<p>Is this really useful in terms of getting rid of G.E's? Is it like summer school for incoming freshmen mainly? Or is it more based on freshmen entrance activities and etc? Thank you in advance!</p>
<p>Dear awwoki,</p>
<p>I am a first year Electrical Engineering student in UCI and I attended the Freshman Summer Start Program last summer.</p>
<p>Basically, the program has both freshman entrance activities and summer school sourses and I really enjoyed the faculty lectures the most. The program is better suited for people planning to live in dorms but even though I was a commuter, I still managed to enjoy the program.</p>
<p>This program occurs during Summer Session II and for the program, you get to pick one other course to complete and also attend the University Studies 83 course.
The Program could help in getting rid of one GE course or a major-specific introductory course.<br>
Although, I would not recommend the Program if you are just interested in getiing rid of G.E. courses since the University Studies 83 course involves a lot of work considering it is just 2 units that will not fufill G.E. requirement at all.</p>
<p>But, if you want to know other fellow freshmen through activities and also want to know more about UCI faculty research and programs, then FSSP is great. </p>
<p>The University Studies 83 course basically requires students to attend other activities like faculty lectures that introduce their research, study skills workshops with LARC, UCI program introductions. But, there is also a lot of extra work to do, like doing some research, researching faculty and studying how to be a better student at UCI.</p>
<p>If you have more questions, I will be glad to answer them.</p>
<p>The freshman summer start program is worth it, you can take additional courses that satify GE requirements if you so choose so. Only University Studies 83 is required.</p>
<p>I know that students can take additional courses to get rid to G.E. requirements, but there is a unit limit per summer session enrollment, which is 8 units per session. So, FSSP students are limited to just taking one extra course along with University Studies 83.</p>
<p>Also, there are many freshmen who take summer session courses without enrolling in FSSP. So, if a student wants to take more G.E. requirements in the same summer session but does not care about the activities with FSSP and the University Studies 83 course, then those students can just register for Summer Session courses at the Summer Session registration office without taking FSSP. In essence, freshmen students are not required to register for University Studies 83 at all unless they want to participate in FSSP.</p>
<p>If a person wants to meet other fellow freshmen and understand the university better, then they should take FSSP since that program has a lot of bonding activities, especially for people planning to live on campus during FSSP. Also, the University Studies 83 course requires students to attend faculty lectures, program introduction meetings, study strategies workshops. In addition, University Studies 83 does not fufill G.E. requirements at all, so it only adds to the units completed.</p>
<p>So, it depends on if the student wants to just attend courses to get rid of G.E. requirements or if they want to make friends and understand UCI better.</p>
<p>is the program expensive?</p>
<p>I heard the whole program is free if you can demonstrate you need financial need. I’m in the process of doing that, but I don’t understand how I can demonstrate it :</p>
<p>your fafsa.</p>