Freshman classes

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Maryland - College Park
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<p>i'm gonna address a bunch of issues that have been brought up:</p>

<p>for CORE, you usually need 9 credits (3 classes) in each of the 3 main areas (social stuff/history, math/science, and arts/society). you only NEED one SH class but to fulfill the requirement for that area you need to take one SH, one SB, and another either SB or SH (or IE but that gets complicated)</p>

<p>CORE sucks. trust me on this. there's nothing worse than realizing you have to take a history of theatre class because history of rock music filled up. if you get a chance take that one for your HA. get as much of it out of the way as possible. history of theatre actually wasnt that bad except for the time (9am...)</p>

<p>for a lab science, take astr101 (not astr100).</p>

<p>if you can, take econ with terrell. he is the dryest and most boring professor in the world, and after the first week about 80 percent of the students stop going to lecture. His class was also ridiculously easy if you just read the book. he does weekly online quizzes that follow the book and help you learn on your own. since econ classes are so huge, there is usually a generous curve. i cant speak for neri or any other professor but i had terrell for both 200 and 201 and got an A and a B (im blaming it on not reading the book till the night before exams)</p>

<p>criminal justice is one of the more popular classes to fulfill CORE requirements, which is why it fills so fast.</p>

<p>lastly, read all the stuff regarding the classes you have to take for your major, CORE, and all the prerequisites because advisors are usually useless.</p>

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<p>Thanks PB. Someone on ratemyprof said the same thing about terrell but he doesn't have a econ 201 this semester. Have you heard anything about Neri specifically?</p>

<p>After you fill up your core what happens if you take more courses in that same grouping like SB because i already have 6 psychology credits too. I guess that means I am done with that core? So that Hist175 will go in as an elective? How many electives do we need to take?</p>

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<p>i havent heard anything specifically about neri. all i know is there is one professor who gives paper quizzes in lecture each week, so the students have to go. im not sure which one it is though.</p>

<p>After you fill up core it just goes towards elective credits. You'll have to talk to an advisor (or just figure it out yourself by looking at your unofficial transcript on testudo, it lists your AP credits and if they've fulfilled a CORE) if you've fulfilled that part of core. There is no set number of electives but some upper level classes, especially for majors, require a minimum number of credits as one of their prereqs. thats why im taking a criminal justice class next semester when i could be working towards my degree. It all depends on what your major is. All i know is that you need 120 credits to graduate.</p>

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<p>thanks, I think I'll e-mail my advisor before monday. seemed like a nice guy but he only suggested to me to do CORE classes which was really annoying because I was like there are NO core classes that I want to do. I don't want to do bad in a class like Econ and I have no clue what else to do. I am already over the SB/SH requirement and I don't want to take 2 more classes towards it because right now I am thinking about switching econ to sociology. Stupid upper-classmen taking all my classes.</p>

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<p>if you have even a few AP credits, there's really not much rush to finish CORE unless your double majoring or something, especially if you get out of the basic english or math reqs.</p>

<p>if all your SH/SB credits are for psychology, you probably have to take at least one other class in the area. but again, that depends on your situation.</p>

<p>i dont know what your major is but you need to take econ for business, and you probably dont want to take 201 before 200, since 201 builds on 200, at least in the beginning.. the first week or so of 201 was all a review of 200.</p>

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<p>yeah, the guy said that because I got psyc100 from AP credits I would have to take Psyc211 and they would give me credit for both but i wouldn't get credit for psyc 100 unless I took psyc211. I took psyc211 at a community college. He told me to talk to the psyc dept and ask if they will accept it. I don't have a clue who to ask but I'll ask around over there.</p>

<p>I think I might just drop out of 201 and see if I can do 200. The thing is I would have to wake up at 9:30 and I don't want to do that. I don't have any classes until 11 and that is the way I like it. Hum, this is stupid. </p>

<p>before yesterday I thought i would take math 220 or 221 depending on my AP, English 101, and micro. Then I get there and they say don't take any of those until second semester so I have no clue what to but I guess I'll find one more class.</p>

<p>and thank you on the astronomy suggestion. I think I will take that for my science core thing because I think that would be cool. I just can't do it because I have to take BMGT110S and that overlaps with astronomy.</p>

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<p>I got a question about the holds in the classes. I was looking at the classes and I was interested in MUSC140(people say it's an easy HA). But 12 seats are all taken, there are like 28 on hold and have been on hold for all the freshman orientations so far. What do they hold that for? Could I end up taking it if I ask my advisor when I go to orientation? This is the same for some other classes too.</p>

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<p>Okay, quick question about getting to classes on time. I'm all registered and the such, and my advisor didnt say it should be problem, but online, I'm getting the red "not enough walking time!" warning for two classes</p>

<p>Is the math building to cole and the arts sociology blgh to the armory do-able in 10 minutes?</p>

<p>I have no sense of time. At all</p>

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<p>Thanks for the thought Cheapseats, but I was able to oversubscribe into a "full" section. Don't really know how or whatever, but I got into CCJS100 sec0202.</p>

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<p>hotplaya-</p>

<p>my guess would be those are upperclassmen who want to take the class, but as you can see, it is locked out for only freshman and transfer students. So, if not all 24 spots are taken by freshman, then they will get in. Just a guess.</p>

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<p>eckie:</p>

<p>both math to cole and art/soc to the armory are doable in 10 minutes. you probably wont even need a bike, just walk fast. math to cole isnt that long and art/soc to the armory is a hike, but its all downhill.</p>

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<p>I go from the Architecture Building to the armory in 10 minutes. Is that possible?</p>

<p>I dropped econ 201 because I am not going to have a hard teacher mess up an important semester for me because I REALLY want to do quest now and that goes only on first semester grades. I need a 3.0-3.3 to have a good shot, which is very possible but I don't want to take a risk. I also didn't take econ 200 yet so I am taking intro to POETRY-ENG243. Well I guess it will go towards my core or electives or whatever. I have a good teacher though, look at the ratings <a href="http://ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=544713%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=544713&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Average Easiness: 4.4
Average Helpfulness: 5.0
Average Clarity: 5.0
Hotness Total: 1
Overall Quality: 5.0

[quote]
Extremely wonderful professor, one of the very best. Brings in guests such as Alan Shapiro and Tony Hoagland.

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</p>

<p>
[quote]
Amazing teacher. Amazing class. easiest class you'll ever take. Free A, three credits. Take it it's the easiest HL you'll take for CORE. Go to lecture and listen to the people discuss (you don't have to join in) and you'll get an easy A in the class.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>
[quote]
one of the best. you learn and he doesn't judge. no bricks in that wall. and i heard he became the poet laur of MD. GO COLLIER!

[/quote]
</p>

<p>
[quote]
He is amazing, and all of the TAs were wonderful

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</p>

<p>
[quote]
Great professor. Huge lecture hall but professor keeps your attention. Test werent that hard, (in fact in one we had to match rhyming words). You will enjoy the class and if u study get an easy A.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>those are all 5 reviews and no one has anything bad to say. I think I'll have fun and learn something.</p>

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<p>I got the scoop on Math 113 3X a week vs 4X a week.</p>

<p>The 3X a week is a smaller class section, taught by TA/grad students.</p>

<p>The 4X a week is a larger class section, taught by a professor, with a 1X a week discussion class small group with a TA for problem review.</p>

<p>Advice was to take the 4X because taking the classes taught exclusively by the grad students suck because they have 0 teaching skills and 0 interest in the students - just doing their time.</p>

<p>Soooo...guess I'll sign up for the 4X and skip the discussion session if I'm doing okay in the regular class sessions.</p>

<p>Cheapseats - how many credits are you taking first semester? Did you walk in with your schedule in hand and they pumped it in for you and worked through conflicts - or do they have a canned spiel you have to listen to before they try and sign you up for all CORE and you have to "argue" to get what you want? Did you get the book we're all supposed to read for first year - or did you have to buy it?</p>

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<p>GGT - everyone gets the book right off. The morning, they gave us a sheet of core classes that still had openings. We picked what we wanted and worked through the conflicts with them. They helped advise with math placement pickings (like for me, probability vs. stat), but aside from that, the advisors werent overbearing or anything.</p>

<p>thanks for the feedback pb. I moved the arts-socio class though, just to be on the safe side. I'm a slow walker.</p>

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<p>eckie - thanks for the info!</p>

<p>How many credit do you think most freshmen are siging up for?</p>

<p>How many people were in your orientation total before they broke you up into majors? I have a friend going at the same time - but in a different major - will the groups reconnect at any point by the end of the day? How did they pick your dorm mates for he overnight?</p>

<p>So if I plan to jump into my major and minor classes (Bio, Chem, Art) and I have 2 required courses for Civicus - and I have the classes and sections mapped out based on Testudo - they'll work with me and not try to shove me back into a freshman cookie cutter CORE solution?</p>

<p>Because the requirements for a Bio major, and pre-dent and Civicus and art minor are pretty specific - I've done a 4 year plan that maps them all and incorporates the CORE stuff along the way</p>

<p>I talked in an online session with a Bio advisor to be sure I'm on track - and unless I've really missed something big time or for some biazarre reason, don't manage to test into Math113 - I'm hoping they'll just pump the stuff in and the only thing I my have to deal with that day are time conflicts - I just don't want to deal with the freshman CORE cookie cutter approach</p>

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<p>Well, for the schedule I knew what I wanted but they shot it down all day. I wanted
english
Math 220
Econ 200
scholars colliqium</p>

<h2>UNIV 100</h2>

<p>THis is what happened
English- I was told to wait till next semester because they may have a "special" class for my scholars group.
Math 220- I was told no need to take it if my AP scores will take it away so wait till next semester and your AP score
Econ200- Yay special classes second semester.
Colliqium- i had to take this one</p>

<h2>UNIV100- I thought I HAD to take it but I guess I don't so nope.</h2>

<p>SO i walked in thinking to take 5 of these classes(12 credits) and took only 1 of them. 12 credits is the minimum and 16 is the maximum. 15 is a on pace to have 120 credits in 4 years. </p>

<p>I sat down with them and I have to take BMGT110S(intro to business+managemennt) and I am fine with that because it goes towards smith fellows and my scholars program. BMGT230B(business stats) was a class I would have to take sometime so why not now. I then signed up for Econ 201. Lastly I was confused because they had no suggestions for me but a core class. I looked and looked and looked. Core classes suck because there are none that are open. I found philosophy. I thought it would go toward my core but was later told that I had that core done and by then I was too tired to change anything.</p>

<p>They let us do our schedule in the business school. I heard other things from other students at other majors. We all just sat down and they walked around and helped. We had over an hour and a half to work things out. I didn't have to argue really. i just had to pick my classes and they had to approve. I told about three or four of them that I wanted to only take 12 credits. My OA sat down and tried to help but there were no options but dance classes. </p>

<p>I went home and found out my philosophy teacher was hard and my Econ teacher was hard. I dropped econ because I want to take 200 before 201. I dropped philosophy too. I picked up hist175(Science and Technology in Western Civilization) in place of philosophy. I changed econ 201 for intro to poetry with that awesome teacher.</p>

<p>My schedule had no classes before 11 am but then I wanted the poetry class so I HAD to move a class to 9:30. That stung a bit. I didn't want to do it but I had no choice. So two days a week I wake up at 9:30(disgusting) and 3 days at 11:00(managable). </p>

<p>I know nothing of the book you speak of. :D someone want to tell me?</p>

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<p>Cheapseats - </p>

<p>So once you have set up your intial schedule at orientation, you could go back in and make changes online from home? Also - several of my classes show "staff" for the prof - does the actual name show up once you're registered in the class?</p>

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<p>GGT, if you want to room with your friend, make sure you walk IN with them to to the dorms. Your dorm mate for the night is whoever is next to you when you get to the registration table. The groups are pretty seperate during the day, but you're free to hang out with whoever you want at night.</p>

<p>You can go back and make changes - I changed the day of my art history orientation.</p>

<p>I'm taking 16 credits, and I'm pretty sure it's going to be killer.</p>

<p>Here's my schedule:
Art 201. Art of the Western World
Theatre 110. History of Theatre
CPSD 118N. International Studies
Mathematics 111. Intro to Probability
History 111. Medieval World
Government and Politics 100s. Principles of Government and Politics</p>

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<p>OK now my orientation. </p>

<p>I first got there. I got there early and parked my car in the parking lot. I sat there for a bit listening to the radio (very exciting). When I was ready to go I locked myself outside my car. That was great. So I called my mom because I locked myself out of my car. Only stuff I needed that was in there was a sleeping bag and pillows. My car is 10 years old and we just got it really cheap. It has a number thing on the side to open the door if you forget your keys in the car. So my mom called the guy we bought the car from and asked for the code. She told me and it didn't work. I just kept on pushing the series of numbers I was told and after a while the doors just popped open. YAY!</p>

<p>Ok, now the orientation. I went to cole field house and didn't see anyone I knew. I walked in went to get some food and then saw about 8 people from my school. My parents did not come. We went over to the theater to get a presentation. Now the presentation was good. I don't want to bash on it but anyone that was there knows that the woman from the science school, though very nice, was teaching us science. She was explaining her research and started talking about cell walls and something like that for 10 minutes. I said to my friend that I don't want to LEARN. I guess it shows she likes to teach. After that we split up.</p>

<p>We went with our scholar groups, not our major just yet. We went into a room to talk. There were about 30 of us. We had to introduce ourselves. So I was like, I am so and so from wootton high school and I see other people in here from wootton. The next two people to go were from wootton and so were two other people. We cleaned up in that room. The teacher then went on about a story about a kid from wootton (because we are dominate) and said that he had family friends and their child wanted to be in a program at UMD. He didn't get in and the teacher went to talk to the admissions people and said I know these people and he is a good kid and so on and can he be in the program. They said his stats were in line but they just had way too many people from wootton. Why? Because we are dominate. </p>

<p>BTW 110 of the 560 students from wootton are going to UMD. 89 of the kids from churchill and 84 from walt whitman. As far as I can tell more students are coming from wootton than any other school. </p>

<p>We then took our math test. The procter said that they would take the highest of three scores for placement, ap test level, SATs, and the test. Well I got placed into 220 from my math test and 140 from my SATs because I owned the SATs. Actually I got something in the mail saying i could be in some invitational class 340 or something like that. But I am not nearly that smart so I decided I would take 220 long ago. </p>

<p>We split up into our majors and our groups for the rest of the orientation. There were two business groups and each had their own OA. We spent time together as one big group with about 30 students. We did the whole introducing thing again. We went over to the business school where we were given a crash course in what they expect and stuff. The talked to us about classes too. </p>

<p>We ate some lunch, which wasn't bad and watched some soccer. At this point you will see people from other groups but not for too long. We wnt back and did our scheduling with our groups. We just sat at computers and did our thing and they helped out. </p>

<p>After, we had a lot of time off and this is when I went to my dorm. I planned on dorming with someone but he wasn't there at the time so I was like he isn't here so they just roomed me up randomly. I had someone and I forget his name. I saw him for a minute. I went to dinner and met up with a lot of people. </p>

<p>We all left as a big group to watch some skits which were funny, then we sat down with our groups and talked about stuff with our OAs. My OA was pretty cool and they just talked to us about things like drugs and alcohol and stuff like that. After we all went to the rec center where we could swim or play on the outdoor courts. I went in to watch the NBA finals with a group of guys. We left at 10:00 or so and went back to our dorms at which time we were set free to do as we please. We found a TV and started to watch the rest of the game. I laid on a couch and said if I fall asleep don't wake me up until the morning. Well I fell asleep. I guess sometime I was asleep the "fire alarm" went off. Yeah, I didn't move from what I am told. It really was the alarm that goes off when the dorm doors are open too long, i think, like i said I was sleeping. This is only important because the next day someone I knew was like, i heard you fell asleep on the couch and didn't wake up. And later someone else said to me aren't you the one who fell asleep on the couch and didn't wake up to the fire alarm? So i guess I really did sleep through some noise but here I am to clear my name. My time schedule was messed up. I was staying up all night and sleeping all day. So i fell asleep, luckily at 10:00 PM the night before. Unluckily my mom woke me up at 11:00 and told me to get my stuff ready for the next day. I couldn't sleep the entire night before orientation. Now flash back to the couch and me and the fire alarm and understand I was TIRED. I hadn't slept for 24 hours and I only slept for an hour before that.</p>

<p>I woke up at 1:30 and there were some people there in the lounge. I wasn't in MY dorm so I had to walk outside back to my dorm. Someone i knew but hadn't seen in 4 years was there and insisted on walking me back and was complaining about how our OAs said to walk in groups in the dark. I insisted he let me go and I went on by myself. I got to my dorm and there were more people there outside of their rooms. I was outside for like 20 minutes and then went to sleep and my roommate wasn't there. </p>

<p>DAY TWO: </p>

<p>WE had to wake up at 6:45, so i set my phone alarm and went to sleep. I woke up from my phone alarm, though fire alarms apparently don't have an effect on me. My roommate woke up too and said he was going back to sleep so I was like I am going back to sleep too. He woke up soon after and left. I remember that. I fell back asleep. We had to check out at 8. I, by some miracle, woke up at 8:05 so I get together as quick as possible and ran up. There were still people waiting in line to check out so I was OK. I checked out and then went to my car to put my stuff away. I missed breakfast. We then went with our groups and took a survey. Then went to the football field and then went to the bookstore. We went to a big room in the student union and talked about getting active in the college. Then there was lunch and we ate again and watched soccer again. We went and got pictures and then went to another bookstore. We then went back to the stamp and did some activity, which was fun. Watched some videos of maryland sports (yes.) and then watched a slide show of our pictures. Then we got our IDs and were one our way.</p>

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<p>yeah ggt, you can change your schedule form home. Its really easy too.</p>