Special Experiences

Nothing connects students more than our highly regarded living-learning programs, where students with a common interest share residence halls, classrooms, faculty and friendships to dig deep into contemporary topics and get unique research experiences. Half of all first-year students find their niche in one of these programs. To be considered for a living-learning program, you must apply for freshman admission by the November 1 early action deadline.

A Maryland education extends beyond the classroom, and it goes beyond borders. Our Education Abroad office facilitates international experiences for more than 1,800 undergraduates each year. You can study abroad for a year, semester, summer or winter and globalize your network, earn credit towards your degree and gain skills critical to your professional success. Admitted freshmen can even study abroad before arriving on campus through Freshman Abroad: Terrapin Take-Off short-term programs or Destination Abroad semester programs in Rome or Sydney.

As soon as they step foot on campus, Terps can begin building new knowledge and gaining a deeper understanding of their academic field through opportunities provided by the First-Year Innovation and Research Experience and the Maryland Center for Undergraduate Research. These faculty-mentored experiences give UMD students authentic research skills to help advance their careers.

Earning an internship is a great way to get real-world experience and jumpstart your career. With plenty of internship opportunities on campus and across the region, academic advisors and internship coordinators can help you get hands-on professional experience in a supervised environment.

While our students hail from over 150 countries, they quickly come to call Maryland home. The International Student & Scholar Services office assists international students with the process of applying to Maryland, advises on immigration requirements and provides resources to assist with transitioning to campus.

The University of Maryland recognizes the extraordinary contributions of members of our armed services, and we understand the unique challenges of transitioning into a university environment. With a community of students, staff, faculty, and alumni who have served in the US military, Veteran Student Life supports a seamless transition from military life to civilian college life and provides support for continued growth in mind, body and spirit.

As a land-grant university, Maryland has a long history of providing military training for its students. The university currently offers Reserve Officers’ Training Corps programs for the United States Air Force, Army and Navy, each of which works to train and commission the finest officer candidates in the nation.

Whether you’re looking to gain experience through an internship, fine tune your resume, practice your interviewing skills or evaluate a job offer, the Career Center has you covered. You’ll receive support at every stage of your career development and will be prepared to pursue a meaningful career path through high-quality services, resources and instruction.

The University of Maryland is committed to “inclusive excellence”—the notion that in order to educate our students with excellence, in order to foster outstanding research and scholarship, and in order to be national and global leaders, we must be diverse and inclusive. Through programs and resources, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion supports equity and diversity initiatives on campus and beyond.

The Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Education works to serve the more than 10,000 undergraduate multi-ethnic students. By serving these students in all academic, personal and programmatic endeavors, Maryland strives to increase rates of matriculation, retention, graduation and overall GPA.

Each year through the First Year Book Program, the University of Maryland selects a book that will provide a shared intellectual experience for all first-year students, faculty and staff. The First Year Book signals to incoming students the importance we place on intellectual engagement across the curriculum. It creates an opportunity for all of us to look at a topic, issue or experience from different perspectives.

The Undergraduate Catalog provides information pertaining to undergraduate academic programs, including course descriptions and program requirements and sets forth the university’s academic, registration and graduation policies and regulations. Program requirements contained in the Undergraduate Catalog supersede any information which may be contained in any bulletin of any school or department.