College Park Scholars Program: A Deep Dive into an Enriched Academic Experience

The College Park Scholars program at the University of Maryland (UMD) stands out as a distinctive two-year living-learning experience tailored for academically motivated students. This invitation-only program fosters a supportive, diverse, and inclusive community, providing students with close faculty connections and opportunities for growth from the moment they arrive on campus.

The Essence of College Park Scholars

At its core, the College Park Scholars program is built on the belief that learning is most effective when done collaboratively. Students in the program typically reside together in residence halls and participate in one or two classes as a group each semester, forging a strong sense of community and shared academic purpose.

Program Structure and Themes

Students are grouped into one of several themed programs, each focusing on a specific topic or issue that demands careful, complex analysis. Approximately 70 to 90 students are enrolled in each program annually. Dedicated program faculty guide students through courses and experiences exclusive to Scholars over the course of two years. The curriculum is interdisciplinary and emphasizes hands-on learning. The twelve themed, interdisciplinary programs making up the Scholars Program include: Media, Self and Society, Science, Technology and Society, Science, Discovery and the Universe and others.

Community Building and Engagement

Unlike programs that leave community development to chance, College Park Scholars intentionally selects each cohort of students to represent diverse backgrounds and perspectives. The program provides ample opportunities for students to connect with one another, their Scholars faculty, and the broader UMD campus. Many programs offer excursions to sites and experiences in Washington, D.C., leveraging the university's proximity to the nation's capital. Faculty and staff also share opportunities from their networks both on and off campus. There are also several student organizations that are open only for Scholars students, so it offers a really easy way to get involved on campus. Many were also actually founded by Scholars students, so they fit many of the needs that students have found while they are on campus.

Curriculum and Academic Opportunities

The College Park Scholars program offers an interdisciplinary curriculum that complements students' major studies. Students enroll in a colloquium course, a seminar associated with their program, and "supporting courses" that can be chosen to satisfy general education requirements and potentially tie into their major. Dedicated advisors work with Scholars on their academic and personal development.

Internships and Research Opportunities

A key component of the Scholars curriculum is the practicum experience, which students must complete by the end of their sophomore year. Many students fulfill this requirement through research projects or internships, providing early professional development and helping them explore career goals. According to UMD's 2023 Graduation Survey, 90 percent of Scholars students participated in an internship during their undergraduate career, compared to 79 percent of the broader UMD undergraduate student body. Furthermore, 41 percent of Scholars students had three or more internships during their undergraduate career, versus 29 percent of the broader UMD undergraduate student body. 35 percent of Scholars participate in research while at UMD.

Past internship and research experiences have included:

Research studying the effects of a new drug on glioblastoma, a common malignant brain tumor, at the National Institutes of Health
An internship designing and building an underwater laser scanner for a LiDAR (Light Detecting and Ranging) lab
A supervised study of the ethical implications of consumer DNA genealogy tests

Global Learning Experiences

The College Park Scholars program recognizes the value of global learning in enhancing undergraduate education and fostering personal growth. UMD's Education Abroad Office offers a range of short-term, semester-long, and year-long opportunities to study in other countries. Scholars faculty also coordinate a number of short-term global learning experiences each year, to both international and domestic locales. These courses-which take place over winter, spring or summer breaks-are open to all Scholars students and undergraduate Scholars alums, regardless of program. They are led by a member of the Scholars faculty or staff and typically offer instruction that aligns with a number of Scholars programs' areas of study.

Recent Scholars-led global learning courses include:

Technology and Society: Ecuador in Context - Led by the Science, Technology and Society program. Students explore the past, present and future roles and impacts of technology across multiple contexts in Ecuador. Using the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Cuenca, Ecuador, as a setting, students engage in a series of field trips, lectures, guest speakers and service-learning experiences to get a firsthand practical look at the influence of technology on social issues.
Southeast Asia Immersion - Led by the Business, Society and the Economy program. This course examines four distinct societies-Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia-through both a business and a cultural lens. Through visits to both local and international companies, students observe firsthand the emerging trends in global business. Lectures and immersion in cultural activities shed light on the different approaches taken in modernization, political systems and social issues.
The Ecology and Sustainable Technologies of Hawaii - Led by the Environment, Technology and Economy; Life Sciences; and Science and Global Change programs. The course showcases Hawaii's distinctive biology, geology, ecology and culture through observatory visits, a tour of a natural energy laboratory, and hikes and snorkeling opportunities.

Public Leadership Scholars Program

The Public Leadership Scholars (PL) Program is designed to develop students into leaders and equip them with the necessary skills to become successful in their chosen path. PL explores the theory and practice of leadership with a focus on strengthening students’ leadership and life skills. Throughout the course, PL Scholars explore topics beneficial to students across a range of different majors, including: Different models of leadership, citizenship and social change; Forms of persuasion and power and how to use them effectively; Ethical approaches to decision-making and negotiation; and Life and career development skills.

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Through panels, debates, simulations, case studies, group discussions, long-term projects, and dialogue with guest speakers, PL students become informed citizens able to engage in a healthy discussion of issues and reason critically and persuasively about community matters. Personal and professional development are also integrated into the curriculum: Students will advance their writing, communication, and presentation skills; practice negotiation fundamentals; and discover and develop their own leadership styles and strengths.

Located near the nation's capital, the state capital and a large international diplomatic community, the University of Maryland is an ideal setting for examining and growing public leadership. Students: Take engaging field trips, such as to the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; Experience professional development seminars and speaker events; and Engage in a team-based grant-making experience, where they seek grant proposals from nonprofits in the capital region serving an identified social issue, evaluate proposals and award grants with actual funding from the Do Good Institute.

Finally, through the program’s practicum requirement, students gain valuable professional experience that allows them to leverage their newly learned communications and leadership evaluation skills in their field of choice. Past students have interned in a wide variety of career fields including: on Congressional committees; for local nonprofits; in the Student Legal Aid office; for large tech and finance organizations; and even engaged in research in labs on and off campus. Our students are also entrepreneurs, creating their own companies and formulating their own research while still at the beginning of their college career.

Over the two-year program experience (four semesters), students will complete a 3-credit oral communication course that will count toward their PL Scholars citation and General Education requirements. Note that your Scholars courses will generally be in addition to any courses you take to satisfy major requirements.

Admissions and Program Preferences

Students invited to join College Park Scholars must complete a preference form, selecting their top three program choices. The preference forms are read holistically. The Scholars invitation is not tied to your declared major. You can decline the invitation to Scholars and still respond YES to your offer of admission to UMD by completing the Decision Form in your Terps Application Portal.

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Benefits and Considerations

Being in the two-year College Park Scholars Program gives you the chance to join a special living-learning community focused on a theme, and that makes a huge university a lot more manageable for your first two years of college. The benefit with Scholars is that you can get a lot of general education requirements taken care of, which are required to graduate. In short, it doesn’t prolong your graduation period. For the most part, Scholars courses are held for students in the program.

Students are only able to be in Scholars OR Honors, not both. Unfortunately there are not targeted scholarships associated with Scholars as an incoming student. Scholars and Honors programs seem to have additional demands or course requirements.

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