<p>Yesterday a supervisor in the UT admissions office told me that students could not attend UT part-time. She said "We admit them with the understanding that they will be attending full-time (12-15 hours) and if they take fewer than 12 hours, they might get away with it for a semester or 2, but after that they will have to discuss it with the dean. We want our students to move thru in 4 years to make room for new students."</p>
<p>I then explained to her that my son would be enrolling as a transfer student, with about 40 hours, which means he could either attend full-time and graduate sooner, or take a light load and attend the full 4 years. But in either case, he would certainly not be there for more than 4 years (assuming he didn't change his major or go for a 2nd major or something like that.)</p>
<p>She still insisted that he could NOT attend UT part-time. I was stunned! I had always assumed that that was an option.</p>
<p>I then called both the College of Natural Sciences and College of Liberal Arts, and made sure to speak to a supervisor in both. Both of them emphatically insisted that there is no such rule, and of COURSE he can attend part-time if he wishes! Both were incredulous that I was told that by the admissions officer. Both assured me that the student has complete freedom to take whichever classes he wants to, unless he is in a special degree plan such as PLAN II (which requires a set curriculum over 4 years).</p>
<p>Moral of the story: Don't just accept what they tell you. Cross-reference the info, especially if it seems to be 'off.'</p>
Minimum hours in the fall and spring semesters. </p>
<p>An undergraduate student may not carry fewer than twelve semester hours of coursework without the approval of his or her academic dean. An undergraduate engineering student may not enroll in fewer than fourteen semester hours of coursework except with the written approval of the dean. Twelve of the fourteen hours must be applicable to the degree.</p>
<p>Failure to obtain approval for a reduced course load may jeopardize the student's continuance in school. A student who is a minor must present a written statement from a parent or guardian accepting the conditions under which permission to carry a reduced course load is granted.
<p>Wow, yet another conflicting piece of info! Well, this obviously is the correct one. That means all 3 of those supervisors didn't know what they were talking about. Even the 1st one did not tell me that it was an actual policy. She could easily have just directed me to that place on the website.</p>
<p>I wonder how common it is for students to get dean's approval. Students who work part-time and/or enroll with alot of the core curr. already completed at another school.</p>
<p>The only contact our son has had with a dean was a request to be specially admitted into a course in another honors program. He had a good reason for the special request but his request was quickly denied. (UT's response was fair but absolutely by the book. In a big college like UT, I doubt there are many exceptions to the rules.) </p>
<p>The beauty of a UT education is the variety of subjects and professors. Our son is clearly an individual to most of his professors and they seem genuinely interested in whether he's learning. I don't think we can realistically expect the same degree of personalized attention from administrators.</p>