I agree, and almost nobody publishes how they recalculate it (though many do recalculate) - UMich, UC, and a few others I know of..
Case Western recently told us during an info session, which was great..…they recalc grades as a UW (all As are 4, all Bs are 3, etc) and also look at rigor in relation to your school (typical) I got impression they actually have some sort of score for rigor but didn’t give details..
Actually - CC should have a pinned post somewhere of schools that DO publish how they recalculate it– would be helpful…
When I see schools that have crazy high numbers I always wonder..Like how does UMD weight? The average is like a 4.5…?!
In our public schools in MD every class that is honors or advanced has a +1.0 bump, and for many subjects there isn’t really a nonhonors option. I think the only way you can take non honors English is to take the ELL version for newcomers.
It makes sense to me that a college weights their Gpa’s when reporting the way the public schools in their area do. But Twin 1’s private school, which does not weight at all gets kids into UMD with GPA’s that start with 3, so they must be recalculating either formally or informally them to match.
You mean prove it? You can cruise the threads on here regarding acceptances and offers. Same as you, I don’t have access to stats for exactly what GPA, what SAT, what other “holistic” qualifications, for which major, and from what state in the country, got what level of OOS merit, if any. However, I’m from a state next door, UMass Amherst is <90 min from my town. I saw what happened for my kids’ classmates, many of whom applied there. Most of them got OOS merit with their acceptances - seemed as if the less selective the major, and the higher their stats, the higher their offer, but the difference in offer was miniscule, like 2K/yr increments, between each level of award. If this student from MD has high stats, they’re probably going to get a very nice OOS merit offer, but it won’t bring their cost of attendance down to what it would be in-state for MD, IF the student gets in! This parent has already started that they’re making options in case he doesn’t, and for this student, UMass Amherst might be an excellent backup option.
Yeah, that was really creepy, but he wasn’t the head of the operation. In fact, both he and his murdered wife worked for dining services. It’s a massive, well-run operation, will continue as such without both of them. He was the executive sous chef, not the top person.
Oh! I misunderstood; I heard something about “Executive” in his title so I assumed, but it may have been " executive” jr something…I just pulled first link and didn’t read it either - I had heard on news a while back! Glad it isn’t the person in charge of the whole thing! I am sure then food will NOT be impacted then…
That is the issue. Not as much money going to engineering majors. It is the way they have done it for years. The applicant is good. They will get something though from my experience.
My GS is an OOS engineering major at UMass in the Honors program and lives in the honors dorm, heading into junior year. He got about $20+K in a merit award so that cost was in the high $30s. So far he loves it.
The town is definitely collegey and if College Park is not urban enough for him, then Amherst is not what he’s looking for. Having said that, Amherst is definitely not an isolated rural area. When talking about Amherst, Northampton must also be brought into the conversation. The two combined are the core of a metro area of 165,000. For live music lovers, Amherst/Northampton is the second biggest booking venue in New England after Boston. For food lovers, there are a string of great restaurants in both towns - not to mention that the food at UMass that when I was visiting my GS pointed out that locals use the cafeteria, which is permitted, as another restaurant. UMass is connected to Northampton by a college shuttle bus which runs hourly 7 days per week. As someone who lives in New England, I would say that going into Boston isn’t really a realistic option unless you’re going for the weekend or have a car. It’s too long a bus ride. Springfield and even Hartford are more realistic options.
How good is UMass for engineering? Well, it’s ABET accredited, which pretty much dictates the curriculum at any engineering college. If he’s looking for things like maker spaces or prototype labs, I suggest that you ask about those on a tour and look & see if what they have matches his interests.
If he wants engineering in a state school, why not U Minnesota, or Wisconsin, or Pitt, or Washington?
He definitely has U Minnesota on his list, although I think ideally he would like to be closer to family. He may decide to apply to Pitt. I think Wisconsin is not a match politically* for him, and while I think he would love Washington, it doesn’t seem like their OOS aid would be enough to be affordable.
*In case you didn’t see my other post, he has a twin who is trans. At this point he feels very strongly that if his brother won’t feel safe visiting it’s not the state for him. He might consider PA or VA since both are close to home which is another priority but other than that he is planning to apply only to bright blue states.
Buffalo is on our list to check out, but thank you!
I am now curious about two schools. If I make a list of the brightest blue states, most of the state flagships have come up as possibilities. Some of the ones that don’t come up, my guess is it’s because they are too rural (UConn, URI) or pretty much guaranteed not to be affordable (Cal, UCLA).
But two bright blue schools that seem pretty urban and no one brings up are Oregon and Rutgers. I’m curious why. Any thoughts on those two?
Rutgers is a good school, but I wouldn’t suggest picking it over your in-state UMD. In the (unlikely, IMO) case that your son doesn’t get accepted into UMD engineering, UMass would be a better pick than Rutgers because it’s more likely to offer merit scholarships, and you don’t have to ride buses all over campus like you do at Rutgers.
I thought of both but didn’t suggest either because I didn’t think they were urban enough, given that College Park wasn’t urban enough for him despite being right on the edge of the city with easy access to DC.
It’s worth noting that Oregon saw a major decline in out-of-state enrollments last year, creating a $65 million budget short fall, which resulted in major cuts.
I’m going to tack an additional question on, that may also be relevant to OP’s son, although mods can always delete and ask me to create a new but related thread. Any experience specifically with the UMass Honors program? OP’s son seems to have stats that could make that an option for him. UMass is very large but I’ve heard the Honors program has a unique way of being a campus within a campus to make it seem not quite as overwhelming.
I’ve had a fair amount of contact with UMass over many years. It always seemed very large to me - larger than I would like if I were going to college today.
However . . . Seeing it through my grandson’s eyes has been a completely different experience. He is in the Honors program and was offered a spot in the Honors dorm, which he took. The dorm itself is beautiful. One of the benefits is that the dorm itself is relatively quiet - probably because it houses conscientious kids who are studying more than they are partying.
The best thing about it is the location. He likes to work out and when he walks out the front
door of his dorm, the work out gym is right across the path. He likes to eat and there is a small cafe right there as well. In addition, one of the main cafeterias is just a couple of buildings to the right after walking out of his dorm. He’s an engineering student and the engineering building is just a couple of more buildings beyond the cafeteria. It definitely feels small.
In contrast, the flagship university in my state does not have the dorms well integrated into the lay out of the academic buildings, so everything seems far away from the residence halls, many of which are not only far but up hills. Everything is a bus ride. Distance matters in a cold New England winter or in the rain anywhere.
When I’ve asked him, he’s said that the Honors program hasn’t been a factor in his academic life. No special seminars. If there’s preferential registration, he hasn’t mentioned it. He’s a conscientious kid, so I imagine that he’d be at the front of the line for course registrations anyway. In addition, he’s just finished sophomore year and in the first 2 years the engineering program is pretty prescribed. I don’t know if it would be different if he were in something like humanities or business.
Unrelated to the honors program is the fact that he’s a lacrosse player and he joined a club team immediately as soon as he stepped on campus. As an out of state student, that helped him to have a friend group immediately and those are still his close friends after 2 years despite the fact that he roots for the Yankees, Knicks, and Giants while they root for the Red Sox, Celtics, and Patriots,
I hope that helps. If there are any specific questions, I can ask him.
