<p>So I took like a gazillionth trip today to CP, but this time I sat in on a couple classes. I sat in on 3 classes - was gonna be four but the professor was out of town for one. Recommend some of your favorites and give a description if you can. I think it will make things easier for visiting students who want to know which classes to attend for a day based on their interests.</p>
<p>I sat in on Mammalian Physiology with Higgins first. Definately check this course out - with Higgins as the proffessor - if you're interested in Bio/Med. He's an entertaining and really good guy who's also really approachable. He offered me a chance to drop by his office later in the day and just talk if I wanted to after I introduced myself to him. He's pretty much a legend among current <em>and perhaps former?</em> Bio students for his quirky things and interesting classes. For the first 15 minutes of each class he has like a talent portion where students might sing or do band. Today was a guy freestyling around the class with somebody on the guitar and another dancing.</p>
<p>Then there was Molecular Evolution. I believe it was Cummings, I could be wrong though. Boring. Really. Really. Boring. But his philosophy on exams is awesome (just like the "real world" where you're rarely working alone. he allows you to use any resources short of asking him - yes, you may ask other students - when taking the exam. Notes, internet, whatever!) I wouldn't sit in on this. </p>
<p>Neural Systems was cancelled today.</p>
<p>Finally, I went to Human Sexuality with... gah. Don't know his name. Awesome British accent. It's a course which if you're remotely interested in psych/bio/sexuality you should be taking if you go here. It's SO entertaining and absolutely hilarious. Today was apparantly one of the most graphic/explicit days - and because people online are often easily offended and whiny, I'm not gonna delve into what the material for the lecture or videos was - but everyone handled it pretty well. He's able to laugh at himself and his notes/lectures, and the class also jokes around when he asks stuff, and he takes it in stride nicely. It is a rough class though, he covers a lot of information pretty fast.</p>
<p>Both MammPhys and Human Sexuality, while upper-level courses (and one of the girls I was with told me MammPhys is actually the hardest course she took at CP, a girl who's looking at Duke Medical School now as a senior) are actually fairly large in size. Not like 80 but I estimated 35-45ish? I could be off ...</p>
<p>I hope more people contribute to this list and it becomes a good resource for students interested in UMD-CP. While my top choice right now is Brown and Duke's suddenly become interesting (hey! They're flying me out... what can I say?) UMCP is still in my top 2 or 3 choices just because of all of their programs, the great quality of education for the instate price, and what they do for top students who may already be entering well ahead of the rest of the freshman class. Plus, unlike the College Park area, the school is really beautiful!</p>
<p>Hey fengshuibundi, thanks for posting this thread. I'm OOS, but I'm going down over my break next week to tour and hopefully sit in some classes, preferably something in Communications. And also, if you want to sit in on some clases do you call in advance - what's the process?</p>
<p>Edit- Also by the way, would you recommend staying overnight? I really don't know what to do when I visit UMD for the first time except to tour the campus.</p>
<p>I was actually invited to visit by Eden Garosi who does basically recruiting for Chemical and Life Sciences, so I emailed her (because replying to her letter would have taken a long time!) and we worked out the kinks online.</p>
<p>It's good to call in advance so they can arrange for a person - usually an upperclass peer mentor - to take you around to your class or classes (technically I had three mentors today). You get to talk with them when you're going across campus and it's just nice to be able to not necessarily feel like you're being fed propaganda. Plus you won't feel all alone in the classroom, it can be awkward if it's a small class and you didn't introduce yourself to the professor ahead of time.</p>
<p>I mean you could always just show up 10 to 20 minutes early and talk to whoever is the instructor, introduce yourself and why you're there, and ask if s/he minds, but you get a lot more out of the trip you're taking down to UMCP if you have somebody with you.</p>
<p>Also, contacting means you'll prolly get a chance to meet with some faculty members, get some personal tours, and that sort of stuff. They really make you feel like they want you, which is nice at a state school. </p>
<p>Oh. You could check out the course bulletin online to find courses you're into and inquire about those specifically!</p>
<p>Fengshui, you're a pretty special exception. The vast majority of students aren't invited to campus by a faculty member, or flown out to visit schools. For the normal ones among us, you aren't just going to be able to walk into whatever classes you want! But you can participate in the adopt-a-student program, which is the everyman's version of what fengshui is talking about. </p>
<p>The admissions office will match you up with a student with a major you're interested in and possibly also special programs you're considering. You'll go with this person to their classes, eat lunch with them, hang out in their dorm/apartment, whatever they're doing with their day. Of course if you want to see or do something special, if there's time they'll definitely take you there.</p>
<p>If you want to just go sit in on a class, look up the current course schedule on testudo.umd.edu and find a class you're interested in. However, the professor might not have time to talk to you (sometimes they have to travel all the way across campus just like students do) or if it's a small upper-level class, it might be strange and very obvious that you're there. I'd recommend emailing the professor beforehand if you're going to do that.</p>
<p>Well, I essentially did state that one should contact the office of admissions if you are interested and see what they can arrange for you. The emailing thing is a good idea, I hadn't thought of that. But I did say to check the course bulletin online! :P</p>
<p>The adopt a student thing sounds cool too! And from what I remember with like Visit MD day people were just walking into random classes.</p>
<p>Anywho, this is more for classes students should try to sit in on!</p>
<p>Well my mom called admissions, and it looks like we're going to visit UMD this coming monday for HS junior day. Don't know what it's gonna be like, but hopefully it will be a good experience</p>