Getting the Most Out of Your Experience
Use this bucket list like a roadmap to plan out your Senior-Year Experience (SYE2)! How can you make the most of your time at UMBC to launch your next steps after graduation?
✅ Grow within your major and as an emerging professional by taking UNIV 401: Senior-Year Seminar!
✅ Meet with your advisor to discuss your graduation plan. Double check your degree audit and make sure you are on track to fulfill all of your graduation requirements.
✅ Complete the Scholarship Retriever and FAFSA in October. Did you know that you can qualify for new scholarships every year at UMBC?
✅ Get paid to do research. Undergraduate Research Awards (URAs) provide up to $1,500 to undergraduate students to support their research, scholarship, or creative work with a UMBC faculty mentor on an original project. UMBC students of all years and disciplines are invited to apply, as long as they remain enrolled at UMBC long enough to complete the proposed work. Applications open during the spring semester.
✅ Take the 096 Community Service & Learning Practicum through the Shriver Center. You’ll gain leadership skills through community engagement and participation in this zero-credit pass/fail course. You’ll also receive a notation on your transcript for completing community service.
✅ Take the FOCUS2: Career and Education Planning Online Assessment. You can book an appointment with the Career Center to discuss your results!
✅ Create your Handshake profile and upload your resume! Handshake is UMBC’s job and internship search platform. You can find opportunities on and off-campus to boost your resume!
✅ UMBC’s fastest-growing virtual network, Retrievers Connect, brings together a community beyond campus. With UMBC as a shared foundation, more than 1,500 alumni, faculty, staff, and students are busily bonding and networking. Find Retrievers by region, industry, or interest, or check in with UMBC faculty or staff to offer or receive career advice. Share professional experiences and bond over common interests. Through Retrievers Connect, you can email, message, or video chat, with users in control of the type and frequency of your connections.
✅ Visit the Joseph Beuys Sculpture Park. Check out the journals in the benches!
✅ Take a selfie with True Grit! Don’t forget to rub his nose for good luck!
✅ Cheer on the Retrievers at a UMBC soccer game! Fun Fact: Did you know that our football team is undefeated?