All Incoming Students

  • Follow up on any responsibilities that were identified for you by the advisor(s) you met with at O&CS Day.
  • If you placed yourself on a wait list for any course, please monitor your schedule closely. UMBC’s registration system will not allow a student into a course from a wait list if:
    • The student is already enrolled in another section of the same course
    • Enrolling the student in the course will create a time conflict with a course in which the student is already enrolled
    • Enrolling the student in the course will cause the student to exceed the maximum number of credits allowed for the term. Credit maximums are: 19.5 for Fall/Spring terms, 4.5 credits for Winter term, and 16 credits (8 per session) for Summer terms.
  • If you must adjust your schedule, please consult with an academic advisor. This is particularly important for any schedule changes that involve the adding or dropping of a course that is required for your major (and courses that serve as pre-requisites for major requirements, e.g., Pre-Calculus) **Note** – Advisors cannot change your schedule for you. Once O&CS Day is over, you are responsible for adding/dropping/swapping courses from your schedule on your own. If you don’t remember how those functions work from your O&CS Day Advising and Registration session, follow this link for cheat sheets and video guides for completing those transactions.
  • Set up your UMBC accounts for:
    • Email – UMBC uses Gmail as its email account provider. Now that you are an enrolled UMBC student, the university will use this email account for all official communication. Please check this account regularly, or set up your inbox to forward messages to an account that you already check regularly. For more information and instructions, see the Gmail FAQs.
    • Google Calendar – A Google App available to our students, Google Calendar can be used to help you with your time management, and many UMBC faculty and staff also use Google Calendar to schedule appointments. It can also be synced with the calendar function on many types of mobile devices. Please be sure to check your Google Calendar Time Zone settings before trying to schedule appointments with faculty or staff, to avoid missed appointments (UMBC is in the Eastern Time zone). For more information, see the Google Calendar FAQs.
    • Box – Box is a file sharing system that you can access from multiple devices. It is useful as an alternative/back-up for documents that you keep on your computer’s hard drive or on a USB drive, and can also be used for collaboration. For more information, see the Box FAQs.
    • Google Drive – Another Google App, Drive is similar to Box in that it can be used to share documents and files, but with the benefit of being able to collaborate in real time. For more information, see the Google Drive FAQs.
    • Blackboard – This account doesn’t need to be set up, per se, but you should begin checking Blackboard 2-3 weeks before the semester begins, to see which of your professors will be using Blackboard for assignments, quizzes, and grade tracking for your classes (among other things). You can learn more about accessing and using Blackboard on the Blackboard FAQs.
  • Read over the Enrollment Requirements, Class Notes, and Description for each of the courses in your schedule. These sections include information on electronically enforced prerequisites, recommended preparation, course/lab fees, and other important messages from the Department or Instructor. You can access this information either through the Schedule of Classes, or by opening your Class Schedule in “List View” and clicking on the Section Number for each course.
  • Find out what materials (textbooks, technology, etc.) are required for each of your classes. Students who obtain all of the required materials (and use them) have a better chance for success in their courses. The UMBC Bookstore can help you sort all that out!