<p>First off, congrats to everyone accepted to the A. James Clark School of Engineering! :)</p>
<p>I'm a mom of a freshman engineer and wanted to share info about a special living-learning (LLP) program just for engineers called Flexus for females and Virtus for males:</p>
<p>Engineering at UMD is awesome because they make such a unique effort to support students. It has all the bells and whistles you need to succeed:</p>
<p>-housing with other engineers so built-in support for classes/studying
-career prep - resumes, elevator speeches, career fair prep
-tutoring/review sessions in your building for first and second year engineering courses</p>
<p>Take a look at the programs and be sure to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page to check out sample syllabi - open for both fall and spring to get a sense of the program.</p>
<p>I think invites to apply go out to all engineers in April(?) and are due May 1st if I recall correctly (but don't hold me to that timeline!). There is a requirement of housing in Easton, so if you were invited to Honors or Scholars, the only way you can do Flexus/Virtus is if you give up housing in Honors/Scholars community.</p>
<p>I’ve been admitted into the Global Communities Program and would be housed in Dorchester Hall. So if I do participate in Virtus, do I just tell someone in UMD that I’m willing to switch housing?</p>
<p>@GregK222 - Not yet. First things first - sign up for housing per astrophysicsmom’s instructions in advice to new terps.</p>
<p>When you get the invite, you have to apply. I believe that once you are accepted, you will get “switched” over to Easton automatically (because you check something that you want that on the app), but I honestly don’t know the specifics. My freshman chose to live with Scholars so wasn’t able to take advantage of Virtus because not willing to change housing. Scholars does not have a requirement of housing in Cambridge Community, but Virtus does have a requirement of living in Easton. We were told both is possible, but only if you live in Easton. </p>
<p>I have to say it really was a tough call because the program is so awesome. Virtus is not as well advertised as Flexus because it’s only in its second year this year. Flexus has been around for several years and is so successful that they created a mirror program for males. When we went to an accepted students’ preview program for engineering, there was a panel of current students that you can pose any questions to and that was the first time I heard about it. </p>
<p>Is it worth it to give up honors housing for the flexus program? on one hand I’m tempted by the studying/tutoring benefits, but on the other I kinda like the idea of meeting and living with people who have a broader range of interests.</p>
<p>and here is the info about Keystone classes - be sure to check out all the tabs on the left side for different aspects/more info
[About</a> Keystone, Clark School of Engineering, Engineering, University of Maryland](<a href=“http://www.keystone.umd.edu/about/index.html]About”>http://www.keystone.umd.edu/about/index.html)
Most students say that the hovercraft class ENES100 is one of their favorite/most memorable.</p>
<p>@engineergirl2 - I remember one of the girls in the panel saying she chose to live with Flexus over honors/scholars (don’t remember which one she said) and she was very happy she made that decision. I think that it’s a double challenge being both an engineer (so really challenging curriculum) plus being a female and therefore minority. Flexus is a support system that address both unique needs and I think has even more special programs than Virtus as part of Women In Engineering.</p>
<p>However, I would go to one of those preview dates I mentioned - hopefully they will have as many females there as they did when I went - and you can ask some current female engineers directly.</p>
<p>Thank you. My S was admitted to Clark and he will look into this. The first year program seems impressive. It seems that the better engineering schools like Clark are ahead of the curve on engineering education. </p>
Does Virtus still exist? We haven’t heard anything about this program in all of our research. Our son is currently accepted into Clark Engineering and Honors. Does anyone have a link they can share about Virtus? Thanks
Do you mean the living component or program component? Two different animals. If you read my post #3, you’ll see it may be possible to do both (depending on the honors program you chose - do they require you to live in the designated dorm?) if you live with virtus in Easton.
Do you any info about FYSE in addition to that found on the website? After reading the syllabus, it appears to have a focus on somewhat introductory level math. How beneficial as this program? Thanks!
Well, I think it depends on how competitive your high school is…? When I went to an accepted student program several years ago, there was a table set up for all the SEEDS programs. I asked about FYSE and the woman pretty much stated this program in particular was designed to meet the third goal listed here http://www.seeds.umd.edu/about