<p>My daughter is a junior interested in majoring in Judaic/Middle Eastern studies with a possible eye toward working in government (State Dept, etc). Maryland offers the program of study she is interested in and the proximity to Washington and potential for internships related to Middle East policy are a draw as well.</p>
<p>However, she does not really want to be at a huge school with 16K undergrads.</p>
<p>I read about the Honors program that seems to put students in a "living and learning" community of a more manageable size (about 800 per class?), and this is appealing, but I don't understand the academic requirements and how they interdigitate with other majors/courses of study. It almost sounded like the Honors program WAS an interdisciplinary major of its own--that the participants in the program don't/can't major in something else. </p>
<p>Can someone tell me how this works?
Could my daughter attend Maryland in the Honors Program and still do the major that interests her?</p>
<p>A student in Honors can major in anything they want. The academic requirements have to do with taking a certain number of “honors” courses, but these are generally courses that can satisfy core (distribution) requirements as well. Also, there are “honors” version of some courses student might take for their major (for example, honors calculus).<br>
Students in the honors program may be offered the opportunity to participate in Gemstone (at two-year team research project) or one of two new interdisciplinary programs (Digital Cultures and Creativity, or Interpreneurship and Innovation), but these are optional.</p>
<p>There’s also the Scholars program at Maryland as well. For Honors, the “living and learning” aspect is that you’re living in an Honors dorm, and everyone is taking at least some honors courses, but you’re not all taking the same classes. </p>
<p>For Scholars, you live with people in your program, and have at least one course together (the colloquium for the Scholars program). This way, you’re not just living together, but you are actually taking a class together too, so you get to know people a lot better, and it helps to give a smaller community feel, so that 26k doesn’t seem so big. (There’s also a service component to Scholars as well.)</p>
<p>If you want more information about Scholars, feel free to ask. You can also check out the website ([College</a> Park Scholars at the University of Maryland](<a href=“http://scholars.umd.edu/]College”>http://scholars.umd.edu/)) for more information. Based on what you’ve said, it seems like the International Studies program of Scholars might be a good fit for your daughter: [College</a> Park Scholars](<a href=“http://scholars.umd.edu/is/index.cfm]College”>http://scholars.umd.edu/is/index.cfm)</p>