I’m CS major planing to start a college in UMD this fall. What courses should I take in summer? I want to plan ahead, although I am aware that there will be a UMD orientation that will help me sort out plan.
Also, I am planning to take about 2 classes during summer in a community college to graduate as early as possible (and I don’t like spending summer doing nothing/fooling around). I am aware that 2 courses are a huge workload to handle in 5 weeks (early July to mid August), but I have some older friends who have taken 2 courses as well in the past summers and am aware of what to expect.
They are suggesting a Language course, but since UMD doesn’t require language for graduation, I am not planning to take language courses.
Thank you.
Use this link to see what courses will actually be acceptable before you sign up for them https://ntst.umd.edu/tce/
@maryversity Yea, I already knew about this. But I do not know what courses I should take.
Contact admissions to make sure taking classes over the summer after graduation is okay with them. It’s typically okay once you’ve enrolled at their college but some universities consider that if you took classes elsewhere before you enroll you can be rescinded. So, just make sure.
Do you have any AP or dual enrollment credit already?
@MYOS1634 I’ve asked them, and they said it’s allowed. I have four AP classes on which I got 4+ , but only two are accepted by UMD.
OK, excellent.
Then, I’d recommend you take the gen ed you least look forward to and Oral Communication. 
An alternative is to take the two classes you took as AP which you won’t get credit for : that should make things pretty easy for you.
Make sure the class is acceptable for transfer before you take it.
Some other people have suggested Oral Communication course as well; however, I’m not sure why they are recommending that course. Could you tell me why you recommend me to take it in the community college? Is it because it is the most tedious class not worth its cost or is it the hardest class to take in UMD?
Of course, I think a lot depends on which oral communication class you take, and the teacher you get, but the general one taken by the majority of students is COMM 107.
Here are the options https://ntst.umd.edu/soc/gen-ed/201708/FSOC and personally, I think the JOUR130 actually has potential to be both interesting and useful, especially since some employers will monitor/access your social media posts. Other FSOC options can be useful for specific majors as well.
Since I believe the comment was about COMM107, I can tell you that all my son said about it (since he took COMM 107) was that it was stupid, a waste of time and a lot of busy work. But that is coming from an engineer…if it helps to know, he got an A in it without a problem, but he did complain about the class.
Take a look at the gen ed options for this coming fall here https://ntst.umd.edu/soc/gen-ed/201708 - just click on the red link to see what courses satisfy that gen ed. Whichever has the least interesting options to you would be the one to try to satisfy at a cc. Again, you need to double check that the course you sign up for is indeed approved to satisfy that particular gen ed before you sign up for it. Note that approval is NOT constant - approvals can expire, so be sure to watch out for that as well.
Honestly, I would NOT try to sign up for anything until you at least go to orientation - you are really putting the cart before the horse by trying to select classes to take elsewhere now.
You also need to consider that study abroad is an awesome way to satisfy gen eds as well without “wasting” a semester since so many classes for your major may not be available as an option at universities overseas, but many courses are accepted for gen eds. Really, don’t turn your nose up at the idea until you know more about it. You need to talk to other students about it. You can do summer sessions abroad or winter session (although winter is typically only one course) if you don’t want to do a typical semester. It really is not “more” money to spend a semester abroad, per se, and there are so many scholarships to help fund that as well.