U. of Maryland...lowered Minimum Comp required?!

[BelleMD2B]

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After researching UMB for over a year, and wrapping my mind around the 80 comp/6o Bio & Chem minimum requirement, I checked on PharmCAS and it states that the minimum is now a 70.

Confused, I called the school for clarity, and the minimum comp is now a 70!

I wonder why they lowered the minimum requirement. Anyone else know about this and perplexed as much as me?

Don't get me wrong, bodes well for my stats (I hit the 80 comp on the head!), but I'm just confused that they would be "lowering their standards."

 

[rxlea]

My theory: they want more diversity in their program. Non-native English speakers may score considerably lower in verbal and rc which can bring down their composite to below 80 (even if they score the minimum in bio and chem).

 

[prrrd]

My theory: two more schools in the area so more competition for the pharmacy school for applicants! And both schools are new and require lower scores.

 

[Elisaveth]

Maybe they want to make more money in getting mediocre applicants to apply. Money talks.

 

[weetzie00]

I'm almost positive they lowered that last year. I remember them explaining that when I was applying myself and attended an open house. Maybe PharmCAS's page wasn't updated until this year. Anyway, they said they lowered it to allow for a larger range of scores since the school puts a huge emphasis on the entire package. She explicitly said as an example that someone with a high GPA would still be a good applicant if they scored on the lower end of the PCAT range and vice versa. It's not for someone who scored the minimum for each component. It's to allow leniency so that if you're strong elsewhere, you'll still be considered. Also what Lea said... they love diversity.

 

[BelleMD2B]

Thanks Weetzie. Makes sense.

I can't see Md as a school wanting to milk people for every dime it can; your explanation is helpful.

 

[tungsten87]

diploma mill.

 

[rxlea]

diploma mill.

I hope you're just trying to be funny. It is far from being a diploma mill.

 

[prrrd]

diploma mill.

jealous of the rank much? lol

 

[Elisaveth]

Thanks Weetzie. Makes sense.

I can't see Md as a school wanting to milk people for every dime it can; your explanation is helpful.

It's not a dime, it's quite a lot of money when you think about how many more applicants are forecasted to apply when the minimum comp has been lowered.

They have an explanation for open houses, but, trust me, the extra $65 per student who thinks the lowered comp score means that it gives them an equal chance doesn't hurt in terms of revenue. Universities are a business. Nonprofit status, but they are still interested in money and donors and states aren't shelling it out given the state of the economy. Additionally, this initiative lets UMD increase the number of applicants while maintaining the same class size, same avg scores, etc. so they can appear even more selective, if they're trying to appeal to rankings reports.

The diversity stuff is just something that plays well with potential applicants. They aren't going to tell you to their face that they look forward to collecting more money from people who wouldn't have applied if the min comp hadn't been lowered. You can bet your boots the decision was money driven. Any new initiative that amounts to getting more revenue gets approval. Otherwise it would have ended up on the cutting room floor.

 

[rxlea]

It's not a dime, it's quite a lot of money when you think about how many more applicants are forecasted to apply when the minimum comp has been lowered.

They have an explanation for open houses, but, trust me, the extra $65 per student who thinks the lowered comp score means that it gives them an equal chance doesn't hurt in terms of revenue. Universities are a business. Nonprofit status, but they are still interested in money and donors and states aren't shelling it out given the state of the economy. Additionally, this initiative lets UMD increase the number of applicants while maintaining the same class size, same avg scores, etc. so they can appear even more selective, if they're trying to appeal to rankings reports.

The diversity stuff is just something that plays well with potential applicants. They aren't going to tell you to their face that they look forward to collecting more money from people who wouldn't have applied if the min comp hadn't been lowered. You can bet your boots the decision was money driven. Any new initiative that amounts to getting more revenue gets approval. Otherwise it would have ended up on the cutting room floor.

1. [citation needed]
2. Who is "they"?

 

[Elisaveth]

1. [citation needed]
2. Who is "they"?

1. http://www.popecenter.org/acrobat/revenue-to-cost-spiral.pdf
(You can feel free to say, "Oh, but the altruistic folks at UMD's pharm school wouldn't do that! They're selfishless admissions officers. I bet they don't even know how to read a budget!" Seriously though, I think they probably have a matrix of scores to GPAs that they use and show the statistical likelihood of getting in that they choose not to share because that volume of applications has to be pared down before the handful of people can actually review the ones who aren't instant admits or instance rejects and review the gray area applicants in manageable batches. They don't need to show us the matrix probably because it would deter the revenue generated from application fees and shrink the application pool to only competitive applicants. And it's not their fault that's how it operates. Money is always welcome at the financially strapped state universities.)

2. "They" refers to the admissions committee and the university's administrators.

I'm curious to see how this plays out with this year's application pool.

 

[BelleMD2B]

1. http://www.popecenter.org/acrobat/revenue-to-cost-spiral.pdf

I'm curious to see how this plays out with this year's application pool.

This is of biggest interest to me. I was okay before they lowered the minimum, but I am curious if I went to UMB, if this would be something that would be taken into consideration come graduation if I chose to go the residency route.

As in, would hospitals say "Oh, c/o 2015 is the year they lowered their standards and that class is not as strong."

At the end of the day, I suppose its connections with the hospital centers in the area will hold strong. It's still a great school.

 

[Elisaveth]

This is of biggest interest to me. I was okay before they lowered the minimum, but I am curious if I went to UMB, if this would be something that would be taken into consideration come graduation if I chose to go the residency route.

As in, would hospitals say "Oh, c/o 2015 is the year they lowered their standards and that class is not as strong."

At the end of the day, I suppose its connections with the hospital centers in the area will hold strong. It's still a great school.

It's an excellent school and no one will question it.

 

[weetzie00]

This is of biggest interest to me. I was okay before they lowered the minimum, but I am curious if I went to UMB, if this would be something that would be taken into consideration come graduation if I chose to go the residency route.

As in, would hospitals say "Oh, c/o 2015 is the year they lowered their standards and that class is not as strong."

At the end of the day, I suppose its connections with the hospital centers in the area will hold strong. It's still a great school.

That's silly. The school has a reputation that it has built over nearly two hundred years. A few years ago, biochemistry used to be a pre-req and now it's not. Did that deem the classes who graduated after that subpar? Your PharmCAS application is used to decide whether you get an interview invite, not determine your worth as a successful pharmacist. That's what succeeding as a pharmacy student does.

It's only 10 percentile...

 

[weetzie00]

Not to mention, all it will do is increase the size of the applicant pool. It won't lower the caliber of those that apply. It won't make applying any easier, if anything, it makes it harder imo.

 

[BelleMD2B]

Clearly...the paranoia is setting in.

I'll be glad when it's all over.

 

[sha2nkjp]

When i applied last year, the composite score was 70 even on PHARCAS. I got accepted last year and all student i know so far has composite score at least 80. I hope this helps. Also, program is very competitive. I see lot of students even with high PCAT score to stumble in the classes, so i think this might be one of reason where admissions committee is looking for people who can do better, and they manage to score 78% on PCATS