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New First Year Orientation

We are excited to welcome you to Letters & Sciences (LTSC) and the University of Maryland!

Letters & Sciences provides academic advising to nearly 3,000 students to support them in achieving their educational, personal, and professional goals, so you're in good company! LTSC advisors are uniquely skilled in leveraging our knowledge of over 100 undergraduate majors offered at UMD to help students transition to a degree major.

Students admitted into Letters & Sciences are those who are either undecided about a particular major or are still in the process of declaring their intended major. Whether students are undecided or undeclared, we provide individualized support and help students "Prepare to Declare" to encourage a timely graduation. 

  • Undecided students are those who applied to the University of Maryland without a specific major in mind. For undecided students, LTSC offers the opportunity to explore many fields of study before selecting a major.
  • Undeclared students are those who have yet to declare their intended major or they are seeking admission into one of the University's Limited Enrollment Programs (LEP) [new tab]. For undeclared students interested in one of the LEP majors, LTSC works with students to satisfy all gateway requirements before applying to their intended major. 

We look forward to meeting you at Letters & Sciences New Student Orientation! 

Orientation Steps

Complete the LTSC First Year Student Orientation Questionnaire [new tab] 

Your responses help LTSC advisors understand if you are undecided or undeclared, and provides them with important information about your academic or career interests, any prior learning credits you may be expecting (i.e. from AP/IB) and/or expected transfer credits from dual enrollment which are not yet part of your UMD records. This information is used by LTSC advisors to prepare individualized recommendations for suggested courses towards an intended major during Orientation programs.

Take the Math Placement Exam [new tab]

Completing the Math Placement Exam is MANDATORY for all new first-year students. 

The General Education Fundamental Studies Math requirement [new tab] is time sensitive for all UMD students, with specific math requirements determined by intended major. Registration for any MATH/STAT course at UMD requires that students have a Math Placement Exam result to determine math eligibility. 

In addition, many other courses (science, programming, economics, etc.) require that students meet specified minimum math eligibility standards in order to be eligible to register for them.

  • First year students should plan to complete the Math Placement Exam no later than one week before their scheduled Orientation program to ensure that results are available during Orientation advising and registration.
  • Find more information about the Math Placement Exam [new tab] including how to prepare for the Exam and a sample placement exam.

Approximately one week prior to your Orientation program, you will receive a welcome email from ltsc_welcome@umd.edu inviting you to the Letters and Sciences New Student Orientation ELMS space (ELMS is our Electronic Learning Management System, which uses Canvas [new tab]).

Once you receive the invite and gain access, review the information included in the ELMS-Canvas space and complete the assignments in the modules. 

One agenda item for New Student Orientation will be for students to work with LTSC advisors to use UMD's online Registration (drop/add) system to register for classes. 

  • Two-Day Overnight Programs - It is STRONGLY recommended that students bring their own technology to use for BOTH Day One and Day Two at New Student Orientation.
    • Day ONE
      • Please BRING your technology to the Meet Your College session on Day One. DO NOT drop off your technology with the rest of your luggage when you check into your Orientation Program at Denton Hall.
      • Run the network access tool, SecureW2 [new tab], prior to coming to campus so that you can securely connect to eduroam, the university's wireless network, when on campus
    • Day TWO
      • While mobile devices may be required to complete Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) to access university systems, laptops or tablets are best when meeting with an academic advisor to access documents and to register for classes
      • Have a power cord/charger available
      • Bring headphones to facilitate effective and clear communication
      • Sign-in to UMD's zoom [new tab] to familiarize yourself, and download the Zoom app [new tab] if you don't already have it
  • One-Day Programs - It is STRONGLY recommended that students bring their own technology to use at New Student Orientation.
    • While mobile devices may be required to complete Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) to access university systems, laptops or tablets are best when meeting with an academic advisor to access documents and to register for classes
    • Have a power cord/charger available
    • Bring headphones to facilitate effective and clear communication
    • Run the network access tool, SecureW2 [new tab], prior to coming to campus so that you can securely connect to eduroam, the university's wireless network, when on campus
    • Sign-in to UMD's zoom [new tab] to familiarize yourself, and download the Zoom app [new tab] if you don't already have it
  • Online Orientation Programs - Connect from a device other than a phone (i.e. laptop or tablet), have a power cord/charger available, ensure that your audio and video are working, are in a location that will allow for effective and clear communication, and have a device to complete Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).
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