<p>Tell me about it somebodynew.</p>
<p>I get so bored easily at home hehe, and yes it is too quiet.</p>
<p>How is College Park? How is the area surrounding the campus? Is there a lot to do and are there good restaurants surrounding the campus? Do students hang around areas outside the campus?</p>
<p>Berkeley has Telegraph Avene, Wisconsin and Michigan have State Street, Washington has University Avenue. Anything like these areas at Maryland?</p>
<p>We have Route 1 (Baltimore Ave)! It's got Chipotle, South Street Steaks, Potbelly's, Applebee's, Starbucks, Wawa, 7-11, Noodles and Co., Coldstone, a clothes store, CD store, old book store, Radio Shack to name a few of the closer places. Oh, and Cornerstone, Sante Fe, and Bentley's for the over-21 crowd.</p>
<p>Route 1 is just a shuttle bus away (three of the University Shuttle lines drop you off right next to shopping center), or a 20-25 minute walk from my dorm. Route 1 is very busy on weekend nights. We go there every time we're sick of diner food or want to pick something up that we can't get on campus. It's a nice little town during the daytime, and bustling at night (on the weekends).</p>
<p>route 1 is also a 3-minute walk from the south campus commons apartments, fraternity and sorority houses, and a lot of off-campus housing. even now (during winter term), there are plenty of students hanging around route 1 at all times of the day & night.</p>
<p>Ha! You should have taken a winter term course! I remembered last year when my older friends hit winter break - they thought it was great to sleep in until about New Year's Day and then complained for the next 3 weeks about being bored. Sooooo......I signed up for a winter term course - History of Rock and Roll and its amazing! A few hours each day between commuting and class time and studying (which is mostly listening to great music). I love the class - its impossible for a freshman to get into during fall or spring - but easy during winter term - great prof - very interesting stuff. The course ties in the evolution of rock with the changing social times and history of the US from the 50's forward - I actually look forward to going - and hopefully I can earn an A to prop up my GPA which was lukewarm - and meets a core requirement.</p>
<p>I'm looking for another cool class to take next winter term!</p>
<p>I thought final exams would kill me - but I pulled through and am looking forward to getting back on campus for spring. I miss all my new friends.</p>
<p>As for online courses - if they standardize the stuff and we still have discussion class - sounds good to me. I got major league screwed in my science class - 200 people - my prof read from notes the whole time - and out of all the different sections - mine was the only one which didnt curve - I did better than a close friend of mine who had a dif prof - and because of the curve - she got a grade higher than mine. I introduced myself to my prof several times - but there was never any indication that the prof remembered me at all - there was no value in interaction with the prof and the TA's tried - but were limited value added. All of our homework was online - and the great majority of communications - e.g. Q&A with the prof and TA's were online as well. There were several times I went to office hours for help - but it was so crowded that it was useless. I also found that most "review" sessions were scheduled during my other classes. Give me common class even if its online anytime. If I make the effort - I can learn in any format - and thats what really counts - is my effort.</p>
<p>From what I've heard from my friends spread out everywhere - huge common freshman classes are a drag everyplace - but I had a blast in my smaller classes. I like to think the great overall expereince is what my Mom and Dad are really paying for. That plus the pleasure of seeing the Terps rock the Champs Bowl and the bball team come on strong in pre-ACC play. I asked my Mom and she says they are using online classes at her office more and more for teaching people stuff at work - so we might as well get used to learning in that format too.</p>
<p>GGT, i'm taking a winter class as well. i'm so glad i'm back here and not laying around at home anymore!!!</p>
<p>update to our earlier talk of grades: i got a 4.0 this semester, for the first time in college!! :D it took me 5 semesters but i did it, and i am SO proud of myself. [now of course i have a lot to live up to in the future...haha]</p>
<p>Yeah, next year I'm definitely taking a winter course (that is, if my trip to the Philippines doesn't happen). Wow, didn't know History of Rock was an HA. I actually know a couple freshman who managed to get into it for this past fall. Lucky.</p>
<p>Anyway, my first semester wasn't a disaster, but I do have to do better come spring. I finished with a 3.18 (2 C's, 4 A's but one of those A's was honr100). I need a 3.2 minimum to keep my B/K scholarship and to stay on track for my honors citation, so I've got to get on the ball this semester (shooting for a 4.0 or close). Should be easier now that I'm taking classes that all seem interesting to me. Opted for the h-version calc III class, and my OA class should be a GPA booster, plus my seminar and english major classes seem interesting.</p>
<p>Lindz - congratulations! Considering the tough program you're in - thats double snaps awesome! Hope you celebrated!</p>
<p>I'm cruising this year's winter term schedule looking for another good class to take next year - any suggestions?</p>
<p>I have been thinking about the whole pledging thing - and I remember some convo we had way back when about Fall rush being less time consuming than Spring. Since my GPA was nowhere NEAR your's - I need to really get with it this semester - to get some positive momentum. I'm afraid that rush will take too much of my time. Am I remembering correctly, - is Fall rush less of a time commitment? If I don't rush Spring of my freshman year - am I putting myself at a disadvantage for next year? Because of my program - I have to live with the group through next year, so I can't move into a house until Junior year anyway. What do you think?</p>
<p>ahh i just wrote an entire long reply and accidentally deleted it...sigh.</p>
<p>GGT- basically, the only difference is in the actual week of recruitment. if you rush in the spring, recruitment is really a jam-packed week. if you wait til the fall, you can pick and choose where to go and when. after that week, both spring AND fall new members spend the same amount of time--6 weeks-- in the new member period ("pledge period"-- new member is the more politically correct term, haha). and how time-consuming that is depends on which sorority you join.</p>
<p>some girls also go through recruitment in the spring to get a better picture of what different houses are like, but then wait to become a new member in the fall (either by deferring your bid to the house you get a bid to in spring, or just by attending a few parties at one or two houses in the fall).</p>
<p>you won't be at a disadvantage by waiting until next year, especially not if you rush in the fall. fall is mostly sophomores anyway. in the spring, there will be mostly freshmen but still a few sophomores, and even the occasional junior.</p>
<p>feel free to IM/email me if you have any more questions and definitely let me know if you're going to rush this spring so i can keep my eye out for you! :)</p>
<p>Despite a lengthy absence from CC, when I'm bored (probably in class), maybe I should do a short summary of my first semester on here, although I'm certainly not a model student, despite a GPA which says the contrary.</p>
<p>^^ please do.</p>
<p>Eckie, are you saying that you can excel in class without working at UMCP?</p>
<p>worrywart, a lot of it depends on your major or your classes for the semester, but last semester, I really skipped a lot of classes. I put in the work necessary when I had to (I'd skip lecture, but do all assigned readings), and pulled quite a few all-nighters (and by quite a few, I mean, probably once every two weeks, minimium), but I got a 3.8 for the semester, to the surprise of my friends. To be honest, I definitely thought college was going to be harder. Maybe my high school just prepared me really well, and maybe just one semester isn't a great way to form an opinion (watch me struggle to get a 3.0 this semester), but that's definitely my current feeling.</p>
<p>Okay..so...first semester. I really love Maryland. To be honest, it wasn't my first choice - it was barely in my top three. But I'm here now and at the moment, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. One thing I've really realized is that unless youre going to one of the top 10 schools in the country, your academic experiences aren't really going to vary from school to school - you're going to get a good education no matter WHERE you go, as long as you put out a little bit of effort (I wish someone had told me this when I was freaking out over college decisions this time last year); what really defines your time in college is the experience - the 4 am snowball fights, the parties, and the lounging.</p>
<p>Funnily enough, when I was applying to college, I really wanted to go to tiny, liberal arts schools where the professors know my name. Now that I'm actually IN college, I realize there's really a definite plus to having classes in giant lecture halls. I like to teach myself material, as long as I'm able to - so why waste my time going to lectures where the prof just reads from the book? Only giant lectures give you that opportunity to not go and not be penalized. On the same note, if you want to get to know your professors, I haven't had one yet who seemed unfriendly or unwelcoming to students.</p>
<p>Socially, there's one thing I really think I had the wrong impression of about Maryland when I came here - I figured in such a large school, you'd be meeting somebody new everyday, something which really excited me. Now that I'm here, though, I realize everybody kind of finds their niche and sticks to it, which is sort of disappointing. Friends sit with friends in classes, go out together at parties, stuff like that. There are always exceptions, but Maryland really is a school where, yeah, there is diversity, but it's all sort of heterogeneously clumped together.</p>
<p>Also, I thought I'd be going out to DC ALL the time when I first got here. Since September, I've been to DC two times. You really get cozy in the College Park bubble. If you go out, you're sort of socially limited. Yeah, if you're really motivated, you can go clubbing in DC and break the mold. But midsemester, I really felt like I was going to the same parties at the same frats and meeting the same guys every single weekend, and it sort of got old (midsemester slump anyone?) But I've sort of realized the experience really is what you make it - if you consider the frat and bar scene to be the end all and be all of social life, you're probably going to get tired of it. But take it for what it's worth - a good time with (usually) good people, and, well, College Park won't let you down. Plus, a lot of it has to do with how you like to spend your weekends. I like to party, so this is just my perspective. I'm sure there's a ton of stuff to do in CP that I'm missing out on because I'm too tired or hungover to be active during the day on the weekends. And I'm fine with that. I know that those experiences and Washington DC are both right there if I ever get tired of this social scene when I'm a junior or a senior. </p>
<p>Hmm. What else? The sports aspect of such a big school is really pretty awesome. I genuinely got the chills at my first home basketball game. The dorms..are...well dorms. I made mine really homey; I know some people with rooms that are just as bare as the day we moved in. Once again, it's all about what you do with what you've got. The food gets old REALLY fast. I get the same thing every single day, which I'm sure is SO unhealthy, but I'm picky. It's pretty much your standard fare of like, pizza, wraps, salad, and cheeseburgers, and daily specials which I'm always too sketched out to try. </p>
<p>Probably my biggest complaint about College Park is Route 1. It divides the campus so much and is kind of an eyesore. The campus is SO beautiful and then - BAM - you have this busy road right there. Plus, most of the places to eat are all chains and hardly healthy. I mean, I know we're college kids and on a limited budget, but geez. When my parents come to town, there's literally really nice place for them to take me / give me good food. Really, please, just give me atmosphere! If UMD had an atmosphere beyond campus that that more like, say, Chapel Hill, then I think it would be absolutely perfect. But really, it's sort of a minor complaint. </p>
<p>I dont know, I'm probably not the best person to comment on anything, but I'm definitely being honest when I say I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. It's all what you make it out to be. If you have any questions, just ask...</p>
<p>eckie-- if you want a nice restaurant, get your parents to take you to 94th aerosquadron (a bit past the metro, on the left). it's like 2 minutes drive from the main entrance to campus, although a bit out of walking distance.</p>
<p>Thanks for the recommendation, lindz. It looks really special on its website. How about hotels? The couple that we've stayed in so far have been dives.</p>
<p>get ready for the duke gameeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee on sunday!</p>
<p>woooo duke game! i got a ticket and am soo excited :)</p>
<p>worrywart, no idea about hotels. my parents like to stay at the UMUC conference center hotel (i think it's a marriott?) because of its proximity.... the rooms are small but nice. it gets booked WAY in advance for family weekend and stuff though.</p>