Honors College
Anne Arundel Hall
College Park, MD 20742
301-405-6771
Welcome to the University of Maryland Honors College!
Summer 2013
We are delighted that you will be joining Maryland’s Honors College – one of the best in the nation! Your next few years will be exciting. Honors will help you use your remarkable intellectual gifts to explore knowledge, thinking, and communicating, and, we hope, to deepen your commitment to contribute to this complex world. We look forward to helping you seize the many opportunities available on and around our campus.
Orientation: Please arrive at 7:30 AM sharp for Honors Orientation. There are two stops
(luggage drop-off and program check-in) before getting to the first session, which begins promptly at 9:00 AM. You will receive additional materials to help guide you through registration and your first term on campus.
At Honors Orientation you will meet many fellow
Honors students – a group with talents and credentials that rival any of the top entering classes in the country. Orientation will involve many activities, including registration for your fall classes. (Of course your schedule can be adjusted later in the summer if you change your mind about courses). You will meet with an academic advisor who will answer your questions and help you plan the best way to launch into the curriculum. To help you make the most informed choices for your fall classes, please carefully read the information below before you come to orientation.
Your fall 2013 Schedule: We recommend you include the following courses in your fall schedule:
 ACES students
 DCC students
 EIP students
 GEM students
 HON students
 HUM students
 ILS students
HACS100
HDCC105
HEIP143
GEMS100
HONR100
HHUM105 + one or more H-versions
HLSC100
+ one or more H-versions
+ one or more H-versions
+ one or more H-versions
+ one or more H-versions
+ one or more H-versions + an Honors seminar
+ one or more H-versions
Along with these Honors College courses, you will take additional courses to build to 15-16 credits.
If you’ve chosen a major, please check your department’s website to familiarize yourself with the curriculum and think about which courses you may want to take your first semester. If you have not yet decided on a major, there will be lots of time to explore and discuss options with your advisor, but you may want to begin by reviewing course listings on www.testudo.umd.edu
and searching academic departments and potential majors on the university webpage: www.umd.edu
. We know that AP/IB scores are not in yet; your advisors will work with you to develop a schedule based on your background, and adjustments can be made later.

Honors Seminars: Honors Seminars introduce students to seminar-style learning—small classes (limited to 20 students) featuring engaging topics, taught by stellar faculty, and emphasizing student participation. Although the seminar format is usually reserved for advanced students, Honors recognizes that exceptional students are ready to work with top faculty and play an active role in their education starting in their first year. Lively but informed discussions are more typical than lectures, and students often have opportunities to present their work to the class. Best of all, seminars feature intriguing topics and use interdisciplinary approaches. The result is an exciting educational environment in which learning has greater depth and students develop their academic skills more quickly. Most Honors seminars satisfy one or more General Education requirements. Therefore, Honors seminars are not extra classes; you can take Honors seminars instead of other courses to fulfill your graduation requirements.
Please visit the University Honors website www.universityhonors.umd.edu/Term1308 for a list of Honors seminars offered in the fall. Take some time to review the Honors courses and to select your first choice seminar plus a few back-up options that you would enjoy taking during your first semester as a Terp. You are not required to take an Honors seminar, but most students find them to be among their favorite and most inspiring, intellectually lively classes.
They also offer a great opportunity to meet other Honors students and get to know a faculty member very well. At the end of the summer, after all Honors students have registered, restrictions will be lifted so that you can register for more than one Honors seminar, if you wish.
You will be notified by email when this happens.
Honors seminars are required for the Honors College Citation in University Honors (3), Digital
Cultures (2), Entrepreneurship and Innovation (2), and Honors Humanities (2).
All students in the Honors College may sign up for Honors seminars in any semester.
Honors Version Courses: “H-version” courses (e.g., PSYC100H, MATH140H) are offered by some academic departments as Honors versions of introductory classes. They differ from regular sections in that they are designed for and open only to Honors students (although
Honors College students may take the standard, non-Honors version if they wish).
H-versions are generally smaller classes; they may treat the same material in a more sophisticated way; and/or they may be special in a way particularly suited to the subject and the audience. In a few cases, generally some lab courses and some language courses, students in the H-section attend the regular section lecture but break out for separate lab or discussion sections. H-version courses typically satisfy major or general education requirements.
Honors Citation: In order to earn an Honors College Citation on your transcript you must complete the specific requirements for your Honors program. You can find details on your program's website or in the Red Book you will receive at Orientation.
Honors TENTS: Get your Honors journey off to an exciting start! Jump into your new community and meet new Honors Terps with one of the two-day camping trip excursions:
Kayak Wye Island, Backpack the Appalachian Trail, or Biking the C & O, or—if you are really adventurous, sign up for more than one! Although not required, why would you
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consider missing out on this opportunity? Sign up now by going to honors.umd.edu/TENTS.php. The special Honors cost is $100, which includes meals, transportation and equipment rental. Sign up for a session that extends your summer orientation session or another date that best fits your schedule.
Roommates: During Orientation you may meet a new friend with whom you’d like to room in the fall. If you are both interested in becoming roommates and are in the same livinglearning program, contact Resident Life at reslife@umd.edu
. Include the full name and
University ID number of your desired roommate. Both students must request one another.
Resident Life will do their best to accommodate your request. Please contact your Living and
Learning program regarding possible housing restrictions.
Honors Convocation : Now for some Honors tradition: The Honors faculty will welcome new students to the Honors academic community on Friday, August 30.
Welcome Events: Additionally, there will be a variety of welcome activities coordinated by the living-learning programs. Please look for information from your respective program.
Activities will begin the day of your scheduled move-in (August 28 th
for most Honors
College students—Gemstone students attending GEMS Camp have an earlier date).
Commuter students are encouraged (and in some cases, required) to come to campus and participate in all living-learning program welcome activities.
Onward!
You are about to begin what should be the most joyful and challenging intellectual experience of your life so far, a major step towards becoming an educated adult. Some of it will be tough, but you have all it takes to succeed; that’s why we invited you. The world needs every bit of your expertise, talent, generosity, enthusiasm, and understanding.
If you have any questions, please call the Honors Office at (301) 405-6771 or check our web page at www.honors.umd.edu
. The entire Honors staff congratulates you on choosing this lively university and its highly respected Honors College. We are delighted to have you in
Honors, and look forward to meeting you at Orientation.
Go Terps!
Prof. William Dorland, Director
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