Orientation tips

Colleges & Universities University of Maryland - College Park
1

<p>You can maximize your chance of getting the classes and sections you prefer by preparing before you attend orientation. For many courses, they only open up a few seats for each orientation date, so the sooner you are ready to register, the better. </p>

<p>At orientation, they will teach you how to register and advise you on any required courses for your major and living/learning program. But if you already have some experience and come with a list of preferred courses, you’ll be able to register sooner than most of the other attendees. You probably won’t be shown how to find professor reviews, and they probably won’t show you where to find detailed descriptions of honors seminars. So you definitely want to check these out before you go.</p>

<p>Educate yourself on the following:</p>

<ul>
<li>requirements for your major (search the umd.edu website for your major)</li>
<li>general education (GenEd) requirements: <a href=“http://www.gened.umd.edu/documents/GeneralEducationSummaryChart.pdf[/url]”>http://www.gened.umd.edu/documents/GeneralEducationSummaryChart.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
<li>AP credit: [Transfer</a> Credit Center | Advanced Placement Exams (AP)](<a href=“http://www.tce.umd.edu/apchart.html]Transfer”>http://www.tce.umd.edu/apchart.html)</li>
<li>professor reviews: ourumd.com</li>
<li>schedule of classes: [University</a> of Maryland | Testudo | Schedule of Classes](<a href=“http://www.testudo.umd.edu/ScheduleOfClasses.html]University”>http://www.testudo.umd.edu/ScheduleOfClasses.html)</li>
<li>honors seminar descriptions: [UMD</a> Honors - Current Students - Honors Seminars](<a href=“http://universityhonors.umd.edu/seminars.php]UMD”>http://universityhonors.umd.edu/seminars.php)</li>
<li> requirements for your living/learning program (if applicable)</li>
</ul>

<p>Then use the schedule maker on ourumd.com to figure out some schedule possibilities. </p>

<p>If you want to take an honors seminar, come with a list of five or more courses you are interested in. These are small classes, and they won’t open many seats at each orientation.</p>

<p>Below is a sample entry in the schedule of classes. The course name is AASP 100H. The H tells you that this is an honors version of the regular AASP100 class. The section number is 0101. As an incoming freshman, the CORE requirements don’t apply to you. Instead, you need to fulfill the GenEd requirements for graduation. This course qualifies for two different GenEd requirements: Distributive Studies - History and Social Sciences; and Diversity - Understanding Plural Societies. The course is shown as being full, but they will likely open some seats for each orientation date. TYD 1101 is the building and room number. You can click on it to see the full name of the building and find it on the map.</p>

<p>AASP100H Introduction to African American Studies; (3 credits) Grade Method: REG/P-F/AUD. CORE Social or Political History (SH) Course. CORE Diversity (D) Course. GenEd: Distributive Studies - History and Social Sciences; Diversity - Understanding Plural Societies.</p>

<p>Significant aspects of the history of African Americans with particular emphasis on the evolution and development of black communities from slavery to the present. Interdisciplinary introduction to social, political, legal and economic roots of contemporary problems faced by blacks in the United States with applications to the lives of other racial and ethnic minorities in the Americas and in other societies. </p>

<p>0101(00016) J. England (FULL: Seats=5, Open=0, Waitlist=1)Books
TuTh…12:30pm- 1:45pm (TYD 1101)</p>

2

<p>All great info! The only thing I would like to add is a caution about using the scheduler on ourumd…it’s not real-time/up-to-date with testudo, so you might end up scheduling classes that actually don’t have any seats left.</p>

3

<p>It is true that ourumd.com won’t tell you whether seats are open. But since they open up some seats in many introductory level classes for each orientation, you won’t know if there are seats until you are already there. </p>

<p>So the best thing to do is to have a list of alternate classes you would like to take in case your first or second choice classes are full.</p>

4

<p>Awesome information! The vast majority of incoming students at orientation (who of course have never HEARD of CC!) go expecting their advisor to tell them what to take, and are the ones who are so frustrated that their advisor didn’t “help” them. </p>

<p>There are always people who show up at orientation who have not taken the math test, who don’t have a logon ID yet, and of course have never even heard of Testudo. The advisors who meet with students who have done what momofapplicant has suggested are always thrilled to deal with a student who realizes that they are in charge of their own success and comes to orientation prepared. At least in the case of my 2 D’s, the advisors vividly remember them from orientation and are willing to help any way they can, over the next 4 years. D2’s Environmental Policy major is a different kind of program and required that she switched advisors (to a different college) after her first 2 years. She had a registration “mini-crisis” after this occurred, and she turned to her original advisor (in her original college) who went out of her way to help get things straightened out for her.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for the great advice here. We went to orientation fully ready, with printouts from CC and Testudo. I was really impressed with organization of today’s activities. It was a long day, chock full of useful and helpful info. My brain is tired right now.</p>

6

<p>I just want to add that they only open seats for introductory courses and other courses freshmen typically take. But that should be sufficient for the vast majority of freshmen.</p>

<p>Orientation was very well done, and I encourage parents to attend the parents’ orientation program. I learned a lot of new things even though I already have a student at UMD. If you haven’t registered for it, but would like to go, call the orientation office. If there is no time to call before you arrive, I think they will let you attend if you pay when you arrive.</p>

7

<p>Great advice. However, as an engineering major, none of us got one on one time with our advisor. We got a giant group lecture about classes then, during registration, a bunch of engineering students came around to answer questions.</p>

8

<p>Definitely all great advice! The one thing I would add though it to make sure that you’re flexible in what you take. I thought through my schedule a lot before going to orientation and had alternate schedules and everything but registration was still a nightmare because some things weren’t exactly what I thought they would be, so I had to do a lot of it on the spot. Just accept going in that there’s a good chance you won’t get everything you want, so come in having thought of as many options as possible.</p>

9

<p>so true to what smwhtslghtlyzed said
I had a plan thought out, and it got torn apart</p>

10

<p>Too bad about the advising for engineering. My daughter received personal advising as a biology major.</p>

11

<p>Yeah, but I was lucky. I was in line for the main advisor to approve my schedule, but then another advisor said someone could see her, and I got 1 on 1 time with her, and she even pulled up my schedule and helped me waitlist a class and answered a ton of my questions!</p>

12

<p>Not having personal advising wasn’t that bad. In ENGR, there’s really a set schedule you’re supposed to stick to, so it wasn’t like we were creating something from scratch with no help. The advisors mainly told us what we needed to take and what our (few) options were (H-versions, placing out with AP credits, HONR seminars etc). The only rough part was that when we were trying to sign up for classes, there were so many that overlapped or were full and there was no easy way of figuring out the best schedule. The registration drop/add page is a pain, but it works I guess.</p>

13

<p>Don’t count on personal advising. It was two years ago, but I didn’t get it and there were literally only six people in my group. But they go over what your options are and how it works the day before, so it’s not that bad. I did zero prep work beforehand (didn’t know there was stuff I could do) and it still works out fine.</p>

14

<p>My son said there were people there to answer any questions, so if you needed help, you could get it. He also is an engineering major.</p>

15

<p>What everyone said is true. Although you don’t get personal advising, they do give you a lot of information to make well informed decisions regarding your schedule.</p>

16

<p>Yodelo, you mean engineering majors don’t get personal advising, right? My daughter (bio major) had a 5 minute 1:1 meeting with a biology professor. Later, during registration, she had a 2nd professor provide additional advice.</p>

17

<p>Yes, this was only for engineering, as far as I know.</p>

18

<p>If you’re talking about a five minute meeting to approve schedules and what not, we had that for ENGR. Professors and advisors were in the room during registration and one of them had to fill out the advising record form and sign off on what we were taking. There were also students in the room to answer questions about the registration drop/add page. Then after they did that, we met with the main advisor for another five (ish) minutes and she signed off as well. It wasn’t one on one advising on which classes to take, more just making sure everything was good.</p>