<p>My son has been invited to apply to the Honors College and to the Leads Scholars program. I'm very familiar with the Honors College, since my middle son is there now. Would you recommend one program over the other? What about doing both?</p>
<p>My son, who is a freshman, is in both the Honors and LEAD program. He tells me that it is in no way overwhelming, and in fact, complement each other (primarily in the community service area). He has met many new people as a result of being in both of these programs and is thrilled about his decision to attend UCF (deciding not to go to UF or FSU in good part because of Honors and LEAD).</p>
<p>I would recommend just doing honors because you will get the community service through the symposium class that all freshmen take and the program is a better opportunity. LEAD has really just become a program that a lot of people who didn't get into honors do. It is better to focus on honors and get involved in other aspects of campus then do both. Honors is definitely a great program, and I would definitely go with Honors.</p>
<p>Why not both? I think it really comes down to where the student's heart is, in terms of his/her desires. My D did both programs, but in our home I have always placed a great emphasis on community service and, even though her participation in the Honors program was going to be a given, she was also very eager to participate in LEAD Scholar. Both programs are different enough that I believe they serve their own specific purposes overall and I think both are great programs.</p>
<p>You could do both, but from my experience you can do community service on your own time, and not have to worry about taking the LEAD classes. There is no problem doing both programs but Honors is a more respected program at UCF and has a lot more advantages, you do community service in Honors, and you will have more time to do extracurricular activities if you do not do LEAD. This is just my advice as an Honors student.</p>
<p>My d, if she attends UCF, will only being doing Honors, eventhough she's been asked to apply to LEADS, too. She already has certain areas where she does community service, and she'd like to be able to continue or not continue those w/o certain parameters being set up. Also, she's not into a lot of the "in front of the scenes" things that Leads scholars participate in. She's on prom committee now, but it's totally under duress ... LOL. Her best friend drug her there, and she sits in the back and does homework while everyone argues about table decorations.</p>
<p>zebes</p>
<p>I'm a student in both Honors and LEAD, and they are very good complements to one another. Both are looked upon well on campus, and it is not hard to maintain membership in both. It isn't hard at all to be in both and combine that with other community service activities and extracurriculars. Both teach completely different things, but both have helped me in different ways. I would recommend applying to both!</p>
<p>I'm in honors and lead.
Honestly just do honors. Lead is not going to help you really. The only benefit of doing lead is having early registration but you already get that with honors. Most of the kids in LEAD are "stuck in high school." LEAD will honestly not benefit you if you're in honors. Graduate schools aren't going to care about your son being in an organization that admits a lot of people. Graduate schools will appreciate that your son is in honors classes however. Moreover, your son won't have to take the lead class, which is totally ruining my schedule. I'd rather take classes for my major than a leadership class that doesn't even contribute to my academic resume.</p>
<p>instead of starting a new thread, ill jusy ask my question here</p>
<p>I just got my LEADS packet in the mail (i was accepted 2 and a half weeks ago) i read through it, bu i am not sure on whether or not to do it. Can someone in the LEADS program tell me the good benefits of being in it? also, is it easy to fit into a schedule (time management wise)?
thanks</p>
<p>I was invited to both, only did Honors.</p>
<p>Everyone I've talked to that did honors and LEAD says they wished they would've dropped LEAD because it was, essentially, pointless.</p>
<p>Is there any scholarship money is LEADS?</p>
<p>Never heard of any related to LEAD.</p>
<p>What are the benefits to applying for LEAD?</p>
<p>Students in LEAD get a $200 stipend each semester for the 4 semesters they are in the program, and there are scholarship opportunities in both years of the program.</p>
<p>I hope you don't mind if I clear the air a little bit. :)</p>
<p>LEAD Scholars is a two-year program that gives you (or your kid) a lot of really valuable opportunities. One of the reasons some students do say they didn't like the program is because you get out of LEAD whatever you put into it. (If you don't try to do anything with it, of course it's going to be pointless. But the rewards if you get involved are great.) If your student enjoys getting involved, making friends, doing things that will make a huge impact on the community (e.g. service), or getting training to become a better leader, applying to LEAD Scholars is a wonderful decision.</p>
<p>LEAD Scholars do enjoy a lot of benefits. There is a room in the Student Union where LEAD Scholars can hang out on campus and get free printing and computer access, and that's a wonderful place to spend time between classes. There are events put on by LEAD Scholars about once a week... from caramel apple dipping to a winter formal, the events are common and a lot of fun. Freshmen also get to live in on-campus housing with other LEAD Scholars (if they so choose)... which means to most of them that the friends they live with are the same people they go to events with, see in the LEAD Lounge, attend their LEAD class with, etc... just a wonderful to meet new people.</p>
<p>There's absolutely no problem with doing both Honors and LEAD. From my own personal experience with both programs, I feel like I've gotten something from each, but nothing Honors has provided comes close to the benefits I've gotten from LEAD.</p>
<p>Thanks for the update on Leads Scholars. The social/event planing aspect is perfect for D. She's involved heavily in her high school now, practically on every event committee and is VP of her senior class, preparing for the senior trip, senior prom, and senior activities as we speak. In fact, her major at UCF is Event Management (although now she's leaning towards Accounting). :P</p>
<p>She read the Lead Scholars brochure sent to her and even said, This is perfect for me. My question, does everyone who applies get into LEAD Scholars or is there a minimum criteria like Honors?</p>
<p>LEAD accepts roughly 50% of the people who apply. If your D has all that community involvement, does community service, has decent test scores and grades (a 4.0 weighted--which by ucf's standards is roughly the same as a 3.7 unweighted--is more than enough), and puts in a good essay and project, she stands a very good chance of being accepted, but there is no specific minimum. (e.g., LEAD doesn't look at a student with a 2.5 GPA and eliminate them. It's a holistic process that looks at a lot of things.) It is a competitive application process, but if she thinks it's right for her you should encourage her to apply as soon as she can! She sounds like she'll get a lot out of the program... from your profile name I'm guessing you're from out of state, and usually out-of-staters get even more out of the community aspect because it gives them friends right from the start, which I personally found the very best part of LEAD Scholars.</p>
<p>^may someone please expand on the activities you can do in LEADS? like specific examples</p>
<p>Sure thing.</p>
<p>LEAD Scholars has two parts: the university-sponsored program and the LEAD Students Association (LSA). LSA puts on various events throughout the semester. These include competing in Homecoming (LEAD Scholars beat out over a dozen fraternity-sorority teams and the Honors College to place first overall in Homecoming this year--which is a pretty big deal), multiple dances--a winter formal, a Halloween dance, etc.--and get-togethers (like game nights, ice cream socials, pizza parties), scrapbooking, sporting events, competing on intramural teams together, tailgates where you can get free food prior to every home football game instead of having to pay through the roof at the stadium (have you guessed yet that there's a lot of free food?), tons of community service events (visiting the homeless, the elderly, children, etc. and doing things for them... we do that about three or four times a week), and tons of other fun things. Students can attend these events (of course they're all optional--no one has time to do them all! There's a minimum of two events required per semester for freshmen, which is practically nothing. I personally went to about 25 all through last semester) and also help plan them on various committees within LSA. At the end of freshmen year, students can apply for the LSA positions and take on a position of leadership.</p>
<p>The program itself offers at least as many benefits. There's the REEL Retreat that the program puts on before the semester even starts, where students get to know each other and have friends before the first day of fall classes. There's special events that LEAD puts on--like for example, about 80 LEAD Scholars go to go to EPCOT (in Disney World) for free last year. There's the Leadership Excellence Board, with whom students can help to market the program to high schools and help select the next class of students. You can live in LEAD Housing with other LEAD Scholars... some of the best friends I've ever had I met through living in the same building as them freshman year with LEAD, and I saw them not just at home but in my LEAD class, at LSA events, etc. There's just tons of stuff to do within the program.</p>
<p>I hope I've given you enough examples to see that LEAD Scholars lets you find your niche and learn to excel in it until you become a better leader in that area, which in turn makes you become a better leader in all areas of your life. I really highly recommend the program. You can always drop it later if you tire of it, so you really have very little to lose and so much to gain. That's why even the people who "don't like LEAD" and say it was "essentially pointless" didn't drop it... because as "bad" as it was they still saw more benefit from staying in the program. And those people do exist with LEAD like with anything. They do... but it's a big enough program that there are enough people who are committed and get involved that it's a lot of fun. Again, I could not recommend it more.</p>
<p>^thanks for the mazing reply redslash. </p>
<p>I can honestly say that i am interested, but i just dont know if ill be able to balance my schoolwork with LEADS since ill be majoring in engineering</p>