Advising

Academic Advising at UMBC starts with an Orientation Advisor specifically trained to help you with securing a strategic course schedule to launch your academic career. However, once you begin your study here at UMBC-Shady Grove, you will then have the opportunity to work with a faculty member and/or professional advisor affiliated with your chosen academic discipline. Before making your advising appointment, check your registration eligibility. Please see a list of advisors per program listed below.

Important note: While one faculty member or professional advisor will provide registration clearance for you each semester, we encourage students to seek additional academic and career planning from various members of the UMBC academic and administrative community. High-Performing UMBC students gather information, recommendations and guidance from a host of faculty, advisors and administrators- keen to help them maximize the opportunities and resources available at UMBC. Additionally, we encourage students to actively pursue conversations and meetings with academic advisors, faculty, and staff throughout the entire academic year. Advising sessions about registration are certainly important, yet on-going conversations and planning about graduate school, independent study, and/or gaining entry into a particular profession can (and should) take place at various times and in various formats (including email, telephone, etc.).

Please use the advising guides below and your degree audit to help you prepare for your advising meetings and to track your progress throughout your time at UMBC-Shady Grove.

Cross-campus enrollment is an option available to students to provide enrollment flexibility between the Main Campus in Catonsville and the Shady Grove campus in Rockville. While students may take advantage of the cross-campus enrollment option at any point throughout the academic year, priority enrollment consideration is based on a student’s primary campus designation. The processes and procedures to request enrollment vary depending upon the semester/session. Please view the Cross-Campus Enrollment Requirements in the Undergraduate catalog for instructions.

To request an exception according to UMBC’s cross-campus enrollment practice as noted in the catalog, please complete the Cross-Campus Enrollment Request Form. Requests for cross-campus enrollment in Shady Grove courses are typically granted 7-10 days prior to the start of the semester.

As a reminder, this is only required for fall and spring semesters. During the summer and winter sessions, students may enroll in in-person, online, and hybrid courses at both campus locations without additional approval.

While tuition rates are the same at both the Catonsville campus and the Shady Grove campus, the student fee structure is different. You may view fees for both campuses here. Each course is assigned a specific campus location – the fee structure depends on the campus location of the course, the campus designation of the student, and the delivery method of the course.

Shady Grove designated students will be charged Catonsville fees for in-person or hybrid Catonsville designated courses and will be charged Shady Grove fees for all Shady Grove designated courses and Catonsville designated online courses.

Catonsville designated students will be charged Shady Grove fees for in-person or hybrid Shady Grove designated courses and will be charged Catonsville fees for all Catonsville designated courses and Shady Grove designated online courses.

Questions about the practice or this form can be directed to shadygrove@umbc.edu.

If you intend on taking most or all of your courses at UMBC-Shady Grove moving forward, we suggest exploring a potential Campus Designation Change. Fill out the Campus Designation Change request form and an advisor will reach out to you to determine if a campus designation change is appropriate for you.

If you are currently a student at UMBC’s Shady Grove campus and are planning to take the majority of your courses at the Catonsville campus in future semesters, we would recommend updating your primary campus designation to UMBC’s Catonsville campus.

If you are currently a student at UMBC’s Catonsville campus and are planning to take the majority of your courses at the Shady Grove campus in future semesters, we would recommend updating your primary campus designation to UMBC’s Shady Grove campus.

Please note that we strongly recommend discussing enrollment at UMBC-Shady Grove with your academic advisor, as UMBC-Shady Grove offers primarily upper-level courses (300 and 400 level classes). It is critical students have completed at least 45 credits and the prerequisites for their intended major prior to beginning coursework at UMBC-Shady Grove. Please review the seven undergraduate majors offered at UMBC-Shady Grove to determine if we offer your program of interest.

If you are a computer science or mechanical engineering student please fill out this campus designation update request form.

If you are a history, political science, psychology, social work, and/or translational life science technology student please fill out this campus designation update request form.

If you only want to take one or two courses at UMBC-Shady Grove and do not plan to take the majority of your courses at UMBC-Shady Grove moving forward, we suggest using the Cross-Campus Enrollment request form to access those individual courses.

According to UMBC’s catalog: Students must complete a language sequence through the 201 level or demonstrate proficiency at that level. For general information about the language requirement, including options on how students can meet the proficiency requirement, visit MLLI’s FAQ page. Information for international students and/or students with international coursework on how to request 201 equivalency by demonstrating education in a second language may be found on MLLI’s website, L201 for International Students.  Additional information about placement and proficiency based on coursework or testing (including AP/IB/CLEP exams) may be found on MLLI’s website, L201 Proficiency. If you have earned the Maryland Seal Of Biliteracy, please submit MLLI’s “application for 201-level language equivalency“.

Students with a documented disability that affects language learning should review the information on The Office of Student Disability Services’ website.

Please review your options regarding fulfilling proficiency with your academic advisor to determine how you will meet the proficiency requirement.

During the course of your academic career at UMBC you may want to take a course(s) at another institution and transfer the course(s) back to your degree program at UMBC.* If you are not taking enough credits to be considered full time (12 or more credits) at UMBC, but your enrollment at another institution would bring you to full time status when combined with your credits at UMBC, you can complete a consortium agreement to be considered for full time aid eligibility.

Please review information regarding eligibility and the steps required to complete a consortium agreement on UMBC’s Financial Aid website. Once you have gathered the required documents, please submit them directly to UMBC’s Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships by ticket for consideration.

*Please be sure to discuss your plan to take a course at another institution with your academic advisor to verify it is the best course of action for your UMBC degree plan.