<p>I’ll be attending UA next year and have accepted a bid to join a fraternity. I am fully aware that pledgeship will be tough and a pretty big time commitment but was wondering if any parents or students could give me more insight. How hard will it be to maintain a good GPA in engineering courses while going through pledgeship? I have a full tuition scholarship to keep and don’t want that endangered, but I really want to join a fraternity. Will these two clash? Also, I’m prepared to put in the effort and use my time wisely.</p>
<p>Plenty of engineering majors pledge fraternities/sororities and maintain high GPAs. It’s a matter of time management and effective study skills for sure. Remember to get a good night’s sleep so you can be productive throughout the day. Consider having working lunches.</p>
<p>One thing often recommended for first semester students and those pledging fraternities/sororities is to take 12-14 credits that semester instead of 15-18. This usually means taking one less class. For those coming in with college credit or who are planning on taking summer classes, such an arrangement might not affect ones expected graduation date. </p>
<p>Sea tide is right.</p>
<p>Pledging can mean being tempted to hang around the House during late hours. you need to be disciplined and get your sleep.</p>
<p>And, he’s right about taking less classes, and maybe taking lighter classes that semester. If you come in with ap credits, such as math and english, then take advantage of that.</p>
<p>You may want to let your frat know that you do need to maintain a high gpa, and study a lot otherwise you will lose your scholarship.</p>
<p>I’m taking the AP English test in May and will not know my results until mid July. How does this work in figuring out my schedule? </p>
<p>Also, many other guys pledging with me are scholarship recipients and like minded in maintaining a good GPA. </p>
<p>Did you know that you can get (for a slight, additional fee) your AP test results back much earlier (over the phone) than via mail? If you don’t get results by reg time (usually BamaBound), UA allows you to go ahead and register for whatever the next class is in a sequence, or whatever class was dependent on the AP result as a pre-req. You will eventually need to send in those AP scores, tho, so UA can give you credit for them of course. </p>
<p>Interesting…I just went to verify at the AP site if what I wrote above (which was in effect in 2012) still holds true. Does anyone know if you can still receive your AP scores via phone, ahead of online/mail? The fee used to be $8 per phone call, to receive AP results via the phone. I remember my S calling in late May (before BamaBaound trip) and got his scores this way, in order that he knew what he could/would take his 1st semester. UA received his official scores later, of course.
Here is the site from 2012: <a href=“https://www.proctoracademy.org//ftpimages/3/download/AP%20Scores%20-%20AP%20Scores%20&%20Reporting%20Services.pdf”>https://www.proctoracademy.org//ftpimages/3/download/AP%20Scores%20-%20AP%20Scores%20&%20Reporting%20Services.pdf</a></p>
<p>You’ll be fine. Enjoy! </p>
<p>This seems to be difficult, if AP scores don’t come out until July. If you register for, say Math 125, in June and then you find out in July that you got a 4 on the AP exam and want to take credit for it. Now you need to be registered for Math 126. It seems like this could turn your whole schedule upside down. How should one deal with this? It seems that the earlier BB session benefits are lagely negated if you have pending AP credit??</p>
<p>One registers based on the assumption that they will pass all their classes and any exams. UA issues overrides at Bama Bound to allow such. If for some reason the student doesn’t score high enough on an exam or decides to audit a course, they can change their schedule.</p>
<p>It’s very common for students to end up with a very different schedule from the one they originally registered for at Bama Bound because spaces in desired classes/sections opened up, they decided to switch the order they fill core curriculum requirements, etc. </p>
<p>IIRC, AP test scores are available by phone 2-7 days before they are mailed, with people in WA/OR often getting their scores by mail before the rest of the country/world. One will still be able to get into needed classes, albeit maybe in a different section than their friends.</p>
<p>For those able to manage their time, some courses can be taken online and thus would allow for easier course scheduling. I took ~10 online courses during my time at UA from American Literature II to Corporate Strategy and enjoyed all of them. Online classes are often smaller than their in-class counterparts and are taught by some of UA’s best professors.</p>
<p>The tests will be over when you register, so you should guess whether or not you passed. If later you find out differently, then you adjust your schedule.</p>
<p>Seems less than ideal but I really don’t see another way to deal with this. It is pretty easy for most kids to know if they passed or not but not so easy to know if they scored a 4 or a 5.</p>
<p>Back in the dark ages when I did this you had to hand carry your registration form to each department table for signatures. All of the departments had tables set up in the football stadium. When a class was full it often forced you to change previously registered for classes so you had to go back to each department and do this again. There were thousands of kids doing this at the same time so once you had a schedule that worked you didn’t want to change anything. Kids today have it so easy!!</p>