UMD - Transfer Notes (fall 2015)

1)      Current applicants for Transfer Admission for Fall 2015 seem to be receiving decisions now if they did not get a decision back in April.  Students may APPEAL a denial decision if they have new information to add to their file.  For example, some students may not have sent in a Final MC Spring Transcript showing completion of courses and credits – if this is the case, an appeal might be appropriate; however, the student should not hold their breath as most transfer seats are already filled.  Students can contact UM Admissions to ask for an Appeals Form.  Not many are granted; the student may just need to reapply for Spring and pay another application fee.  One student’s appeal was denied for “lack of a compelling reason” so the appeals statement MUST be compelling!

2)      UM’s next Transfer Application Priority Deadline is Saturday, August 1^st.  Any student hoping to transfer for admission in Spring 2015 should apply to UM by this deadline.  We have sent students messages about this deadline through MyMC e-mail, and another reminder goes out today.  ALL materials must be submitted and RECEIVED by this deadline – scores such as SAT / AP / CLEP if applicable, and transcripts from ANY other institutions attended, including international institutions.  Requests for MC Transcripts must be send by Wed. of next week to assure processing.  Simply requesting the MC transcript by Aug. 1 is not sufficient.   Materials received after August 1^st cause an application to go into the Regular rather than Priority group – students receive decisions in very late December to Mid-January – ditto for MTAP students who are finishing up requirements shown below in #6 – this means a late acceptance, a very late Orientation, and a last-minute Spring Schedule at UM for Spring.  80% of all Transfer Admits are granted to Priority Deadline applicants, so a later application by the Nov. 1^st Regular Deadline is very risky.

3)      A rule of thumb is that if a course with a “CR” appears on the MC Transcript, it must be accounted for – AP, IB, CLEP, Military Credit, or MC-MCPS High School Credit.   Official copies of AP/IB scores must requested by the student to be sent to UM.   One student’s application was considered late because he had not included a Military Transcript for the HLTH 100,  PHED 888 and MGMT 101 credit he received on his MC Transcript.  This is a bit fuzzy because the UM transcript does not ask for military transcripts – but send them!   Ditto for credits granted by MC for MCPS classes in NWIT, CMAP, etc – for those, an explanation of credit should be included in the Essay so UMCP can see where they came from even though there is not a transcript for those credits.   The details regarding the application can be found in this Transfer Times article:  http://mctransfertimes.blogspot.com/2015/07/applying-to-umcp-for-spring-2016.html

4)      Recommendations for the UMCP Transfer Application – these are OPTIONAL for transfer students in all majors, both LEP and Non-LEP, except BMGT – BUSINESS which DOES require 2 Recommendations.  Students who say that a Counselor and an Instructor Recommendation are required are probably filling out the FRESHMAN form instead of the TRANSFER form within the APPLY website – have them check this.
 

5)      Students who apply by August 1^st with a completed application will hear a decision in mid-October.  Students need to be pro-active if they feel they sent everything in on-time but do not hear anything in October.  Same is true for current students who have not hear a decision on their Fall 2015 applications yet - UMCP does not send out messages to explain that an application was considered late.  Students should call UMCP Admissions to find out what’s going on if they are still waiting to hear from UM for Fall 2015, and they should call in late October if they applied by the Priority Deadline of August 1^st.

6)      MTAP Guarantee of Admission – This is offered ONLY if the student applies by a Priority Deadline.  Students who have all MTAP requirements showing on their transcripts as COMPLETED will get a decision in October.  Those with one or more criteria in progress ( 3.0 overall GPA, finishing up 30 credits in Fall 2015, or completing one or both of ENGL 102/103 and/or MATH 110 or higher) will have their applications reviewed in mid-January AFTER the student sends an official copy of their transcript in early January once all Fall Grades are posted.  They can count on admission if they meet all of the qualifications showing on their late December/early January transcript showing Fall grades posted – but it is a RISK to sign a lease on an apartment until the final admissions decision has been offered and accepted.  With a January Admissions decision, students will not go to Orientation & register until late January and sometimes on the first day of classes @ UM.  Caution students in this situation to plan for a Spring MC schedule as well just in case…

7)      TAKING A COURSE THROUGH MTAP THIS FALL:  Some students are confused and think that they MUST take a course through MTAP to be in the Guaranteed Admission Program.  Not so.  This is primarily a benefit for students in majors where there are not equivalent courses for specialized majors offered at MC; for example, Animal Science or Computer Science. 

8)      COMPUTER SCIENCE TRANSFER STUDENTS & MTAP FORMS  Many COMPUTER SCIENCE transfer students want to take CMSC 131 at UMCP because of the current lack of transferability of MC’s CMSC 203 Computer Science I.  MC is working on this issue – but for now, if a student wants to take CMSC 131 at UM, MC counselors need to sign the CIS Form at the bottom to verify that the student has taken or will be taking MATH 181 Calculus I and is in good standing at MC – a 2.0 overall GPA or higher.  A 3.0 is not required – however, caution students please if they have less than a 3.0 as CMSC is extremely difficult from all reports.

https://www.admissions.umd.edu/page_documents/MTAP_Process_to_complete_CIS_form.pdf

9)      MTAP DEPARTMENT PERMISSION on the Bottom of the CIS Form is given AFTER the student submits the CIS Form – MTAP Coordinator Hollin Roberts ( hrobert1@umd.edu ) contacts the student AFTER the CIS Form has been submitted and she gives the student directions on how to get UMCP Departmental Permission if it is required.  Encourage students to submit their CIS forms as a scanned attachment to Ms. Roberts.  MC has already sent a transcript for all MTAP students so this is not a requirement for the student to submit the CIS.

10)   The Next Open Enrollment for MTAP will be from Sept. 20 to Nov. 1^st – this will become a live link in the UMCP Apply Application website.  New freshmen will be encouraged to enroll in MTAP in September.

Hope this helps!  I check e-mail frequently, feel free to send questions or have students e-mail me directly -

Anne Schleicher