UMD is big The University of Maryland, with 31,000 undergraduates, is a big, big school. To help freshmen transition to the university, UMD offers five different first-year invitational programs: Honors, Scholars, FIRE, BioFIRE, and Carillon. You’ll discover your invitation to one of these programs when you open your acceptance letter—you’ll only be invited to one, if you’re invited at all.