Common Mistakes When Applying to the University of Maryland
The costly mistakes at Maryland are mostly about dates. Applying regular decision and forfeiting merit scholarship consideration is the most expensive. Others include treating a complete application as a started one, ignoring the published review factors, and assuming test optional means scores are ignored.
Applying in January without knowing what it costs
Maryland's freshman merit scholarships require materials by the 1 November early action deadline. Applying regular decision is a legitimate choice, but families should make it knowing that the Banneker/Key, President's and Dean's awards are off the table when they do.
Confusing submitted with complete
Maryland specifies that applications must be complete by the deadline. Transcripts, recommendations and any supporting documents move on other people's schedules, which is why requests made in mid-October regularly arrive late.
Ignoring a published list of what they want
Maryland enumerates 23 review factors. Most applicants never read it. It names work experience, family educational background, learning differences and extenuating circumstances, which means students who leave those things off their application are omitting material the reader has said they weigh.
Misreading test optional
Optional does not mean ignored. Scores appear on the review factor list, so a strong score still helps when submitted. The decision is score by score and school by school, not a single policy choice across a whole list.
Writing the transfer essay like a first-year essay
The transfer question is 300 words about your academic path and reasons for coming to Maryland now. It is a narrower brief than the personal essay, and a moving personal narrative that never names a program or a course does not answer it.
Sources
Read from the university’s own pages and verified on 28 July 2026. Admissions details change, so confirm anything time sensitive before you act on it.