<p>My S needed some special advising because he's not the typical 1st year student because of all his AP credit, which actually worked in very well to his gen eds. Anyway, he want to the business school and set up an appointment. He was very very impressed with the advisor he met with. She caught and corrected the errors in his college standing, which is one of the reasons 1st years advising kept giving him incorrect info, which he knew was incorrect. She gave him a course of action ... for the next couple of years, straightened out his minor for him, showed him how best to set his schedule to allow for the accelerated master's economics degree if wished to pursue it. Told him she wasn't sure on a question he'd asked, but that she'd get back to him about it. All in all great visit. He was impressed. This morning she emailed him a detailed summary of everything they talked about, everything she suggested, as well as the action items she said that she would get back to him with once she could find out for him. She also reiterated a schedule she wanted him to pursue as far as finding out something for her and meeting with an economics person to do so (she was business), and when she'd be back in touch with him. He emailed it to me, again blown away with her comittment and competence. He's been so used to doing things totally on his own for so long ... him and I figuring everything out because the H.S. guidance counselors never gave him the time of day ... just a good kid, never in trouble so wasn't in need of their assistance. He appreciated the personal care she gave him. </p>
<p>Thought I'd let others know. It's always great when someone's good at their job!</p>
<p>Wow! That advisor should be put up for an award. My niece was given incorrect information from her advisor which caused her to take classes that did not complete her requirements for her major and wasted her time and money.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. I keep bugging DS to go and see an advisor in Engineering. We took care (I think) of his AP credit issues, but it sure would be nice to have that feeling that someone else is really looking out. It's almost like there are too many advisors.... 1st year, Honors College, College Major...</p>
<p>I'm going to call and bug DS again. He has it under control, I think, but I would feel a lot better if an Engineering Advisor looked over his spring schedule.</p>
<p>Exactly! That was the trouble my S was having ... the first years exploration people that they bring in to help were having difficulty because of the credits he'd already completed. Also, for some reason, the computer had him as a B.S. in Economics, instead of the B.A., which is another reason the first years person kept giving him bum info. I will say, however, when he got incorrect advice for his fall semester and figured that out from looking at the undergrad catalog, Burnett was great in working with him on changing his schedule. They prefer you take no more than two honors courses/ semester for those 12 hours of undergrad classes, plus honors symposium. For him to switch his schedule around, after finding the first advisor's error, and adhere to the honors rule would have thrown his schedule into a tizzy. They waived the rules for him, allowing him 3 honors courses his first semester, which meant very little change in the actual schedule. They've just asked him to only take one his spring semester, unless there's plenty of room, then he can take two, if he wants. We were pleased to see the "grace" within the program.</p>
<p>Ray, has she been given her scheduling time, yet? I know one of my s's friends, who's not in Burnett, was told his was Nov. 15th. She should have that time, by now, I believe ... and as long as she gets to the advisor before that, I think she'll be just fine.</p>
<p>It's a little amazing as to how little we hear from her. She has a great set of roomates and friends and they keep pretty busy beyond school work time. They all piled into a car and were gone to one's home for the weekend. Getting back to Mom and Dad hasn't been quite what we thought it would be.</p>
<p>I just sent her an E Mail and asked her that question. We leave our summer home in NY this Thursday to return to Fla and should have some more contact starting this weekend. We will be driving up to UCF on Sunday.</p>
<p>BTW going to UCF from Ft Myers I greatly favor the "back roads" so to speak, US 80/29 through the Orange Groves vrs I-75 to Tampa and then I-4. It's can be about the same time either way, but I'm tired of Interstates and I think it's a nicer ride.</p>
<p>He also saw the advisor for mechanical engineering, who vetted the schedule, as well as planning next summer and fall. He was really pleased, although with 24 AP credits he's in the thick of some serious classes pretty quickly. He'll take 12 hours in the spring, and 2 classes (statics and differential equations) in the summer. Then it's pretty much all engineering, all the time, from what I can tell.</p>
<p>I'm really glad he saw this advisor, and has the next few semesters sort of planned out.</p>
<p>I don't know about scheduling appointments - I think registration has been open for a while.</p>
<p>Yeah, my S is like your S, mom2three, with 29 AP credits. So, he's out of the GEP's, essentially, and into the higher level classes. Even this semester, he's the only first year student in his statistics class, but he's okay with it.</p>
<p>My advisor keeps emailing me to tell me I have to go out to the main campus and see her. I don't see why she doesn't just dedicate a day to come over to the Rosen campus as she is asking all of her HM students to head over there for her. That hasn't impressed me at all, and as a result I'm seeing the advisor here instead. I just don't know when I'll go yet as I'm not really motivated to do it. I really need the help though as I only have one GEP class to knock out and other than that I'm not sure what I should take. I love how much credit I was able to get thanks to AP's and I don't want to fall off the "out in 3" pace.</p>
<p>Being a Mechanical Engineer myself with a Masters degree the first year of any Engineering program is usually very tough. Lots of kids start in the program thinking this is what they want to do, but the program is usually geared to seperate the contenders from the pretenders. After Freshman year it tends to be a little more comfortable, the course work is still hard but the kids have a good understanding of how the program works and what is expected of them. The exception is Math and Science, if there is a weakness in that area the second year can be very difficult for that student.</p>
<p>Statics is a pretty basic course and usually doesn't present much of an issue, so it's a pretty good choice for the summer (dynamics or vibrations) wouldn't be. If your S is good at Calculus then diffy Q is also fairly easy, much of it is cookbook solutions, but recognizing the problem and selecting the proper technique is the area that has to be mastered to be successful in the course.</p>
<p>Thanks -
DS is a really mathy kid - 5 in AP calc BC, and he's been tutoring a friend who is taking diffy q even though he won't take Calc III until spring. I'm pretty sure he's going to stick with this major. I just think he took a look at the catalog and course sequence and had a "gulp" moment.</p>
<p>As someone with a Masters in Engineering, let me ask your opinion of the BS/MS option offered by UCF. If accepted (based pretty much on grades, it seems) a student can take some masters level courses senior year, and "double-dip" - those courses count for both bachelors and masters degrees.
Do you think a student with excellent undergrad grades would be better off switching to a different university for his MS, or should he go the faster/cheaper route and double up with the BS/MS offered by UCF?</p>
<p>If you have a lot of AP credits, you may be better off with the Advisor at Rosen anyway. Once you are seriously into your major coursework (which happens fast if you have a lot of AP) I think the first year advising gets out of its depth. The advisors in the individual colleges know their programs better - no offense to the first year folks, but there's no way they can be experts on all those majors.</p>
<p>I asked my husband your question about the M.S. accelerated mech. engineering degree. He has a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering and works across from UCF at Siemens. Anyway, his gut reaction is that it would be better -- especially if your S is a good student -- to get his Master's somewhere else, the more traditional route. Now, their most recent hires of UCF grads in M.E. in his dept. have a B.S. and a Ph.D. They haven't hired anyone in his dept. with the accelerated M.S., as of yet. If your S does stay, he would suggest that he makes sure to take a thesis route with his M.S., not just do a course route. He said that the engineering dept. is definitely up and coming, but, its M.E. is not quite the caliber ... especially at its grad level, as others in the south east. He also says that it's good to be at a place that's different from your undergrad in order to expose you to more variety of ideas and options.</p>
<p>mom2three, I think there are many different opinions on this subject, you have already gotten one good one from Zebes.</p>
<p>From my perspective I think it is always best to finish your graduate work if you can as part of your college program. This will add compensation to a entry level student and also potentially widen the job opportunities. Of course financial situations, the mindset of the student, and the job market can have a bearing on that. Some kids are just sick of school and many companies will offer up to 100% tuition reimbursement (maybe not until you complete the program) for college ongoing work.</p>
<p>I did not do this however, I had an excellent job offer and elected to to finish at night after I started work so I got both my MS/MBA as a part time student. Also I didn't do a formal thesis for either, but elected to do a 12 hour Internship for both. I had some very interesting work projects to combine the work with the course requirements and since I compiled a greater than 500 page final report for each it really was a mini thesis without a formal defense plus I think I got great experience from doing it. I always thought I'd get my doctorate, but somehow that 6 month sabatical always got in the way.</p>
<p>I don't know anything about the UCF Mechanical program so it's hard to say if transfer is or isn't the best option. I did considerable recruiting at the company I worked at, but to a small set of targeted schools such as MIT, RPI, Penn State, Michigan, Cornell, UF, Carniege Mellon. Many companies will do this and will partner with targeted schools for Co-op ect. I tend to think that you want to do your graduate work at the best possible schools if that is doable. I would have him as this journey continues fully research the placement rates, typical offers, and pay attention to the schools that come and recruit on campus and talk to the reps. Talking to 5 or 6 year students who are nearing placement or have gotten an offer is also very good information.</p>