I understand that during the Summer Orientation, students meet with an advisor and choose their classes, so I assume the earlier the orientation the more options available. The college of Engineering advises on certain dates, June 5-6 is the first one available to ALL students, and June 19-20 is the first one for Honors only. What do you recommend he chooses? Is it better to attend earlier and have more options or is it better to go to the Honors one that is a little later? Thanks for your help!
@ScubaMoma - I would recommend the Honors College on June 19-20. It will be specifically oriented towards Honors College students and he will be associating with other Engineering students who are in the Honors College. UMD opens new class sections as necessary for Freshman students.
The following link shows which courses will be available Fall 2019
https://app.testudo.umd.edu/soc/
This link is a thread I wrote back in 2014, when we attended Honors College Orientation with our D. Some things have probably changed since then, but it gives you a feel for what happens.
@SoofDad thank you for the info!
@ScubaMoma I would agree with SoofDad. Your son should definitely attend one of the Honors Sessions and the earlier the better. You should be fine with the first session June 19-20th. Although new class sections and additional slots are typically added before each orientation, we discovered last year this was not always the case. Worst case scenario for those attending the latter sessions is the student gets into bad section times and typically can change into better times right before the semester starts.
Also a VERY important suggestion before your son attends orientation - make sure he has a good idea of exactly what courses he is required to take first semester and what courses he may like to take (like an honors seminar). Both of you may want to look carefully at the schedule of classes for Fall 2019 and see what teachers are teaching what sections for courses he is likely to take. This can make a big difference, especially for some of the intro courses where some of the instructors have a lot better reputation than others. There are several web sites that have instructor reviews, including ratemyprofessors.com. I would also recommend having backup sections and classes, in case he can’t get into his first choices.
Unfortunately there is minimal guidance during and before the registration part of orientation the second day. I think my daughter was one of the few prepared and she evidently ended up helping several other kids who were having major issues putting together a schedule - all the while knowing that the best classes/sections were filling up by the minute! Remember though that once you’re registered you can go back and make changes at any point before the semester starts as long as there are open slots. Also in some cases they already have the student pre-assigned to a particular class before registration starts. My daughter was planning to sign up for ENES100 and take ENES102 2nd semester but found out her entire small group was already approved only for ENES102H (honors) that first semester. Worked out for the best since this was her favorite instructor last semester.
@CU1986 Thank you! I will follow your suggestions.
@ScubaMoma Also, when your student goes to sign up for orientation, only the Honors sessions will show up. My DS had to sign up by phone since he had decided not to accept the Honors college invitation, but only the Honors sections showed up.
@ScubaMoma - @CU1986 is correct that your S should have a list of first and second semester classes with him at orientation. The following link will list AP credits that he may be eligible for.
http://www.transfercredit.umd.edu/plc/APGenEd.pdf
My D successfully used wait lists in at least 5 of her 8 semesters. Also, take the professor ratings with a grain of salt. My D found that other students who had recently had a certain professor or taken a course, that she was interested in., to be the best sources of info. But they often did not submit any ratings. This may be difficult for an incoming Freshman to do, but will help in future semesters.
FYI, rather than using RateMyProfessor, I would recommend using the teacher review site that is specific to University of Maryland only called PlanetTerp. It’s includes grades data as well as student comments/ratings. The website is found here https://planetterp.com/
Also, a tip specific for engineering students…while it is not always the case, sometimes it is a good idea to chance signing up for sections with professor listed as TBA. They sometimes hold back the name of the professor until the last minute to help avoid overly crowded waitlists for the more popular professors. I peeked at ENES100 and while I don’t know all the profs, I will tell you that David Lovell is great choice! My son took that class with him at the summer Young Scholars program and really liked him. He’s a great teacher and very accessible.
Anyone interested in entrepreneurship should take ENES140 with James Green at some point. He’s another great prof and he’s the director of the Hinman CEO’s program. He’s not an “easy” teacher, but very good!
Also, just in general, some ideas for classes if you are into cool ideas/entrepreneurship: http://innovation.umd.edu/learn/fearless-ideas-courses/
@SoofDad thanks again. One question: how do they choose the classes without knowing their AP scores for senior year? (they come out around July, after my son’s orientation). Depending on the score he could have up to 3 AP classes eligible for credits.
@maryversity thanks for the useful links and info!
@ScubaMoma - If he had the scores automatically sent to UMD they may have them earlier than the July release. I think that was what happened with my D, but I really don’t remember. She did have AP credits when she registered for classes at orientation. At a minimum he can talk to his advisor about this issue and see what they recommend.
One more point - make sure he completes the math placement test before orientation (I’m assuming that UMD still has that)
@SoofDad: OK, thanks. And yes, they need to take the math test before orientation.
@ScubaMoma My son will be registering before the AP scores come out too. I will ask him to register as though the AP scores are acceptable and then as soon as they come out, he can go online and change his classes if necessary.
@reads2222 FYI, registering for classes has to be cleared by an adviser. They put in codes that allow students to sign up for certain classes. From what I recall, they typically do not allow you to register for classes without the AP score on record. I think that was exactly how my son ended up on a waitlist for the math section he wanted (which he did get into before school started without a problem)…he was at one of the first orientations so he got all the other classes he wanted. The highest level math that you can be “placed” in with the math test is MATH 140, and once the AP scores come out, you can sign up for the higher math.
So, you have the right idea, but just in reverse - your son will likely register for MATH140 (or no math) and then when scores come out, he will be able to go online to sign up for the higher math.
@maryversity Thank you for the information. He will be registering in June, so he will have to register for those classes after orientation when his AP scores come out. I will plan on sending his older AP scores now and have this year’s scores sent automatically to UMD.
@maryversity tanks for the info. will do the same!
Do you have to make decision on enrollment before signing up for orientation?
@“Momwith?” yes, you need to confirm your enrollment and pay the $400.
@ScubaMoma thanks! So your son has signed up?
@“Momwith?” yes, he committed a few days ago. he registered for orientation and completed the housing and dining agreement. the rest he can do a little later.