<p>Looking forward to next year, DD is wondering what classes she will take, how many hours per semester it will take, and when she will start taking the “interesting” classes specific to her chosen field(s).</p>
<p>I wonder if she can do it all in four years…</p>
<p>We plan on printing out the course requirements for each of her two Majors, the requirements for a Spanish Minor, also the International Honors requirements, and the Honors School requirements and attempting a GRAND MERGE.</p>
<p>Is this the best approach? Frankly, it is pretty confusing.</p>
<p>Does the online degree tracker thing allow for double/dual majors? Does it allow for “what if” scenarios???</p>
<p>Any advise regarding this and attendant pitfalls/heads-ups/tips and reference sources would be MUCH APPRECIATED.</p>
<p>We figure, after we can “see” the GRAND PLAN, then we can adjust according to expected AP credits, etc., and have an idea as to where the road to completion lies.</p>
<p>Did any of you have one-on-one advising sessions with UA in the spring of HS Senior year? Is it possible to schedule one during a visit to campus when one has admitted-student status?</p>
<p>We would love to hear how you prepared…or your advise as to how you would do it knowing what you know now! lol</p>
<p>My son and I first visited UA the summer after his soph yr. We had set up the tour and info session through admissions and they suggested we call the Business school to see if we could get a tour from them as well since we were coming in from NC. Not only did they give us a tour of the Business buildings, library, computer lab, etc. he had an advisor sit with him and discuss what AP courses would be best to take his Junior and Senior year. Mind you we had not found CC yet, knew nothing really about UA or the Honors College and we were just doing our initial tours at this point…So I’m sure you can get an appt with an advisor. Most majors I believe have “checklists” of requirments for different majors and they are very helpful to have :)</p>
<p>It will give a flow chart of the classes for each major and may make it easier to see the overlap of classes. You could then find the requirements for the minors and layer them into the classes required by the majors.</p>
<p>We did this when D wanted a CS minor with her BFA in Art. There are no minors with a BFA since it is 81 hours of art and art history. But by looking at the flow chart, she could cross out some classes because of AP credit and replace them with the CS classes. Determined that she could do it by taking one class during the summer.</p>
<p>Degreeworks allows what-if scenarios and you can change majors and minors to determine what courses meet the requirement of each major, but I haven’t discovered a way to enter multiple majors or minors. You can run a scenario for one combination and then run another scenario for another combination to see if the same courses meet requirements for the different major.</p>
<p>My son is intending on getting a Spanish minor, so I’m very familliar with the requirements for that. Since, your DD is also participating in IHP, the culture requirement for the Spanish minor meets 3 credits of international content for IHP, but only if it is taken as honors by contract.</p>
<p>DegreeWorks will do what you want but it won’t allow for double majors until after the student actually begins class (then an advisor has to add the second major). It also has “what if” capabilities. </p>
<p>We took screenshots of the “Finish in Four” grids for D’s majors and crossed through the classes that we anticipated AP credit for (so first, make a list of AP classes and scores/anticipated scores along with the expected class credits). We also listed the additional requirements for UH and IHP. We used that information to put together a proposed fall schedule, which D brought with her to BamaBound. </p>
<p>It is only now that D is a student and has her AP credits loaded in DW (occurred in July) and her majors/minor all listed that DW has become a very useful tool.</p>
<p>Honors by contract is agreeing to a contract with the instructor of an upper division departmental course to do an extra assignment or project to get honors credit for the course.</p>
<p>Somewhere on the UA website is a document with a list of example assignments and projects that can be completed for the contract. If I can track down the link, I’ll post it.</p>
<p>There is some information on this page regarding concurrent bachelor degrees. I think the info may be different for those that aren’t both from the CAS. </p>
<p>I don’t anticipate a problem for my daughter earning two degrees in four years but she did come in with a good amount of AP credits. According to the page I linked, the student must earn at least 150 credits.</p>
<p>with a complicated plan like you are talking about i think you might do better with poster board and post it notes - each class on a post it. lay the whole 4 years out semester by semester. then you can go over it with an advisor when you get a chance.</p>
<p>Wow, that sounds like a powerful weapon, Mike - are you sure airlines will let you bring that on the plane?! JK…
I’m learning so much from these discussions of issues that other people have. It provokes questions that I should be asking my S about whether he even has any minor plans.</p>
<p>i know it isn’t hi-tech, but it is a little easier to move things around than doing it all on a spreadsheet or something. spreadsheet is fine for a semester or two, but when trying to plan out more than a year or so, we go with the old fashioned way. :)</p>
<p>my daughter had plans for one of three minors, but she couldn’t fit in any of the minor classes she needed after putting in the classes she needed for her major … scheduling conflicts.</p>
<p>My D is double majoring and has a minor too. We tried make a 4 year college plan her senior year of high school, but until those AP scores actually are released it is difficult to make any definite plans. I thought she’d take Spanish 201 or 202 her first year of college. She is in Spanish 356. I thought she’d place into Latin 201. She’s in Latin 301. That worked in her favor for finishing in 4 years, but we didn’t know this would happen until after AP scores were released in July.</p>
<p>I like MikeW’s idea with the poster and post it notes.</p>
<p>First lay out one major, then seen how much room is left. Obviously, if the student has a lot of AP credits, then fitting in a second major, etc, will be easier.</p>
<p>Remember that your child can also take some lower division classes at your local CC in the summer to help make space in the schedule.</p>
<p>Tip about Honors by Contract: My son was able to get honors credit that way with his REU.</p>
<p>That said, since Bama has the University Scholars option, I think it is economically better to do ONE major and fit in the grad school classes for junior and senior year. That will likely result in a better return on investment.</p>
<p>TXArchitect: Remember that your student also could change his/her mind about majors and minors. So while it’s great to do some planning, the plans can always change.</p>
<p>My son applied to UA as a chem/economics major. (He also had 65 credits, thanks to his APs) He loved the math side of chem but was not so wild about the lab side. Before classes started, he decided to double major in political science and economics and minor in CBHP. Then, he wanted to add a math major, as well as a masters – all in four years. A problem with an outside scholarship ended the masters degree plan, and unfortunately, the math major. He will have a math minor when he graduates in the spring. </p>
<p>He did meet with his econ adviser when he attended Bama Bound. That helped a great deal, because the adviser wanted him taking a couple of specific classes that had been closed. He was able to pick up the phone, call the registrar and get overrides.</p>
<p>M2CK is right about taking community college classes at home during the summer. My son knocked out fine arts and lit requirements with two online classes after his freshman year.</p>
<p>I agree with MikeW. Get a sticky board and cut up a flowchart or flowcharts so you have a slip for all the classes. Make sure you have the pre-reqs down so you keep things in order. Once you’re done you can document. That being said, sometimes things come under the best laid plans scenario. You may not be able to schedule every course wanted due to the times courses are offered.</p>
<p>^^^Ah, yes, the best laid plans of mice and man. Even getting a UH designation has gone by the wayside for son. And there have been classes that he just WANTED TO TAKE, that, although they may count for UH or Humanities, they’re not going to count for both, which is what most on the four year plan do. He was advised that yes, he can take these courses, but remember, it’s not going to fulfill such and such a requirement. So, it’s on him, but I’m just sitting back and letting him take what he wants. He’ll never have this opportunity again. While I scoped out classes for the spring to get in that last humanities or honors, he came out of left field with a course offered by a favorite professor on a topic he’s very interested in. It will fulfill an engineering elective, so it’s not a waste, but I’m in a bit of a panic about him even getting his last humanities course in so he can graduate. Thanks to AP, he only had to take two humanities classes, but getting that last one in has been a PITA. As some of the freshmen are noting, getting those seminars in are frustrating. If son had had room in his schedule and had been able to get in those seminars early, he wouldn’t be in this position now, but being engineering and CBH leaves very little wiggle room in his schedule. But, he wouldn’t change a thing, as he’s enjoyed the classes he’s taken, loves his CBH research, and even if it takes some extra time at Bama, he’s hoping to at least get his engineering degree with his CBH minor.</p>
<p>^^^I never could find any info on the minimesters for the fall, although he’s already at 19 credits and couldn’t fit it in. I’m hoping we can take advantage of that next semester to get those last two honors credits in and maybe even a humanities at the same time. An honors/humanities course he was interested in for the fall was full and never did get an opening, and unfortunately, it’s not offered in the spring, so if I can get him to squeeze it in this fall, if it’s offered, we should be set. But, if one of those engineering courses comes up, that’s going to take priority. </p>
<p>I need to research this, but when I was in school, you had to take your last 30 credits at your home university. As son is now a senior, he’s going to have to take courses on campus at Bama in the summer, perhaps, something he does not want to do, as he wants to try for an internship again in his field. Perhaps distance learning would be an option, but it’s going to be a hard sell. He loves being in the classroom and meeting new people. </p>
<p>Just for curiosities sake, were there any minimesters offered this fall? I never saw an email or announcement of any, but have had other things going on in my life, so may have missed them.</p>
<p>Montegut, I’ve noticed reference to minimesters in the ticker on the side of the registrar’s page. It is actually referencing their FB page. </p>
<p>[The</a> Office of the University Registrar - The University of Alabama | | The Office of the University Registrar - The University of Alabama](<a href=“http://registrar.ua.edu/]The”>http://registrar.ua.edu/)</p>