<p>Would like to hear the experiences of any students who did Freshmen Connection last semester. How was it? Did you feel out of it and most important how did you find housing ?</p>
<p>Hey. I don't have any first-hand info for you, but I found a Maryland blog with a short little thing about Freshman Connection. Don't really remember the link, it wasn't that great of an article. Basically it said students could pretty much take a full course load (16 credits, mostly CORE classes and such) during the Fall Semester, and they take these classes only with other Spring admits. It sounds like a good way to meet people. Since you are then on campus most of the day, I also don't see why you can't join a club or something. Academically Spring admits don't end up being behind and still graduate on time.</p>
<p>The biggest issue is the housing. The article mentioned one Spring admit found an off-campus apartment and shared the lease with two other Spring admit students. Maybe you could contact Maryland and ask how you could get in contact with other Spring admits doing Freshman Connection to see if they would like to room together. You could also search for Facebook groups, or put an ad in the paper (don't know what your yield would be with that, though). The best way was if your daughter/son had friends that were Spring admits or had friends that knew other Spring admits, etc. Living in MD this is a lot easier. Tons of kids from my HS ended up being Spring admits this year. You could also go through the HS and put a blurb in the newsletter, maybe? Most Spring admits commute, but I can see from your SN that's not an option. If you are going to need an off-campus apartment you need to start looking right away, as most current students are already securing leases for next year.</p>
<p>Alternatively, I think your daughter/son can take some classes at a community college for one semester in PA and then transfer the credits. You'd have to go through the University to make sure you are taking transferable ones, though.</p>
<p>Anyway, good luck!</p>
<p>My son also is considering Freshman Connect. We plan on going to the meeting end of April - seems a little late to be getting everyone together since decision day is May 1.</p>
<p>Does anyone have information on off campus housing for a Freshman??</p>
<p>maryann-- there are a lot of off-campus housing options. go to och.umd.edu and take a look around. i'd recommend (if your son is social) a fraternity house--automatic friends and a social life, just like in the dorms. and many of them really do take studying seriously and there is plenty of quiet time. college park towers (knox/hartwick towers) house mostly students, as well as university view.</p>
<h1>1 piece of advice-- start looking as soon as possible!! off-campus housing is limited and good housing gets taken very quickly.</h1>
<p>EDIT: <a href="http://och.umd.edu/FC/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://och.umd.edu/FC/index.html</a> is a dedicated site for freshman connection off-campus housing. seems to have some good links.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the information. I am going to look into housing this weekend. Do you know how difficult it is to transfer into the School of Business? I hear the GPA is 3.5 after 60 credits. </p>
<p>Would you suggest going to Maryland (Freshman Connect) and hoping to ransfer into the business school? Or would you suggest going to Fordham, UConn or Delaware where he has been admitted to the business school? My son plans on majoring in Accounting.</p>
<p>yup, those are the requirements. you also have to complete the business school gateway classes that business majors take during those 60 credits.</p>
<p>i would go to maryland. i looked at delaware too and was not impressed with their business program...don't know anything about fordham or uconn but i have to say i'm a little partial to UMD so i'm probably not the best to answer that question :)</p>
<p>ooh boy, just got the spring admit and I want to goto maryland. I'm going to see if I can't get full enrollment but live off campus (I was going to anyway) - This would work if its a housing issue and there is still room in most courses. If not, I'll probably be doing the freshman connection.</p>
<p>If anyone is interested in living right off campus (apartment? small house?), PLEASE pm me to see if we aren't compatible. My AIM is magicstickvi and email is <a href="mailto:magicstickvi@gmail.com">magicstickvi@gmail.com</a>. Feel free to contact me, I urge anyone considering UMC to do so.</p>