<p>Hi all,</p>
<p>I was wondering, since Freshman (summer) orientation is mandatory, is there any disadvantage to doing the Late Summer Orientation? I don't know how feasible it will be for me to go to one of the regular (and earlier) orientations since I live in the northeast. My only concern is that all the good teachers/classes will be full by the time I attend Late Orientation. Does anyone know anything about this?</p>
<p>Thanks!
~cneogy</p>
<p>One real disadvantage is that you will not get into any FIG if you are interested in this program.
It will be most likely no UGS 302 classes left.</p>
<p>UT opens different slots during each orientation, and since future freshmen are not in the system yet UT cannot make any restrictions giving access in alphabetical order. Some students who register early try to beat the system if they are not happy with their assigned classes. So they log on during next orientations and try to change teachers or times creating a mess. </p>
<p>If you are in any special program that has special classes reserved for this program you’ll register for sure.</p>
<p>how important are FIGs to the freshman experience at UT? also i’m mostly just concerned about getting good teachers and not shetty once</p>
<p>If you are OOS it can be important to you. There are 50,000 students here, and you’ll not know a soul. </p>
<p>[First-year</a> Interest Groups | School of Undergraduate Studies](<a href=“First-Year Interest Groups | TEXAS Undergraduate Studies”>First-Year Interest Groups | TEXAS Undergraduate Studies)</p>
<p>FIG group is about 15 students from the same major. The group has a FIG mentor (UT student who took special class to teach how to be a mentor) and a faculty member. Your FIG mentor will meet with you weekly, faculty member sometimes. A FIG-mentor is some kind of “personal guide” to explain everything, introduce available resources on campus, answer any questions. Plus you make friends from your major. Sometimes FIG groups have study time together since they are in the same classes (some classes).</p>
<p>If you chose Residential FIG, apply and get accepted (I don’t believe it’s difficult) you can come to the last orientation and will still get your FIG spot. UT is accepting fewer students this year, so it will be plenty of space on campus, according to UT newspaper.</p>
<p>In many big introductory level classes the main person you’ll communicate with is not your professor, but your TA. All discussion sections are led by TAs.</p>
<p>ok wait so are all of the classes that are listed in the mccombs FIGs fulfilling some of our core requirements? For example is “UGS 303 Role of Science in Wealth of Nations” actually doing something for me in terms of fulfilling requirements or is it just a class that really has no benefits of taking in itself?</p>
<p>UGS 302/UGS 303 (First-Year Signature Course) is a core requirement</p>
<p>[2012-2014</a> Core Requirements | School of Undergraduate Studies](<a href=“2012-2014 Core Requirements | TEXAS Undergraduate Studies”>2012-2014 Core Requirements | TEXAS Undergraduate Studies)</p>
<p>[Signature</a> Courses | School of Undergraduate Studies](<a href=“Signature Courses | TEXAS Undergraduate Studies”>Signature Courses | TEXAS Undergraduate Studies)</p>
<p>alright thanks. So there’s no real downside to joining a FIG then? cuz otherwise the FIGs sound pretty intense.</p>
<p>Do you have to have an exact match of classes (take every one listed) to be in a FIG? Couldn’t find one where there wasn’t one or more classes that wasn’t a match ( e.g. due to AP credit). And, what if someone is in a FRI, can he/she be in a FIG and not take the UGS class (or the other class the fIGS seem to all include – but which might be replaced by the FRI class)? Thanks --</p>
<p>texfish2013
[College</a> of Natural Sciences FIGs | School of Undergraduate Studies](<a href=“http://www.utexas.edu/ugs/fig/college/brochures/cns]College”>http://www.utexas.edu/ugs/fig/college/brochures/cns)</p>
<p>UGS 303 Research Methods-FRI</p>
<p>You really have to ask your academic advisor, not me. 
I know that many freshmen repeat introductory classes related to the major because UT classes usually cover more material than an average AP class.</p>
<p>Not every freshman can be in a first year interest group. There were not any class arrangements that fit my son’s schedule last summer for a FRI, even though he was taking the recommended course load.</p>
<p>He would have benefited from such a group.</p>
<p>Even if you are from Austin, you don’t run into the people you know on campus.</p>
<p>cneogy?</p>
<p>The first digit is number of credit hours.
UGS 018 is your FIG meeting time (not mandatory, no credit, no grade)
The rest of FIG classes would be probably 9 credit hours. Full load is 15.</p>
<p>woah not much room left after all that :-/. How much can i fit into the remaining 6 hours? 1 math class and 1 biz class??</p>
<p>Bachelor degree is 120 hours. 8 semesters x 15 hours.
If you have enough AP credits you can graduate early or fit double major into 4 years (144 credits)</p>
<p>Students can take up to 18 hours per semester without permission. Flat rate tuition.
Many freshmen take only 12 hours first semester…new life, adjustment of study habits…
…parties…:)</p>