Frequently Asked Questions About Applications

No, you do not. However, you need to have applied to Loyola and submitted your financial aid forms to be eligible for consideration. Only students who are admitted into Loyola, which is a process separate from the CPaMS admittance process, may be selected for participation in the CPaMS Scholars Program.

Applications are not reviewed until the initial application deadline. We expect that the first round of acceptances for early action students will be sent in mid-January; regular decision applicants will hear by early March. Students who may be admitted to CPaMS but have not yet been admitted to the university will hear after they’ve received their university admission. If you have not heard from us by these dates, it does not necessarily mean that you have not been selected; you may hear from us in a later round of acceptances. Even if you are not admitted to the program, you will get an email to inform you if you are waitlisted, or if you have not been accepted or waitlisted. All notifications will be sent to the email address you used to submit your application to CPaMS. Be sure to check your spam folder, or search your email for “cpams” if you have not heard, as sometimes these emails are incorrectly marked by your email server.

Yes. As long as one of your majors is in CPaMS, then it does not matter what your other major is, or if you take on any minors. If you decide to create an interdisciplinary major with a CPaMS major, you will also still be eligible for CPaMS.

Yes, you can apply to both programs and if you are accepted into both you can participate in both of them. We have already had a number of CPaMS Scholars successfully participate in both programs. The CPaMS Director will be in touch the summer before your first year about how your two sets of requirements will be met. These are two separate applications, however; you must apply to each directly to be considered for each program.

No, you are not making any commitments by applying. If you are admitted to the CPaMS Scholars program, you will then need to either accept or decline that admittance. This is separate and in addition to your decision to attend to Loyola, although of course you cannot be part of CPaMS if you either are not admitted to Loyola or do not choose to attend Loyola University Maryland.

No, engineering is not included in CPaMS. However, often students are not sure of their major when they first go to college. Many students interested in engineering are also interested in at least one of our CPaMS majors (mathematics, statistics, physics, computer science, and data science), as each have overlap with engineering. It is possible in the first year to take courses relevant to all of these majors before the student decides. Loyola actually encourages this type of exploration, which is one of the reasons that students do not officially declare a major until the fall semester of their second year. If a student is considering any of the CPaMS majors as another option, they should still consider applying to CPaMS.

Yes! We primarily choose CPaMS Scholars based on their academic achievements, and only after that analysis do we determine what type of monetary support to offer in addition to a place in the Scholars program. A scholar’s financial need is determined by the Financial Aid office. If you are accepted to CPaMS, you will receive a letter from CPaMS inviting you to the program and noting if you will receive financial aid as part of the scholars program. The details of the financial aid package will be received from financial aid separately.

Each spring semester we will open applications to current first-year students if there are any open spots in the program. The majority of students are admitted when they apply to Loyola, so if you are an incoming student interested in CPaMS please apply now instead of waiting. Current first-year students who have taken courses required for the CPaMS majors will receive a special link in email to apply to CPaMS if they are interested, usually in March during their first year. However, financial aid for current first year students who apply to CPaMS Scholars is not guaranteed, unlike for students applying as incoming first year students who qualify for financial aid.

Students transferring from another university into a CPaMS major may be eligible to join CPaMS. Please contact the CPaMS Director at cpams@loyola.edu to discuss and apply. CPaMS Scholars who join as transfer students will join the cohort of students in their graduating class, and will generally begin in a probationary semester. After that probationary period is completed, if the student has met the requirements they will be formally admitted into the scholars program.

The financial aid office will determine your level of need based on the required form you fill out and turn in, such as the FAFSA. All information on the forms and deadlines can be found on the Financial Aid website. We cannot offer financial assistance as part of your admittance to the Scholars program if you do not turn in these forms in a timely manner. Your financial need is determined by the financial aid office, which then informs if you receive a CPaMS Scholarship if you are admitted to the program.

Yes, we welcome CPaMS Scholars Program applications from all students, regardless of their citizenship status. Non-US citizens are also eligible to receive the CPaMS scholarship if they demonstrate financial need.

Scholarships offered to non-US citizens accepted to the program are funded by Loyola University Maryland, not NSF.

Due to the covid-19 pandemic during the spring 2020 semester, the CPaMS Scholars committee has decided to ignore all spring 2020 grades or P/F option for students applying to CPaMS Scholars, indefinitely. We do not feel it would be fair to take into account this semester when determining admission to our program, and therefore will ignore grades or P/F notes from this semester for all applicants, no exceptions. These grades are redacted from transcripts before applications are reviewed.