<p>Going to talk to an advisor this week to find out more about FC. Daughter feels slighted that she didn't get in to regular and be on campus. Plan on seeing the apts, etc...
Any thoughts or questions to ask about this difference in freshman experience???</p>
<p>My son was accepted to FC last year & felt the same way as your daughter. We went to the school’s FC acceptance day to get more info & look at potential housing. As soon as we heard more about the program, our minds were changed! FC classes are held in the late afternoon & early evening, so class size is often MUCH smaller & more personalized than with the other accepted students. This is only for the first semester, and then they will go into the “regular” program, but my son loved the schedule.The choice of where to live is KEY–the area around campus is not great & you will want a secure doorman building for your daughter, as well as one with social activities. My son lived in the University View apartments—a security monitored high rise of only U.Md. students, and the first 5 floors were made up of only FC students, so it really was like a dorm. The building had their own activities & parties & students could of course join in with anything happening on campus. The Varsity is another one of these types of buildings. They have a bus that loops around the campus if they need to take it, but no one really does because the campus is connected to the View property by a footbridge. The only negative is they rent for 12 months. They can try to sublet for the summer. At the end of his freshman year, he wanted to rent in the View for Soph. year, but we thought it would work out to be more expensive. If a student lives on campus,you must buy a dining plan, and the food is not good. We worked it out, decided he could live in the View again & it’s actually cheaper because he eats in his apartment & is actually learning to shop & cook! He can still eat on campus (for cash)and sometimes goes out to local restaurants with friends. He still met loads of dorm kids, got involved with sports clubs & was even rushed by a Frat (he chose not to) but the majority of his social life revolves around his friends at the View.</p>
<p>If I was rejected EA, would it be worth it to try and get into the freshman connection, assuming a lot of people wont be doing it, or transfer into UMD for the spring semester of my freshman year?</p>
<p>Unfortunately, you cannot apply to Freshman Connection, per se. It is only available to students that were accepted to the University for Spring admission. </p>
<p>Your best bet would be to go to either a community college or another university and then reapply to Maryland as a transfer.</p>
<p>Are any oos Spring Admits planning on attending Freshman Connection? Since my D does not know anyone from MD I worry that if she attends Freshman Connection she will miss out on the all important social aspect of the traditional first semester freshman year.</p>
<p>My understanding is that there are a lot of kids that do Freshman Connection (FC) and they are all housed on the same two floors at The View to create that sense of a dorm/community that you are thinking of. </p>
<p>I have heard that students who have done FC love it and have no regrets…</p>
<p>Go to an accepted students day for spring admits- you’ll see there are lots of kids participating and it will be a good chance to not only meet them, but potentially match up roommates…</p>