if i go to UMD. what are the required courses i must take in the 4 years?
im not really a humanities student so i was wondering whether i needed to take a history course or an english course
Here are UMD’s general education requirements:
http://www.umd.edu/catalog/index.cfm/show/content.section/c/67/s/2662
Here’s a summary chart of the gen eds
http://www.gened.umd.edu/documents/GeneralEducationSummaryChart.pdf
and here is the webpage that gives more specifics http://www.gened.umd.edu/elements/gened-elements.html
In answer to your question, you will be very happy to hear that you only have to take 2 English classes and neither are literature based - they are writing courses (don’t groan just yet). Freshman year is academic writing (and my son’s teacher let them choose their topic, so he chose something on technology) and Junior year is professional writing and you can take technical, scientific or just plain professional.
As for humanities, you need 2 and there are pretty decent options as well, depending on your interests. Check this link to see the options in each category offered this fall (they do offer some different ones in the spring) https://ntst.umd.edu/soc/gen-ed/201508
If you go to the second column, you will see humanities DSHU. Clicking on it takes you here https://ntst.umd.edu/soc/gen-ed/201508/DSHU and you can take a class under any category! There’s film classes if you want or landscape architecture or the history of popular music under music studies, just to name a few.
And you need 2 history/social science classes as well. But not to worry since there is variety there as well (even better than DSHU…https://ntst.umd.edu/soc/gen-ed/201508/DSHS
Also, be sure to check your required classes in your major - some of those may fulfill some gened requirements.
Hint: learn to note the gen ed codes when looking at classes -format doesn’t copy well but you can see the classes are marked. So, try to find classes that fulfill 2 different gen eds at the same time like this one:
AMST260 American Culture in the Information Age Credits: 3
Grading Method: Regular, Pass-Fail, Audit General Education: DSHS, SCIS
Credit only granted for: AMST260 or AMST298I. Formerly: AMST298I.
Examines the ways in which content and form of public information interact with the culture, families & individuals.
this is wonderful… i really wanted to know because in high school currently, i took 2 ap social studies so far (gov and apush) and got a 2 and 4 respectivley…
and i wanted to know if i can use the credits from these to finish my social studies requirement… i just took the ap world exam today and hopefully i get the result i want…
thanks for all the information
Unfortunately, a 2 won’t give you credit, but at least the 4 will. Here is the chart to check out what AP’s will count for and the score needed
http://www.transfercredit.umd.edu/APGenEd.pdf
i know the two wont, freshman year was tough for me 
I’ve been having my incoming freshman explore Testudo so he can get familiar with the system before he goes to freshman orientation. How concerned should we be that he can not find classes that have open spots in them? I’m hoping that the school opens up more sections for freshmen, otherwise ds has a big problem…
@maryversity the class you referenced above, AMST260 is only open for freshmen connection students.
@need2learn
“How concerned should we be that he can not find classes that have open spots in them?” Short answer: not really concerned
It depends on the classes you are looking at. If it is a required class that everyone in a major has to take (ie MATH 140- calc I ), no worries because they do two things: 1. they reserve some seats that they only open up at each orientation 2. they will add additional sections when waitlists get to a certain level.
If it is an elective, then again it depends on what kind of elective. If it’s a true elective (meaning not tied to a major, so a gen ed kind of class - usually I-series) it is possible to be SOL as freshman because some classes only have one or two sections available and they are small classes, so those won’t open. To compensate/even the playing field for underclassmen, some really good gen eds fall are reserved for students with less than 60 credits. (kind of like that example I gave reserving a section or class for freshman connection students)
For honors category, right now you will see they only have 10 seats, but the classes usually can go up to 20 students - classic example of that “reserved” seating for incoming freshman
Do NOT be afraid of a waitlist. There may be no movement on it for a while, but come August, things start moving as students decide to fiddle around with their schedules. My son has gotten into classes with no problem when his waitlist number was in the high teens. The only exception to that would be with the second scenario I described of limited sections to begin with.
@need2learn - @maryversity is correct about the waitlists. My D used one for her spring freshman semester and again for the upcoming fall semester.
Thanks @SoofDad and @maryversity - I’m keeping my fingers crossed that new sections open up.
If my D has AP credits with English composition and English lit, and also AP US history and AP World history, will she be able to skip required English and history courses at UMCP?
@Maxwellequations - Here is the UMD AP Credit table