College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences (CMNS)

The best way to support your student during their academic journey in CMNS is through open communication and conversations. Here are some topics to explore with your student each semester.

• Keeping Up With Degree Requirements: Your student can keep up with their degree requirements by regularly accessing their uAchieve - degree audit. UAchieve helps students and advisors evaluate academic progress towards degree completion. uAchieve can be accessed by students in Testudo.
• Schedule Adjustment: This period happens during the first two weeks of each semester. It allows students to make changes to their schedule freely without penalty (adding/dropping courses). Discussing how your student is navigating and adjusting to their academic schedule is key during this time. You should encourage your student to speak with an academic advisor if they’d like to make any adjustments to their current schedule during this period. The CMNS Undergraduate Student Services office holds drop in hours during the Schedule Adjustment period.
• Student Dates and Deadlines: It is imperative that students keep up with university dates and deadlines. Student dates and deadlines can be found on the Registrar’s Calendar website.
• Utilizing Academic Resources: It’s never too early to ask for help. Encouraging students to utilize academic resources to support their coursework (as needed) is highly encouraged. It’s okay to take advantage of these resources right away instead of waiting until something is going extremely wrong. If your student struggles with asking for help, this is a great conversation to have often. We also encourage students to visit instructor office hours and attend Guided Study Sessions.

Many incoming first-year and transfer students have scores from Advanced Placement exams or International Baccalaureate exams from high school. Any scores from Advanced Placement exams or International Baccalaureate exams should be reported to the University of Maryland so that they appear on your college transcript. This will ensure that they are accurately advised at orientation and beyond. Scores can be sent to UMD through College Board website (AP) or International Baccalaureate website (IB).

Oftentimes new AP or IB scores are not available until early July for exams taken in the spring. Many incoming students have scheduled orientation dates in June. If your student is waiting on scores, they should inform their orientation advisor of which exam scores they are waiting on (e.g., AP Calc, AP Bio etc.). They will only be advised based on the scores they do have and will be able to plan a secondary schedule based on the scores they are expecting. Once scores are in, they will be able to make appropriate changes to their course schedule based on those scores and the secondary plan you made with their orientation advisor.

In the event that your student does have official exam scores that have not made it on their UMD transcript or they have not sent the scores to UMD, they may print and bring a copy of an official score report to show their orientation advisor. They may also pull scores up electronically by visiting the College Board website (AP) or International Baccalaureate website (IB). Their advisor will just need proof of scores. They should still be sure to send the scores to UMD as soon as possible.

All incoming first-year CMNS students are required to take the Math Placement Exam regardless of Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), or Dual Enrollment credits.

Transfer students (attended a 2-year or 4-year institution previously) are not required to take the Math Placement Exam unless they are not transferring in credit (have not earned) for MATH140 - Calculus I.

A Math Placement Exam score will determine which math course your student starts with in their first semester that will fulfill their CMNS major requirement. The highest Math Placement Exam score that can be earned is MATH140.

A Math Placement Exam score can also determine which non-math major required coursework your student can register for in their first semester as well.

Orientation advisors will chat with students about their math placement scores during advising and registration. Students are eligible to retake the exam once after scores are reviewed with their orientation advisor.

At orientation, students should plan to prioritize their primary major and focus on planning their first semester course schedule based on those requirements. However, they should share these plans with their academic advisor at orientation.

Research and Internships

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