University of Maryland Fall '12 Admissions

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Hello. First year here to answer your questions as well!

Members don't see this ad.
 
Do you know when we receive a notification from the school as to whether we get an interview or not?

Maryland does not have rolling admissions, therefore, even if your file has been received and deemed complete by the admissions committee, it will not be reviewed until all applications are received - something which typically occurs in mid-January.

As I often say, students need to be cognizant of the fact that some schools of pharmacy prefer to evaluate entire applications - not simply the numbers. In that light, tell me, considering the hours of effort you put into writing the application, how long would you like an admissions committee to review your application? 10 minutes? 30? Now multiply by 1500 because EVERY applicant is equally deserving of that effort. Then you will begin to have an appreciation for the energy that Maryland expends in selecting the best candidates (not merely the highest scoring ones) for interviews.

I urge patience.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Maryland does not have rolling admissions, therefore, even if your file has been received and deemed complete by the admissions committee, it will not be reviewed until all applications are received - something which typically occurs in mid-January.

As I often say, students need to be cognizant of the fact that some schools of pharmacy prefer to evaluate entire applications - not simply the numbers. In that light, tell me, considering the hours of effort you put into writing the application, how long would you like an admissions committee to review your application? 10 minutes? 30? Now multiply by 1500 because EVERY applicant is equally deserving of that effort. Then you will begin to have an appreciation for the energy that Maryland expends in selecting the best candidates (not merely the highest scoring ones) for interviews.

I urge patience.

Well said!
 
Do you know when we receive a notification from the school as to whether we get an interview or not?

I did not do early admission. The email I received for interview notification was dated Jan 20th. I had options for interviews from the 28th of Jan to the 10th of Feb.

Although Dr. Drugs is correct they do not do rolling admissions as far as early applicants getting an advantage, it seems to me that if they are not getting the applicants they want in interviews, they will open up later rounds of interviews. I know of some students who had these later interviews. Presumably that also means they were notified of this invite at a later time.
 
Last edited:
is there a email for the admissions at UM? They don't seem to have one available for applicants....
 
Although Dr. Drugs is correct they do not do rolling admissions as far as early applicants getting an advantage, it seems to me that if they are not getting the applicants they want in interviews, they will open up later rounds of interviews. I know of some students who had these later interviews. Presumably that also means they were notified of this invite at a later time.

PharmCAS is often very tardy with their submission of application materials to schools. As they complete the verification of academic work, transcripts etc, they slowly make this material available to schools. Unfortunately, sometimes that is not done in a timely fashion. Thus, due to no fault of the student applicant, to be fair, the school will re-open interviews for those candidates. Sometimes, this has led to interviews as late as March. There is no sense in penalizing competitive candidates for doing what they have been asked to do. Again, this is quite telling of who the people at Maryland are and what they stand for. Its something I am personally very proud of... and equally disappointed in other schools which do not act in such fashion.

Personally, I wish PharmCAS would simply disappear altogether, but its not going anywhere....
 
I applied to Maryland and I really like their program... but I have been reading about Baltimore and whatever I read it seems to mention how high the crime rate is and how the surrounding area of the school is not that safe. Is there anyone here who could comment on this? I would greatly appreciate it. I'm coming from Houston, and the area I live in is quite sketchy I need to admit, but I can still go out and walk after 6-7 pm and feel safe...
Also, what do people think of the low Naplex pass rates of this school? (compared to other schools I mean, I guess 90% in general may be considered good)
Please do not get me wrong, I'm just trying to gather some information, not claim that Maryland isn't good because of this. I'm jus curious on how people take this into their consideration when deciding on what schools to apply to...
(Also, I am an international student, so I apologize for my English in advance)
 
I applied to Maryland and I really like their program... but I have been reading about Baltimore and whatever I read it seems to mention how high the crime rate is and how the surrounding area of the school is not that safe. Is there anyone here who could comment on this? I would greatly appreciate it. I'm coming from Houston, and the area I live in is quite sketchy I need to admit, but I can still go out and walk after 6-7 pm and feel safe...
Also, what do people think of the low Naplex pass rates of this school? (compared to other schools I mean, I guess 90% in general may be considered good)
Please do not get me wrong, I'm just trying to gather some information, not claim that Maryland isn't good because of this. I'm jus curious on how people take this into their consideration when deciding on what schools to apply to...
(Also, I am an international student, so I apologize for my English in advance)

The school isn't in the safest of areas, but its not the absolute worst. I have lived in some pretty scary parts of cities in the past - places where gang or drug-related shootings are common.... and UMB is NOTHING compared to that. Act smart, think smart, be patient and wait ten minutes for the caravan late at night instead of being impatient and walking. Just do the smart thing and you're fine. I have walked around west Baltimore as late as 4 or even 6 am.... never once been hassled.

As far as the NAPLEX bit goes... the failure has several reasons. 1) The school doesn't teach to the exam. 2) The school has a short review course but nothing intensive. Both are things which other schools do. And three, most of the failures are not actually the substantive portion of the naplex, its failure of the law exam (maryland's law course is in the middle of a re-vamp because its so poorly taught)... maryland grads don't fail the naplex because they don't know pharmacy. That they know really darn well.
 
The school isn't in the safest of areas, but its not the absolute worst. I have lived in some pretty scary parts of cities in the past - places where gang or drug-related shootings are common.... and UMB is NOTHING compared to that. Act smart, think smart, be patient and wait ten minutes for the caravan late at night instead of being impatient and walking. Just do the smart thing and you're fine. I have walked around west Baltimore as late as 4 or even 6 am.... never once been hassled.

As far as the NAPLEX bit goes... the failure has several reasons. 1) The school doesn't teach to the exam. 2) The school has a short review course but nothing intensive. Both are things which other schools do. And three, most of the failures are not actually the substantive portion of the naplex, its failure of the law exam (maryland's law course is in the middle of a re-vamp because its so poorly taught)... maryland grads don't fail the naplex because they don't know pharmacy. That they know really darn well.

Thank you so much; this is really helpful. I know they're a great school; that's why I was surprised at the lower-compared-to-other-good schools rates.

And the pharmacy building (of which they have photos on their website) just looks incredible.

I'd appreciate any other comments regarding this topic :) thank you all.
 
I applied to Maryland and I really like their program... but I have been reading about Baltimore and whatever I read it seems to mention how high the crime rate is and how the surrounding area of the school is not that safe. Is there anyone here who could comment on this? I would greatly appreciate it. I'm coming from Houston, and the area I live in is quite sketchy I need to admit, but I can still go out and walk after 6-7 pm and feel safe...

It's like anywhere else. Act smart, travel in groups if possible, and use the caravan service if needed. The university police have a great presence on campus, and send out alerts if an incident does arise.

There definitely are some questionable areas in Baltimore, but you'd have to wander quite far from the campus or downtown of the city to get there.
 
I just wanted to comment on the NAPLEX score. The scores for the last year graduating class was released and it was 96%, with our student scoring better than national average in every section. I want to point out it is not because of the curriculum that some of the students fail...it is because those students that did fail, did not put in adequate preparation for the NAPLEX, having only studied for 1-2 weeks in advance. Our school is well aware of the NAPLEX issue and is constantly working to improve it. Some students have taken this issue into their own hands and have formed the NAPLEX committee (in conjunction with the Dean's office). So if you make an effort, you won't be those 3-4 students who failed. Also it be noted that our school is very clinical base and that's why some student have problems with the material on the NAPLEX (more community based - top 200 drugs brand/generic, calculations...etc). However now in the new curriculum (starting with my class), we have Abilities Lab for 3 years to drill in our heads brand/generic and calculations.

Sorry if there are [grammatical] mistakes, I wrote this on the tiny screen on my iPhone.
 
Last edited:
Members don't see this ad :)
I just wanted to comment on the NAPLEX score. They just released the scores for the last year graduating class and it was 96%, with our student scoring better than national average in every section. I wanted to point out it is not because of the curriculum that some of the students fail...it is actually because those students that did not prepare themselves for the NAPLEX, having only studied 1-2 weeks in advance. Our school is well award of the NAPLEX and is constantly working to improve it. Some of the students have taken this issue into their own hands and have formed the NAPLEX committee (in conjunction with the Dean's office). So if you make an effort, you won't be those 3-4 students who failed. Also it was noted that our school is very clinical base and that's why some student have problems with the material on the NAPLEX (more community based - top 200 drugs brand/generic, calculations...etc). However now in the new curriculum, we have Abilities Lab for 3 years to drill our heads brand/generic and calculations.

Sorry if there are [grammatical] mistakes, I wrote this on the tiny screen on my iPhone.

I know how tough typing something relatively long on an iPhone might be. I appreciate the effort, and your explanation regarding the NAPLEX :) It is very helpful. I know I won't be (hopefully...) one of those students if I did come to Maryland, but I still wanted ask the current students and people who know more than I do. Thank you.
 
Hi everyone,

I am appying to UMB and am really interested in their PharmD/PhD dual degree. Is anyone here doing that or knows someone that is in the program? How competitive is to get accepted into the PhD program (assuming you are accepted to pharmacy already)? How many people get accepted to this dual degree every year? Also, do you have to take GRE? If yes, when do you take it? I am planning to start pharmacy school in Fall 2012, so do I have to take it now or can I wait? Do I apply to both programs now or do I apply to the PhD program while I'm in the PharmD program?

Thanks in advance!
 
Unlike all of the other dual degree programs, the dual degree for PharmD/PhD is not 'dual' in the conventional sense. Its actually sequential. But if you know going in that is what you want to do, you can take your coursework for the PhD as the electives for the PharmD and then after graduation from the PharmD go straight into your doctoral thesis research.

As far as the specifics on admission to the dual degree, I know that for all dual degrees you can only apply once you have completed your first year of the PharmD. I do not know about whether you need a GRE or anything about acceptance statistics. Your best bet for that is to call student affairs and ask for the faculty member responsible for administering the dual degree program.
 
If anyone has been accepted to this school, please let me know so you can be added to the Official Roll Call for Class of 2015/2016. Please post in the sticky thread your acceptances and the program you will be attending (if accepted to multiple schools).

Here is the link to the sticky thread:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=847419


:):thumbup:
 
Unlike all of the other dual degree programs, the dual degree for PharmD/PhD is not 'dual' in the conventional sense. Its actually sequential. But if you know going in that is what you want to do, you can take your coursework for the PhD as the electives for the PharmD and then after graduation from the PharmD go straight into your doctoral thesis research.

As far as the specifics on admission to the dual degree, I know that for all dual degrees you can only apply once you have completed your first year of the PharmD. I do not know about whether you need a GRE or anything about acceptance statistics. Your best bet for that is to call student affairs and ask for the faculty member responsible for administering the dual degree program.

Thanks a lot for the response DrDrugs. Definitely cleared up a couple things for me.

Another question..lol...Last year when everyone applied, did UMB receive your fall grades by thr when UMB started reviewing the applications? Also, did PharmCAS
recalculate the GPA with Academic update in a timely manner when the school started reviewing apps? My school's office of registrar is closed until Jan 3 so I can't send the transcript before that. I am just worried that UMB will not see my Fall 2012 grades.
 
have they started sending out interview invitations yet?
 
have they started sending out interview invitations yet?

I don't think anyone has received interview invites yet (on SDN at least). I think someone mentioned earlier that the interview invites might start around mid-January...so hopefully within the next 2 weeks!! :xf:
 
Thanks a lot for the response DrDrugs. Definitely cleared up a couple things for me.

Another question..lol...Last year when everyone applied, did UMB receive your fall grades by thr when UMB started reviewing the applications? Also, did PharmCAS
recalculate the GPA with Academic update in a timely manner when the school started reviewing apps? My school's office of registrar is closed until Jan 3 so I can't send the transcript before that. I am just worried that UMB will not see my Fall 2012 grades.

If you are worried about any school not seeing your fall grades in a timely fashion, contact the appropriate admissions coordinator at the school and ask them if it is okay for you to have a new transcript mailed to the school directly from your registrar. See what they say. But don't simply have the registrar mail it without consulting the admissions group first.
 
I heard on Monday morning that I was accepted for University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, class of 2016!! So excited!!!!

Anyone else who applied early decision hear back yet?!

I'm in! I was in your interview section as well. See you in the fall?
 
hopefully we'll hear from them soon (maybe today?) :xf:
 
I got mine last year around January 19th for a selection of the first round of interviews (weekend of january 28/29/30), so you guys should hear back soon :) Good luck!
 
I got mine last year around January 19th for a selection of the first round of interviews (weekend of january 28/29/30), so you guys should hear back soon :) Good luck!

Hi Kyang89:

Do you know if they let us reschedule our interview dates (if we do get interviews invites in the end of January?)

Thank you!
 
Hi Kyang89:

Do you know if they let us reschedule our interview dates (if we do get interviews invites in the end of January?)

Thank you!

You should get a number of dates to choose from. I believe I had 4 weekends to choose from.
 
I have a question for current UMD students regarding the benefits of Baltimore vs. Shady Grove. Specifically what I am curious about are research opportunities available to students at the Shady Grove campus. I had selected that i was only interested in Baltimore on the supplemental but, upon reflection, have come to realize that regarding my living arrangements, Shady Grove may be more convenient for me. However, I have been actively involved in research for several years and would love the opportunity to continue this involvement as I go on to pharmacy school.

Are there opportunities for conducting research at Shady Grove? Do you have to travel to the main campus to do such? Are there opportunities to develop relationships with faculty members if you are based on the satellite campus?
 
NewIdeas: I can tell you that UMD is one of the few schools that does not require it's PharmD students to take the GRE to be accepted into the PhD program. You do have to be accepted into the PharmD program for this to be true. I had the opportunity to speak with representatives for both their graduate and PharmD programs at the NIH graduate & professional school fair this past year.
 
I have a question for current UMD students regarding the benefits of Baltimore vs. Shady Grove. Specifically what I am curious about are research opportunities available to students at the Shady Grove campus. I had selected that i was only interested in Baltimore on the supplemental but, upon reflection, have come to realize that regarding my living arrangements, Shady Grove may be more convenient for me. However, I have been actively involved in research for several years and would love the opportunity to continue this involvement as I go on to pharmacy school.

Are there opportunities for conducting research at Shady Grove? Do you have to travel to the main campus to do such? Are there opportunities to develop relationships with faculty members if you are based on the satellite campus?

I am not an expert on topic but here's what I know. It all depends on what type of research you want to do. If you want to work in a lab, all the research labs are in the Baltimore campus. There are opportunities to do research at Shady Grove but it would not be in a lab. The Assistant Dean (based at SG) lets student do research with her at her clinical practice site (around SG area) and the two other professors deal more with community and educational policies research. The other three professors at SG do not do research (as far as I know), they mainly teach the pharmacy practice lab and one of them does all of our wet labs (compounding). They are in the process of hiring two more professors.

It really all depends on what type of research you do. For instance, I will be working with a professor in Baltimore (I go to SG) on pharmacoepidemiology, and that doesn't require me to be at the Baltimore campus. I know of students from SG who go to Baltimore once a week to do research. Just find out what you want to do and work with the faculty member on your schedule.
 
I am not an expert on topic but here's what I know. It all depends on what type of research you want to do. If you want to work in a lab, all the research labs are in the Baltimore campus. There are opportunities to do research at Shady Grove but it would not be in a lab. The Assistant Dean (based at SG) lets student do research with her at her clinical practice site (around SG area) and the two other professors deal more with community and educational policies research. The other three professors at SG do not do research (as far as I know), they mainly teach the pharmacy practice lab and one of them does all of our wet labs (compounding). They are in the process of hiring two more professors.

It really all depends on what type of research you do. For instance, I will be working with a professor in Baltimore (I go to SG) on pharmacoepidemiology, and that doesn't require me to be at the Baltimore campus. I know of students from SG who go to Baltimore once a week to do research. Just find out what you want to do and work with the faculty member on your schedule.

Hi Luckyphooey:

Since you are a student there, I have some quick questions!
1.) How long is the commute from Baltimore to Shady Grove?
2.) Do you know (from past year experiences) if the Admission Committee send out ALL there invitations from Jan-March, or only batches for Jan and Feb interviews first?

Thank you!! I really appreciate it.
 
Hi Luckyphooey:

Since you are a student there, I have some quick questions!
1.) How long is the commute from Baltimore to Shady Grove?
2.) Do you know (from past year experiences) if the Admission Committee send out ALL there invitations from Jan-March, or only batches for Jan and Feb interviews first?

Thank you!! I really appreciate it.

I also have some questions on top of these. Do they let you know which school you are interviewing for when you receive the interview invite? And if not, will they let you choose which school you would like to attend if you become accepted?
 
I also have some questions on top of these. Do they let you know which school you are interviewing for when you receive the interview invite? And if not, will they let you choose which school you would like to attend if you become accepted?

You are interviewing for the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. If you're accepted, you indicate which campus you would like to attend, and as long as it isn't full, you've got your seat. (at least this is how it worked last year).

To clear up some of the misconceptions, Shady Grove and Baltimore aren't different schools, just different campuses. Both take the same tests, and receive the same exact lectures. A Shady Grove student can attend lectures and meetings in Baltimore, and vice versa. You have to attend Exams and labs at your home campus though.
 
Hi Luckyphooey:

Since you are a student there, I have some quick questions!
1.) How long is the commute from Baltimore to Shady Grove?
2.) Do you know (from past year experiences) if the Admission Committee send out ALL there invitations from Jan-March, or only batches for Jan and Feb interviews first?

Thank you!! I really appreciate it.

1.) From SG to Baltimore, it is about 45 minutes (in good traffic), the ICC just opened so you can take that (there's a toll fee). In rush hour/bad weather, it can take up to 2hours! It is about 45miles away. I commute from SG to Baltimore a lot and have gotten used to it.
2.) Invites are sent out in batches, it all depends on where your application is in the stack. The committee can only humanly go through so many applications in one meeting. So depending if your applications was reviewed during meeting, you may or may not get an invite. Fortunately for me, I was in the first rounds of interview but I do know of people who were invited for interviews later on (March).

3.) Also, when you interview, you interview at Baltimore and you will not be asked for your preference. Once you have been accepted, you will be asked to email the admission coordinator and let her know which campus you would like to attend, and your admission into that campus will depend on the availability of that campus at the time. There are cases when people change their mind and switch campuses (base on availability of the other campus) and of course people may decide altogether to go to another school. If the campus you want to attend is full, you may request to be put on the waitlist but then you loose your spot on the other campus. When I was P2, the Shady Grove campus filled up first. There were lots of movements in and out of the Baltimore campus...up until close to orientation (it was frustrating for me because I was doing the big/little arrangement).
 
You are interviewing for the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. If you're accepted, you indicate which campus you would like to attend, and as long as it isn't full, you've got your seat. (at least this is how it worked last year).

To clear up some of the misconceptions, Shady Grove and Baltimore aren't different schools, just different campuses. Both take the same tests, and receive the same exact lectures. A Shady Grove student can attend lectures and meetings in Baltimore, and vice versa. You have to attend Exams and labs at your home campus though.

Correct. When you graduate your diploma will say University of Maryland School of Pharmacy regardless of your campus.
 
Just got my interview invite too!! Got an email 20 mins ago! Offered dates as for jan 27, 28 and feb 3 (unfortunately already booked with other interviews!)

Anybody know if their interviews are considered rolling? Or do they wait until they interview everyone and then choose applicants? Thanks!
 
Just got my interview invite too!! Got an email 20 mins ago! Offered dates as for jan 27, 28 and feb 3 (unfortunately already booked with other interviews!)

Anybody know if their interviews are considered rolling? Or do they wait until they interview everyone and then choose applicants? Thanks!

To answer your question...yes and no...it is not rolling...BUT those who interview earlier will probably hear back earlier (I was the first batch interviewed and heard back two weeks later). That does not mean that if you interview early and do not hear back that you are denied admission. To be honest, I do not know how it works, there were some people in my group that heard back later than I did. But technically, it is non-rolling.
 
To answer your question...yes and no...it is not rolling...BUT those who interview earlier will probably hear back earlier (I was the first batch interviewed and heard back two weeks later). That does not mean that if you interview early and do not hear back that you are denied admission. To be honest, I do not know how it works, there were some people in my group that heard back later than I did. But technically, it is non-rolling.

Thanks for the answer!!! On PharmCAS though, it says that admission decisions will be sent out in April. I guess they're not too strict to holding themselves to that then.
 
For anyone out-of-state who's interviewed with UMDB or is a current student there...how did you get from the airport to the school? And where did you stay before the interview?

I just received an interview invitation today, and called to schedule a 12:30pm Saturday interview. I looked up flight schedules though, and leaving on Fri at 3pm gets me there around midnight, which seems like a dangerous time to hail a cab and go to motel/hotel. Also, the 12pm interview doesn't end until 4pm, which might make me late to the last flight that leaves at 5:30pm.

I kind of wanted to reschedule the interview to 8:30am so I can save money by making it to the late afternoon flight back to California on the same day (2 days 1 night) instead of possibly having to stay 2 days 2 night for the 12pm interview.

So I guess what I'm also asking is how bad is the Baltimore airport? Is it reasonable to make it to an 8:30am interview if I get there around midnight? Or if I stick with the 12:30pm interview, would I be able to make the 5:30pm flight when the interview ends at 4pm?
 
Just got my interview invite too!! Got an email 20 mins ago! Offered dates as for jan 27, 28 and feb 3 (unfortunately already booked with other interviews!)

Anybody know if their interviews are considered rolling? Or do they wait until they interview everyone and then choose applicants? Thanks!
I'm in the same situation. I wonder if they have any other interview dates than the ones that are listed.
 
I'm in the same situation. I wonder if they have any other interview dates than the ones that are listed.

They have more, if you can not make those dates you should call to ask for later dates. This is just the first batch of interviews. Interviews ran into March last year.

Also, when you interview does not have any affect on your chances of getting it.
 
Last edited:
They have more, if you can not make those dates you should call to ask for later dates. This is just the first batch of interviews. Interviews ran into March last year.

Also, when you interview does not have any effect on your chances of getting it.
Thank you for this very hopeful piece of information. It's definitely a relief to hear that they're not operating under rolling admissions.
 
The original University of Maryland Thread is an amazing place to get an idea on how the admission process works:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=456391&highlight=university+of+maryland

It is basically the same every year. You can get an idea of when interview invites are sent out, when acceptance letters goes out, when to accept/waitlisting...etc

I would start from the back and kind of work you way to the beginning as there are a lot of information toward the ending.
 
I got an interview invite just now!!
yay I am soooo excited to be there!!
 
what's this essay portion we have to do?

You will be given ~30minutes to write an essay on a pharmacy topic. There will be a prompt and an excerpt to help you get an idea of the topic. It could deal with any aspect/sector (pharmacogenomics, regulatory, public health....etc) of pharmacy -- so my advice is to keep abreast on pharmacy news. Anything is fair game.
 
Top