Guest column: Second-class freshmen

Congratulations, Freshmen Connection class of 2011. We made it. Those four months went by quickly, didn't they? It makes sense that they did, considering most of our classes started late in the afternoon and we took full advantage of that fact.

Most commencement speeches begin with a quote. The one that sticks out at me requires some context, so think back to the New Student Welcome: University President Wallace Loh was up on stage while all of us, clad in french-fry yellow T-shirts, were tucked neatly in the corner of Comcast Center in our own "Off-Campus Terps" section. Loh remarked how proud he was of the high GPA of the students. He said something self-deprecating to the effect of "If I applied to Maryland today, I would not have gotten in." And suddenly, a dry, tired male voice behind me barked back something that echoed the subconscious thoughts of everyone in the Freshmen Connection class:

"Hey, that's funny. Neither did I."

The Freshmen Connection program is meant to enable students accepted to the university for the spring semester to attend school here. In exchange for the privilege, we must live off-campus and take classes during non-peak hours, from about 3 to 9 p.m. Once the spring semester arrives, we're considered regular students. Little did I know what it would mean to be half a Terp.

Now, before I begin, I have to establish that even if I had prior knowledge of what my experience as a Freshmen Connection student would be like, I probably still would have chosen this university. The gripes I have are meant only to show what could be improved upon in my generally good experience here.

I suspected, but repressed, the idea that the Freshmen Connection program would attempt to "reform" me into being more like my less acceptance-challenged classmates. That thought surged back when I asked a fall-admitted freshman how his UNIV 100 class was going, believing all freshmen had to take it. Then he asked me what UNIV 100 is. UNIV 100 is a mandatory course for Freshmen Connection students. In it, we studied important questions like, "what's college?" "who is a professor?" and "how does one study?" I strongly suspect when admission committee members saw my application, they did not think "This student doesn't manage her time well enough to come here among her peers." I'm sure UNIV 100 has value for students who need extra guidance, but it's almost insulting to insinuate that any student who didn't get accepted for the fall must be this clueless.

The advising process was similarly poor. I was lucky enough to know my major, government and politics, but Freshmen Connection students who remained undecided had to attend long, impersonal advising sessions with about 30 other students. The only decent analogy to this is lining a bunch of students up on a conveyor belt and demanding they find their answer to "What do you want to be?" in the span of an hour. I understand it's no small task to arrange a person-to-person advising session for all freshmen, but this is not the place to cut corners. Students are free to change their major later or even stick with letters and sciences a little longer, but it shows a lack of concern to ship so many students through the process like sausage links.

The light in the storm for Freshmen Connection students was that, come spring semester, we would cease to be a "special case" and would become whole Terps. And yet, even that didn't turn out to be quite true. The class registration date for all freshmen with no previous credit was Nov. 31, that is, all freshmen except for Freshmen Connection students, who registered more than a week later, on Dec. 8. Even students who opted to take the fall semester off and return to Maryland in the spring registered before us. Are we being punished? I don't get it.

I'm not asking for much. The Freshmen Connection program was an amazing opportunity and it's helped me stay on track to graduate on time. All I want is for the university to be more up front about the goals of the program: are we really here to get ahead, or are we in a remedial program? How long should we expect to be half a Terp?

Emma Atlas is a freshman government and politics major. She can be reached at atlasemm@gmail.com.