Spotlighting Student Research and Creativity
Ever wonder why UMBC ranks so highly in US News and World Report annually?
Or why on February 7th over 180 local, regional, and national employers will set up tables in the RAC to recruit current UMBC students and alums at the 2025 Spring Career and Internship Fair?
Or why our annual Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD) includes hundreds of student presenters (from all UMBC majors) and thousands of attendees?
And why are so many of our students awarded significant prestigious scholarships – like the Rhodes, Fulbright, Marshall, Gates-Cambridge, and Truman? And finally, how do so many fellow students gain acceptance to some of our nation’s best graduate and professional schools?
One common thread throughout these outcomes is student engagement in experiential learning – applying what you have learned in the classroom within real-world settings. Encouraging, fostering, and rewarding students for these opportunities is a distinctive hallmark of a UMBC education. Applied learning is often transformational – enabling you to differentiate yourself from others in the region and beyond! Are you ready to learn more about how you can gain this distinguishing advantage and benefit from the confidence it often instills? Read on!
Independent Study & Research
Independent study opportunities exist in every single major at UMBC. Yes, that’s right – every department has a course or courses that allow you to propose and execute an academic project with the support and direction of a UMBC faculty member. Independent study and research coursework can earn students anywhere between one and six credits – depending on the scope and nature of the project.
Moreover, these courses carry upper-division credit value and can sometimes count toward your major (or minor) requirements. Your relationship with a faculty member is a critical driver in the process; thus, taking at least one or more classes with a faculty member who specializes in the subject or topic you are pursuing is ideal. Departmental websites proudly highlight their faculty’s disciplinary research interests and expertise, which can help you identify a prospective faculty member.
Two examples of departments with helpful and enlightening descriptions are Sociology, Anthropology, and Public Health for independent study and Biological Sciences for research.
Other excellent resources to consider include:
Research and Creative Achievement at UMBC
Internships
An internship is a professional learning experience that offers meaningful, practical work related to a student’s field of study or career interest. An internship enables students to engage in active career exploration and development and learn new skills. Internships offer employers opportunities to bring new ideas and energy into the workplace, develop talent and build pipelines for future full-time employees. Our Career Center provides leadership and oversight of UMBC’s excellent internship program. Several UMBC majors require internships like Media and Communication Studies and Social Work. Yet almost all departments sponsor internship credit options managed similarly to independent study and research. Economics and Information Systems departments don’t require internships. Still, they are often helping students secure opportunities to work at incredibly diverse businesses and organizations within our region’s for-profit and not-for-profit sectors.
Service Learning
Another significant hallmark of a UMBC undergraduate education is our campus’s commitment to providing student service-learning opportunities. Service learning helps students explore their career interests, network with and interview professionals in fields of interest, and offer their time and efforts to local organizations in need of assistance. The Shriver Center’s diverse portfolio of programs, initiatives, and fellowships raises its profile as a national leader in applied learning, community engagement, and community-based service delivery. To be sure, students have benefitted dramatically in their career planning through opportunities hosted by the Shriver Center and Career Center – including their co-sponsorship of a fund to help students receive stipends for their applied learning experiences.
Lastly, please remember that you must be exceptionally motivated and organized to complete these various forms of experiential learning. And this dimension of working independently to propose and complete a scholarly project is what employers and admissions committees love to see. Your cover letters, personal statements, and admissions essays will be especially compelling – with these achievements to reference. And think of how much more meaningful and impactful your letters of recommendation will be from faculty members who have helped you direct such work.
Other Related Services & Opportunities
Internships at the Army Research Lab in Maryland
Association of American Medical Colleges
National Science Foundation Big Data REU Site
The Maryland Technology Internship Program
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