on the ACT. I was just contemplating it because I don’t really have any other good ideas.

I suppose I’ll also have to look into other schools in case UMD rejects me again, so thanks for the tip.

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Good that UMDs policy works in your favor.

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In the long run the effort that you are putting in now, and this uptrend in grades, is going to help you a lot.

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thank you so much for the kind words :pray:

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Office of Undergraduate Admissions | Transfer Applicants says that “If you have completed fewer than 30 semester or 45 quarter hours post high school graduation, then at the time of applying you will need to request an official copy of your final high school transcript listing all courses you have completed.” Do you already have 30 semester hours completed (not in-progress) after high school graduation?

Another option is to transfer to a Maryland community college for soph year and apply to transfer to UMD as a junior using only your college record.

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OP stated upthread that they will have over 30 credits.

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“by the end of this semester” meaning including in-progress course work.

OP should check directly with UMD since the wording on the web site implies that the 30 semester hours need to be completed.

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This tells me that no matter what, you need out.

So apply to UMD and good luck. I can’t say if you’ll get in.

But why not other in-state schools as well so you find a for sure home, whether UMBC, Salisbury, Towson, etc.

If you can’t afford AU, you can’t afford AU.

Good luck.

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OP plans to apply in August for the Spring 2026 semester and either attend the current school or work in the fall semester. 30 credits will be completed before that time.
But, of course, if there is any doubt, OP should check with UMD.

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Well OP says they are more inclined to work full time but could even go to AU.

They also talk about a Fulbright so it seems like school is where they should be.

I’m simply saying if they need out of AU and want to be in school, it shouldn’t be all or nothing on UMD.

And I feel bad for OP but to others reading thread that are future applicants, this is why budget and affordability are so critical.

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I believe that is what I said – the OP plans to work or attend AU in the fall and apply for Spring 2026. So the OP will have 30+ credits completed.

And yes, this situation is why budget is critical.

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