isss.umd.edu

Jan 28, 2025

To our new students, welcome to UMD!

To our returning students, welcome back!

ISSS hopes you had a restful winter break and are excited for the start of a new semester. We look forward to working with you this year.

ISSS welcomed new Spring 2025 international students during a successful International Student Orientation. The event included valuable sessions on immigration, employment, and community engagement, helping new students connect, explore campus, and prepare for their journey.

A special thanks to the International Orientation Leaders and ISSS staff, including Kelsey Prima from Education Abroad, whose efforts were key to the event's success. We’re excited to have these new Terps join the UMD community!

ISSS Announcements

Attention F-1 Students: Full Time Enrollment

All students must enroll in at least 12 credits as an undergraduate and 48 units if you are a graduate student to maintain status.

IMPORTANT: F1/J1 students must enroll in face to face or hybrid delivery. Only one online course can be counted toward full time enrollment. For more information, please review our Maintaining Status information. 

If this is your final semester, and you require less than full-time enrollment to complete your program, you may pursue part-time authorization. This can be completed in iTerp. Note that if you want to pursue CPT and are enrolled less than full time, the part-time authorization request in iTerp must be completed by you and your advisor before we can authorize. Please complete your request as soon as possible. You should be enrolled full-time or request part-time enrollment authorization by February 5th. This allows time for ISSS to review requests and enrollment prior to the end of schedule adjustment.

English Conversation Partners

Feb 17th - May 2nd

More Info Here

ECP connects the University of Maryland community for authentic cultural exchange through English conversation. For ten weeks during the semester, participants meet with their fluent English-speaking volunteer in group sessions. In the conversation sessions, participants practice their oral English skills through discussions on various topics and other activities planned by the facilitator.

If you are interested in joining in the spring, please fill out our interest form. 

Sign-ups for participants will begin on January 30th.

Be Aware of Scams

ISSS wants you to be aware of scams that sometimes target international students and scholars. 

What are scams?

Scams are illegal schemes aimed at stealing money from you. Scammers impersonate government agencies or companies and use fear tactics to threaten you into paying them or sharing your personal information, such as date of birth, social security number, bank account or credit card information, etc. 

Learn More...

ISSS EVENTS

International Terp Career Development

Jan 31st - May 9th

Register

The International Terp Career Development Series is a group of workshops/programs facilitated and curated by professional staff that focus on specific career needs of international students and scholars. Mark your calendars! Register at go.umd.edu/ISSSCareerDevelopment

Our first installment of the series is Effective Resume and CV Writing

Friday, January 31st.

International Coffee Hour

Feb 6, 2:30 - 3:30 p.m.

HJ Patterson Global Crossroads

Register



International Coffee Hour is a great way to connect with other students/scholars (both domestic and international) and meet UMD staff and faculty while enjoying coffee, tea, and snacks! International Coffee Hour takes place Thursdays from 2:30pm - 3:30pm at various locations around our beautiful campus.

AROUND CAMPUS

International Student Support Group

Fridays, 11 - 12:30p.m.

International students are invited to participate in a weekly support group to talk about adjustment concerns, acculturative stress, academic stress, social challenges, personal problems, and mental health. This also is a great place to share information and connect with others.

For more information, contact Dr. Jihee Hong - jhong114@umd.edu

Do you have an event or announcement that would be of interest to the UMD international community, or know an international Terp moving Fearlessy Forward?  We invite you to share by clicking here.

ISSSNews is a weekly e-newsletter sponsored by International Student & Scholar Services with the purpose of communicating news and updates on immigration regulations, opportunities and events of interest to the international UMD community.