The Clark School of Engineering at Maryland is a Limited Enrollment Program (LEP). Not everyone who applies will be admitted. This is a step-by-step guide to help those who are denied entry. This guide is unofficial and has not been endorsed by the University of Maryland.
It may seem trivial – either you get in or you don’t. But you can spend huge amounts of time and money on community college to prepare for transfer into the Maryland Engineering LEP. One student spent three semesters at Montgomery College with a 4.0 GPA, and even had work experience as an engineer. He went through several transfer audits with representatives from Maryland years ahead of time. But he didn’t find out until his first semester at Maryland that one class he repeated ten years earlier would keep him out of the Engineering LEP. The problem is that the University simply can’t guarantee you admission until you apply. So the possibility of denial, however unlikely, always exists.
- 1. Get denied! Before appealing the Engineering LEP decision, you have to get them to make a decision. The decision of whether or not to admit a student into the Engineering LEP is based on a few simple criteria. If you fall on the borderline of meeting the requirements you will be very likely denied on your first try, so go ahead and get started on Step 2. If you are already a student at UMD, skip to step 3.
- 2New or transfer students: If you apply to UMD as an engineering major and you meet the requirements for new or transfer students to get into UMD but you don’t meet the requirements for the Engineering LEP, you’ll get a nice acceptance letter. Before you get excited and tell all your friends, check what major your nice acceptance letter says you have. If it says “LTSC Undecided,” then you didn’t meet the requirements for the Engineering LEP, but you still got into the University. Follow the instructions from the LTSC advising department, and sign up for as many classes as you can that will be useful towards the engineering major you so desperately want. After your first semester at UMD, go to step 3.
- 3Current UMD students: After you become a Maryland student you can only apply to the Engineering LEP one (more) time. The soonest you can apply is after one semester at Maryland, and you may not hear back before the next semester starts. Before you apply to the Clark School (again), try to predict whether or not your only remaining application will be denied. The Engineering LEP’s Transfer Coordinator should be able to help you guess what your final admission decision will be. The Transfer Coordinator is especially helpful if you have repeated any classes, which can cause you to be denied in certain cases. The Coordinator cannot, however, compute your official GPA. Your official GPA from any courses outside Maryland is computed by the Office Undergraduate Admissions. The Office of the Registrar then combines that with any courses you take at Maryland for your overall GPA. After checking your official GPA, if it looks you’re going to be denied because of your classes or grades at another school, you might want to check that they’re correct (see the Tips section).
- 4Apply: Submit an online application to the Clark School. The deadlines are givenhere for Spring and Fall. Be sure to take the opportunity to practice your professional writing skills by including a resume and personal statement with your application. Your written statements will probably not carry as much weight as your grades, but take your time and use every opportunity to demonstrate your abilities. Now, sit back and hope for denial so you can begin the magical appeal process!
- 5Appeal! Find out exactly why you were denied: You should receive an email within two weeks of the application deadline. The email will give detailed reasons for your denial and a link to the online appeal form. You must follow any instructions in this email exactly.
