UMD, or the University of Maryland, is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. It’s a big college with about 30,000 undergrads, 12 schools, and more than 90 majors for undergraduates. There is a lot to love about UM, including excellent academics and sports. Last year, their acceptance rate was 34.3%. This was significantly lower than in the past two years as the amount of applicants has risen sharply.
When you first see UMD’s supplement, it looks like a lot. There are a lot of tabs and drop-down questions. There is a place to upload a resume and identify interests. However, the writing is minimal. There are no essays, just a set of fill-in-the-blank/short-answer style questions. Each prompt gives you 650 characters to respond (so like about 100 words). Notably, this is an increased character count from last year, when it was 300 characters.
Sometimes, students find this easier than full essays. However, many can overthink these types of questions. So, let’s break them down and how you should approach these short answers.
At the University of Maryland, we encourage our students to go beyond the classroom to engage in opportunities that further both their academic and personal growth. To tell us more about yourself, please complete the following prompts using only the space provided (650 characters).
If I could travel anywhere, I would go to...*
There is really no wrong answer to this question, but you can get extra points by connecting it to an interest of yours or something in your background. For example, if you are talking AP Spanish and AP Art History, going to Madrid to see the Prado lets you connect this to your academic interests. Or if your grandfather is Korean, you may want to go to Busan with your dad to reconnect with your family history. Avoid anything too basic, and you should be fine.
The most interesting fact I ever learned from research was...*
This question can be tricky for a lot of students. They hear the word “research” and the shutdown. You don’t have to be published in a journal to answer this question. If you are, that’s great; feel free to nerd out about your research. But everyone can answer this. Think of the research you have done for school assignments. Maybe you love a good Wikipedia rabbit hole or have done independent research. From looking up movie facts after you watch every film or looking into ingredients in the food you eat, you can learn some fascinating facts that you can use here.
As long as the fact connects to an interest of yours and it is true (you don’t necessarily need to cite your sources… but please make sure it is 100% accurate,) you should be able to answer this question.
In addition to my major, my academic interests include...*
The only trick here is to get specific. Have you seen that TikTok trend where people say what they could talk about for 30 minutes straight without any preparation? This should feel like that. Maybe you want to major in Biology but love politics. Politics is too broad. Leftist movements in America in the 1990s… now we are talking. Pinpoint something about that field or a topic that you are fascinated by. This also doesn't have to be about just one topic. It is fine to give us a couple here. Just make sure they aren’t too general.
My favorite thing about last Thursday was...*
Funnily enough, they changed this question from last year. Last year, it was “last Wednesday.” Does this matter? No. But it highlights something important. This isn’t asking about the most exciting day of your life. This is an average weekday. The thing you write about doesn’t actually have to have happened last Thursday or Wednesday, for that matter, but it needs to feel like it could have. It should feel like a weekly or even daily activity. There is beauty in the everyday, and this is what you are trying to capture. Some examples we like:
-Making the perfect fried egg
-Writing a poem or drawing a great doodle
-Receiving a letter you had been waiting on
-Organizing a drawer that has been bugging you
-Getting milkshakes with your best friend
-Playing soccer at the park at dusk
It’s okay and encouraged to feel small. We want to see you appreciate one of life’s little moments.
Something you might not know about me is...*
For this question, you are going to want to consider your entire application. You don’t want to say something here that was in your activities section, transcript, or resume. The easiest way to avoid repeating yourself is to write about something quirky here. Make sure it’s appropriate, but writing about baking cookies before every test you take or how you read Mrs. Dalloway every year on your birthday probably won’t be anywhere else in your application.
Because we know that diversity benefits the educational experience of all students, the University of Maryland values diversity in all of its many forms. This includes (but is not limited to) racial, socio-economic, gender, geographical, and sexual orientation. We are interested in hearing about your own individual life experiences. In a few sentences, will you please describe how you have learned, grown, been inspired or developed skills through one or more components of diversity.*
So… we don’t like this question. It feels like too big to be a short answer. The question itself is like 500 characters, which feels unfair to us. However, we suggest thinking of a moment. You can’t tackle everything about “diversity” in a couple of sentences. Think of a time when you learned something or benefited from a “diverse” situation. Maybe you helped run an event in your own community or attended a family friend’s wedding from another culture. We would rather hear about going to your friend’s Afro-Haitian dance show or volunteering at your high school’s women's center than you trying to break off more than you can chew here.
These questions are short but ask for a fair amount of creativity. It is worth taking some time to brainstorm and edit. Honestly, you might hit the top of the character count for some of these and have to take time to cut them down. If you need help, reach out!
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