<p>For fall 2012 incoming freshmen, there are new Gen Ed requirements which will be replacing the CORE requirements: </p>
<p>General</a> Education Program - University of Maryland</p>
<p>For a chart of specific requirements: <a href="http://www.gened.umd.edu/documents/GeneralEducationSummaryChart.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.gened.umd.edu/documents/GeneralEducationSummaryChart.pdf</a></p>
<p>This seems like a terrible idea. All I see are the addition of more courses, without cutting back on required courses. For majors with a lot of requirements, this seems to limit them even further. </p>
<p>I see they tried to cut back by taking away “Advanced studies” but that was almost always going to be fufilled anyway. The SAT exemption being taken away is also bad. I know my friend specifically planned not to take AP Lang, because he researched the SAT cutoff and he met it.</p>
<p>The chart shows AP exemptions for Writing, Math, and Distributive Series. My daughter learned about the new I-Series classes at Accepted Students Day. I think these revisions are in line with what hiring managers have been asking for in graduates.</p>
<p>“Advance their reasoning, problem solving, speaking and writing skills, and begin to use them in all aspects of their lives.”</p>
<p>It was not so easy to take 2 advanced studies courses (300 or 400 level) under the CORE requirements because most upper level courses have prerequisites you need to plan carefully for and if I remember correctly, the 2 courses had to be outside your major.</p>
<p>The new Gen Ed requirements seem to provide a solid background, including communications and I-Series courses.</p>
<p>I’m just upset that everything is changing for the Class of 2012/2016.</p>
<p>Not only do we have different and general education requirements with stricter exemption rules, UMCP is changing to a plus/minus implementation which means it is harder to get a 4.0, and especially for pre-meds who need a higher GPA, and the MCAT is also changing to include 2 hours more of testing and a psychology/sociology section that means more work.</p>
<p>Grad and medical schools change your GPA to the plus/minus system anyway, so there will be no change for admissions.</p>
<p>Actually, if things are going to change, it’s easier if it doesn’t happen mid-way in your education. It’s easier if things are consistent for you from the start. </p>
<p>I also think it may be another step in continuing the upward trend of Maryland’s reputation of being more and more competitive. They keep raising the bar, which, in my opinion, is a good thing. </p>
<p>So many people keep asking UMD or ****** because they question if they will be as challenged at UMD as compared to an ivy or other extremely “prestigious” school. Just wait, by the time your kids apply, people won’t be asking that question (ok, there are always a few, but it won’t be so prevalent).</p>
<p>Ugh. Even if it’s consistent throughout our four years, we’re the guinea pigs. They’ve never tried out this system before, and it’s not like there was another class before us to work out all the issues. Just more headaches for all of us. Awesome.</p>
<p>I’ve done a lot of research on what classes I have to take/What AP scores I need to get to place out of CORE classes, so with all these new requirements, it just seems overwhelming to have to complete this inflow of new reqs.</p>
<p>Also, as oceannicole said, all these new policies/programs with the new GPA policy, new gen ed courses, and new MCAT, there’s no one to ask advice from, and we may end up suffering because they’re not as accustomed to it either.</p>
<p>I understand where you guys are coming from but trust me, having this +/- grading change happen in the middle of your college career is just as bad. Now I’m going to have 2 years of one grading system and 2 years of a stricter one.
Let’s say someone had a 3.6 GPA already under the current grading system. Under the new grading let’s say they get 2 A’s, 2 A-'s, and one B. That’s a 3.68 for the semester, compared to what was usually a 3.8 which would’ve brought up their overall GPA that will be part current, part old system. So it’s going to be much harder for current students to pull up whatever their GPA is now. And we didn’t know this was coming.</p>
<p>I feel you on the Gen Ed changes though…CORE definitely sounds better/easier, but I’m sure they made the change for a reason (just as they had reasons for the grading change)…probably in the long run it’ll look better.</p>