Not a lot of kids from my daughter’s school go to UMD. There was only 1 that went last year. And my daughter will be the only one going this year if she decides to go there. In my son’s graduating class, there was only 1 student as well. But my daughter is still waiting on Georgetown. Most of kids at the school go to VA schools. The kids that do go out-of-state are kind of spread out at different schools all across the country, like one at each school, like USC, Tulane, Air Force Academy, etc. So if there is an algorithm, it didn’t work in our favor.
Good luck!!! We’re also waiting on Georgetown (our top choice) …and USC (son’s top choice).
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My son was awarded the Presidential Scholarship for $70k. We are OOS (Texas) and he is majoring in Bioengineering. He was not chosen for the honors program.
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Thinking of Georgetown, I wonder how this works in the admissions process. How do you “normalize” a regular high school against a school like Thomas Jefferson? Is this how a top-ranking kid at a regular school has a good shot?
My son’s email said Presidential Scholarship and it was for $70k.
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Would you mind sharing the explanation of honors program requirements they sent your daughter?
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I don’t know the exact process but I’m guessing it’s pretty subjective for each AO. But that 3rd party service at least allows them to see the extent to which each student took advantage of the opportunities available to them at their specific schools.
I think yes. And schools like Georgetown may also want diversity across multiple criteria beyond race and income.
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The school basically said it took certain factors such as state status and major into consideration and mentioned the minimum GPA and SAT of those that qualified. I don’t remember the exact factors or figures. I just remember the stats were high and thinking my daughter’s high school didn’t seem to have prepared the high ranking kids enough to compete with the kids from other schools.
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UMD’s merit scholarships do not consider financial need or ability. You can get a merit award even if you didn’t submit FAFSA.
But I agree they likely consider your enrollment probability using their prediction models, and will give more aid if they really want you and they think you might select a different school.
Is this higher ranked school an in state school for you? If UMD’s algorithm predicts your kid very likely got into this school it’s reasonable to assume she will enroll there instead of UMD. Might not be the case specifically for your D, but that’s a very reasonable assumption overall. The ranking itself doesn’t matter - yield probability does.
The higher ranked school is out of state too. Honestly, I just don’t think her scores were high enough. Top ten at her high school, just isn’t top ten elsewhere. The other high ranked kids at her school were deferred or rejected from their top choice out of state schools. I think the kids were only aware of how they measured within their school and not necessarily those outside of it. In the long run they’ll all be fine. I just feel bad for the kids though because they all worked so hard.
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Kids are only measured in the context of their high school against their own peers for admissions, but it’s nebulous if any of those factors play into merit aid. Our (high achieving) kid goes to a public school that does not rank, where many are test optional, that is competitive (wide variety of colleges from Ivies to non-flagship state schools) but not as intense as others, and where most prefer to stay in state. We were very surprised about the merit aid because we assumed they needed criteria that wasn’t provided (like a test score, ranking, etc.).
“Invitations to the Honors College are extended to new first-year students who demonstrate exceptional academic ability and promise. Students’ applications are carefully evaluated on the basis of academic achievement in high school, rigor of high school program, application essays, letters of recommendation, participation in extracurricular activities and standardized test scores. Please note, UMD is currently test-optional. Applicants have the option of choosing whether to submit an SAT/ACT score and whether those scores will be considered in the review of their application for admission. If students choose not to submit test scores, they will still be fully evaluated for admission, invitation to Honors and considered for all merit scholarships. “
Also see webinar from the fall, 11:43 slide titled “Honors Invitation”
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Yay, congrats! $70k here too, OOS TX for CS, no honors 
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Son awarded $40K Presidential Scholarship. OOS Material Science Engineering Major. No honors program mention. Thankful but concerned with cumulative GPA requirement and other strict stipulations to maintain scholarship as an engineering major.
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Congratulations!. How was the student notified? Email? umd email or personal email?
He received notification last night to his personal college only e-mail (used for application). Scholarship was listed right in e-mail and didn’t need to log into portal to see award. E-mail titled “Hey Terp, News You’ve Been Waiting For”
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Anyone admitted to Smith Business School and Carillon Communities received scholarship email? We have not heard anything yet?
Oh, I didn’t even think to ask my son about the GPA requirement! Do you remember what it is? My son is also engineering. Thanks!
My student received a very small amount of President’s scholarship, OOS, Engineering. Needs to maintain 3.2GPA for the scholarship.
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Nothing yet. But I read that scholarships offers will be coming throughout the month of March until April 1st.