Getting Established at UMD

The best place is start is with the New Student Checklist (Graduate Student Life Handbook). This is the most authoritative source to guide you through the process of getting yourself set up on campus.

Getting Established in the History Department

1. Join the party. Sign up for the HGSA e-mail Listserv by sending your request to the webmasters (see Officers and Other Positions for contact info). Then, go to whatever BBQs, happy hours, and departmental receptions they invite you to.
2. Get a clean, well-lighted place. Acquire a study carrel on the 3rd floor of Key, if you think you will use one. E-mail the president of HGSA if you are interested. You can also get your own study carrel at McKeldin Library (see Application Forms for Study Carrels).
3. Find your Yoda. An advisor you will need...and sooner rather than later. If you don't already have a candidate in mind, talk to other students or the Graduate Director about picking the professor most appropriate for your area of interest.
4. Know what is required of you. Familiarize yourself with all of the requirements for your degree (see Graduate Programs & Certificates) so you can ask informed questions and plan ahead.
5. There's no place like home. Take some time to sort out the symbiotic architectural relationship between Francis Scott Key and Taliaferro (see Our Space)-- you don't want to be late to your first seminars.
6. Go postal. Locate your departmental mailbox in the lounge on the 3rd floor of Francis Scott Key. Mailboxes are assigned yearly by the HGSA officers.