FAQs
Use the EXST contact form. Include your full name, program name, and a complete statement regarding the request.
Yes. Admission to the SIE program requires that you earned a four-year baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution with a minimum 2.5 GPA.
Yes, you are required to submit a complete set of original transcripts. Your application is not complete and will not be considered for admission until transcripts have been received.
A list of courses can be found under Plans of Study.
Course instructors are carefully screened and regularly evaluated to maintain quality. All SIE program course lecturers have an earned doctoral degree in the discipline they teach, have a history with the Biology, Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, and the Chemistry and Biochemistry Departments, and are approved by those departments to teach. In several cases, UMD faculty lecture in the evening courses. The laboratory teaching assistants are predominantly UMD graduate students, with experience teaching these same courses in the traditional day program. When that is not the case, teaching assistants with only the highest qualifications in the specific subject matter are hired. SIE program staff possess excellent English communication skills and are committed to student success.
No. SIE is a non-degree granting program. Students take only those courses they need to reach their personal educational goals. There is no prescribed sequence of coursework.
No. The courses offered in the SIE program follow the same syllabus and laboratory exercises as the courses given to our degree-seeking students. They are not condensed or simplified continuing education versions of those courses. The program's unusual evening timeframe makes these courses part of the University's continuing education outreach to individuals needing to extend their education beyond their baccalaureate degree work.
Students enrolled in SIE courses will follow the same syllabus and participate in the same laboratory exercises as daytime undergraduate students enrolled in the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences. SIE courses are not condensed or simplified versions of daytime courses. SIE course names, numbers, and academic credits are identical to those of daytime courses; therefore, institutions viewing students' transcripts can interpret these courses in the appropriate manner. SIE students are enrolled at the university as post-baccalaureate, non-degree-seeking students, as an administrative mechanism for distinguishing them from the undergraduate degree-seeking student population. As such, the SIE post-bac program is listed as the major on the SIE student transcripts.
These courses follow the same syllabus and laboratory exercises as the courses given to our traditional day students. As a result, the courses possess the appropriate level of academic content and are taught with appropriate academic rigor. That being the case, there are no major modifications in the courses. Individual faculty and teaching assistants use a variety of means to assist students between classes and laboratories, including e-mail, the university's Web pages, ELMS and course list serves.
Prerequisite courses are the specific coursework that students should have successfully completed in order to assure that they have the skills and knowledge required to proceed at the appropriate pace of the course.
Yes, UMD takes prerequisite requirements seriously. Professors and teaching assistants assume that students have an appropriate academic background and they proceed at a pace that cannot be slowed to explain material or procedures learned in prerequisite courses. Indeed, some departments and professors will check on students' prerequisites at the beginning of the course, and students can be "administratively dropped" from a course for which they do not have the appropriate prerequisites.
The courses listed are the courses offered by the university that provide the necessary skills and background for our courses. Students may have had comparable courses at another institution; usually those equivalent courses are appropriate, but the determination must be made by UMD.
UMD’s Transfer Credit Center has a database that provides online course equivalency. Visit https://app.transfercredit.umd.edu/.
Information on the MPT can be found under Provisional Admission.
Tuition and fees information can be found under Tuition and Fees.
All students at UMD share the cost of student services. As a part-time student, your fees are reduced in acknowledgement of your reduced use of campus services and facilities. In addition to facilities maintenance, your fees include: use of the campus libraries, campus shuttle system, campus recreation facilities, the performing arts center and the student union.
Financial aid information can be found under Financial Aid and Alternative Payment.
SIE classes are small and every student is a contributing member of the class. In the smaller classes, students auditing the course may be expected to participate, although they do not take exams or submit assignments. Students do not receive a grade or applicable academic credit for the course. The notation "AUD" will be placed on the transcript for each course audited. A notation to the effect that this symbol does not imply attendance or any other effort in the course will be included on the transcript in the explanation of the grading system. To change your grading method, use the EXST contact form. Include your full name, program name, and a complete statement regarding the request.
Students who register to audit a course can change that registration to traditional graded course participation within the schedule adjustment period, but not beyond that date.
Yes. Students are charged tuition and fees for a course audit.
See Health Requirements.
See Health Requirements.
The SIE Enrollment Policy can be found under Program Policies.