Hello, Counselors and
Advisors,
It’s Open Season for MC
students to enroll in MTAP! MTAP – the
Maryland Transfer Advantage Program at
the University of Maryland, College Park is accepting new students now
(late September) until Nov. 15th of this Fall 2017 semester.
Please read over the flyer which goes into detailed information about
requirements and frequently asked questions.
If you want to earn your Master’s in MTAP, study the full website: www.admissions.umd.edu/apply/mtap.php?rv=1
Important Advising
Notes:
1)
A BIG CHANGE to MTAP this Fall 2017: MTAP will no
longer will count a student’s AP Advanced Placement or IB International
Baccalaureate credits toward the 30-credit minimum needed to meet MTAP transfer
requirements. A student can still use an AP English Language &
Comp test (score of 4 or 5) to show that they’ve completed Fundamental English
(= MC’s ENGL 102) or use AP Calc or AP Statistics scores of 4 or higher or IB
Math (check the chart)
to show that they’ve fulfilled College Math, but even those AP/IB credits still
do not count in the total of 30 credits. They may continue to use credits
earned at other colleges to reach the 30 credits, but they must take at least
15 credits at MC, and of those 15 credits, 12 must be earned after graduation
from high school.
2)
The Guarantee of Admission only applies to MTAP students
who have all 30 credits SHOWING AS COMPLETED at the time of transfer
application by a Priority Deadline of March 1 or August 1. In the
past, students who applied by March 1 who were in the process of finishing up
30 credits that semester were almost always admitted after
submitting a final transcript in late May, and they may still continue be
admitted that way, but because it is on a SPACE-AVAILABLE basis, students
cannot count on that admission. This is addressed on
the back of the Half Page Flyer – but we also want you to be able to tell
students not to assume that they will be admitted and sign a lease on an
apartment or invest in that deluxe Fear the Turtle sweatshirt, etc. if they are
still in the process of finishing the 30 credits when they apply to
transfer. Students who have all 30 credits completed by March 1 when they
submit a transfer admission application will hear a decision in mid-April;
those with the 30 credits in progress usually get a decision in very late June
or early July.
3)
ALL students who plan to transfer to UM should
enroll in MTAP, regardless of major.
(Yes, even Business & Engineering majors, among others!) UM gives
transfer admission priority to applicants in MTAP, and even those in
competitive majors (LEP’s) like Business, Engineering, etc. should apply as
they often will not be admitted to their LEP major until after they have
first been admitted to the University. In the past, in the Fall
semester, the Smith School has not made admissions decisions until very late
October/early November, after general admissions offers have been sent
out in mid October. [See more notes about Smith below].
Engineering students applying in both Fall and Spring may be in the process of
finishing up a Gateway Requirement in the semester they are applying so they
should also apply to MTAP to get that first General Admission decision to the
University.
Other General UM Transfer
Advising Notes:
1) Regarding LEP’s www.lep.umd.edu
– this are MC advising observations – the one LEP that
consistently seems to require a GPA higher than a 3.0 continues to be the Smith
Business School at the Main Campus. Smith students admitted to
the Main Campus typically have a 3.5 overall GPA or higher; and of their
courses, grades of A’s and B’s in Business classes seem to be preferred (both
ACCT’s, ECON’s, MATH 150 and MATH 117). This means that the student
who has a 3.5 but who has a few C’s in business classes may not be admitted to
BMGT– an overall 3.5 is not an automatic admit to Smith. LEP Programs at
the Main Campus continue to be stringent on meeting Gateway requirements and
repeat policies; UMCP
programs at Shady Grove (including the Smith School) seem somewhat more
flexible.
2) Changes to AP
Advanced Placement Scores accepted
– please use caution when advising
students who have AP scores. www.transfercredit.umd.edu/plc.html#ap
The notable change is that the AP Government & Politics test minimum score
is now a 4.
Here’s a quick
summary: UM now requires an AP score of 4 or higher for all AP tests
except in these three subjects:
a.
AP Art History –
3, 4, 5 accepted
b.
AP English
Language and Composition – a score of 3 continues to transfer as a Lower Level
Elective (= MC’s ENGL 101); a 4 or 5 satisfies the English Fundamental
Studies/ENGL requirement
c.
AP English
Literature and Composition – a score of 3 continues to transfer as a Lower
Level Elective only; a 4 or 5 grants 6 credits for ENGL 240 Literature + a
Lower Level Elective.
3) English
Language Proficiency Change
- good news for non-native speakers of
English – UM now exempts transfer students from taking the TOEFL if they
have “55+ credits from a U.S. institution with
coursework equivalent to English Compositions 1 and 2”. No longer will transfer students meeting this
requirement have to complete an Associate’s Degree OR take the TOEFL test to
demonstrate English proficiency. While finishing an Associate’s is
beneficial for most students, it may not always be possible, so this new policy
provides some flexibility. www.admissions.umd.edu/apply/englishproficiency.php
4)
This is not a change, but worth repeating – students who have finished MC’s General Education Program
and then transfer will have fulfilled UM’s lower level Gen Ed requirements and they will need to take only two more
Gen Ed courses after transfer – an upper-level English and one other Gen Ed
course. Students who do not complete MC’s Gen Ed Program may need
to fulfill additional UM Gen Ed courses in areas like Scholarship in Practice,
I-Series, Diversity, etc. If
a student has not finished an Associate’s degree but they have finished MC Gen
Ed requirements, they can request that MC stamp their transcript with a “General
Education Program Completed” notation by submitting a form to MC’s Admissions Office – find it
always by searching for “Forms” in the MC Search Box – General Education Evaluation Request form
Fortunately for all of us, we
can provide all Hopeful Terp’s with a Starfish Referral to meet with UM
Pre-Transfer Advisor Tyler McClenithan who can interpret MTAP rules and
reg’s and answer other questions for students aspiring to transfer to UM.
Thank you, Tyler!
Anne Schleicher, Counselor
Montgomery College
20200 Observation Drive, SA 249
Germantown, MD 20876
240-567-1991; Fax 240-567-1985
