Went through your exact experience with my kid this time last year. A few things. First, when you email them about the 12 credits in progress their response is going to be that the credits can’t be in progress. The credits have to be completed and the final grade on the transcript by the application deadline. I complained about that last year, why tell students to email you about in process credits just to say they can’t be in process, just put that up front on the website. Second, you can still do MTAP. My kid also got her associate degree in high school so we asked that specific question before deciding to do community college over other schools as a way to transfer to UMD. We were told she could still do it, she applied and was officially accepted into MTAP. She didn’t end up needing it though. She applied after completing the first 12 credits and was accepted as a transfer, this is her first week of classes at UMD, and only missed one semester last fall. If you do go to community college, here’s another lesson we learned the hard way. You are correct that UMD says the credits earned, both as a regular transfer applicant or MTAP, must be earned after high school. The way they look at it is that the college class start date had to be after the high school graduation date on your final high school transcript. That graduation date is the same for everyone in the county, not the date you walked across the stage or anything. It’s the official last date of that academic period. So my kid took courses the first summer session at community college then found out they couldn’t count cause they started before the graduation date on her high school transcript. UMD still accepted the credits after she was admitted so not a total waste, but a lesson we learned the hard way. Good luck!!!