<p>My child (like many other students) will enter UMd with lots and lots of AP credit. Enough credit to enable graduation in three years. But since he has some scholarship money, and an interest in post collegiate education (either Ph.D. or Masters), it seems to make sense to either combine the programs or at least take some Master's level classes in senior year, to get a jump on future plans. Does UMd permit undergrad students to take Master's level courses, particularly in science fields? Would it matter if the student had already completed all of the major requirements and had no required classes remaining?</p>
<p>The requirements are going to be dependent on the individual department in which he plans to take graduate courses. There isn’t anything that prohibits students from taking grad classes as an undergrad, but generally you need to 1) have any expected prerequisites done - usually one or two 4xx level courses and/or 2) get permission from the department - either through your assigned advisor and/or someone in the department who handles such requests.</p>
<p>A few things - </p>
<ol>
<li><p>What is your child’s intended major? There are some departments that offered a combined bachelors/masters but it is by invitation/application starting junior year based on college performance.</p></li>
<li><p>AP/transfer credit falls into four categories (my own assessment, not official):
A. accepted for credit, but no equivalent course at Maryland so doesn’t “count” toward fulfilling any requirements but just boosts up “standing” so you can register for classes sooner (son has at least one of those)
B. accepted for credit, only counts for fulfilling gened req for graduation but not in major (ie STAT AP does not help fulfill STAT req for engineering majors which is a 300 level class specific to engineering)
C. accepted for credit, counts toward major req and fulfills prereq for higher level classes req by your major (ie Calc BC score of 4 or 5 allows you to start at Calc III and gives you credit for Calc I and Calc II)
D. accepted for credit, counts toward major req and but does not fulfills prereq for higher level classes (accepted as a technical elective)</p></li>
<li><p>Rather than going for graduate level courses, the “free” slots in a schedule can be used to complete a minor or provide an opportunity space-wise to take classes just for fun (what a concept! and great opportunity to learn something for the sake of learning/due to interest) or participate/take courses for one of the unique specialized programs like Hinman CEO’s or QUEST (eligible only if in business, engineering or CMNS) - these programs are by application after matriculation.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>The major is physics. More than half of the credits will count towards prereqs or gened requirements. The rest will just be credit.</p>
<p>It doesn’t look like there is a pre-set structured program for physics, but I could be wrong because I just did a cursory glance. The option is still available to him - he would take part in deciding his course of study with an adviser
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