Can you take a Summer class before coming for the Fall (Freshman)?

<p>Hello!
I will likely be attending Bama this fall, as a Freshaman. My intended major is accounting. I will be graduating with over 60 credits of classes (high school with dual-enrollment), but I would be missing a prereq for accounting: LGS 200, which is Business Ethics. The college I’m attending concurrently with high school offers the equivalent to this course in the summer, but only online. I was wondering: am I allowed to take this class over the summer to get that credit? Or would it no longer make me a freshman with college credit? I’m concerned because this course would prevent me from enrolling in the 300 or 400 level classes… I did not realize this was a prereq. Would my advisor at Bama Bound help me with this?</p>

<p>Does anyone know who I would contact to ask this question? Would I contact Admissions, Registrar, Culverhouse, or maybe my regional advisor? Thank you for any help!!</p>

<p>Admissions is in charge of scholarships, so they’d be the ones with the official answer. The way I remember the rule is that students are allowed to take classes at other colleges the summer between high school graduation and their first semester at UA, provided they don’t enroll as degree seeking students at that institution. </p>

<p>If taking courses at another institution, be 100% sure that the course will transfer and fulfill the intended requirement. Not all business law courses will transfer as LGS 200.</p>

<p>You could possibly get overrides to take LGS 200 and 300-level business courses concurrently. I would suggest getting such overrides before Bama Bound as the advisors at Bama Bound focus more on students who aren’t coming in with a lot of credit for CBA courses.</p>

<p>Also, the Bama Bound advisors will try to tell people that GBA 145 is required when it’s not. A student coming in with 60 credits and is almost eligible for the upper division doesn’t need to take GBA 145 as they already have significant experience taking college courses.</p>

<p>Hey! I’m an incoming freshman as well, and I’m in about the same place in terms of coming in with credit, although I’m majoring in economics and finance. There’s a CLEP test that Alabama accepts for LGS 200. I might look into teaching it to myself and taking the test over the summer, so if you’re comfortable self-learning that could be an option! I’m not sure how difficult it is, so if anyone has any experience with that CLEP test please chime in as well. </p>

<p>Thank you, SEA_tide! That really helps a lot. I’ll call admissions in just a bit. The class would transfer thankfully, since I looked at their transfer-equivalency table from the college I attend. I would prefer to take the class at Bama, since I prefer traditional classes to online, so if I could override to take them concurrently, that would be perfect. I was also wondering what would happen at Bama Bound since I’ve fulfilled almost all my prereqs/first two years of general classes. Do you know who/what adviser would I contact to let them know that? I haven’t signed up for a Bama Bound date yet, but plan on doing that by next week.</p>

<p>@ AlmostLimitless: That’s interesting to know! Thank you for telling me that. I wasn’t aware there was a CLEP for that, though I’m not sure how could I’d be able to teach myself haha! Hopefully someone with more experience might be able to say more about that.</p>

<p>My D took a couple summer courses between her senior year of high school and starting at Alabama, and it presented no problems at all. LGS200 is not a prerequisite for accounting (if you’re talking about AC210). The prereq for that is EC110. LGS200 (as well as AC210) is a requirement for admission to upper division, if that’s what you’re concerned about. If you’ve already completed all of your general education requirements and have nothing left to take other than the 300 level courses for which you need to be admitted to upper division, you should probably e-mail Dr. Heggem, who is the head of advising for Culverhouse, and explain your situation in advance of Bama Bound. I don’t think the Culverhouse advisors at Bama Bound do a particularly good job with students who are far out of the mainstream, so it would be best to know what you can and cannot do prior to arriving for Bama Bound. Also, many of the 300 level courses will be full since the upperclassmen who typically take those classes will have registered prior to Bama Bound. You will want to find out how to deal with that as well or you will have a very frustrating Bama Bound session.</p>

<p>Thank you, beth’s mom!
I called and discussed it with an adviser. I could take the class over the summer and still be a freshman, so long as the credit would transfer. I was told to be careful, though, with wanting to take upper-division courses my first semester at a major university, since I would be with juniors and seniors instead of fellow freshman, and I could easily get overwhelmed, since classes are often very different at a university compared to smaller college. I’m considering that right now… I do not want to be overwhelmed my first semester.</p>

<p>I was also told that all of it would be sorted at Bama Bound, I would just have to make sure to bring my transcripts, though I’m sure that a lot of the upper division classes are already full/almost full, since they have registration open right now. Though, in all honesty, I don’t think that will be a problem–it is probably best for me to ease into classes and take more normal freshman courses first, perhaps more electives in other interest areas… we can do that, right? Take classes that won’t be with our major?</p>

<p>How would I go about requesting a minor? Would I do that at Bama Bound, as well? Can we minor in anything we want to minor in?</p>

<p>Thanks again everyone!!</p>

<p>I’m not sure about minors - my D’s only minor is CBH and that showed up on its own, she didn’t have to do anything. I know that for a second major, you can’t add it until you’re there and have started classes. If you’re in the honors college, you could use your first semester to get some of your honors credits done. Have you completed ALL of your general education requirements? Since you have so many credits, you might want to just explore some interests and put off 300 level courses until at least the spring semester. </p>

<p>Yes, I will have completed all my general ed requirements when I graduate this May, and I believe most of the credits will transfer (I will be graduating with ~75 credits in total, but if I remember correctly, only 60 credits are allowed to be transferred for credit? I think I remember reading that somewhere). I am part of the honors college, so getting some honors credits would probably be a good idea! We would sign up for those during Bama Bound too?</p>

<p>That reminded me: for the Bama Bound orientation dates, only some are listed as “honors.” Do I have to attend the honors session if I am in honors, or is it okay if I don’t? I’m hoping to attend the honors one, but since we have not signed up for orientation yet, I know the honors sessions might fill up within the next week or so.</p>

<p>And I’ll see if I can find some information about minors and such, as I am planning to minor in marketing/administration or environmental studies, or perhaps double majoring after I’ve been there.</p>

<p>classchip: You can attend ANY BB session. Not all Honors students can fit those particular Honors BB sessions into their summer schedules. From looking at the BB site and from talking to other parents, it sounds like the Honors sessions aren’t much different from the regular BB sessions. I expect there will be some Honors students at every BB session this summer. (We need to come to BB in mid-June, and my son is in Honors.) Good luck!</p>

<p>Ah, phew! Thank you Amy! I thought that was the case, but just wanted to be sure. </p>

<p>300-level courses are arguably better for students from smaller colleges to take as they’re typically smaller than 100/200 level courses. Since you attended a college already, you likely have an easier time adapting to UA than students coming directly from high school. You’re basically a transfer student, albeit a young transfer student. That said, be sure not to overextend yourself by taking too many difficult classes while participating in tons of extracurricular activities. Remember to get enough sleep.</p>

<p>Waiting until Bama Bound to figure out overrides and course schedules is not the best idea. beth’s mom suggested contacting Dr. Heggem. He’s in charge of CBA advising and is very familiar with situations like yours.</p>

<p>In terms of taking LGS 200 at UA, many students recommend taking one the evening sections taught by local judges or lawyers. One of the instructors was even on the Alabama Supreme Court.</p>

<p>I’d highly suggest becoming used to taking online courses. A lot of your in-person courses will have online content and some homework assignments will be completed online.</p>

<p>I suppose that is true, with the smaller class size idea. I did speak with a CBA adviser yesterday, but I’m not sure if it was Dr. Heggem or not, as I unfortunately don’t remember the name. I will email him, though, my question and get his idea/opinion on the situation.</p>

<p>Thank you for the suggestion if I take the course at UA! I’ll keep that in mind if I end up taking it there. I am familiar with online parts, and I have taken blended courses at the college I attend, just never a completely online course. I just much prefer in-person classes, though I do suppose I will have to get used to online more.</p>

<p>Thank you very much for your help!!! I really appreciate it!</p>

<p>With respect to class size, don’t count on the 300 level classes being small(er). My D found that in the business school, the classes got BIGGER when she got to the upper division fuctional field courses. She did not have any huge classes her freshman year (largest was a calc class with 75; most of her classes were less than 35), but when she took Marketing, Management, Operations Management, Finance and the like, they were large lectures - - - as in 250+ for a few of them. Next year her classes will be small again.</p>