<p>My son is interested in UA (current HS Jr, applying this Fall). He will have a lot of AP credits out of HS (13 classes) + he took advanced math classes at the local university (so far Calc I-III and combinatorics & maybe 2 next yr depending on what I find out here for effect on scholarships). </p>
<p>If he is hoping for a merit scholarship for incoming freshmen (he should be NMF), could # of xfer credits affect this? ie does UA have some credit “cutoff” for incoming students where one may be viewed as a transfer student (therefore ineligible for freshman scholarships) rather than an incoming freshman? </p>
<p>If they do have a “cutoff”, and anyone has advice/experience on how to handle this, what do you advise? Can you ask that not all your AP classes get credited or can you say you don’t want the math classes credited and just use them for placement?</p>
<p>Thanks for any advice!</p>
<p>Nothing to worry about, no cut off.</p>
<p>-Class2012Mom- Phew! That’s a relief. Thanks for the quick reply.</p>
<p>As long as those credits were earned in HS, no issue.</p>
<p>He’ll still be considered to be an incoming frosh, even tho he may have soph/junior standing. this happens a lot with top students at bama.</p>
<p>Ditto what others have said. Our dd is arriving with 43 done via dual-enrollment, no issues. Many (most) schools differentiate based on whether credits were earned before or after hs graduation. Most have no limit for pre-grad. credits.</p>
<p>Thanks m2ck and gamom. This is a big relief.</p>
<p>I wonder how standing based on credits affects entry into some of the dual degree programs? Do students usually decide on and go into them earlier and do they have to take a grad entrance test (eg GRE, GMAT etc earlier then)?</p>
<p>Does UA limit number of grad classes one can take on scholarship as an undergrad (if student is careful about not completing UG degree while doing it)? _ Thanks</p>
<p>DS just finished his secind year at Bama and has been accepted into University Scholars to start his Masters in Biology. To this point we have heard nothing about any limts on grad classes with the NMF scholarship. He did have to take the GRE to gain admisson for graudate school. Also, standing based on credits had no effect on any of the programs DS has participated in to date.</p>
<p>Just a note to add…while you will likely get a number of answers similar to mine you really need to contact the scholarship office to be sure. The NMF package for next year is different than last years kids, which was different than the package DS received. We can answer from experience which will often be accurate, but there is no guarantee since the packages vary.</p>
<p>The only time I know of where scholarship money can be lost is if a student wins a Hollings Scholarship. That was the case with my son, and why he could not earn a masters from Alabama during his undergrad years. The Hollings does not allow for any monies to go toward masters program. My son had enrolled in his first few grad classes when the Hollings officials told him he would have to forfeit his scholarship monies and internship with NOAA. Not wanting to lose that opportunity, he managed to drop one class and have another switched to undergrad enrollment. The Honors College was awesome in handling this misunderstanding.</p>
<p>UA does have limits on how many credits from 2 year colleges can be applied to a degree and a requirement that a certain number of credits for a degree must be earned at UA, but neither of those affect admissions or first time freshman status. It’s not uncommon for students to enter UA as freshmen after earning associates degrees via dual enrollment. I entered UA with over 75 credits and was only a couple courses away from having an associates degree.</p>
<p>There is no specific limit on the number of graduate courses on can take with a UA scholarship. UA merit scholarships will also cover graduate courses not required for ones graduate degree provided the academic department teaching the course allows the student to register for the course. For example, both momreads’s son and I considered taking courses at the UA law school, which would’ve been covered by UA merit scholarships. Outside scholarships may have more restrictions. Contact the provider(s) of the outside scholarship(s) for more details about their specific policies.</p>
<p>Thanks so much MemphisGuy and momreads. I’ll take you advice MG to check what rules would apply in my
son’s particular case once we get that far (he is a rising Sr applying this summer). I hope the generosity of the scholarships hold out long enough to get my S in with one. When they change scholarships, is there a predictable timing to it (eg end of calendar yr etc)? </p>
<p>I can’t wait to visit UA in the Fall. I think for my S it will be b/t UA and UMN. I am thinking UA may be the better deal for him as scholarships and rules stand now. Then it would just be a matter of which one he likes better. UA seems to have a warm and welcoming atmosphere about it from what I’ve read here and talking to the rep. Thanks again for the helpful answers.</p>
<p>That’s really interesting that you are able to even take law school classes there on UG scholarship. UA just keeps sounding better and better! I am most concerned about UA scholarships because of their size, so it’s good to know how flexible UA is with credits coming in and taking graduate level classes. Thanks SEA-TIDE. </p>
<p>Scholarship changes are usually announced during the summer, sometime in July if I remember correctly. You wont have to wait long to see what the NMF scholarship for next year will look like. I dont expect much of a change this year, UA made a major change a few years ago and the number of NMF’s dropped. Hopefully they wont do that again.</p>
<p>Thanks for the heads up on the website update. Looks like it is the same as last year. Phew!</p>
<p>^^^^Just to clarify, the scholarship information on the website is the same information originally posted in July or August of last year and relates to the fall of 2014-2015 entering freshman class. The next updates for scholarships will be for freshmen entering the UA in the fall of 2015, students who will begin applying this summer. Scholarship information is usually updated in late June to mid July. We spoke with our recruiter who said he doesn’t anticipate any changes to the NMF package for freshmen entering in the 2015-2016 school year. I am hoping it won’t be too much longer before we see that information confirmed on the website. Until then, there are no guarantees.</p>
<p>So it sounds like the scholarship page is updated about the same time as the application goes live for the same year. Oh well, guess we’ll have to be patient. I noticed the UMN put more money into merit scholarships for the year and there is protesting that it should go to need based instead. It seems increasingly unpopular to give merit money.</p>
<p>I might be an incoming freshman with senior standing because of AP/dual enrollment… I’m really concerned about this right now. Would that be considered too many? Not for admissions, since I know admissions doesn’t have a cutoff, but for financial aid? Could that be affected? I didn’t realize all my credits would transfer, I thought only 60 would but that’s not the case. Could I request my AP scores not to be used?</p>
<p>Sorry that I am joining this thread late. This is an interesting dilemma, classicchip.
I cannot comment on financial aid process, but regarding incoming credits for admissions purposes: I specifically remember in 2011, our local recruiter mentioning that there IS indeed a cut-off or ‘limit’ of credit hours for incoming freshmen. I remember thinking at the time that it was a ridiculously high # of credit hours (and thus did not apply to our situation), so I would definitely double check if there is a limit of some sort for admissions purposes.
Also, read this link, because you have to have a certain %-age of your courses in residence at UA in order to earn a degree from UA: <a href=“http://courseleaf.ua.edu/introduction/academicpolicies/creditbyexamination/#text”>http://courseleaf.ua.edu/introduction/academicpolicies/creditbyexamination/#text</a>
Specifically:<br>
"Credit hours earned by examination and/or out-of-class experiences are not considered University of Alabama institutional coursework, and therefore, may not be applied towards fulfillment of:
- the minimum of 50 percent of the coursework required to earn a bachelor’s degree at The University of Alabama that must be earned at a bachelor’s degree granting institution (four-year college or university);
- the minimum of 25 percent of the coursework required for the degree that must be earned at The University of Alabama"</p>
<p>…whatever that all means to you! 
Not sure how Dual Credit is handled, but at least AP/credit-by-exam credits are subject to the above %-ages, the way I read it. </p>