<p>I paid $15 to College Board to send the Score Report directly to Bama. The AP credits were reflected in Degree Works within a few days.</p>
<p>The AP 2013 score reports will be released in early July. If you took AP exams in May and listed the Bama code on the master sheet (with your Name, etc), then scores will automatically be sent in July to the University. Otherwise, you will need to pay to have the scores sent.</p>
<p>BamaMEZ – if you want your AP credits from 9 - 11 to show up before the scores for this year are out, you need to pay to have a report sent separately from the College Board. (It may not be worth it at this point since AP scores for this year will be out in less than three weeks and the report will include all prior AP scores – not sure that they would be entered into Degree Works any faster than that if you sent them now.) I don’t know how IB scores work.</p>
<p>This seems like something that should be brought to the attention of the Honors College. It’s crazy for one group at the University to go out of its way to provide a personal, individualized experience tailored to the advanced student, only to have another group undermine that. We had a poor experience at BB last year advising-wise, but at least my D wasn’t forced to sign up for classes she had (or would have) AP credit for.</p>
<p>Wow, I’m really saddened to hear that so many of your kids have had troubles at BB. </p>
<p>It sounds like the foreign language departments need to sit down together and hammer out better practices, whether it be opening more sections at the 200/300 levels or admitting to incoming students that they don’t have enough sections for high stats freshmen.</p>
<p>We also didn’t have that type of experience last year. My D was allowed to predict her score on the AP Lit test and signed up for English 215 at BB. She also signed up for Spanish 353 without any problem at BB. She is in the College of Arts and Sciences.She had group counseling, but it didn’t really matter because she knew what she wanted since we had worked on a schedule for her. I even remember emailing with a spanish professor during BB about which Spanish she should take and getting an instant answer from him. I am sorry to hear it was so different this year. Hopefully once AP scores come out your students will be able to change classes easily.</p>
<p>I actually did comment on this issue in the parent survey at the end of Bama Bound. There really should be advising specifically geared to students who will be bringing in substantial credit to help them better understand what kinds of options are open to them in terms of enriching their academic experience. Parents on CC know all about the options for double/triple majors, multiple minors, University Scholars, etc. When my daughter showed her advisor her four year plan – complete with notations of courses she would place out of due to her AP classes, the reaction was essentially, “You cannot do that.” I really felt sorry for the hapless folks who weren’t as clued in to all the possibilities. I know that given the numbers of students attending, individual advising might not be a realistic expectation, but when you have a student sitting there who has completed most of the core, they might as well not get any advising at all if they are going to be told to sign up for the basic core classes that they don’t need. (My daughter’s advisor also objected to her proposed schedule because she was taking “too many H classes” – namely two UH classes – when only one elective H class is needed for her major. Why are they discouraging students from following their interests?)</p>
<p>Okay, back to the hotel from todays events.</p>
<p>Advising & Registration. Yesterday they told us in the Arts & Sciences to assume you passed your AP and IB tests. If not, they said they could change if they did not pass with the score needed to be able to pass on those classes. She was also told to include the classes she is taking this summer in Early College. DD did not even have all of her AP scores sent to UA yet, doing that now. DD said it was super easy and they had their advising times and just went at that time. She said there were kids that were “freaked out” and did not know what to do and had literally no clue. Had not even looked at the schedules, did not know what classes to take, nothing, did not know how to talk to the advisors, what to ask, etc. </p>
<p>DD did have to change her schedule from the one she did today with the Avanti when she met with the advisor. It was no big deal. She was able to get all of the classes she needed. She has 8:00am classes on several days. She is perfectly fine with that after having a 7:30am start time in high school. </p>
<p>Her roommate on the other hand, is not happy with the time of one of her classes, it is a very late time. She plans on trying to go in every few days to attempt to change that class to a better time. </p>
<p>Now, for the rest of the parent part of BB for Day 2.
Seemed some parents skipped today.
It was a very nice breakfast buffet. Several great speakers and we were very well informed about many things we had not even thought of before. UAPD was very informative. Great info. Surprised as with each change of speakers more and more parents left the sessions. </p>
<p>DD2 loved Sibling Orientation. She is taller than her sister that will be attending Bama and many people think she is the one coming in the Fall, she wishes. </p>
<p>That is all I have for now. It has been very enjoyable and loved the whole experience.</p>
<p>Thank you to all of the faithful here on CC for UA giving information to make this transition so easy and us going in with some knowledge of what to do and expect.</p>
<p>Day one was very informative and useful. Except for a few items, almost everything was posted here over the last several months in one form or another, but it was good to hear it in an organized and positive forum.</p>
<p>They gently warned us on the afternoon of day 1 that there would be a shift in responsibility (of sorts). The Day 1 morning plenary sessions and break out rooms were all about how the university works with entering students in mind. The afternoon of day 1 the A&S students charted out their planned schedules, with alternatives penciled in.</p>
<p>Day 2 we were totally separate. The students worked their schedules out with their advisors. After a very nice breakfast, parents were given what seemed to be a carefully disguised group therapy session. We weren’t told anything we didn’t sort of already know, but we heard it in a way that soothed the anxious among us.</p>
<p>DS returned just before lunch with a schedule that was different than the one we discussed (!) but with my group therapy session still fresh in my mind, I said nothing about pushing for changes.</p>
<p>My overall impression was that it was a well-run and wonderfully optimistic program. The closest experience I can relate it to is the parent assembly just before a Y Camp week, where clear-minded and organized staff anticipate questions and nurture a feeling of trust.</p>
<p>I met several kindred spirits, probably one or two of my new CC friends without realizing it. Maybe Family weekend I’ll be a little more obvious with my Poet secret identity.</p>
<p>^^^ HAHAHAHAA Love the group therapy reference.
Yes, some of the stuff mentioned over these 2 days has been covered on here. It was nice to know and be familiar with what was coming up. There were some lost parents and I so wanted to go up to them and say, please, get on CC. </p>
<p>Okay, getting your schedule in and how it works for some</p>
<p>Arts & Sciences, first one in is first to a computer and last to get advised. DD was in this position. She got in first, sat at computer and put everything in and got it. </p>
<p>College of Communications, they sit with an advisor one on one. Advisor is the one putting it all in and going over it with them as they do so. This can slow things down, I assume. </p>
<p>Hint, you can “get by the system”. DD was the one used as an example and given the laptop to register for a class as she had her schedule down what she wanted (and not shy). Everyone in her group realized that the session was “open” and got on their phones and started registering. This may not work every time and for everyone.</p>
<p>Oh, please tell your students to attend EVERY SESSION!!!
DD said several boys were looking yesterday on their schedule of events and literally skipped a few sessions.</p>
<p>My DD attended Bama Bound last week (the first non-honors session, she could not get into an honors session). She is Chemical Engineering/Spanish and was told she could NOT bypass classes until her IB credits posted. She also took the Bama Spanish placement test ONLINE before BB, and although they gave her the placement of 201, she COULD NOT register for higher than Spanish 101 until Degree Works posts it a week later. I do not understand this at all, if the online Bama placement test told her to register for 201, one would think she would be able to register for 201. Never mind, as TXA said, that THERE ARE NOT OPEN SLOTS for 201, and there haven’t been since before the first Bama Bound. She was also forced to register for Calc I and Chem I, even though she will place out of both with IB credits. She has 3 Honors classes (Chem I, Calc I, and Engr) and we have to see about Spanish still.
OK, I am done ranting and raving. Everything ELSE about Bama has been phenomenal!
Roll Tide!!</p>
<p>Okay, DD is explaning more on the AP/IB credits and what she was told by 3 Avanti’s when she asked. She used her AP and IB credits to get out of all of her English and History credits. She is a Biology major. She was told that she could not use AP credits for her major, or heavily advised not to. In this case, if she were wanting to use her AP Biology or Chem score to test out of Biology or Chem THEN she would have to wait till it was posted since it is her major.<br>
Now this makes more sense. You can “assume” the credits have been passed for the classes that are not your major. Not for the ones that are the major area of study. Think I got it now.</p>
<p>We were told that registration prerequisite holds were lifted for the honors sessions. This should be done for ALL sessions. One of my roommates has to go to a regular session later this month because all the honors sessions were full. I’m sure this is true for MANY honors kids. And those aren’t the one only kids who have AP or IB credit. It’s crazy to me that they can’t trust kids to register for classes they need to be in based on credits or lack there of.</p>
<p>OK, so D1 and D2 (sibling) went with DH this week. They all had a wonderful time, and DH got to be more informed and did the daddy bonding with the girls. Since I do the CC and other stuff, he has not ever felt as in the loop as he wanted. Registration was not great. Didn’t get much advising in College of Buisiness, and D1’s luck was that she was the last to be advised, and the last to register as well. We ahd a plan, but she ahd hoped for more input. She is still not sure on which double major to pursue. She will have to call or go down to chat separately. </p>
<p>Would not assume any AP credit, and could not register for EN103 with ACT scores already at Bama. Figured she’d at least do that on the off chance that the AP score was not what we expected. Those seats don’t open until the next honors BB on 7/9. Decided not to stress. We will creep the class list for openings in classes she wants. All in all she is so excited to be going to T Town in the fall.</p>
<p>^^ If your D didn’t get the advising she needed, and couldn’t get necessary overrides for the classes she wants, try e-mailing Dr. David Heggem and having your daughter ask him about the things she’s not sure about. He’s the head of CBA advising and was helpful to my daughter (by e-mail) last summer.</p>
<p>I just went to BB myself, with my mother of course. I went in with Dual Enrollment credits not in the computer yet, in the College of Communications. She explained to me exactly WHY they cannot put us in the classes we may want, especially in Honors with AP/DE credits. They are doing this all on a computer. The computer simply will not let them put you in some classes if it doesn’t “know” you’ve met the requirements. This is NOT the advisors’ fault. Also, the schedules we made at BB are not set in stone. I went home and changed two classes after finding out a class I have to take is only offered in the fall. Once the AP credits have come in, we can all change our schedules to the classes we want. BB registration was basically explained in our Small Group as showing us how to do this ourselves since that’s exactly what we’ll be doing for the next seven semesters. As for the seats not being available, they have to reserve some seats for the people who haven’t gone to BB yet. When I tried to sign up for honors English, each class was full and I ended up in a regular English class. That can be changed later if necessary. I hadn’t heard of the foreign language classes being booked since spring, since I’m not taking any foreign language classes haha. Anyway, that’s BB from a student perspective. The advisors did outstanding.</p>
<p>Nicoleh395, they can lift registration prerequisite holds. They do it for all the honors Bama Bound sessions. For example I am registered for Calc II even though my placement was only in Calc I because I should have ap credit in July. It’s just kind of irks me that they do this for the few honors sessions but there are honors kids at all the sessions.</p>
<p>nicoleh395 – kda1119 is correct. The Communications advisors are either misinformed or not being straight with their students. The pre-requisite holds can be lifted and routinely are lifted in Arts & Sciences, Engineering etc. for students who know that they passed their 10th/11th grade AP tests and/or who feel certain that they passed their 12th grade AP tests. The College of Communications and Information Sciences is doing a disservice to its students by refusing to approve registration for upper level classes when the students know that they will have the credits needed to register for the next level. Students in the other colleges are able to register for the limited spots that are open in the upper level courses before the Communications students can. Those spots may or may not be there once AP/IB credits show up in Degree Works.</p>
<p>A note about foreign language: I’m a student who went to one of the honors BB. Because I was coming in with 8 credits of French (dual enrollment), they said I should be placed in level 300 classes. However, they were worried about doing that to a freshman, especially in the first semester as they are heavy on writing and fairly difficult. I was actually sent to an adviser out of my college and who does not normally deal with BB/incoming students. They somewhat compromised and put me in a level 300 class on grammar. </p>
<p>Best piece of advice: FIGHT FOR YOUR SCHEDULE. I had to take the initiative to make sure I got put in a French class first semester as I didn’t want to lose my French by not taking it for almost a year.</p>
